Carlin’s Pastoral Aesthetics: Bioethics, “Do We Want to Be Made Well?”

Abstract

As proposed in his book (Carlin in Pastoral aesthetics, 2019), Nathan Carlin’s methodology provides an opportunity to expand the subject matter of bioethical inquiry and to make the field more demographically and intellectually diverse, equitable, and inclusive. In other words, to offer bioethics a methodological healing not unlike the one offered by the Christ at the pool of Bethesda. However, the proposed benefits can be gained only with a long-term commitment and with great attention to detail, including understanding how content knowledge challenges the effectiveness of the call for appreciation of the individual, the balance between autonomy and justice, and who is considered pastoral as well as what is ultimately considered the activity of pastoral aesthetics. This essay combines scholarly and reflective commentary.