Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Josephus and genetic engineering
Josephus and genetic engineering
Mar 28, 2026 12:53 PM

With the prevalence of moral relativism in the western world, science tends to forge ahead, regardless of opposition from traditional ethics, into whatever realms it deems necessary for the “advancement” of mankind. To counterbalance the extremity of the munity, especially in regard to the genetic engineering of hybrid species, I would like to offer up the thoughts of an historian from 2000 years ago regarding the mixing of species. His e from the long oral and written traditions passed down through the Jews from Moses:

…The seeds are also to be pure, and without mixture, and not to pounded of two or three sorts, since Nature does not rejoice in the union of things that are not in their own nature alike; nor are you to permit beasts of different kinds to gender together, for there is reason to fear that this unnatural abuse may extend from beasts of different kinds to men, though it takes its first rise from evil practices about such smaller things. Nor is anything to be allowed, by imitation whereof any degree of subversion may creep into the constitution; nor do the laws neglect small matters but provide that even those may be managed after an unblamable manner. (Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, 4.8.20)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
National Catholic Register Interview on PovertyCure
What is the best way to help the the global poor? One group attempting to bring innovative thinking to that question is PovertyCure, an initiative of the Acton Institute. PovertyCure brings together an international coalition to encourage entrepreneurial solutions to poverty that are rooted in a Christian understanding of the person, who is created in the image of God. Michael Matheson Miller, the director of PovertyCure, was recently interviewed about the project by the National Catholic Register: What are some...
Three Keys to a Flourishing Middle Class
In the latest edition of his monthly newsletter, Economic Prospect, John Teevan offers three keys to cultivating a flourishing middle class, as excerpted below: e and Jobs: America looks at jobs and es alone and can only explain fading middle class by blaming rich people. We can do better than just focus on money. Isn’t life more than your job and what it will buy? …Marriage and Family. The middle class would swell and poverty would be decimated if all...
How are Religious and Economic Freedom Connected?
Today at Public Discourse, I examine recent data that strongly suggests that “freedom from government restrictions on religion often paves the way for economic liberty.” I write, Thus, we can say that if someone wishes to promote economic liberty worldwide, one should not neglect to encourage religious liberty at the same time. This requires facing the challenges of any given country’s religious context and history, while underscoring the importance of interreligious studies for international economic development efforts. These findings also...
7 Figures: Trafficking in Children on the Increase
Today the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released their 2014 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. “Unfortunately, the report shows there is no place in the world where children, women and men are safe from human trafficking,” said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov “Official data reported to UNODC by national authorities represent only what has been detected. It is very clear that the scale of modern-day slavery is far worse.” Here are seven figures you should know...
Christians: We Are More Alike Than We Are Different
My favorite psychology professor, when I was an undergrad, had a saying: “We are all more alike than we are different.” While most of us would never know the horror of paranoid psychosis, he said, we all know the fear of walking into a room and thinking, “Why is everyone looking at me? Is something wrong?” It’s in this realization of mon human experiences that we could begin to see even the most ill person in passionate manner. It seems...
Swift vs. Spotify and the Future of the Struggling Artist
Taylor Swift recently made waveswhen her record label pulled her entire catalog off Spotify, apopular music streaming service. Fans and critics responded in turn, banging their chests and wailing in solidarity, meming and moaningacross the Twitterverseabout the plight of the Struggling Artist and the imperialism of mean old Master Spotify. Yet as an avid and thoroughly satisfied Spotify user, I couldn’t help but think of the wide variety of artists sprinkled across my playlists, a diverse mix of superstars, one-hit-wonders,...
Explainer: Everything You Ever Needed to Know About Grand Juries
By the end of this month, a grand jury is expected to hand down a decision in the case of the shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. One ofthe most frequently considered questions related to the case is, “What exactly is a grand jury?” Although seemingly shrouded in mystery, grand juries are an essential part of the protections of our liberties within the legal system of the United States. Here is everything you ever...
Interview with Rev. Sirico at Christianity Today
In an interview forChristianity Today, Joseph Gorra, founder and director of Veritas Life Center, talks to Acton’s president and co-founder Rev. Robert Sirico about economic life and human flourishing: At this year’s Acton University conference, you spoke on how love is an indispensable basis for economic life. To some, that might seem odd if economic life is viewed as the maximization of utility and material well-being. We can’t enter the marketplace as something other than what we really are, and...
Why Gender Matters for Christian Stewardship
“By putting male and female together as the image of God, there’s something very powerful being said about the rest of creation… about how the male and female together have the task of bringing the love and life and stewardship and care of creation of God into the rest of the world.” –N.T. Wright Christians believe that all humans are created in the image of God, a notion that shapes our understanding of human dignity and transforms our view of...
Samuel Gregg on the Complicated Relationship of Business & Religious Freedom
Samuel Gregg, Acton’s director of research, recently wrote about the plicated relationship” between religious freedom and business. While there may not seem like a natural connection between these two concepts, Gregg points out that, especially recently, we are seeing a number of businesses “impacted by apparent infringements of religious liberty.” He goes on to discuss just plicated this relationship is: Until relatively late in the modern era, most Jews in Europe were legally prohibited from formal involvement in political life...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved