In a post two weeks ago I raised the question of when personhood begins. Andrew Brown, writing for the Guardian the other day describes a debate between the secular philosopher John Harris, and Professor David Jones of St. Mary’s College (Roman Catholic) which raised an even more useful (and perhaps even more unanswerable) question: what gives that “life” value?

The scenario, as Brown describes it goes something like this: at one end of the birth canal it is an embryo, and can be destroyed, at the other end – in the world – it is a valued human being. Nothing happens in transit to impart value on that life – so what does, and where does it begin?

Of course in this scenario there is that sense of liminality I raised in the previous post – when the “life” is neither human, nor not human. But Brown ends with a very interesting point:

“It seems to me that one of the reasons that a moral philosopher might postulate God is that it doesn’t make much sense to talk about things being valuable and worthwhile if you aren’t prepared to suggest to whom or what they are valuable or worthwhile. This is where the God of orthodox Christianity comes in handy, because he is by definition the only being who can value everything entirely for its own sake. Everything else in the universe – possibly everything in the universe – finds other things valuable and worthwhile in as much as they serve its purposes.”

The natural follow up question, albeit an exceptionally scholastic one, in relation to “personhood” and “value” is: at which point in the process does God assign value to this “life”?

If, “personhood” and “value” are assigned at the moment of conception (sperm & egg fusing) then we ought to also consider for a moment the effect of the biology involved. Each one of us (unless you are fraternal twins) exists at the expense of other “lives” that were naturally destroyed in the womb – if we accept that they too were “valued” or “persons” then it is not unreasonable to ask why they were destroyed.

As I’ve said previously – this cannot be reduced to black and white answers, and polarized positioning – indeed this is an object lesson in the sacramental way of life – we stand in the mystery, in that liminal space, celebrating the challenges of discernment, enjoying that little bit of wonder and awe in the process.