Jones, David Albert 1966- (David Albert John Jones)

PERSONAL:

Born March 17, 1966, in Leicester, England; son of Robert Colin (a teacher) and Mary Aileen (a teacher) Jones; married January 18, 2002; wife's name Eustace (a human resources officer in the financial sector). Ethnicity: "White (English, Welsh, Irish mix)." Education: Cambridge University, B.A. (natural sciences and philosophy), 1987; Oxford University, B.A. (theology), 1995, M.S., 1996, D.Phil., 2002. Politics: "Critical floating voter." Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Teddington, Middlesex, England. Office—St. Mary's College, Waldegrave Rd., Twickenham TW1 4SX, England. E-mail—jonesd@smuc.ac.uk.

CAREER:

Blackfriars Oxford, Oxford, England, tutor in moral theology, 1997-2000; Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics, London, England, director, 2001; St. Mary's College, Twickenham, England, lecturer in bioethics, 2002—, academic director, 2005—. Bio-Centre, fellow; writer and consultant to Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales.

MEMBER:

Royal Society of Medicine (fellow), Society for the Study of Christian Ethics, Catholic Theological Association, Christian Medical Fellowship.

WRITINGS:

Can a Catholic Believe in Evolution?, Catholic Truth Society (London, England), 1991.

Why Be a Catholic?, Catholic Truth Society (London, England), 1996.

Living Life to the Full: An Introduction to the Moral and Social Teaching of the Catholic Church, Family Publications (Oxford, England), 2001.

Organ Transplants and the Definition of Death, Catholic Truth Society Explanations (London, England), 2001.

The Soul of the Embryo: An Enquiry into the Status of the Human Embryo in the Christian Tradition, Continuum International Publishing Group (New York, NY), 2004.

Approaching the End: A Theological Exploration of Death and Dying, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2007.

Author of booklets, including "Christianity: An Introduction to the Catholic Faith," Family Publications (Oxford, England), 1999. Contributor to books, including Beyond Brain Death: The Case against Brain Based Criteria for Human Death, edited by Potts, Byrne, and Nilges, Kluwer Academic Press, 2000; and God and the Embryo: Religious Voices on Stem Cells and Cloning, edited by Waters and Cole-Turner, Georgetown University Press (Washington, DC), 2003; and Issues for a Catholic Bioethic, edited by L. Gormally, Linacre Centre for Healthcare Ethics (London, England). Contributor to periodicals. Pastoral Review, member of editorial board.

Jones's brief introduction to Catholic Christianity was published in German and Japanese.

SIDELIGHTS:

David Albert Jones told CA: "My own way into writing started with short articles and booklets. I think this was helpful both to improve writing style and to gain in confidence. The greatest success of these attempts was a short introduction to the Catholic faith written for students at Oxford University. The Catholic society had raised some money and wanted a short account of their beliefs that they could give out to fellow students. The feedback was generally positive because of the personal and sensitive way in which it was done. It was intended to improve mutual understanding and was widely welcomed.

"The book The Soul of the Embryo: An Enquiry into the Status of the Human Embryo in the Christian Tradition came out of something shorter I had written on Christian views about the human embryo. This had been submitted to a select committee of the House of Lords, and it was frustrating not to be able to say everything I wanted in such a short space. The topical nature of the subject matter and my track record of writing booklets helped me to secure a contract, though I greatly underestimated the time it would take to write. The book was a full year late.

"When the book came out, it was fortunate to receive some good reviews, and there were other positive spin-offs. I was invited to a seminar in the House of Lords to discuss it, and it fed into my teaching in various ways. It also taught me to appreciate the positive qualities of other people's books, especially when reviewing them. I can think of one or two over-critical reviews I had written in the past that I now regret. I have written negative reviews since then but have always tried to be fair before exposing a book's weaknesses.

"As advice to aspiring writers, I would say: always write the sort of thing you would like to read. Be as clear and as useful as you can be. If you are bored writing, your reader will be bored reading, even if you are a student writing an essay. Never think you are going to make much money from nonfiction. My own reason for writing is to engage other people with ideas that I think are worth thinking about. It also feeds into my main work, which is lecturing. The other thing I have found is that even modest success breeds success, in that it is far easier to get publishers interested in a project if they think someone will buy your book."