Meilaender, Gilbert 1946-

PERSONAL:

Born January 31, 1946. Education: Concordia College, B.A., 1968; Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO, M. Div., 1972; Princeton University; Ph.D., 1976. Religion: Lutheran. Hobbies and other interests: The Cleveland Indians.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Theology, Valparaiso University, 1500 E. Lincoln Way, Valparaiso, IN 46383-6493. E-mail—gilbert.meilaender@valpo.edu.

CAREER:

Writer, educator. University of Virginia, teacher, 1976-78; Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, teacher, 1978-96; Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, Richard & Phyllis Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics, 1996—. President's Council on Bioethics, member, 2002—.

MEMBER:

American Theological Society, Society for Christian Ethics.

AWARDS, HONORS:

NEH fellowship, 1981-82, 1989-90.

WRITINGS:

The Taste for the Other: The Social and Ethical Thought of C.S. Lewis, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1978, reprinted with a new preface by the author, 1998.

Friendship: A Study in Theological Ethics, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1981.

The Theory and Practice of Virtue, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1984.

The Limits of Love: Some Theological Explorations, Pennsylvania State University Press (University Park, PA), 1987.

Faith and Faithfulness: Basic Themes in Christian Ethics, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1991.

Body, Soul, and Bioethics, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1995.

Letters to Ellen, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1996.

Bioethics: A Primer for Christians, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1996, 2nd edition, 2005.

Things That Count: Essays Moral and Theological, ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 2000.

(Editor) Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2000.

Love Taking Shape: Sermons on Christian Life, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2002.

(Editor, with William Werpehowski) The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

The Freedom of a Christian: Grace, Vocation, and the Meaning of Our Humanity, Brazos Press (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

The Way That Leads There: Augustinian Reflections on the Christian Life, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 2006.

Editor, Journal of Religious Ethics and Religious Studies Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Described by Booklist reviewer Ray Olson as "a solidly orthodox Christian," ethics professor Gilbert Meilaender—a Lutheran theologian of the Reformed tradition—is the author of numerous works of thought and commentary. One of his early volumes is a collection of articles in theological ethics, The Limits of Love: Some Theological Explorations. In this book Meilaender delves into two questions. The first question concerns limits upon human action; the second, as Stephen Lammers wrote in Hastings Center Report, "concerns the elevation of action." The critic discusses that the standard way of thinking about an action is the motivation of the person doing the action. As long as a person is motivated by love, some claim, then no action can be wrong. The author, Lammers continued, "wants to raise questions about all of this. He challenges us to consider the limits of what we can do independent of any agreements we might make, and even when motivated by love." The critic also found "one of the refreshing things about Meilaender's work is his directness."

In Faith and Faithfulness: Basic Themes in Christian Ethics the author "paints a picture of the moral agent as one whose humanity is both sinful and graced," noted America contributor James O'Donohoe. The reviewer compared Faith and Faithfulness to a volume written by another Reformed Lutheran author, C. Stephen Layman. Layman's The Shape of Good, remarked O'Donohoe, "has a thesis to expound," while Meilaender's work "is a solid reflection on the nature of Christian morality that demands of those who accept it a profound fidelity in mind, heart and action." A 2000 publication, Things That Count: Essays Moral and Theological, is divided into four sections: "Men and Women," "Parents and Children," "Place and Possession," and "Books." Overarching all these topics, noted Olson, is the concept of a relationship with God, which Meilaender expresses in terms that are "accessible and profound."

In a departure from his strictly theological books, Meilaender wrote a study of the novelist C.S. Lewis. The Taste for the Other: The Social and Ethical Thought of C.S. Lewis was first published in 1978. Twenty years later, regarded as a "classic," in the words of J. Daryl Charles in First Things, the work was re-released with a new preface by Meilaender. The book's popularity over two decades, wrote Charles, displays "interest in Lewisiana [that] shows little sign of abating." The Taste for the Other recounts the ethical themes in Lewis's fiction, such as the concept that all humans were created to provide fellowship with God and humanity. True humanity, furthermore, can be achieved only from a self-sacrificing love that eschews pride and material longing. To Charles, "Meilaender thinks this marvelous web of deep-rooted, interlocking theological convictions explains Lewis's timeless appeal to readers."

Meilaender also has an interest in bioethics that has led him to write two books on the subject: Body, Soul, and Bioethics and Bioethics: A Primer for Christians. In 2002, this interest also placed him on the President's Council on Bioethics, a panel of seventeen philosophers, theologians, and scientists advising the president on issues such as stem cell research. As Meilaender noted on the Valparaiso University Web site, bioethics "raises fundamental issues about what it means to be human, about the meaning of suffering in life, and the degree to which we try to take control of the future. I think anyone working in theological ethics might see this as an area of concern and interest," With his 1996 Bioethics, reissued in 2005, Meilaender states unequivocally that civic law and religious law might be at odds over ethical behavior. Thus, for him, abortion, though legal, should only be allowed only in the case of an imminent danger to the mother or in cases of rape. He also pronounces on such issues as stem cell research and op- poses ending a person's life with the use of painkillers or by disconnecting the patient from a feeding tube. He reasons from a Christian perspective on each of these issues. Writing in Booklist, William Beatty thought that while "some Christians may demur" from his arguments and findings, still the work was "concise and definite," and "does its duty well."

Meilaender's work on bioethics has not prevented him from working on other theological projects. The Freedom of a Christian: Essays on the Moral Life is a collection of essays on freedom, while The Way That Leads There: Augustinian Reflections on the Christian Life is an investigation of Augustine's thought and how it might be used to deal with eternal questions of leading a moral life. Reviewing the former title in Library Journal, Graham Christian noted that Meilaender "challenges a growing presumption that human beings are little more than collections of genetic material." For Christian, The Freedom of a Christian was an "important" book. David P. Gushee, writing in Christianity Today, had further praise for the same title, terming it an "accessible and well-informed essay collection [that] looks at freedom through the lenses of grace, vocation, and human nature." Meilaender argues that true freedom comes through an acceptance of God, and uses literary voices from King Arthur to the Iliad to support his arguments. Such literary allusions are utilized, as a Publishers Weekly contributor noted, "with a freshness that may send readers back to the bookshelf (or the backlist) to read or reread them, as Meilaender does, with contemporary issues in mind."

In The Way That Leads There, Meilaender "offers the literary equivalent of the classical symposium," according to America contributor David G. Hunter. Meilaender "interrogates" Augustine through his own voice as well as those of a host of other historical figures, such as Soren Kierkegaard, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther, and Dante Alighieri. The dialogues deal with topics such as grief, desire, politics, and duty. For Hunter, "Meilaender writes with clarity and verve, respectful of the historical distance between Augustine and us, yet refusing to let that distance separate us from Augustine's wisdom. He has truly provided a rich banquet."

Meilaender once told CA: "Having learned at the age of seventeen that I was unable to hit the curve ball, I was moved to do the next best thing: study theology."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, October 25, 1986, David G. Hunter, "Virtue: Public and Private," p. 232; February 27, 1993, James O'Donohoe, review of Faith and Faithfulness: Basic Themes in Christian Ethics, p. 20; May 17, 1997, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 25; November 13, 2006, "A Rich Banquet," p. 32.

American Medical News, May 20, 2002, "Gilbert Meilaender," p. 17.

Booklist, September 1, 1996, William Beatty, review of Bioethics: A Primer for Christians, p. 34; October 1, 1999, Ray Olson, review of Things That Count: Essays Moral and Theological, p. 321; June 1, 2002, Steven Schroeder, review of Love Taking Shape: Sermons on a Christian Life, p. 1649.

Catholic Library World, September, 1997, review of Bioethics, p. 49.

Choice, July, 1988, review of The Limits of Love: Some Theological Explorations, p. 1711; July, 1992, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 1697.

Christian Century, April 17, 1985, review of The Theory and Practice of Virtue, p. 392; September 14, 1988, review of The Limits of Love, p. 813; October 28, 1992, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 972; February 28, 1996, review of Letters to Ellen, p. 242; February 5, 1997, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 164; November 1, 2000, "Divine Summons," p. 1110; January 24, 2001, "That Demon Love," p. 4.

Christianity Today, August 12 1996, review of Letters to Ellen, p. 47; May 1, 2005, "When to Pull a Feeding Tube: Leading Bioethicist Gilbert Meilaender Discusses the Problems of Withdrawing Terri Schiavo's Lifeline," p. 48; December 1, 2006, David P. Gushee, review of The Freedom of a Christian: Grace, Vocation, and the Meaning of Our Humanity, p. 64.

Commonweal, February 1, 1980, review of The Taste for the Other: The Social and Ethical Thought of C.S. Lewis, p. 59; December 1, 1995, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 29; March 9, 2007, "Duty and Delight," p. 27.

Cresset, April, 1993, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 30; September, 1996, review of Letters to Ellen, p. 40.

Ethics, April, 1993, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 625; October, 1997, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 241.

First Things, June 1, 1997, "Begetting and Cloning," p. 41; February, 1999, J. Daryl Charles, review of The Taste for the Other, p. 61; October, 2000, review of Things That Count, p. 77; May 1, 2001, Alan Jacobs, review of Working: Its Meaning and Its Limits, p. 37; November 1, 2002, review of Love Taking Shape, p. 64.

Hastings Center Report, January-February, 1990, Stephen Lammers, review of The Limits of Love, p. 51; May, 1996, reviews of Letters to Ellen and Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 44; November, 1997, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 47.

Interpretation, January, 2003, review of Love Taking Shape, p. 110.

Issues in Law & Medicine, fall, 2005, review of Bioethics, 2nd edition.

Journal of Religion, July, 1986, review of The Theory and Practice of Virtue, p. 366; July, 1989, review of The Limits of Love, p. 435; April, 1993, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 301; April, 1998, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 301.

Journal of Religious Ethics, spring, 2001, "Original Sin and the Hermeneutics of Charity: A Response to Gilbert Meilaender," spring, 2001, "Sweet Gifts: A Jewish Response to Gilbert Meilaender" and "Using Augustine in Contemporary Sexual Ethics: A Response to Gilbert Meilaender."

Library Journal, December, 1996, Augustine J. Curley, review of Bioethics, p. 99; July 1, 2006, Graham Christian, review of The Freedom of a Christian, p. 81.

Medical Humanities Review, spring, 1997, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 52.

Publishers Weekly, May 29, 2006, review of The Freedom of a Christian, p. 54.

Religious Studies Review, January, 1989, review of The Limits of Love, p. 62; April, 1994, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 135; July, 1999, review of The Taste for the Other, p. 278.

Science Books & Films, June, 1996, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 132.

Theological Studies, December, 1985, review of The Theory and Practice of Virtue, p. 725; December, 1992, review of Faith and Faithfulness, p. 789; December, 1996, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 786; September, 1998, "Quaestio Disputata: When Does Quality of Life Count?," p. 505.

Theology Today, October, 1997, review of Body, Soul, and Bioethics, p. 443.

ONLINE

President's Council on Bioethics Web site,http://www.bioethics.gov/ (July 14, 2007), "Gilbert Meilaender, Ph.D."

Valparaiso University Web site,http://www.valpo.edu/ (July 14, 2007), "Gilbert Meilaender, Professor of Theology, Phyllis & Richard Duesenberg Chair in Christian Ethics."