Matters of Life and Death

by John B. Cobb Jr.

Using a bioethical approach, John Cobb Jr. tackles some of the most controversial issues facing society and the church today--something theologians have often failed to do in the past. His four major topics are animal well-being, death with dignity, the moral status of the fetus, and sexual activity outside of marriage.

124 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 1991

About the author

John Boswell Cobb Jr. was an American theologian, philosopher, and environmentalist. Cobb was regarded as a preeminent scholar in the field of process philosophy and process theology, the school of thought associated with the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead. He was the author of more than fifty books. In 2014, Cobb was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Reviews

[Austin Sill · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like 3.5 stars. This book is definitely a worthwhile read for any thoughtful Christian in the 21st century. It's so strange, and somewhat saddening, that this book still feels so immediately relevant 25 years later. Strange and sad because the church is still failing to have productive conversations about these issues, at least in mainstream Protestant Xianity. The books shortcoming is primarily its length. It reads much more like a casual, albeit highly philosophical, conversation than a carefully crafted and exhaustive creed on the issues at stake. Therefore, Cobb seems to come to some false ends/leaps in logic. If you sit with it and work out some of those leaps, you can perceive his logic, but again, it requires some unnecessary work on the part of the reader that could have been sorted out by Cobb himself. That said, such analysis is GOOD for us as readers, but sadly many a reader won't take the time, or may not have the faculties, to fill the gaps.