Assistant Professor | Assistant Director for Education
Center for Bioethics | Division of Bioethics, Department of Biomedical Anatomy and Education
College of Medicine | The Ohio State University
333 West 10th Avenue Graves Hall 2194
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Phone (614) 366-8405
Fax (614) 366-7702
matthew.vest@osumc.edu
Matthew Vest is Assistant Professor for the Ohio State University Center for Bioethics/Division of Bioethics (BMEA) in the College of Medicine. Vest joined OSU in 2013 and served on the core team that designed and launched the core education programs—Undergraduate Minor and MA programs—for the Center for Bioethics. He serves on the Graduate Committee and regularly advises MA thesis and practicum students.
Research, Education and Academic Interests
Vest focuses on the foundational aspects of bioethics, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, and the intersection of scientific and religious thinking. Prior to OSU, he taught “great books” and moral philosophy courses on the secondary and post-secondary level since 2001.
Education & Training
PhD in Theology and Religious Studies, University of Nottingham
MA in Liberal Arts, St. John's College
Areas of Interest
- Philosophy and history of bioethics (metaethics and foundational thinking)
- Religious perspectives on bioethics (science and religion)
- Technology and ethics
- Enhancement
- Wittgenstein
Select Publications
Books
- The Humility of Right: Reconsidering Rights Language for Orthodox Christians, edited with Ryan Nash, forthcoming, 2024.
- Ethics Lost in Modernity: Reflections on Wittgenstein and Bioethics (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2023).
Articles and Chapters
- “Ethics and Apostolic Faith Amidst the Fringes” as Introduction with Ryan Nash to re–publication of H.T. Engelhardt’s Foundations of Christian Bioethics, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, forthcoming, 2024.
- “Early and Later Engelhardt” as Introduction with Ryan Nash to re–publication of Anna Iltis and Mark Cherry, eds., At The Roots of Christian Bioethics: Critical Essays on the Thought of H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, forthcoming, 2024.
- “Educating Unto the Eternal Mystery: Reflections on Ascesis and the Annunciation” in Orthodoxy and Classical Education, David Hicks and Galen Gilbert, eds., St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, forthcoming.
- “A Prophetic Voice Amidst (Scientistic) Individual Rights: Reading Yannaras on Rights with Wittgenstein and Weil” in The Humility of Right: Reconsidering Rights Language for Orthodox Christians, edited with Ryan Nash, forthcoming, 2024.
- “Fetal Tissues Research: An Orthodox Perspective,” in Fetal Tissue and Christian Bioethics: A Review of the Scientific Developments, Policy Landscape, and Ethical Considerations (2022 Edition), Edward R. Grant, Heather Zeiger, & Michael J. Sleasman, eds., Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity Special Report (May, 2022).
- “Beyond Re-Enchantment: Christian Materialism and Modern Medicine,” Christian Bioethics 25, no. 3 (November, 2019): 266–282.
- “Embodied Knowledge and Moral Knowledge: Felix Ravaisson & Biomedical Ethics” in Treating the Body in Medicine and Religion: Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Perspectives, John Fitzgerald & Ashley Moyse, eds., Routledge Press (2019): 29–43.
- Special Issue of Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics: Philosophy of Medical Research and Practice 39, with Ashley Moyse. “Reflections on Modern Medicine at the Centenary of Max Weber’s ‘Science as a Vocation’ (1917).” (Dec., 2018).
- “Understanding Modern, Technological Medicine: Enchanted, Disenchanted, or Other?” with Ashley Moyse. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics: Philosophy of Medical Research and Practice 39, no. 6 (Dec., 2018): 407–417.
- “Decision Making With Older Minors: An Ethical Dilemma,” with Elmahdi Elkhammas, Britton Rink, Ryan Nash. Ibnosina Journal of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 7, no. 1 (February, 2015): 27–30.