Charles Camosy

Currently an assistant professor of Christian ethics at Fordham University in the Bronx, I am interested in fostering intellectual solidarity between binary groups which typically or sometimes find conversation difficult. The Roman Catholic moral traditions from which my work flows are a powerful wedge for breaking these often polarized impasses because, often with one foot planted firmly in either camp, they can light they way toward finding common ground useful for beginning fruitful interaction.  In particular, a Roman Catholic moral anthropology balances the dignity of the human person in its individual and social aspects—and can therefore serve as a bridge between ‘moral status conservatives’ and ‘social justice liberals.’

My early work has focused especially on medical and clinical ethics with regard to stem cell research and, the focus of my first book, treatment of critically ill newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit.  But my current book project takes intellectual solidarity in a new direction.  The ethic of Peter Singer and a Christian ethic are thought to be diametrically opposed, but my thesis is that this polarized understanding is a mistake and that a close and charitable reading of the two approaches shows that they are similar enough for both fruitful and mutually-critical correlation.  Indeed, I argue that they can work together for peace and justice on many different kinds of issues—from combating global poverty to the liberation of non-human animals.

In addition to serving on the ethics committee of the Children’s Hospital of New York and as an advisory board member for the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, I’m also working on two other initiatives: (1) the Fordham Conversation Project—a group of young Roman Catholic theologians dedicated to finding ways to push back against the polarized division in the American Church, and (2) a conference at Princeton University designed to facilitate new ways to think and speak about abortion.