Focusing on “Culture”

Blog, Other Voices / /

D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture exists to promote human dignity in the face of 21st Century bioethics challenges. Our theme for 2020 is Human Flourishing. Living in the surreal time of a pandemic with all the increased complexity of our lives, flourishing can almost seem too high an ideal. Artist Carol Harkness penned the following essay (lightly edited) about the important building blocks of culture—integrally related to flourishing—and that not only for our day.

We are still busy with bioethics as well. Here are a few recent articles you may want to check out:

“Dying ...read more

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Adam on the Road

Blog / /

Adam Creating Himself by Karen Swenholt.

By D. Joy Riley, M.D., M.A. Executive Director

When our children were small, I read to them the story of Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown. Stanley is an unfortunate boy who suffers an accident and becomes two-dimensional. Because of his shape, he is able to have adventures that normal, three-dimensional children cannot have, like being folded and mailed to a place far away.

Unlike Flat Stanley, Adam is three-dimensional, made of resin, and cannot be mailed easily or cheaply. But he is off on an adventure nonetheless. In fact, Adam has just begun his adventures on the road.

This ...read more

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Art and Bioethics

Blog, United States / /

Drawing by Eric Muller, Allentown, Pennsylvania, 2005.

The arts can inform us in ways words do not. Below is a brief overview of how The Tennessee Center for Bioethics & Culture has recently employed artwork to help people consider important questions about what it means to be human.

What the Eyes See, the Mind Knows

40+ people attended our two sessions at the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity Bioethics in Transition Conference, 19-21 June. Original art by multi-media artist Carol Harkness was featured, along with photos and graphics from other sources. Perhaps the most provocative conversation-starter was the 3-D “live ear” of Vincent van Gogh displayed currently ...read more

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