Karen Lebacqz

Dr. Lebacqz has been on the Pacific School of Religion faculty for over 30 years. Her life-long commitment to issues of social justice takes shape in three primary areas of writing and teaching: professional ethics, bioethics (especially questions around genetics and the Human Genome Project), and ethical theory (particularly justice and questions of method in ethics). Her publications include more than six books, among them Justice in An Unjust World, Sex in the Parish, and the recent Ethics and Spiritual Care co-authored with PSR Associate Professor Joseph D. Driskill. Her dozens of essays in bioethics, feminist ethics, and sexual ethics have been published in scientific journals, church magazines, and international contexts.

Dr. Lebacqz has served on the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects; as a consultant to the Director of Health for the State of California; as a member of the ELSI-based Genome Project at the Graduate Theological Union's Center for Theology and Natural Sciences; as chair of the Ethics Advisory Board of Geron Corporation; and on other policy-making boards and bodies. A former President of the Society of Christian Ethics, she recently received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Ordained in the United Church of Christ (UCC), Dr. Lebacqz is a member of Mira Vista United Church of Christ in El Cerrito, California and has served as seminary representative to the Justice and Witness Ministries board of the UCC as well as on several other national task forces for her denomination. Her denominational affiliation is embodied in a constant search for what difference it makes to do ethics as a Christian from a liberal tradition that seeks to be respectful of a wide range of other traditions. In addition to her commitment to training future clergy, Dr. Lebacqz is very active in the Graduate Theological Union doctoral program. She currently resides in Mendocino on the north coast of California, and is active in Evergreen United Methodist Church in Fort Bragg. She serves on the ethics committee of Mendocino Coast District Hospital.

During fall semester 2002, Dr. Lebacqz is teaching a new course on Ethics and Leadership, combining her long-term interest in professional ethics with the expertise of Jim Donahue, President of the Graduate Theological Union, on organizational ethics.

Genes and Justice