oa De gereformeerde orthodoxie en de morele status van het embryo

Recently a group of theologians has advanced the thesis (1) that the majority of the Christian tradition endorsed the opinion that human life is sacred from the very beginning, and (2) that this moral judgment was based on convictions about the ensoulment of the embryo. This article is devoted to the question whether the development of thought within reformed orthodoxy supports this thesis or not. Comparison of three important reformed theologians (Danaeus, Alsted, Voetius) shows that they are acquainted with theories about ensoulment, but have differing opinions about the relevancy of these theories for morality.