Date
12-16-2025
Department
Rawlings School of Divinity
Degree
Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics (MA)
Chair
Jonathan Pruitt
Keywords
Abortion, Imago Dei, Personhood, Consciousness, Morality, Rationality
Disciplines
Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Vazquez, Jacob, "Grounding Human Value: A Critical Evaluation of Naturalism and a Defense of Christianity as the Basis for Human Value and the Moral Status of the Unborn" (2025). Masters Theses. 1413.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/masters/1413
Abstract
This thesis will explore the grounding of personhood and seeks to convince atheist readers who adhere to naturalism that abortion is wrong because human beings are made in the image of God, as the Christian doctrine of the Imago Dei teaches. This will be done by taking the reader on a journey or a map, in which various secular (non-religious) destinations are visited before finally reaching the final theological conclusion as presented above. The evidence culminated from each of the secular stops will end up supporting the argument from the Imago Dei against abortion.
For instance, Chapter 1 will consist of a presentation of the pro-choice case against the personhood of the unborn. It will be concluded by the end of the chapter that the four pro-choice requirements for personhood that are examined assume critical facts about humanity—namely, consciousness, rationality, and intrinsic moral value. Chapter 2 is the philosophical stop, which will consist of the secular (without invoking God) pro-life response to such pro-choice arguments. Though the secular pro-life position is shown to refute the pro-choice view successfully, it will be argued that the secular grounding for personhood of the unborn can be explored even further. It is also argued that the secular pro-life view likewise assumes the existence and reliability of consciousness, rationality, and intrinsic moral value.
Chapter 3 is the metaphysical stop where these facts, called recalcitrant facts, are shown to be defeaters on naturalism. The inability of naturalism to adequately explain such basic human facts leads to the final theological destination in Chapter 4, which shows that these facts are much better explained given the Christian doctrine of the Imago Dei. Lastly, Chapter 5 addresses critical objections, but under the assumption of the Imago Dei view of personhood. Therefore, the thesis will aim to show that because Christianity can better explain human facts that both pro-choice and pro-life advocates view as morally relevant for personhood than naturalism, Christianity is more likely to be true than naturalism in this respect. Assuming the Christian worldview, abortion is then evidently wrong.
