Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Infertility, and the Reconfiguration of Christian Doctrines of Human Procreation: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Abstract

The use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has challenged centuries-old Christian theological understandings of human procreation and has led to profound questions about the nature of marriage, the sanctity of embryonic life, the definition of parenthood and the possible limits of medical intervention in what has been traditionally regarded as a divinely ordained process. This systematic review explores the evolution of Christian doctrinal responses to infertility and ART from early modern silence to a contemporary polarisation, based on a body of peer-reviewed theological, bioethical and interdisciplinary literature from 2005 to 2026. The study uses a qualitative systematic review methodology based on the PRISMA guidelines to examine how the theological tensions between compassionate pastoral care for the infertile and doctrinal commitments to the unitive and procreative inseparability of conjugal sexuality have been negotiated in the major Christian traditions such as Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Anglicanism and global evangelical movements. Findings show that there is a longstanding and growing disconnect between the official stance of churches on the issue of infertility and the actual religious experiences of infertile Christian couples, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where there are specific cultural stigmatisation pressures. The review outlines three reconfigurational axes that shape the contemporary Christian procreative doctrine: embryo personhood and the ethics of cryopreservation; gamete and reproductive labour as commodities; and the theological reframing of infertility as providence instead of a curse. Finally, the article suggests, in order to be able to offer ethically coherent and pastorally adequate response to the ART revolution, Christian traditions need to undergo substantive doctrinal reconfiguration and not just pastoral accommodation.