Batchelor, Edward, Jr., ed., Abortion: The Moral Issues (New York: Pilgrim, 1982) [246 pp.]

Wide-ranging collection of essays, from pro-life and pro-choice perspectives: moral, legal, anthropological, etc. Essentially pro-life essays from a theological perspective include Daniel Callahan, "The Roman Catholic Position"; Paul Ramsey, "The Morality of Abortion"; Karl Barth, "The Protection of Life."

Brody, Baruch, Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life: A Philosophical View (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1975) [162 pp.]

A philosophical defense of the pro-life position.

Burtchaell, James T., Rachel Weeping: The Case Against Abortion (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1982) [382 pp.]

A series of essays by a former president of the American Academy of Religion. Dispassionate, articulate, and thorough.

*Callahan, Daniel, Abortion: Law, Choice, and Morality (New York: MacMilan, 1970) [524 pp.]

This was the definitive work in the 1970's, and I am not aware of its being surpassed as yet. It is by a Roman Catholic, and covers the legal, medical, moral, and philosophical aspects of abortion.

Channer, J. Hugh, ed., Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life (Exeter: Paternoster, 1985) [151 pp.]

A collection of essays by British biblical, medical, and legal scholars. The essay on biblical evidence ("Using the Bible in the Debate About Abortion," by J. W. Rogerson, Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield) is fairly restrained in dealing with what many use as "proof-texts" against abortion, but nonetheless it concludes that the biblical evidence is consistently in favor of life, and that the Bible "challenge[s] us to include unborn children along with the defenceless and minorities whose task it is for the strong to defend" (p. 91). The essay on "Abortion and Early Christian Thought" (by G. Bonner, Reader in Theology, University of Durham) concludes that the early church was unanimously against abortion, but that the reasoning that led to this varied considerably.

Connery, John R., Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (Chicago: Loyola University, 1977) [336 pp.]

Thorough historical review of Roman Catholic thought, beginning with "The Jewish Background."

*Davis, John Jefferson, Abortion and the Christian: What Every Believer Should Know (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1984) [125 pp.]

A wide-ranging survey of the issues, including medical, biblical, legal, and political. Covers all the basic issues well. Besides bibliography, includes index of resources (of pro-life periodicals and organizations).

Delahoyde, Melinda, Fighting for Life: Defending the Newborn's Right to Live, (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant, 1984)

Relatively popular level; addresses mainly questions of infanticide, stemming from retardation and malformation.

Erdahl, Lowell O., Pro-Life/Pro-Peace: Life-Affirming Alternatives to Abortion, War, Mercy Killing, and the Death Penalty (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986) [160 pp.]

Similar to Sider's work, by a Lutheran bishop. After some general introductory chapters, includes one chapter on abortion, and one entitled "When Exceptions Become the Rule."

*Fowler, Paul B., Abortion: Toward an Evangelical Consensus, A Critical Concern Book (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1987) [225 pp.]

Develops a strong case against abortion, on many fronts. Particularly valuable are the two chapters on biblical perspectives. The first surveys biblical perspectives on life and death in general, laying the foundation for the second, concerning perspectives on the unborn. Links concern for the unborn to concern for all who are weak and defenseless, i.e., concern for innocent human life (but does not mention nuclear war in this regard).

Ganz, Richard L., ed., Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Christian Case Against Abortion (New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1978) [200 pp.]

A collection of seven essays by evangelical Christians in different disciplines, including two on biblical/theological perspectives.

Gorman, Michael J., Abortion and the Early Church: Christian, Jewish and Pagan Attitudes in the Greco-Roman World (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1982) [120 pp.]

a careful study that concludes that "The earliest Christian ethic, from Jesus to Constantine, can be described as a consistent pro-life ethic. It was in favor of human life regardless of age, nationality or social standing. It pleaded for the poor, the weak, women, children and the unborn" (p. 90).

*Hensley, Jeff Lane, ed., The Zero People: Essays on Life (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant, 1983) [310 pp.]

A collection of 26 essays, all previously published, on many aspects of the issues. Includes 3 essays on Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish views on abortion. Thorough, competent, and dispassionate treatments throughout.

Hoffmeier, James K., ed., Abortion: A Christian Understanding and Response (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987) [260 pp.]

An interdisciplinary collection of 15 essays from the faculty at Wheaton College (Illinois). Includes 4 essays specifically on biblical perspectives and an essay on abortion in the ancient Near East. The essay on OT law by Hoffmeier is competently done, focusing on infant sacrifice, a theology of creation, and Exod. 21:22-25.

Krason, Stephen M., Abortion: Politics, Morality, and the Constitution: A Critical Study of ROE v. WADE, and DOE v. BOLTON and a Basis for Change (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1984) [707pp.]

Originally a Ph.D. thesis at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Provides a comprehensive review of the legal issues on the matter, and argues a case against abortion, based upon classical (Aristotelian and Stoic) thought, arguing as well that there is a legitimate continuity between the Greek and the American republican models that would legitimate outlawing abortion here today.

Kreeft, Peter, The Unaborted Socrates: A Dramatic Debate on the Issues Surrounding Abortion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1983) [155 pp.]

Kreeft brings back Socrates, who, using his storied method, questions an ethicist, a psychologist, and a doctor who performs abortions on their views. No bibliography.

Nathanson, Bernard N. (with Richard N. Ostling), Aborting America (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979) [321 pp.]

Nathanson, a medical doctor, was a founder of the National Association for Repeal of Abortion Laws in 1969, and director of a major abortion clinic in New York City in 1971-72. He decided on medical grounds that abortion was the taking of a human life, and has worked for pro-life causes since. This book shows many of the human factors and "politics" that have gone into formulations of pro-choice positions. He is honest enough to include a chapter entitled "Specious Arguments Against Abortion," in which he deflates several cherished pro-life lines of argumentation. It is a strongly anti-abortion book nonetheless.

Nelson, S. Kenneth, "Abortion," Independent study in bioethics, for Clarence Bass, Bethel Theological Seminary, 1986.

Research paper [20 pp.] by hospital chaplain focusing on scientific (biological) definitions of when human life begins. Concludes that they overwhelmingly point to conception or implantation. [3-page bibliography]

Noonan, John T., Jr., A Private Choice: Abortion in America in the Seventies (New York: MacMillan/Free, 1979) [244 pp.]

A thorough legal treatise against abortion by a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley.

*Noonan, John T., Jr., ed., The Morality of Abortion: Legal and Historical Perspectives (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University, 1970) [276 pp.]

An important collection of legal and theological essays.

Ramsey, Paul, Three on Abortion (Oak Park, IL: Child and Family, 1978) [78 pp.]

A booklet containing three essays by the Princeton theologian (a United Methodist) originally published elsewhere and reprinted in the Child and Family journal: "Protecting the Unborn" (1974); "Abortion: A Review Article" (1973) [Review of Daniel Callahan, Abortion: Law, Choice and Morality (see above)]; "Feticide/ Infanticide upon Request" (1970).

Sider, Ronald J., Completely Pro-Life: Building a Consistent Stance on Abortion, the Family, Nuclear Weapons, the Poor (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1987) [240 pp.]

Produced with the staff of Evangelicals for Social Action, it argues for a consistent, biblically based pro-life stance with respect to many issues. Includes two chapters on abortion, one on the biblical issues and one on strategies for influencing public policy.

*Spitzer, Walter O., and Carlyle L. Saylor, eds., Birth Control and the Christian: A Protestant Symposium on The Control of Human Reproduction (Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1969) [590 pp.]

A wide-ranging collection of essays given at a symposium sponsored by Christianity Today magazine and the Christian Medical Society, including biblical scholars, theologians, medical doctors, scientists, legal scholars, and others. The conference represented not only a variety of disciplines but also a variety of conclusions on abortion. However, the "Protestant Affirmation on the Control of Human Reproduciton" that came out of the Symposium did allow for abortions:

Of the four essays bearing on the biblical perspectives on abortion (among other things), only one is specifically anti-abortion (J. W. Montgomery's "The Christian View of the Fetus"). In his addendum (written after the Symposium), he challenges Bruce Waltke's position that the fetus is not a soul, according to Exod. 21:22-25. [See Waltke, below.]

Sweet, Gail Grenier, Pro-Life Feminism (Lewiston, NY: Life Cycle Books, 1985)

By Feminists for Life, an organization founded in 1972. Argues that abortion is an assault on true feminist values. Not a biblical treatise; relatively popular level.

Walbert, David F., and J. Douglas Butler, eds., Abortion, Society, and the Law (Cleveland: Case Western Reserve University, 1973) [395 pp.]

A collection of essays, several of which originally appeared in the Case Western Reserve Law Review. The thrust of the essays is pro-choice, but at least two essays are pro-life ("Jewish Views on Abortion," by Rabbi Dr. Immanuel Jakobovits; "The Inviolability of the Right to Be Born," by Congressman Robert F. Drinan, S.J.).

Cerling, C. E., Jr., "Abortion and Contraception in Scripture," Christian Scholar's Review 2 (1971): 42-58.

Argues that the primary grounds upon which abortion may be justified are (1) that children are seen in Scripture as a gift of God, and thus aborting unborn children frustrates God's design for them and their parents, and (2) that fetal life is given a valued place in Scripture: it is "an emerging entity, immeasurably valuable at conception and becoming increasingly valuable as the date of birth approaches" (p. 58). Otherwise, the Bible does not speak directly to the issue.

*Cottrell, Jack W., "Abortion and the Mosaic Law," Christianity Today 17.12 (March 16, 1973): 6-9.

A detailed analysis of Exod. 21:22-25, essentially a rebuttal of Waltke's 1968 and 1969 articles. First, he argues that the "miscarriage" in v. 22 of most English versions should better be seen as a live (premature) birth. The word used here (yasa') commonly means "to go/come out," and often is used to refer to ordinary births. Indeed, a different word ($kl) is used elsewhere for a miscarriage. Second, he points out that "no other harm" in v. 22 is actually "no harm," and argues that it applies to both mother and premature child. The fine is for the trauma of the attack and the premature birth. If there is any harm -- to mother or child -- then the lex talionis takes effect.

House, H. Wayne, "Miscarriage or Premature Birth: Additional Thoughts on Exodus 21:22-25," Westminster Theological Journal 41 (1978): 108-123.

Essentially a restatement of Cottrell's arguments, adding to them in detail but not in substance, citing Jackson and others in support.

Jackson, Bernard S., "The Problem of Exod. XXI 22-5 (Ius Talionis)," Vetus Testamentum 23 (1973): 273-304.

The most thorough-going treatment of this passage to date. Jackson concludes that v. 22 refers to a premature live birth.

Kline, Meredith G., "Lex Talionis and the Human Fetus," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20 (1977): 193-201.

A detailed exegesis of Exod. 21:22-25, concluding that the fetus is accorded full human rights there, on a very different exegetical basis from Cottrell and others. Uses the analogy of the fine (more properly, a ransom) imposed in the law on ox-goring (Exod. 21:30) to elucidate the fine imposed in this passage (v. 22).

Scott, Graham A. D., "Abortion and the Incarnation," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 17 (1974): 29-44.

With reference to NT evidence, Scott concludes that "From the New Testament doctrine of the incarnation in general and from Luke 1 in particular, one can deduce that each individual human life begins at conception, the problems of fetal wastage, sexual abuse and the importance of birth notwithstanding. From this one can conclude that induced abortion involves the termination of a human life" (p 41). Contains a useful review of the most significant scholarly literature in many fields (Christian and non-Christian) on both sides of the issue on pp. 30-32.

Waltke, Bruce K., "The Old Testament and Birth Control," Christianity Today 13.8 (Nov. 8, 1968): 3-6.

Includes a brief treatment of abortion, concluding that the OT "does not equate the fetus with a living person" (p. 4).

Waltke, Bruce K., "Old Testament Texts Bearing on the Problem of the Control of Human Reproduction," in Spitzer and Saylor, eds., Birth Control and the Christian: 6-23.

A section of this 1969 essay develops more fully Waltke's position that the OT permits some abortions: "the Old Testament ... never reckons the fetus as equivalent to a life" (p. 11). It is the subject of much discussion in years following, and it is modified -- in a pro-life direction -- by Waltke himself in 1976.

*Waltke, Bruce K., "Reflections From the Old Testament on Abortion," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 19 (1976): 3-13.

1975 Presidential Address of the ETS. This is Waltke's restatement of his position, in light of published rebuttals (especially Cottrell's) and his own reflection. He now concludes that "The fetus is human and therefore to be accorded the same protection to life granted every other human being. Indeed, feticide is murder, an attack against a fellow man who owes his life to God, and a violation of the commandment, `You shall not kill.' ... abortion can be justified only in those cases when the fetus represents material aggression against the mother" (p. 13).

He reaches this conclusion on other grounds than the Exod. 21:22-25 passage, which he still thinks he interpreted correctly in 1969 (seeing v. 22 referring to a miscarriage). Now, however, he argues that the fetus is a human being on the basis (1) that life is mediated seminally, not ex nihilo, (2) that we inherit life from Adam, who received it from God, (3) that we inherit a sinful nature in the same way, (4) that Adam bore a son "in his own likeness and according to his image" (Gen 5:3), (5) that Ps. 51:5-6 [MT 7-8] shows that the fetus possesses moral faculties (positive and negative) (citing E. R. Dalglish [Psalm Fifty-One in the Light of Near Eastern Patternism {Leiden: Brill, 1962}] here).