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IS THERE A DUTY TO RESPECT “HISTORICAL” FAITH? CHRISTIAN PROSELYTISM OF AN OLDER JEWISH WOMAN WITH DEMENTIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2016

Israel (Issi) Doron  and
Charles Foster
Israel (Issi) Doron
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa
Charles Foster
Affiliation:
Fellow of Green Templeton College, University of Oxford; The Ethox Centre and the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford
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Abstract

In this article, we present a short case study based on an incident that occurred in Israel several years ago. The incident did not reach the courts but was made public by the family members of the older woman at the center of it. The family argued that the actions taken by one of the parties involved should have been defined as elder abuse, but no criminal charges were ever brought. Yet the issues concern key legal and ethical questions about law, religion, and older persons. More specifically, the incident raises the issue of the moral commitment to one's past religious beliefs in reference to one's current choices and preferences once living with dementia. We contend in this article that an Aristotelean account of human dignity would have provided the most satisfactory way to resolve the tensions created by this incident.

Keywords

dementiahuman dignityhistorical faithethics and aging
Type
SYMPOSIUM: GLOBAL LEGAL AND RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES ON ELDER CARE
Information
Journal of Law and Religion , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , July 2016 , pp. 118 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University 2016 

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