Creation, kinds and destiny : a Christian view of genome editing

The mapping of the human genome and the subsequent development of techniques to modify and edit it, raise fundamental questions about our destiny and that of our children – whether we ourselves can shape the genome in a way previously unknown to us. Genomic editing also adds a new dimension to the debate about therapy vs enhancement. Whereas both healing and enhancement have hitherto come from ‘without’, in the form of drugs to be ingested or devices to be worn or implanted, both genomic therapy and enhancement (in contrast to genomic medicine in general) will come from within by rewriting “the language of God” to use Frances Collins’ phrase. The paper will explore themes from the accounts of creation and the Fall – imago dei, sicut deus, embodiment, dominion and co-creation - to see what guidance these can offer as to what might distinguish therapy from enhancement and how the boundaries of ethical forms of genomic engineering might be determined. In particular, it will be shown how the contrasting Augustinian and Irenaean understandings of the Fall lead to differing views of contemporary Christian scholars such as Wyatt and Cole-Turner on the ethics of genomic engineering. The paper concludes with an exploration of the concept of the genome as the ‘secular’ soul and of the Human Genome Project and gene editing as a religious quest and how its telos resembles and differs from a scriptural view of human purpose and destiny.