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Both ancient Greek thought and ancient Jewish thought are considered to have affected early Christian thought about abortion. According to Bakke and Clarke &Linzey, early Christians adhered to Aristotle's belief in delayed ensoulment, [25] [failed verification] [26] [failed verification] [1] [need quotation to verify] [10] [need quotation to verify] [7] [failed verification] and consequently ...
Christians and scholars also disagree on how abortion has been perceived historically. While some writers say that early Christians held different beliefs at different times about abortion, [6] [7] [8] others claim that abortion has always been condemned at any point of pregnancy as a grave sin. [9]
Some scholars have concluded that early Christians took a nuanced stance on what is now called abortion and that at different times, and in separate places, early Christians have taken different stances. [15] [16] [17] Other scholars have concluded that early Christians considered abortion a sin at all stages; although there is disagreement ...
In an entry in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Marilyn J. Harran wrote the following: Buddhism in its various forms affirms that, while suicide as self-sacrifice may be appropriate for the person who is an arhat, one who has attained enlightenment, it is still very much the exception to the rule. [12]
There has always been much debate over the 'Christian views on suicide', with early Christians believing that suicide is sinful and an act of blasphemy. Modern Christians do not consider suicide an unforgivable sin (though still wrong and sinful) or something that prevents a believer who died by suicide from achieving eternal life. [1] [2] [3]
In some ancient societies, suicide may have been considered an act of personal redemption. The Roman historian Livy describes the apocryphal suicide of Lucretia as an atonement for being sexually assaulted, thus losing her chastity; before dying by suicide Lucretia says, "although I acquit myself of the sin, I do not free myself from the penalty."
The early Christian work called the Didache (before 100 AD) says: "do not murder a child by abortion or kill a new-born infant." [67] Tertullian, a 2nd- and 3rd-century Christian theologian argued that abortion should be performed only in cases in which abnormal positioning of the fetus in the womb would endanger the life of the pregnant woman.
In the earliest texts, it can be difficult to discern to what extent a particular religious injunction held force as secular law. In later texts, the rationale for abortion laws may be sought in a wide variety of fields including philosophy, religion, and jurisprudence. These rationales were not always included in the wording of the actual laws.