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Introduction
Human nature is at the core of human ethics and morality. Much of Christian scholarship has defended the Conception View of personhood, the idea that human beings have intrinsic value, beginning at conception. However, the modern era of reproductive technologies has led to an explosion of new scientific insights into human embryology, without a matching increase in our metaphysical and moral understandings.
If Christians are to support the Conception View in the academy in the context of these new findings, a rigorous formulation of human nature and personhood is essential. Christians must be equipped to offer insights from Scripture in discussions with other Christian scholars, but they must also articulate the Conception View in the face of secular objections. They should be able to argue for these foundations from the perspectives of philosophy and medical science, without always inextricably invoking biblical authority. This paper explores and defends an ancient yet still prominent framework for human identity called hylomorphism, updated to match our current biological understandings and to fit within the context of new biotechnological innovations. In particular, we will apply this framework to the ethical analysis of several kinds of new research, including a controversial intervention that treats mitochondrial diseases. We will conclude with reasons why this understanding is crucial to a Christian understanding of human dignity for our time.
The Biological Context
Early human embryos are the target of ongoing research, in order to fill the demand for pluripotent stem cells and to treat certain intractable genetic diseases. Some definitions will help the reader to understand the salient features of such embryos. Union of male sperm and female ova through fertilization creates a new human entity, a zygote, or one-celled embryo. After about 30 hours, the zygote divides into two cells, beginning the embryonic stage of development, lasting eight weeks (from eight weeks until birth the developing human entity is referred to as a fetus). Early stages of embryonic development include a solid ball called a morula (at three days), and a hollow cluster of cells with an inner cell mass, called a blastocyst (at five days). Implantation into the inner wall of the uterus (womb) takes place at about six and a half days after fertilization.1
Stem cell research depends on pluripotent...