“Religions are not a panacea, but together with secular thought they can help humankind deal with important ethical issues ranging from the threat of environmental destruction, to medical research”. This was one of the take-aways from Professor Shaji George Kochuthara’s lectures delivered at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta on 5 and 6 October 2022.
Prof. Kochuthara hails from Kerala, India, and is currently Associate Professor of Moral Theology and Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum in Bangalore. Among other prestigious academic positions that he holds, he is Chief Editor of Asian Horizons Journal and Co-Chair of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (CTEWC). Prof. Kochuthara has published several books and articles especially in the field of environmental ethics, bioethics, and sexual ethics.
During his brief visit to Malta, honouring an invitation extended to him by the Department of Moral Theology, Prof. Kochuthara delivered two lectures at the Faculty of Theology. In his public lecture titled An Inter-religious Approach to Environmental Ethics and Spirituality and delivered on 5 October 2022, he argued that the care of the environment is central to all main religions. By their very nature, religions are effective in shaping values and perspectives of people. Therefore, religions are an important, often overlooked, ally in initiatives aimed at countering environmental degradation.
On 6 October 2022, Prof. Kochuthara delivered a lecture titled Medical Research and Healthcare, addressed specifically to present and past students of the Master of Arts in Bioethics programme. Prof. Kochuthara showed how faith, irrespective of the religion embraced, together with religious and cultural values, can complement law, which by itself is unable to bring about change. This is particularly true when it comes to issues of respecting and promoting the autonomy and dignity of the human person, especially when this is threatened through unchecked medical research programmes.
The Department of Moral Theology and the Faculty of Theology look forward to further collaboration with Professor Kochuthara and other scholars in India.
