There are three ways to look at humanity, says song-writer-physician-ethicist William Barton Hurlbut. One is the view from the top of the the World Trade Center. In this sociological view, one sees only large masses of swarming, faceless people. A second view, a human chromosome through an electron microscope, yields the biotechnological perspective. Only on the street level, meeting individuals face-to-face, do we see human beings as God made them.
Hurlbut believes advances in biotechnology have already distorted our understanding of the human race. Gene therapy and prenatal chromosomal analysis have their place, allowing for early detection and treatment of genetic disorders. But, says Hurlbut, they are just as likely to be used for selective abortion and the splicing in of “designer genes” to produce desired physical and mental characteristics. As we learn more of the mechanisms of life, says Hurlbut, we are in danger of regarding human beings as machines.
To encourage a different view, Hurlbut (under his nom de guerre William Barton) has issued Saints, an album of folk ballads about the lives and loving examples of well-known models of faith (Patrick, Francis) as well as lesser knowns (such as Martin de Porres).
“C. S. Lewis once commented that we should answer all problems with more love, not less love,” writes Hurlbut, who has learned much about love while caring for a daughter who suffered severe oxygen deprivation at birth. “To use this emerging technology with love, we will need a full vision of the sacred purpose of life. The stories of the Saints provide a stirring witness to God’s love working through the diverse personalities and varied circumstances of human existence.”
The 14 songs on Saints are stylistically varied and well programmed. Arrangements and orchestrations by Denny Bouchard, who has also worked with Noel Paul Stookey and John Michael Talbot, are sensitive and understated. Saints is available from Woodside Music, Woodside, California.
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