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David Albert Jones is Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford; he was appointed in 2010. He is also a Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University (courtesy of whom, profile picture above), and Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Professor Jones read Natural Sciences and Philosophy at Cambridge (1984-1987), and Theology at Oxford (1992-2000). In 2002, he was appointed Senior Lecturer at St Mary’s University, Twickenham where he helped establish an MA in Bioethics. Subsequently, he was appointed Professor in Bioethics and co-founded the Centre for Bioethics and Emerging Technologies. Professor Jones’s doctorate was published as Approaching the End: a theological exploration of death and dying (Oxford University Press, 2007). His previous book The Soul of the Embryo: An enquiry into the status of the human embryo in the Christian tradition (Continuum, 2004) was short-listed for the Michael Ramsey Prize.

He is Vice-Chair of the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee, and an examiner for the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries Diploma in the Philosophy of Medicine. He is a member of the Healthcare Executive Group and the Department of Social Justice of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. He is a member of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the EU (COMECE) Working Group on Ethics in Research and Medicine and is a Corresponding Member of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

In 2009 he was a member of a working party of the General Medical Council which helped draft its 2010 guidance on Treatment and Care Towards the End of Life and was also on the National Reference Group of the Liverpool Care Pathway for the Dying Patient. He has contributed to a number of documents of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, including A Practical Guide to the Spiritual Care of the Dying Person (CTS, 2010). In 2017 he was awarded the Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics. His most recent book, co-edited with Chris Gastmans and Calum MacKellar is Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017).

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Contact: director@bioethics.org.uk

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Selected publications (not mentioned above)

Books, booklets and reports

Mental Health in Europe: Ethical and Religious Considerations. Brussels: Secretariat of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community, 2017.  (rapporteur for the Working Group on Ethics in Research and Medicine).

The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe. Exeter: Imprint Academic (St. Andrews Studies in Philosophy and Public Affairs), 2016. (editor with Luke Gormally and Roger Teichmann).

Thinking Christian ethos: the meaning of Catholic education. London: CTS, 2015. (with S. Barrie).

On the ethics of organ transplantation: a Catholic perspective, the report of a working party. Oxford: Anscombe Bioethics Centre, 2014 (contributor and co-editor with M. Jarmulowicz et al.).

Chimera's Children: Ethical, Philosophical and Religious Perspectives on Human-Nonhuman Experimentation. London: Continuum, 2012 (co-editor with C. MacKellar).

Healthcare Allocation and Justice: Applying Catholic Social Teaching. London: CTS, 2010 (with P. Gately and A. Beck).

Angels: A history. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010, Very Short Introduction edition 2011.

The Mental Capacity Act and 'Living Wills': a practical guide for Catholics. London: CTS, 2008 (contributor and co-editor).

Living Life to the Full: An Introduction to the Moral and Social Teaching of the Catholic Church. Oxford: Family Publications, 2001; Slovak translation, 2010; London: CTS Year of Faith edition 2013, under the title Living Life to the Full: An Introduction to Christian Morality.

Christianity: An Introduction to the Catholic Faith. Oxford: Family Publications, 1999, German translation 2000; Japanese translation 2001; Sydney: World Youth Day edition 2007; London: CTS Year of Faith edition 2012.

Chapters in books/encyclopaedia articles

‘Catholic Controversy over the Rationale for the Determination of Death by Neurological Criteria’ in J. Eberl (ed) Contemporary Controversies in Catholic Bioethics. Dordrecht: Springer, 2017.

‘A Life Worth Living? Disabled People and Euthanasia in Belgium’ in D.A. Jones, C. MacKellar and C Gastmans (eds) Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. (with K. Fitzpatrick)

‘Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide in Belgium: Bringing an End to Interminable Discussion’ in D.A. Jones, C. MacKellar and C Gastmans (eds) Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.

‘Judgment 2—Airedale NHS Trust v Bland [1993] AC 789’ in S. Smith et al. Ethical Judgments: Re-writing Medical Law. Oxford: Hart, 2016.

‘Anscombe on the Human Embryo’ in Luke Gormally, David Albert Jones and Roger Teichmann (eds) The Moral Philosophy of Elizabeth Anscombe. Exeter: Imprint Academic (St. Andrews Studies in Philosophy and Public Affairs), 2016.

‘Is dignity language useful in bioethical discussion of assisted suicide and abortion?’ in C. McCrudden (ed) Understanding Human Dignity. London: British Academy and Oxford University Press, 2013.

‘Death by Equivocation: A manifold definition of terminal sedation’ in S. Sterckx et al (eds) Continuous Sedation at the End of Life: Ethical Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.

‘A Good Death’ in P. Gilbert (ed.) Spirituality and End of Life Care. Brighton: Pavilion, 2013.

‘Respecting Patients’ Religious Beliefs’ in C. Cowley (ed) Reconceiving Medical Ethics. London: Continuum, 2012.

‘Christian Ethics, Roman Catholic’ in R. Chadwick (ed) Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, 2nd edition. Elsevier Press, 2012.

‘Incapacity and personhood: respecting the non-autonomous self’ in H. Watt (ed) Incapacity and Care: Controversies in healthcare and research. London: The Linacre Centre, 2009.

‘An Unfounded Diagnosis: Challenges to the Medical and Metaphysical Justifications of “Brain Death”’ in John P. Lizza (ed) Persons at the Beginning and End of Life: Readings on Personal Identity and Bioethics. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

‘John Paul II and Moral Theology’ in G. O’Collins and M. Hayes (eds) The Legacy of Pope John Paul II. London: Continuum, 2008.

‘The Encounter with Suffering in the Practice of Medicine in the Light of Christian Revelation’ in L Gormally (ed) Issues for a Catholic Bioethic. London: The Linacre Centre 1999.

Journal Articles

‘Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, and Suicide Rates in Europe’, Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 11.5 (2022).

‘Assisted dying and suicide prevention’, Journal of Disability & Religion, 22.3 (2018): 298-316.

‘End-of-life care and the right to die’ (with M.Donnelly), Survival and the citizen: Micro-dialogues on key challenges No. 1., Royal Irish Academy (2018).

‘Truth in transition? Gender identity and Catholic anthropology’, New Blackfriars 99.1084 (2018): 756-774.

‘Gender Reassignment Surgery: A Catholic Bioethical Analysis’, Theological Studies (2018) 79(2): 314–338.

‘Infant male circumcision: A Catholic theological and bioethical analysis’, The Linacre Quarterly (2017): 1-18.

‘The American College of Pediatricians statement on “gender ideology”: A note of caution’, Catholic Medical Quarterly (August 2017) 67.3: 11-15.

‘Editing out the embryo: the debate over “human genome editing” in the United Kingdom and the United States’, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (2017) 17.1: 83–105.

‘“They deserve better”: Reflecting on “Reflecting the ‘human nature’ of IVF embryos”’, Journal of Law and the Biosciences 4.2 (2017): 397-403.

‘An unholy mess: Why “the sanctity of life principle” should be jettisoned’, New Bioethics (2016) 22.3: 185-201.

‘Apostles of suicide: Theological precedent for Christian support of “assisted dying”’, Studies in Christian Ethics (2016) 29.3: 331–338.

‘How does legalization of physician assisted suicide affect rates of suicide?’, Southern Medical Journal (2015) 108.10: 599-604 (with D Paton).

‘The other woman: Evaluating the language of “three parent” embryos’, Clinical Ethics (2015) 10.4: 97–106.

‘Human dignity in healthcare: A virtue ethics approach’, New Bioethics (2015), 21.1: 87-97.

‘Magisterial teaching on vital conflicts: a reply to Rev Kevin Flannery SJ’, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (2014), 14.1: 81-104.

‘Doctors, dying children and religious parents: dialogue or demonisation?’, Clinical Ethics (March 2013), 8.1:2-4 (with D.R Katz and J. Wyatt)

‘Aquinas as an advocate of abortion?: the appeal to “delayed animation” in contemporary Christian ethical debates on the human embryo’, Studies in Christian Ethics (February 2013), 26.1:97-124.

‘Loss of faith in brain death: Catholic controversy over the determination of death by neurological criteria’, Clinical Ethics (2012), 7: 133-141.

‘Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and Aristotle on “delayed animation”’, Thomist (2012), 76:1-36.

‘Germ-line genetic engineering: a critical look at Magisterial Catholic teaching’, Christian Bioethics (2012).

‘Is there a logical slippery slope from voluntary to non-voluntary euthanasia?’, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal (December 2011), 21.4: 379-404.

‘The “special status” of the human embryo in the United Kingdom: an exploration of the use of language in public policy’, Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics (2011) 17.1:66-83.

‘Is the creation of admixed embryos “an offense against human dignity”?’, Human Reproduction and Genetic Ethics (2010), 16.1: 87-114.

‘Consent for biobank tissue in somatic-cell nuclear transfer?’, Lancet (12 September 2009), 374.9693: 861-863 (with Calum MacKellar).

‘What Does The British Public Think About Human-Animal Hybrid Embryos?’, Journal of Medical Ethics (2009), 35:168-170.

‘Why Emergency Contraception remains controversial’, Southern Medical Journal (January 2009), 102.1:5-7 (with Trevor Stammers).

‘Surveying the Foundations of Medical Law: A Reassessment of Glanville Williams’s The Sanctity of Life and the Criminal Law’, Medical Law Review (2008), 16.1: 85-126 (with John Keown).

‘The Hippocratic Oath III: Hippocratic principles applied to the withdrawal of treatment and the Mental Capacity Act’, Catholic Medical Quarterly (2007), 57.2:15-23.

‘The Hippocratic Oath II: Modern adaptations of the classical doctors’ oath’, Catholic Medical Quarterly (February 2006), 56.1: 6-16.

‘The human embryo in the Christian tradition: a reconsideration’, Journal of Medical Ethics December (2005), 31.12: 710-714.

‘The appeal to the Christian tradition in the debate about embryonic stem cell research’, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations (July 2005), 16.3.

‘The Hippocratic Oath I: its content and the limits to its adaptation’, Catholic Medical Quarterly August (2003), 54.3: 9-17.

‘A Theologian’s Brief On the place of the human embryo within the Christian tradition and the theological principles for evaluating its moral status’, Ethics and Medicine (2001), 17. 3: 143-153.

‘Nagging Doubts about Brain Death’, Catholic Medical Quarterly (1995), 47.3.