The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network is pleased to announce Gilbert Meilaender as the recipient of the 2009 Paul Ramsey Award.

Dr. Meilaender is the Richard & Phyllis Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University and serves on the President’s Council on Bioethics. Professor Meilaender is an associate editor for the Journal of Religious Ethics . He has taken a special interest in bioethics and is a Fellow of the Hastings Center. His books include Bioethics: A Primer for Christians (1996, 2005), Body, Soul, and Bioethics (1995). He has recently edited (together with William Werpehowski) The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics.

The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network is pleased to announce Gilbert Meilaender as the recipient of the 2009 Paul Ramsey Award.

Dr. Meilaender is the Richard & Phyllis Duesenberg Professor of Christian Ethics at Valparaiso University and serves on the President’s Council on Bioethics. Professor Meilaender is an associate editor for the Journal of Religious Ethics . He has taken a special interest in bioethics and is a Fellow of the Hastings Center. His books include Bioethics: A Primer for Christians (1996, 2005), Body, Soul, and Bioethics (1995). He has recently edited (together with William Werpehowski) The Oxford Handbook of Theological Ethics.

When asked his thoughts on receiving this honor, Dr. Meilaender said, “To receive the Paul Ramsey award from the Center for Bioethics and Culture is doubly pleasing to me. I am honored because of the seriousness of purpose displayed by CBC in all its commitments, and I am pleased to receive an award named in memory of Paul Ramsey, who was my teacher.”

C. Ben Mitchell, Ph.D., chair of the Paul Ramsey nominating committee and CBC Director said, “Gil Meilaender is an outstanding candidate for the Ramsey Award, not least because he faithfully represents as much as anyone else the tradition of his teacher and mentor, Paul Ramsey. Ramsey’s work was by no means limited to bioethics. In fact, he was an incredibly wide-ranging ethicist and theologian. He wrote on everything from ethical theory, to just war, to the nature of love. In the same way, Gil Meilaender should not be viewed as a primarily a “bioethicist,” but as a world-class scholar who has made a stellar contribution to the multidisciplinary field of bioethics. He’s also an extraordinarily nice human being–a species becoming increasingly rare.”

The Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics honors those who have deeply impacted the bioethics discussion by actively educating our society to face the challenges of the 21st century, profoundly defending the dignity of humankind, and enthusiastically embracing ethical biotechnology for the human good.

The CBC will present the award at the annual Paul Ramsey Award Dinner in San Francisco on May 2, 2009 at the Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport Hotel If you would like to attend this dinner, please contact Robyn Spitzer at 510-504-5123.

CBC is about shedding light on the bioethics issues within our culture that most profoundly affect our humanity — especially among the most vulnerable. We are increasingly aware that to accomplish this we need to challenge those who influence our culture to advance a morally responsible science that respects the inherent value of humanity and that celebrates its beauty and complexity. For more information: www.cbc-network.org

Press Contact: Robyn Spitzer 510-504-5123 Robyn.Spitzer@cbc-network.org