Charles C. Camosy

Recovering the foundation of faith in a profession enduring the pressures of a rapidly changing health-care system. If you are one of the millions of Christian nurses or nursing students in the United States, you already know that there is no real way to separate your faith commitments from your professional vocation--nor would you want to. Especially amid the bedlam of the COVID-19 pandemic, faith has given countless nurses the strength to carry on and be there for their patients, one exhausting shift after another. Bioethics for Nurses, the first book of its kind, is for nurses and nurses in training who still believe in treating the whole person--not just their medical condition. It is for those committed to living out the love of Jesus Christ through the warm, relational care they provide for all hurting and vulnerable people--including those in underserved populations--each of whom has the dignity of a human being made in the image of God. It is also for those who rightly see themselves as crucial members of medical teams alongside doctors (and sometimes without doctors present at all), empowered to exercise professional judgment while protecting their consciences. With the combined wisdom of Alisha Mack, a professor of nursing with many years of clinical experience, and Charles Camosy, an award-winning bioethicist and theologian, Bioethics for Nurses advances a vision for a holistic Christian notion of health care with practical applications for everyday relevance on the job. Through a series of case studies in the second part of the book, Mack and Camosy explore the ethics of specific situations with far-reaching implications for nurses working in a range of fields. In the last part, the authors reflect on the future of nursing after COVID-19, making this an especially timely book for a pivotal moment in the history of the profession. Now, more than ever before, the wisdom of the ancient tradition of Christianity is needed to speak into the profound contemporary realities we are facing together as a culture.

Now in paperback A terribly timely take on the polarized abortion debate The abortion debate in the United States is confused. Ratings-driven media coverage highlights extreme views and creates the illusion that we are stuck in a hopeless stalemate. In this book (published in hardcover in March 2015) Charles Camosy argues that our polarized public discourse hides the fact that most Americans actually agree on the major issues at stake in abortion morality and law. Unpacking the complexity of the abortion issue, Camosy shows that placing oneself on either side of the typical polarizations -- pro-life vs. pro-choice, liberal vs. conservative, Democrat vs. Republican -- only serves to further confuse the debate and limits our ability to have fruitful dialogue. Camosy then proposes a new public policy that he believes is consistent with the beliefs of the broad majority of Americans and supported by the best ideas and arguments about abortion from both secular and religious sources.

Interaction between Peter Singer and Christian ethics, to the extent that it has happened at all, has been unproductive and often antagonistic. Singer sees himself as leading a 'Copernican Revolution' against a sanctity of life ethic, while many Christians associate his work with a 'culture of death'. Charles Camosy shows that this polarized understanding of the two positions is a mistake. While their conclusions about abortion and euthanasia may differ, there is surprising overlap in Christian and Singerite arguments, and disagreements are interesting and fruitful. Furthermore, it turns out that Christians and Singerites can even make common cause, for instance in matters such as global poverty and the dignity of non-human animals. Peter Singer and Christian ethics are far closer than almost anyone has imagined, and this book is valuable to those who are interested in fresh thinking about the relationship between religious and secular ethics.

Interaction between Peter Singer and Christian ethics, to the extent that it has happened at all, has been unproductive and often antagonistic. Singer sees himself as leading a 'Copernican Revolution' against a sanctity of life ethic, while many Christians associate his work with a 'culture of death'. Charles Camosy shows that this polarized understanding of the two positions is a mistake. While their conclusions about abortion and euthanasia may differ, there is surprising overlap in Christian and Singerite arguments, and disagreements are interesting and fruitful. Furthermore, it turns out that Christians and Singerites can even make common cause, for instance in matters such as global poverty and the dignity of non-human animals. Peter Singer and Christian ethics are far closer than almost anyone has imagined, and this book is valuable to those who are interested in fresh thinking about the relationship between religious and secular ethics.

In Too Expensive to Treat? Charles Camosy takes readers deep into the emotionally charged and expensive world of the neonatal intensive care unit to examine the hard truth about heath care rationing in the United States. While fully affirming the human worth of even the tiniest baby, Camosy maintains that all people have equal dignity and should have an equal right to a proportionate share of community health care resources. Readers may find Camosy's arguments provocative, even troubling -- but the conversation he draws them into is one that cannot be ignored.