"Var fruktsamma och föröka er..." - men hur? Assisterad befruktning i judisk och katolsk bibeltolkning och teologi

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the arguments and the discussion concerning Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and its relation to doctrines in the Jewish and Catholic faith traditions. In the creation story of the Bible, God commands humans to be fruitful and multiply and in the light of this story, this essay examines the approaches towards ART from the two different perspectives of faith: How are human beings meant to, or allowed to, procreate. The essay aims to analyze the position towards ART of the two religious traditions by presenting the arguments and scriptural interpretation behind their respective positions. The material investigated is therefore limited in time, starting from the year of the first birth of a baby born as a result of Fertilization in Vitro, 1978. While the Jewish approach towards ART is almost entirely positive, even in orthodox Judaism, the Catholic response to medical assistance for having a child is entirely negative in accordance with their understanding of faith. Both religions refer to important dimensions of the creation story as main arguments for their positions and this essay is presenting them, as well as arguments concerning when the life of a person begins and their approach to medical techniques that ART provides. In addition to the above, the essay demonstrates a very different emphasis on the creation story in the respective traditions, where in Judaism Gen. 1:28 is the main text – to be fruitful and procreate. As for the Catholic view, the same word is important but what is lit even more central is Gen. 2:24, when a man and a woman unite and become one flesh – marriage.