Conception: An Icon of the Beginning
by Francis Etheredge
A book to plunge into the debate on the beginning of life like a life-boat dropping into the stormy seas filled with a variety of arguments both simple and more complex, drawing on reason, evidence and expert human biologists, the wisdom of Scripture, the Fathers and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, with extensive contents for searching the many varied and diverse kinds of contributions and launched in the hope of helping the unborn, the frozen and all who are open to be touched by the wonder of life but lost in a bewildering maze of difficulties.
Each one of us is a witness to a beginning. Learning to speak about that beginning is a personal work that we share with others. This book, then, takes up those initial questions, sources and terms that help us to make sense of human conception and express it “a-freshly”. Each of us comes to exist through others: a child has a father and a mother and is embedded in a family. Indeed, if to be conceived is to be “conceived-in-relationship” then we are an Icon of the Beginning. Just, however, as “the beginning of creation” expressed an act of the mystery of God, so does the conception of each one of us; and, therefore, exploring human conception is at the same time an exploration of how human conception “recapitulates” the mystery of man’s creation.
The book is invaluably enriched by a variety of contributors: Dr Mary Anne Urlakis’ General Foreword, two poems by her daughter, Grace Marie Urlakis, and by helpful Forewords to each of the chapters from Dr. Joseph Tham, LC, Dr. Ronda Chervin, Dr. Michael Baggott, LC, Sr. Helena Burns and Kathleen Sweeney; there is an invaluably discerning review of the scientific knowledge of human conception provided by Professors Justo Aznar and Julio Tudela (in Chapter V: Part II); in addition, there are a variety of modern images from the Unesco Bioethics in Art Competitions; and, finally, there is a challenging End Word: A New Beginning, by Dr. Elizabeth Bothamley Rex.
Paperback $29.95 | Kindle $9.99
INTERVIEWS
In this episode of The Catholic Current, Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ, interviews Francis Etheredge, co-founder of the Donum Vitae Institute and author of Conception: An Icon of the Beginning and The Prayerful Kiss. (February 5, 2020)
TESTIMONIALS
“A fresh brilliant analysis of the moment of human conception in the light of God’s creation.” – Dr. Ronda Chervin, author of The Way of Love: The Path of Inner Transformation
“In this beautifully crafted work, Francis Etheredge argues that the human embryo is absolutely the ‘first jot’ of a person’s life story. Human persons are also relational beings for persons cannot understand themselves without reference to the other. The creative act integrates body and soul, echoing the beginning of creation. Each of us is thus an icon of the beginning. The argument put forward in favour of human beings existing body and soul from conception is robust: the Church teaches that Mary is the perfect creature from conception. She is full of grace from conception. If there is no soul, there is no grace as the soul is the recipient of grace. Her conception defines the moment of our creatureliness for us. This work is a wonderful argument in favour of the close harmony between Genesis and human generation.” – Pravin Thevathasan, MB.BS, MRPsych, MSc (Medical Ethics), Consultant Psychiatrist and Editor, Catholic Medical Quarterly
“This is a remarkable book. I know of no other that brings together philosophy, theology, embryology, the visual arts, and poetry in celebration of the beauty and inviolability of human life in the womb. It reminds me of the words of King David in the Psalm: ‘Didst thou not form me in my mother’s womb? I praise thee for my wondrous fashioning.'” – Fr. John Saward, author of Redeemer in the Womb
Author Articles
“Conception: A Contradiction?” by Francis Etheredge, Homiletics and Pastoral Review (December 11, 2020), available here.
Announcement on UNESCO’s Website
For the listing on UNESCO’s Website, click here.
Announcement on the Catholic University of Valencia’s Website
“The Bioethics Observatory participates in the writing of an American book on the origin of human life.” Bioethics Observatory. Click here to see the announcement.
Announcement on One Of Us’s Website
Reviews
Review by Bishop John Keenan
Conception: An Icon of the Beginning
Francis Etheredge
This book arose in response to the question: When does the life of a human being begin? It is a question as old as humanity itself, and the paths taken to answer it are now well worn and known.
In that sense it is a rare event indeed to find the question take us in quite a new direction, one that has its beginning before tired and tested words and concepts, and opens its vista to include the insights of origins, of art and spirit. Where others have seen a crossroads separating the paths of faith and science, Etheredge has noticed a highway of mystery that allows more sense. In this world of his we begin to understand how the dilemmas that have plagued questions around human life and love are not lacking in arguments but have become stuck out of a failure of imagination more than anything.
In bringing the gift of new intuitions into play Francis Etheredge opens the mind to wonder at what creation would have meant to our world before its sights were lowered to mere notions of fabrication and reproduction. Where the world seems blinded by techne and asks only about usefulness, he sees its poiesis and is lost in contemplation; where it sees only stuff and obsolescence, he sees eternal significance.
At the moment of conception, Etheredge sees not just fusion but light as, who knows, some radiation of that first Light. The body and soul are not two entities but sacramentally one, as outward and inward expressions of the one reality of the human person, itself an icon embodying the idea of God. In widening the horizon, he invites us to consider human sexuality way beyond pure function and satisfaction, and to imagine it as a harmony whose tune begins in the breath of divine intercommunion itself.
It makes sense, then, that his work is carried out in the company of poets and artists, philosophers and theologians. Only this method opens the intuitions of creation and revelation, of beginnings and incarnations, of mysteries and their expressions. All of this is the living environment where the central thesis breathes; that where the body lives, there is the soul, and where there is both there is the human person, created whole as the only way God knows how.
I invite you to accompany Etheredge on the adventure of where the life of a human being begins, not so much as to have some ready-made answer to the controversies of our times, but so that this long contemplative gaze into the eyes of the human person allows you, at the same moment, to see something of the face of God and know, for what it is worth, the vast beginning and end of man.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Francis Etheredge is married with eleven children, three of whom are in heaven. Marriage and family life are a work of graced nature: a single reality which has a history and is a vocation. Through sharing his life, Francis hopes that others will discover the God who comes to help.
Francis is the author of The Human Person: A Bioethical Word (En Route Books & Media, 2017), with forewords from eight writers; The Family on Pilgrimage: God Leads Through Dead Ends (2018); and Conception: An Icon of the Beginning, with contributions from ten other authors, as well as The Prayerful Kiss (2019); Mary and Bioethics: An Exploration (2020); Honest Rust and Gold: A Second Collection of Prose and Poetry (2020), Within Reach of You: A Book of Prose and Prayers (2021), Unfolding a Post-Roe World (2022), Reaching for the Resurrection: A Pastoral Bioethics (2022), Human Nature: Moral Norm, Lord, Do You Mean Me? A Father-Catechist! (2023), A Word in your Heart: Youth, Mental Health, and the Word of God (2023), and An Unlikely Gardener: Prose and Poems
See Francis’ other books, too, entitled Scripture: A Unique Word, From Truth and truth: Volume I-Faithful Reason, From Truth and truth: Volume II: Faith and Reason in Dialogue, From Truth and truth: Volume III: Faith is Married Reason.
Francis is currently a freelance writer and speaker and his “Posts” on LinkedIn can be viewed here. Poetry; short articles; autobiographical blog; excerpts from books; and “Philosophize: A Ten Minute Write.”
He has earned a BA Div (Hons), MA in Catholic Theology, PGC in Biblical Studies, PGC in Higher Education, and an MA in Marriage and Family (Distinction).
Enjoy these additional articles by Francis Etheredge:
OTHER ACADEMIC BOOKS
Disputed Catholic Landmarks: From Disinformation to Information
Disputed Catholic Landmarks by Gerard Verschuuren Everyone's life has landmarks: when you were born, when you graduated from school, when you got your first job, when you got married, and so many more. There must be many landmarks in the history of the Catholic...
The Divine Mosaic: Piecing Together Catholic and Orthodox Unity
The Divine Mosaic: Piecing Together Catholic and Orthodox Unity by James Likoudis This book collects essays, speeches, and presentations given over the course of James Likoudis' seven decades as a Catholic. As a convert from Eastern Orthodoxy, he has devoted the...
Scholars of the Sacred: Dominican Theologians in Late Medieval Byzantium
Scholars of the Sacred: Dominican Theologians in Late Medieval Byzantium by James Likoudis This in-depth study of the Catholic–Orthodox reunion efforts during the tumultuous 11th–15th centuries reveals the vital role played by the Dominican Order in shaping the...
Metaphysics, Truth and St. Thomas Aquinas
Metaphysics, Truth and St. Thomas Aquinas by Dr. Donald G. Boland In studying natural wisdom, Dr. Boland takes a look at how Aristotle defends the principle of non-contradiction, focusing on the great philosopher's treatment of the causes that prompted the ancients to...
Thomas of the Creator
Thomas of the Creator by Dr. Donald G. Boland Based on the works of St. Thomas, in particular his two Summas and his commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics and Metaphysics, this book is divided into three parts; 1) The Existence of God; 2) His Essence; 3) His Attributes,...
Beloved Lover: The Priesthood in the Song of Songs
Beloved Lover: The Priesthood in the Song of Songs by Fr. Gregory Cleveland, OMV In the context of the mystical love poetry of the Song of Songs, Beloved Lover explores how the priest is the living image of Jesus Christ, the Spouse of the Church. The priest is called...
True Catholic Doctrinal Development: The Modal Distinction of Francisco Suárez and its Christological-Theological Consequences
True Catholic Doctrinal Development: The Modal Distinction of Francisco Suárez and its Christological-Theological Consequences by Dr. Rafael Xavier Gonzalez In this book, Dr. Rafael Gonzalez discusses Suárez' modal distinction, which seems to satisfy both medieval...
Contemporary Sacred Art: Conversations on Art & Faith
COMING SOON! Contemporary Sacred Art: Conversations on Art & Faith by Dr. Michela Beatrice Ferri In translation now from the Italian. Buy it in the original language here: What is the so-called “Contemporary Sacred Art”? In her book, Michela Beatrice Ferri...
Metaphysics/Ontology and St. Thomas Aquinas (Twenty Readings in Wisdom Forsaken)
Metaphysics/Ontology and St. Thomas Aquinas by Dr. Donald G. Boland With this book the author moves from what Aristotle and Aquinas called the order of practical studies to the theoretical. At their highest levels it is from the ethical to the metaphysical. To the...
Addressing Moral Confusion
Addressing Moral Confusion by Richard May TBA Paperback: $TBA | Kindle: $9.99 TESTIMONIALS "As a homeschool parent who has taught my children from K to 12, I have found Rich May’s Teachers Workbook on Apologetics to be an excellent, concise and engaging teaching...
Handbook on the Moral Arguments in the Embryo Adoption Debate
To receive a 30% pre-order discount, click on the donate button below and purchase the book for $20.95 + $6 shipping.Handbook on the Moral Arguments in the Embryo Adoption Debate by Elizabeth B. Rex, PhD, and Charles Robertson, PhD The possibility of embryo adoption...
The Social Encyclicals and Saint Thomas Aquinas
The Social Encyclicals and Saint Thomas Aquinas by Dr. Donald G. Boland The social encyclicals of the Catholic Church provide an opportunity to treat human behavior from a practical moral philosophical point of view grounded in Aristotle as interpreted by Saint Thomas...
The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution: Key Concepts, Operational Mechanisms
The Globalization of the Western Cultural Revolution: Key Concepts, Operational Mechanisms by Marguerite A. Peeters, Ph.D. A new ethic, secularist in its radical aspects, has spread like wildfire all over the world since the end of the cold war. This ethic is the...
The Lord of the Rings and Catholicism
The Lord of the Rings and Catholicism: Exploring the Christian Roots of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by Madeleine Dobrowski This book explores the Catholic themes that can be found in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is written for all lovers of Tolkien, Catholic or...
Conscience and Power: The Contest for Civilization in the West
Conscience and Power: The Contest for Civilization in the West by Dr. Richard Bishirjian Conscience and Power examines how civilization in "the West" arose after the fall of the Roman Empire and has grappled ever after with a desire of citizens of nations of Western...
Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol. 2: A Foundational Conversation
Clerical Sexual Misconduct, Vol 2: A Foundational Conversation Editors -- Jane F. Adolphe and Robert L. Fastiggi The abuse, harassment, or devaluation of women, in any form by Catholic priests and bishops, raises concerns about: whether clerics have a healthy...
Heresy Disguised as Tradition
Heresy Disguised as Tradition by Pedro Gabriel A widespread assertion in Catholic circles today is that one can disregard the teachings of Pope Francis or the Second Vatican Council if they teach something that seems to go against tradition. Is this the case? In this...
The Necessity of Knowledge for Love and its Application
The Necessity of Knowledge for Love and Its Application by Fr. Paul Ezinando In this work, Fr. Paul Ezinando not only demonstrates that knowledge is a necessity for love, but he also shows that proper knowledge promotes love. Following the argument of St. Augustine,...
La Cattiva Condotta Sessuale del Clero: Un’Analisi Interdisciplinare
La Cattiva Condotta Sessuale del Clero: Un'Analisi Interdisciplinare A cura di Jane F. Adolphe e Ronald J. RychlakTraduzione italiana di Marco Toti La Cattiva Condotta Sessuale del Clero, Un’Analisi Interdisciplinare è un libro importante curato da Jane F. Adolphe e...
Unfolding a Post-Roe World
Unfolding a Post-Roe World by Francis Etheredge Unfolding a Post-Roe World is the second edition of what had formerly been entitled The ABCQ of Conceiving Conception. It explores what is involved in grasping the beginning of each of us – but we need the truth to open...
Los principios del cambio
Los principios del cambio: La reforma carmelita de Teresa de Ávila y las ideas de la gestión del cambio Kristina R. Olsen Este libro se basa en los principios de gestión del cambio organizacional para examinar la reforma de la Orden Carmelita de Teresa de Ávila en el...
Rational Responses to Skepticism: A Catholic Philosopher Defends Intellectual Foundations for Traditional Belief by Dennis Bonnette, Ph.D.
Rational Responses to Skepticism: A Catholic Philosopher Defends Intellectual Foundations for Traditional Belief by Dennis Bonnette, Ph.D. Following an avalanche of spirited criticism from skeptics, agnostics, and atheists, who have provided forceful intellectual...
After Justice: Catholic Challenges to Progressive Culture, Politics, Economics and Education
After Justice: Catholic Challenges to Progressive Culture, Politics, Economics and Education by Thomas A. Michaud, Ph.D. In recent decades in the United States, various derivative forms of Progressivism have emerged that manifest its lack of philosophical cohesion and...
Political Science and Saint Thomas Aquinas
Political Science and Saint Thomas Aquinas by Dr. Donald G Boland This book seeks to provide a relatively complete basis for the understanding of political science as presented by Aristotle, with the help of Saint Thomas Aquinas mainly by way of his (partial)...
The Wonder of the Eucharist
The Wonder of the Eucharist: More Voices from the Twentieth Century by Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R. This book examines some of the major literary voices from the past century who deepened our understanding of the Eucharist by embedding it in their short stories, novels,...
Ethics Today and Saint Thomas Aquinas
Ethics Today and Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Complete Course on Moral Philosophy for Our Time and All Times by Dr. Donald G. Boland This book seeks to provide a complete moral philosophy based on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. The first part deals with the principles or...
A History of Western Civilization from the Three Earliest Civilizations to the Completion of the Reconquista by Fr. Charles Bak, MSA
A History of Western Civilization from the Three Earliest Civilizations to the Completion of the Reconquista: Western Civilization, Part 1 by Fr. Charles Bak, MSA This book tells a good story, actually the best story--the real story! So much of history involves...
Global Healing: Poverty, Migration and Refugees, Race and Religion, War, Morality by Robin Arthur
Global Healing: Poverty, Migration and Refugees, Race and Religion, War, Morality by Robin Arthur This book seeks to examine five challenges that our changing world will increasingly confront in the aftermath of Covid-19, namely poverty, migration and refugees, race...
Paradoxes of Faith and Reason
Paradoxes of Faith and Reason by Dr. Shalina Stilley Paradox it is at the very heart of the Gospel message. The Trinity, the Incarnation, the Cross and Resurrection, and the problem of evil are but a few examples of paradoxes of faith and reason. How can God be three...
Rise and Fall of the American Empire
A new book from En Route Books and media critically analyzes how the Republic fashioned by the Framers of the Constitution in 1787 has been transformed into a deep Administrative State ruled by non-elected experts.Rise and Fall of the American Empire by Dr. Richard...
Assertions and Refutations: An Assessment of Dr Tracey Rowland’s Natural Law: From Neo Thomism to Nuptial Mysticism
Assertions and Refutations: An Assessment of Dr Tracey Rowland’s Natural Law: From Neo Thomism to Nuptial Mysticism by Frank Calneggia This book unties the philosophical knot of Dr Tracey Rowland’s assertions concerning the natural moral law, Faith and reason, nature...
Natural Law – Australian Style
Natural Law - Australian Style: A Study in Disputation focusing on the Work of Peter Singer, John Finnis and Tracey Rowland by Dr. Donald G. Boland This book is a critique of the three most prominent Australian "authorities" on Law and Ethics of the present day,...
The Drama of Metaphysics: An Exploration into the Psychological Power of Worldviews
The Drama of Metaphysics: An Exploration into the Psychological Power of Worldviews by Stephen Alexander Beach Western Philosophy has been a 2500-year conversation attempting to understand the reality which lies beyond the changing physical appearances of the world....
Human Nature: Moral Norm
Human Nature: Moral Norm by Francis Etheredge There is a 'difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle: it is a difference which is much wider and deeper than is usually thought, one which involves in the...
Reaching for the Resurrection: A Pastoral Bioethics
Reaching for the Resurrection: A Pastoral Bioethics Loneliness, Aloneness, Euthanasia, Meaning, Anorexia, Brain Death, Conversion, and the Death and Resurrection of Christ by Francis Etheredge Francis Etheredge returns to the subject of bioethics with essays on...
Principles of Change by Kristina R. Olsen
Principles of Change: Teresa of Avila’s Carmelite Reform and Insights from Change Management Kristina R. Olsen This book draws from organizational change management principles to examine Teresa of Avila’s 16th-century reform of the Carmelite Order. During the last...
The Battle for the 20th Century Mind by Ronda Chervin
The Battle for the 20th Century Mind by Ronda Chervin TBA Paperback: $19.95 | Kindle: $9.99 Reviews A review of Dr. Ronda Chervin’s, The Battle for the 20th Century Mind (St. Luis, MO: En Route Books and Media, 2022) by Francis Etheredge Ronda Chervin sets out her...
Conscious Energy and the Evolution of Philosophy
Conscious Energy and the Evolution of Philosophy by Joe P. Provenzano This is a book about philosophy, but it is a book for everyone—everyone who has ever wondered about the meaning of the universe and human life—because it provides answers to two fundamental...
A Primer in the Philosophy of John Paul II–In His Own Words
A Primer in the Philosophy of John Paul II--In His Own Words by Dr. Michael J. Healy To aid students in comprehending the Holy Father's thought, Dr. Healy provides close-to-the-text summary interpretations of Saint John Paul II's major philosophical works, condensing...
Three Acts: A Commentary on Plato’s Theaetetus
Three Acts: A Commentary on Plato's Theaetetus by Brandon Spun This guide to Plato’s Theaetetus is both an introduction to philosophy and an analysis of the dialogue according to the three acts of the mind. It suggests that Plato explores the problem of knowledge by...
Exploring the Belief in the Real Presence
Exploring the Belief in the Real Presence (Second Edition) by Dr. David J. Keys When an evangelical minister asked him why one would believe that Jesus is present -- body, blood, soul, and divinity -- in communion, Dr. Keys began an intensive study into the ancient...
The Biblical Qur’an: A Christian Investigation
The Biblical Qur'an: A Christian Investigation by Michael Healy, Jr. Can Christians interpret the Qur’an Christocentricly, as we have always done with the Old Testament? How would such a reading of the Qur’an modify our understanding of Christian and Muslim history?...
Philosophy Begins in Wonder
Philosophy Begins in Wonder by Stephen D. Schwarz with Kiki Latimer This book is the compilation of over fifty years of teaching Ethics, Metaphysics, Epistemology, Philosophy of the Person, and Virtue Ethics in the classroom setting. Philosophy Begins in Wonder offers...
The Gender Link to the Human Soul by Kimberly Bruce
The Gender Link to the Human Soul by Kimberly Bruce The Gender Link to the Human Soul establishes gender as an element of the soul retained in this life and for all eternity. This is demonstrated in the brilliant philosophical insights of Thomas Aquinas and John Paul...
History of Peter
History of Peter by Roger Skrenes Peter is spoken of 195 times in the New Testament, twice as many times as all the other Apostles combined. Today, when Peter is discussed, however, what is most often emphasized is the erratic or sinful side of his personality. Jesus...
Peter and Wendy
Peter and Wendy: Growing Up in Neverland by Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R. This book looks at J. M. Barrie's classic children's story Peter Pan to see what it can tell us about ourselves and our situation today. It discovers in this classic fairy-tale about the boy from...
Weeds Among Wheat
Weeds Among Wheat: L'Arche and the Tainted Legacy of Jean Vanier by Dennis Billy, C.Ss.R. This book is about baking the bread of Christian community from the grains of our broken humanity. It is primarily concerned with distinguishing L'Arche's authentic spirituality...
How to Listen & How to Speak by Dr. Peter Redpath
How to Listen & How to Speak: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants to Renew Commonsense and Uncommonsense Wisdom in the Contemporary World by Dr. Peter Redpath While the subject of this monograph is chiefly human communication in the form of listening and speaking,...
21 Centuries of Church History in 21 Pages by Albert Domm
21 Centuries of Church History in 21 Pages by Albert Domm Focused on our Catholic faith, Albert Domm's 21 Centuries of Church History in 21 Pages engages the Catholic reader in a concise but rich history of our Church one full century at a time. A narrative flow, this...
Words, Concepts, Reality: Aristotelian Logic for Teenagers
Words, Concepts, Reality: Aristotelian Logic for Teenagers By Thaddeus Kozinski, Ph.D. When we hear the word logic, we tend to think of arguments, premises and conclusions, claims and evidence for claims. But this is only half of it. Arguments are made of words, and...