John Kilner

Biography and education At the end of high school, Kilner won the Illinois State Debate Championship and the United States National Debate Championship with his partner Robert Biederman, representing New Trier East High School in Winnetka, Illinois.

Kilner received the Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Yale University. He then earned the Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Harvard University. In 2005 he became its Director of Bioethics Programs, providing academic direction for Masters-level degree initiatives in North America, Asia, and Africa. the international Paul Ramsey Award for Exemplary Achievement in the Field of Bioethics from the Center for Bioethics & Culture Network; and a Book of the Year award from Christianity Today for Dignity and Destiny. In his honor, Trinity International University established the "John F. Kilner Lectures in Bioethics" in March, 2019; and The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity established the "Kilner Student Mentorship Fund" in July, 2019.

Research

Kilner's first project was interviews with government and missionary health care workers as well as with traditional healers among the Akamba people in Kenya, to gain cross-cultural insight into how decisions are made regarding who receives access to limited health care resources. The study investigated the effect of exposure to Western values (through the educational system) on what people consider to be ethical approaches to resource allocation. It was published in the Hastings Center Report in 1972, with further analysis in the 1990 Yale University Press book Who Lives? Who Dies? and the 1992 Eerdmans book Life on the Line.

In 1988, he conducted a questionnaire study involving medical directors of kidney dialysis and kidney transplantation facilities in the United States. Directors identified the weight that each of 16 different patient selection criteria receive in selecting patients for treatment (e.g., medical benefit, social value, age). They also indicated how that weight would increase or decrease were medical resources to become somewhat more limited in supply. That study was originally published in the American Journal of Public Health, with further analysis in the book Who Lives? Who Dies?

Later, as Director of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity, Kilner oversaw the development of a research project on ethical and religious perspectives on emerging biotechnologies. The project involved scholars with different relevant areas of expertise.The project and its findings are discussed in the Georgetown University Press book Biotechnology and the Human Good.

Upon moving to his position as Director of Bioethics Programs for Trinity International University, Kilner obtained a grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning (Indiana) for a research project on “The Pedagogical Challenges of Engaging Bioethical Issues across the Theological Curriculum.” He assembled a team of faculty from each departments at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School to study bioethical challenges and to develop teaching strategies for how their departments could prepare students.

Next, he received a foundation grant to work with Mayo Clinic's William Cheshire and Zion Clinic's John Dunlop on a second phase, in which Trinity faculty developed case studies illustrating how bioethical challenges arise in people's lives. These faculty then led a study process involving the other faculty in their departments to identify ways that their academic disciplines could help individuals and churches understand and engage these challenges. This research resulted in the Zondervan book Why the Church Needs Bioethics.

Kilner's most recent research project was a seven-year investigation of why people matter—specifically, what it means for people to be created and renewed in the image of God. The research included documenting the ways that the image-of-God concept has been used for liberation and for devastation, depending on how the concept has been understood. The project analyzed over 1100 published discussions of the image of God, along with the passages in the Bible where this concept is employed. This research has resulted in Kilner's book on the image of God, Dignity and Destiny, released by Eerdmans in 2015. In it, Kilner argues that the image of God has not been damaged by sin because Jesus Christ is the image of God and people have been created according to—and need to be restored to—Christ's image.

Kilner then assembled the team of Gilbert Meilaender from Valparaiso University (and member of the U.S. President's Council on Bioethics), Amy Laura Hall from Duke University, Scott Rae from Biola University, David Gushee from Mercer University, Russell DiSilvestro from California State University, and Patrick Smith from Duke University. The team's purpose was to compare a biblical account of why people matter with contemporary secular accounts. The result was Kilner's edited book, Why People Matter, released by Baker Academic in 2017.

Publications Books Single-authored books Kilner, John F. Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God. Eerdmans, 2015. A similar volume co-edited by Kilner and cardiologist Jay Hollman outside this series is entitled Medical Ethics. It has been published only in the Russian language. For other books, Kilner has been a member of the author team and written a portion of the book--for example, Choosing Who's to Live, Christian Higher Education, and Created in the Image of God.

Non-academic books Kilner, John F., and C. Ben Mitchell (2003). Does God Need Our Help? Cloning, Assisted Suicide, & Other Challenges in Bioethics. Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale. BioBasics series of six Q/A books published by Kregel Publications. Kilner wrote each of the BioBasics books with 4–6 other authors. The titles/topics of these books include End of Life Decisions; Reproductive Technology; Suicide and Euthanasia; Alternative medicine; Healthcare; and Genetics, Stem Cell Research, and Cloning. Reviewed and discussed in Bevington, Linda K., Ray G. Bohlin, Gary P. Stewart, John F. Kilner, and C. Christopher Hook (2004). Genetics, Stem Cell Research, and Cloning. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel.

Peer-reviewed journal articles He has also written articles appearing in such publications as the Hastings Center Report; Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law; American Journal of Public Health; American Journal of Jurisprudence; Interpretation; Healthcare Executive; Journal of International Biotechnology Law; Mayo Clinic Proceedings; Archives of Internal Medicine; American Journal of Kidney Diseases; Ethics & Medicine; Hospital Practice; Journal of Religious Ethics; Christianity Today; Moody Monthly, and Christian Scholars Review. and the section addressing the issue of stem cell research for The Blackwell Companion to Science and Christianity.