Jesus v. Abortion: They Know Not What They Do. By Charles K. Bellinger

Extract

Charles Bellinger’s critique of abortion occurs within a larger theological critique of violence and secular politics. Building upon the insights of Søren Kierkegaard and René Girard, Bellinger locates violence in denial of spiritual growth and rejection of the vertical dimension of religious life. Bellinger also criticizes individualism, autonomy, and liberal political philosophy. Arguing that contemporary social and moral systems are based on nominalism, Bellinger offers Christian moral realism as a solution.

The author covers a broad range of scholarship. He quotes a wide variety of anti-abortion sources, including “pro-life converts” such as Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade) and abortion doctors who changed their minds. He explores historical analogies—with slavery and abolitionism, for example. And he sprinkles Bible quotes throughout.

His argument is consistent and extensive. But it is also hyperbolic. He suggests that Roe v. Wade author Justice Harry Blackmun is a modern Pontius Pilate. He argues that abortion represents an abandonment of Christ in favor of the “dread spirit” who tempted Christ (p. 208). For a secular humanist reader such as myself, the book comes across as strident and tendentious. In addition to arguing against abortion, Bellinger argues that human rights can only be adequately grounded in theology, and that secularism and individualism are false idols.