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Begotten or Made?: Human Procreation and Medical Technique
94 pages, Paperback
First published August 9, 1984
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About the author
Oliver O'Donovan
47 books58 followersOliver O'Donovan FBA FRSE (born 1945) is a scholar known for his work in the field of Christian ethics. He has also made contributions to political theology, both contemporary and historical.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
February 28, 2016
Like watching a really sharp chess-player or poker-player or insert whatever game that has rules you never quite master, but enjoy playing anyway--anyway that's what reading this book is like, because the issues are so strange and haven't been considered carefully. O'Donovan seems to sum up many conversations that would have spent Socrates ten or twelve books into one or two paragraphs. The result is uninviting to the lay reader who wants to understand, but enjoyable if you're willing to just bathe in the rational balance and tone of thinking. If the book hadn't been so short, I feel it might have destroyed me, but I read it in one sitting and I was alive afterwards.
In essence, I saw O'Donovan as saying that artificial insemination was not prima facie wrong or immoral, but in the real world is on the verge of giving man choices that only God has. The best thing about this book that I felt I understood and has continued to compel me is the idea that we are a society that views freedom as the ability to make ourselves ex nihilo. His words on sex and gender are astonishingly sane, mixed with a bit of slow, British dryness, but giving off a C.S. Lewis level of wisdom:
"The sex into which we have been born (assuming it is physiologically unambiguous) is given to be welcomed as a gift of God. The task of psychological maturity -- for it is a moral task, and not merely an event which may or may not transpire -- involves accepting this gift and learning to love it, even though we may have to acknowledge that it does not come to us without problems. Our task is to discern the possibilities for personal relationship which are given to us with this biological sex, and to seek to develop them in accordance with our individual vocations. Those for whom this task has been comparatively unproblematic (though I suppose that no human being alive has been without some sexual problems) are in no position to pronounce any judgment on those for whom accepting their sex has been a task so difficult that they have fled from it into denial. No one can say with any confidence what factors have made these pressures so severe. Nevertheless, we cannot and must not conceive of physical sexuality as a mere raw material with which we can construct a form of psychosexual self-expression which is determined only by the free impulse of our spirits. Responsibility in sexual development implies a responsibility to nature -- to the order good of the bodily form which we have been given."
Wow.
In essence, I saw O'Donovan as saying that artificial insemination was not prima facie wrong or immoral, but in the real world is on the verge of giving man choices that only God has. The best thing about this book that I felt I understood and has continued to compel me is the idea that we are a society that views freedom as the ability to make ourselves ex nihilo. His words on sex and gender are astonishingly sane, mixed with a bit of slow, British dryness, but giving off a C.S. Lewis level of wisdom:
"The sex into which we have been born (assuming it is physiologically unambiguous) is given to be welcomed as a gift of God. The task of psychological maturity -- for it is a moral task, and not merely an event which may or may not transpire -- involves accepting this gift and learning to love it, even though we may have to acknowledge that it does not come to us without problems. Our task is to discern the possibilities for personal relationship which are given to us with this biological sex, and to seek to develop them in accordance with our individual vocations. Those for whom this task has been comparatively unproblematic (though I suppose that no human being alive has been without some sexual problems) are in no position to pronounce any judgment on those for whom accepting their sex has been a task so difficult that they have fled from it into denial. No one can say with any confidence what factors have made these pressures so severe. Nevertheless, we cannot and must not conceive of physical sexuality as a mere raw material with which we can construct a form of psychosexual self-expression which is determined only by the free impulse of our spirits. Responsibility in sexual development implies a responsibility to nature -- to the order good of the bodily form which we have been given."
Wow.
December 17, 2015
A brief and dense series of lectures given by one of the premier Christian ethicists alive today. Oliver O'Donovan devotes attention to navigating the moral marsh regarding technology and artificial human reproduction. While O'Donovan does not outright condemn IVF, he voices important caution in how we approach overcoming nature through technological means. He draws a distinction in medical science between "curative" and "compensatory" medicine. The latter doesn't simply mend, but CIRCUMVENTS what has been inhibited by nature. On pages 16-17 he also examines the differences between Roman Catholic and Protestant perspectives in the male-female relationship and procreation which is a helpful comparison.
March 21, 2016
A phenomenal book which should be read by every hasty, emotivist, technocratic fool ready to overthrow evolution with one hand and implement eugenics with the other.
If you ever considered the Borg to be the greatest invention of modern sci-fi, if you ever wondered how Germany so easily took over the ideas of the eugenics movement, if you have neglected to pay attention to the silent takeover of human life by the New Managers of Technocracy, then you must read this book.
Too many people are silently, thoughtlessly nodding along at what amounts to the most important revolution ever staged, one that will not change merely a government, but our way of being human.
If you ever considered the Borg to be the greatest invention of modern sci-fi, if you ever wondered how Germany so easily took over the ideas of the eugenics movement, if you have neglected to pay attention to the silent takeover of human life by the New Managers of Technocracy, then you must read this book.
Too many people are silently, thoughtlessly nodding along at what amounts to the most important revolution ever staged, one that will not change merely a government, but our way of being human.
March 29, 2018
My first real encounter with O’Donavan, and I’d like to read the rest of his work, immediately. Prescient, careful, historically grounded, profound; precisely the sort of clear, charitable, unapologetically apologetic Christian thinking the Church needs today, but written 30 years ago. Begetting v. Making; Gift v. Project; trust in Providence v. Ideology; and what is a Person?
July 17, 2025
Every pastor today must read this. IVF (the Fordification of human conception) is a moral evil that the Church today is largely blind to and willing to accept uncritically. As far as I’m concerned, the matter was settled 40 years ago in these lectures.
September 15, 2025
This book has been the most helpful on the road of wrestling with IVF technology. I would highly recommend it to any Christian who is seeking to understand the brave new world of assisted reproductive technology. People are not for sale.
March 11, 2015
A brilliant, challenging, and insightful argument against the "technological culture," the culture which "thinks of everything it does as a form of instrumental making" (3). The end result of this, O'Donovan argues, is that "Human life... becomes mechanized because we cannot comprehend what it means that some human activity [that is, be getting children] is 'natural'" (3). It truly is a must-read defense of the natural in a world obsessed with making.
January 31, 2015
Begetting vs. making; gift vs. product; curing vs. circumventing; nature vs. will. Concisely and tightly argued in under 90 pages against certain medical techniques, e.g., SRS, gamete donation, artificial insemination, and IVF. I highly recommend this book, as it overcomes the incredibly unhelpful discourse that dominates most of Protestantism with simplistic categories that question whether a technique involves "Playing God" or whether it is "Biblical or Unbiblical".
One interesting tension that O'Donovan raises toward the end of the book is that IVF owes its success (and continues to owe its success) to non-clinical embryo research and experimentation which creates life in the lab with no intention to place in them in the uterus. O'Donovan writes, "The suggestion that we should thank the researches for their gift, make use of what they have achieved, and simultaneously declare all their research, past and future, to be illegitimate, is strikingly lacking both in consistency and realism. Our view of IVF, then, is necessarily determined by our view of non-clinical research on early embryos" (80).
One interesting tension that O'Donovan raises toward the end of the book is that IVF owes its success (and continues to owe its success) to non-clinical embryo research and experimentation which creates life in the lab with no intention to place in them in the uterus. O'Donovan writes, "The suggestion that we should thank the researches for their gift, make use of what they have achieved, and simultaneously declare all their research, past and future, to be illegitimate, is strikingly lacking both in consistency and realism. Our view of IVF, then, is necessarily determined by our view of non-clinical research on early embryos" (80).
June 27, 2017
Brilliant. Keen. Prescient. Just read it.
July 1, 2019
Required reading for sexual ethics: contraception, in vitro fertilization, transgender surgery, abortion, adoption. It’s really an analysis of the ways technocratic society broadly construed has run roughshod over one particular feature of our created nature (sexuality). The critique, therefore, really aims at technocracy, and it could be multiplied over and over: place, community, commerce, knowledge, etc. This would pair well and resonates with texts like *Abolition of Man*.
partially-read
November 27, 2019Somehow I thought O'Donovan would be hard to read. Not so. Read about half for an ethics paper on IVF; would love to finish the whole thing.
January 1, 2015
This was a great read. I came across it incidentally through the 'Mere Fidelity' podcast, and it took a long time to finish but I was well rewarded for my efforts by being made to consider things I was soundly ignorant of, in bioethics and beyond. I'll attempt a summary of O'Donovan's five chapters below.
The first, and titular, premise is that begetting is not making, for things we beget are like us but things we make are alien to us--and at our disposal. First, he spells out our present state as a technological culture that is besotted with 'making', that recognizes few things as being simply 'natural' (precluding efforts to 'make' them), and that lionizes freedom. Second, he looks at transsexual surgery, an artifice that we culturally accept having rejected the category of 'natural'. Following a consideration of two views on it, is an exhortation for all of us to distinguish b/w the goodness of God's forms (male & female) and the myriad problems we face in cultivating them. Third, artificial insemination by donor is scrutinized and we see various approaches to solving the problem of an alien (3rd party) presence in an act so intimate as begetting a child. He draws out the unsettling implications of severing the bond of necessity between sexual union and procreation, which founded our knowledge of human relationships ('what, now, is a parent?'). Fourth, to understand why embryos don't receive the ethical restraints that persons do, he asks who a 'person' is. This survey through Classical, then Christian (Latin & Greek), then modern thought as to what is meant by 'person' ends with a commitment to treat 'ambiguous humanity' as persons since the question is philosophically skirted by the greatest contemporary engine of ambiguous humanity: modern biomedicine. Finally, Ch. 5 employs a fairytale to assess IVF in the abstract, deciding (contra the Catholic Bishops) that--despite the concerns it raises--IVF is not 'intrinsically disordered'. But placed back in its social context, O'Donovan has grave concerns about the research enterprise that justifies risk-taking here by citing risks readily taken in natural birth. Coming full circle, his displeasure here is that scientists (bearing society's imprimatur) are placed as masters over the natural process as much as the artificial one. The book closes with a futuristic fairytale to make this point, and confess Christ's ultimate lordship as our maker and preserver.
So yeah, a good read! My quick summary completely leaves out the things pondered before the conclusion, but they were the most enlightening. O'Donovan is extremely patient to plod through these topics step-by-step and show his work. I could not really read the latter chapters critically because they were a bit out of reach at crucial spots, but I was ultimately able to understand them, at least. Furthermore, he has proved remarkably prescient. Shortly after I finished Ch. 3 [Procreation by Donor], I saw this article [BBC News - Rules for babies 'from three people'] that was scooped by O'Donovan 20 years ago when he wondered how a state's definitions of genetic vs. physiological parenthood could reduce parental 'ownership' to a matter of legal/contractual deliberation. I'll come back to read this in a few years when I can hopefully bring more critical, and capable, eyes.
The first, and titular, premise is that begetting is not making, for things we beget are like us but things we make are alien to us--and at our disposal. First, he spells out our present state as a technological culture that is besotted with 'making', that recognizes few things as being simply 'natural' (precluding efforts to 'make' them), and that lionizes freedom. Second, he looks at transsexual surgery, an artifice that we culturally accept having rejected the category of 'natural'. Following a consideration of two views on it, is an exhortation for all of us to distinguish b/w the goodness of God's forms (male & female) and the myriad problems we face in cultivating them. Third, artificial insemination by donor is scrutinized and we see various approaches to solving the problem of an alien (3rd party) presence in an act so intimate as begetting a child. He draws out the unsettling implications of severing the bond of necessity between sexual union and procreation, which founded our knowledge of human relationships ('what, now, is a parent?'). Fourth, to understand why embryos don't receive the ethical restraints that persons do, he asks who a 'person' is. This survey through Classical, then Christian (Latin & Greek), then modern thought as to what is meant by 'person' ends with a commitment to treat 'ambiguous humanity' as persons since the question is philosophically skirted by the greatest contemporary engine of ambiguous humanity: modern biomedicine. Finally, Ch. 5 employs a fairytale to assess IVF in the abstract, deciding (contra the Catholic Bishops) that--despite the concerns it raises--IVF is not 'intrinsically disordered'. But placed back in its social context, O'Donovan has grave concerns about the research enterprise that justifies risk-taking here by citing risks readily taken in natural birth. Coming full circle, his displeasure here is that scientists (bearing society's imprimatur) are placed as masters over the natural process as much as the artificial one. The book closes with a futuristic fairytale to make this point, and confess Christ's ultimate lordship as our maker and preserver.
So yeah, a good read! My quick summary completely leaves out the things pondered before the conclusion, but they were the most enlightening. O'Donovan is extremely patient to plod through these topics step-by-step and show his work. I could not really read the latter chapters critically because they were a bit out of reach at crucial spots, but I was ultimately able to understand them, at least. Furthermore, he has proved remarkably prescient. Shortly after I finished Ch. 3 [Procreation by Donor], I saw this article [BBC News - Rules for babies 'from three people'] that was scooped by O'Donovan 20 years ago when he wondered how a state's definitions of genetic vs. physiological parenthood could reduce parental 'ownership' to a matter of legal/contractual deliberation. I'll come back to read this in a few years when I can hopefully bring more critical, and capable, eyes.
October 31, 2018
Short but dense. The issues it deals with are much broader than IVF or artificial reproductive technologies. It’s remarkably relevant to contemporary discussions of the failure of modern liberalism and the implications of living in a technological society. Yet for all the important things O’Donovan has to say here, I think most modern readers who encounter this book are likely to say “so what?” In others words, you won’t come away with simplistic, killer arguments agains IVF or ART’s.
For pastors, the benefit here is being stretched to think beyond the pressing issue of this or that technology. This book helps you consider the bigger implications of what it means to be human and to act humanely, which means, in O’Donovan’s words “something that is fit for human beings to do.” (p. 66)
For pastors, the benefit here is being stretched to think beyond the pressing issue of this or that technology. This book helps you consider the bigger implications of what it means to be human and to act humanely, which means, in O’Donovan’s words “something that is fit for human beings to do.” (p. 66)
March 20, 2015
Remarkably tight argumentation by a world class theologian and ethicist.
February 5, 2022
How was this written in 1983? Incredible.
May 19, 2018
Short and insightful book discussing the ethical arguments for and against artificial insemination, transgender surgery, surrogacy and IVF. As an increasingly technological and also liberally progressive society, we tend to think of everything in tend to give greater value to that which we have made. But when we think of humans as made and not begotten, we value them less.
January 26, 2021
It was interesting to read about this topic from a Catholic perspective. I felt like the first essay was the strongest; Discussing the issue of commodification of babies and reproduction. The discussion of vocation was also interesting and something I’d like to see more discussion of in Protestant circles.
May 16, 2024
In the midst of so much conflict, confusion, and complexity in the fields of bioethics in general and "reproductive technology" in particular, it's refreshing to be pulled back to fundamental principles. This book is short (just 100 pages), not difficult to read, and illuminating, going beyond particular questions to the ways of thought that have made our current questions even possible.
September 13, 2018
O’Donovan addresses transsexualism, artificial reproductive technologies and personhood.
June 3, 2019
A piercing inquiry into the moral questions around in vitro fertilization and transgender issues. I only wish he had talked more about contraception!
May 9, 2020
This was much better than I'd expected. Some really good things.
August 9, 2021
Lucid thinking on the issues (especially of IVF) and the implications, and mercifully brief. Prescient thoughts too on what was once called transsexualism.
December 8, 2021
O'Donovan's usual mix of erudition and penetrating insight. His treatment of what was then called transsexualism is remarkably prescient, especially given that the book is 38 years old...
December 17, 2022
If I was given only one bioethics book to recommend, this is the one and it isn’t even close.
August 16, 2023
Brilliant but frustratingly inconclusive. Just tell us how to live, O’Donovan!
December 13, 2024
Wow. I’m tempted to just start over and read it again. Shocking that it was written 40 years ago. So prescient.
August 9, 2016
You can't fault O'Donovan for not getting to the point. This is a short book with a tight weave and some very focused, careful, precise argumentation. I give him a lot of credit for being fair with a hard subject. It's easy for conservative-minded people to, when encountered with the recent explosion of artificial conception technologies, simply react in disgust and alarm to these developments without also putting the ethical questions involved under the microscope. But O'Donovan gives the advocates of artificial conception a charitable reading and a compelling refutation.
Unfortunately, his efforts seem to have been largely in vain. He wrote this in the mid-80s, and artificial conception has accelerated since then. His chilling prayer (I assume meant for rhetorical effect rather than as a sincere recommendation) that our consciences be sufficiently numbed to no longer be horrified at the capabilities of modern conception technologies has sadly been largely answered in the affirmative.
This book also has some personal significance for me. I listened to a podcast about it some time before I read it, and I had occasion soon after to rely on some of its arguments in a conversation with a friend who was considering being a surrogate. She was, blessedly, persuaded against it, and I thank God I encountered that important slice of O'Donovan's work in time to put it to good use.
Unfortunately, his efforts seem to have been largely in vain. He wrote this in the mid-80s, and artificial conception has accelerated since then. His chilling prayer (I assume meant for rhetorical effect rather than as a sincere recommendation) that our consciences be sufficiently numbed to no longer be horrified at the capabilities of modern conception technologies has sadly been largely answered in the affirmative.
This book also has some personal significance for me. I listened to a podcast about it some time before I read it, and I had occasion soon after to rely on some of its arguments in a conversation with a friend who was considering being a surrogate. She was, blessedly, persuaded against it, and I thank God I encountered that important slice of O'Donovan's work in time to put it to good use.
August 18, 2015
Clear, concise, well explained summary of the 1983 London Lectures in Contemporary Christianity, in which Professor Oliver O Donavan addressed the topic area of artifical human fertilization. The subject is examined from numerous angles and a clear and consistent Biblical Christian ethical approach to each area is developed. The book is only 86 pages long, but I found myself savouring each page as the author demonstrated excellent theological insight and application. In relation to current developments in human reproduction and sexuality, he demonstrated clarity and prescience.
This book is well worth a read for any Christian thinking about the ethics of artificial reproductive technologies and therapies, or who works in the field of reproductive health care (including midwifery, general practice, obstetrics, gynaecology, embryology).
This book is well worth a read for any Christian thinking about the ethics of artificial reproductive technologies and therapies, or who works in the field of reproductive health care (including midwifery, general practice, obstetrics, gynaecology, embryology).
August 17, 2014
O'Donovan's jumping-off point was a British government report on artificial fertilization in the 1980s. He explores the differences between making a child through technique (which a technology society wants to do for everything) and begetting (or attempting to beget) a child like ourselves but without the level of control that advances in reproductive technology promise. He attempts to think through these issues, and the purpose of medicine in general, in a Christian way, and also discusses sex change operations as examples of this modern assertion of technique over the human body.
I found his arguments provocative and persuasive, but I have read very little in the area of bioethics. It's an area that I wish I knew more about.
I found his arguments provocative and persuasive, but I have read very little in the area of bioethics. It's an area that I wish I knew more about.
November 27, 2009
Extremely patient and powerfully-reasoned engagement with a few of the abominations of modern bio-ethics; artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, sex-change operations. I would never have the patience to work through these issues as O'Donovan does, but someone has to do it.
Along the way, O'Donovan raises many interesting questions (and provides a few interesting answers) to questions of the relationship of technology and nature, etc.
Along the way, O'Donovan raises many interesting questions (and provides a few interesting answers) to questions of the relationship of technology and nature, etc.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews