 Abstract | In this work, I argue that the Alexandiran position on feticide found in Hellenistic Judaism and appropriated by patristic, medieval and reformed theologians is defensible in the 21st Century. I formulate an argument from the Alexandrian position as it appears in several representative Christian traditions. This argument contends that that: [1] killing a human being without justification violates the law of God, [2] a formed conceptus (i.e. a fetus) is a human being and [3] that in the case of feticide (at least in the majority of cases) no justification is forthcoming.
In developing my case, I argue that the objections raised against the premises of this argument by contemporary philosphers are unsound. I defend the intellectual acceptability of belief in and appeals to the existence of a divine law, the notion that a formed fetus is a human being and the claim that feticide lacks any justification in the vast majority of cases.
In addition, I examine and critique theologians who claim the Alexandrian position is motivated by misogyny and those who claim it appropriates a translation error found in the Septuagint.
I conclude that the traditional position is defensible and that contemporary dismissals of it are unconvincing. |
