The Ordinary Means of Christ: A Theological Reflection on Christ's Use of Ordinary/Extraordinary Means to Preserve His Life

This theological essay uses the distinction of ordinary and extraordinary means to preserve life to examine the Gospels’ accounts of Christ's death. Following a line of patristic exegesis, it shows that Christ used a form of ordinary means to preserve his life by trying to bring his killers to repentance. This firstly refutes recent claims that Christ's willingness to die justifies euthanasia and gives a biblical and ancient foundation for the Catholic principle that ordinary means are obligatory while extraordinary means to preserve life are optional.