Lecture: Karen Lebacqz October 20, 2005

Karen Lebacqz, the 2005-2006 bioethicist-in-residence at the Yale University Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, will visit Carleton College and Northfield from Oct. 20 through 23 and give a number of presentations in the area. The events are free and open to the public.

Lebacqz will begin her visit by giving a talk, titled ?Bible Bites and International Justice,? on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 11:30 a.m. in Holland Hall, Room 501. At 10:50 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, she will present a convocation at Carleton College?s Skinner Memorial Chapel, titled ?Borders, Boundaries, and Other Quagmires of Justice.? The convocation will be followed by a book signing. Lebacqz will spend most of Thursday and Friday speaking in classes and meeting with faculty and students of both colleges.

At St. Olaf, Lebacqz will speak on the Christian basis for international ethics. In her Carleton convocation, Lebacqz will address the problematic issue of international justice, questioning whether it is possible to have an international standard of justice and exploring the differing standards of ?rights? from society to society. Lebacqz has authored more than six books on these subjects, including ?Justice in An Unjust World,? ?Sex in the Parish and Ethics? and ?Spiritual Care.?

On Saturday, Oct. 22, she will present a workshop, titled ?Six Theories of Justice?and Beyond!? at 10 a.m. at the United Methodist Church, 1401 Maple St. North. Reservations are suggested and can be made by calling (507) 645-5689. On Sunday, Oct. 23, she will deliver a sermon titled ?A Whisper in God?s Song? at First United Church of Christ?s10 a.m. service and will lead an adult education class at 11:15 a.m. The UCC is located at 300 Union St., the corner of Union and Third.

Lebacqz? commitment to issues of social justice takes shape in three primary areas of writing and teaching: professional ethics, bioethics (especially questions around genetics and the Human Genome Project) and ethical theory (particularly justice and questions of method in ethics).

Lebacqz received her doctorate from Harvard University and is an ordained minister in the UCC. She has served on the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. She also has served as a consultant to the Director of Health for the state of California, as a member of the Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues-based (ELSI) Genome Project at the Graduate Theological Union?s Center for Theology and Natural Sciences and she has been the chair of the Ethics Advisory Board of Geron Corporation.

She is a former president of the Society of Christian Ethics and taught for over thirty years at the Pacific School of Religion and Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif., where she is the Robert Gordon Sproul Professor Emerita of Theological Ethics.

In addition to her books, Lebacqz has written dozens of essays on bioethics, feminist ethics and sexual ethics for scientific journals, church magazines and international publications. She has been the recipient of several awards and grants, including a GTU Newhall award for development of practicum in bioethics, a Lilly Endowment grant for work in professional ethics and a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.