Genetic Determinism in the Post-Genomic Age

Abstract

There have been many forms of determinism over the ages, the most recent of which is based in the growing understanding of genetics. This essay questions the ways people today use this growing body of knowledge to make health care decisions, or decisions about reproduction. It goes on to explore epigenetics, the science of environmental factors influencing genes, and questions whether grace, understood as a theological category, might influence a person’s biological destiny. The search for certainty in an uncertain world has engendered varied strains of determinism through history. As our understanding of genetics and genomics has grown, genetic determinism has taken hold among some scientists, physicians, and members of the general public—positing that genes we inherit from our forebears determine our biological destinies. Genes we inherit (i.e., our “genotypes”) and changes that occur in them as we live can affect our lives dramatically. Genotypes that predispose us toward cancer, metabolic disease, and degenerative decline can create challenges and motivate profound choices in our lives. Yet, as we have grown in our understanding of the relationships between our genotypes and our biology, we have learned that genetic predispositions toward disease are not the sole determinants of our biological destinies. This essay will discuss how the impacts of genotypes that predispose us toward disease can be modulated by other genes we inherit, and by the interactions of our genotypes with our environments. We will explore, as well, whether those impacts may be affected by the power of mind-body interactions and the power of grace in our lives.