The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty

The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty PDF Author: Dale S. Recinella
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
ISBN: 1555538622
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Get Book Here

Book Description
While secular support for capital punishment in America seems to be waning, religious conservatives, particularly in the "Bible belt," remain staunch advocates of the death penalty, citing biblical law and practice to defend government-sanctioned killing. Dale S. Recinella compares biblical teaching about the death penalty, including such passages as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life," with the nation's current system of capital punishment, and offers persuasive arguments for a faith-based moratorium on -- and eventual abolition of -- executions. Framing his careful and incisive analysis as a legal brief to those who believe the Bible mandates the ultimate punishment, the author addresses two critical areas of inquiry: what do the scriptures tell us about who is deserving of death and who has the authority to kill, and what do they tell us about the required standards for execution and the plight of victims' families. Recinella's examination of the Hebrew Torah, or Christian Pentateuch, and the Talmud reveals that the biblical death penalty was not a simple system of swift retribution, but a complex and practical set of laws that guided capital courts established under the Sanhedrin. His scrutiny of these texts, the Christian doctrine of atonement, and Romans 13 in the Pauline Epistles, draws parallels between the traditional biblical arguments used in favor of capital punishment and those used as the basis for pro-slavery positions in the nineteenth century. Demonstrating that both approaches are unsubstantiated in biblical terms, Recinella debunks the accepted religious reasoning for support of the death penalty and shows instead that the Bible's strict conditions for sanctioning execution are at odds with the arbitrary ways in which capital punishment is administered in the United States. He provides convincing evidence that a sentence of death in today's criminal justice system in fact fails to meet both the Bible's exacting procedural requirements and its strict limitations on judicial authority. By providing actual scriptural language and foundation to counter the position that biblical truth justifies a pro-death penalty stance, this thoughtful, solidly researched, and well-reasoned work will give pause to religious fundamentalists and challenge them to rethink their strongly held views on capital punishment.

The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty

The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty PDF Author: Dale S. Recinella
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
ISBN: 1555538622
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 463

Get Book Here

Book Description
While secular support for capital punishment in America seems to be waning, religious conservatives, particularly in the "Bible belt," remain staunch advocates of the death penalty, citing biblical law and practice to defend government-sanctioned killing. Dale S. Recinella compares biblical teaching about the death penalty, including such passages as "eye for eye, tooth for tooth, life for life," with the nation's current system of capital punishment, and offers persuasive arguments for a faith-based moratorium on -- and eventual abolition of -- executions. Framing his careful and incisive analysis as a legal brief to those who believe the Bible mandates the ultimate punishment, the author addresses two critical areas of inquiry: what do the scriptures tell us about who is deserving of death and who has the authority to kill, and what do they tell us about the required standards for execution and the plight of victims' families. Recinella's examination of the Hebrew Torah, or Christian Pentateuch, and the Talmud reveals that the biblical death penalty was not a simple system of swift retribution, but a complex and practical set of laws that guided capital courts established under the Sanhedrin. His scrutiny of these texts, the Christian doctrine of atonement, and Romans 13 in the Pauline Epistles, draws parallels between the traditional biblical arguments used in favor of capital punishment and those used as the basis for pro-slavery positions in the nineteenth century. Demonstrating that both approaches are unsubstantiated in biblical terms, Recinella debunks the accepted religious reasoning for support of the death penalty and shows instead that the Bible's strict conditions for sanctioning execution are at odds with the arbitrary ways in which capital punishment is administered in the United States. He provides convincing evidence that a sentence of death in today's criminal justice system in fact fails to meet both the Bible's exacting procedural requirements and its strict limitations on judicial authority. By providing actual scriptural language and foundation to counter the position that biblical truth justifies a pro-death penalty stance, this thoughtful, solidly researched, and well-reasoned work will give pause to religious fundamentalists and challenge them to rethink their strongly held views on capital punishment.

Genesis (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch)

Genesis (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch) PDF Author: John Goldingay
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1493423975
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 904

Get Book Here

Book Description
Highly regarded Old Testament scholar John Goldingay offers a substantive and useful commentary on the book of Genesis that is both critically engaged and sensitive to the theological contributions of the text. This volume, the first in a new series on the Pentateuch, complements the successful Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Wisdom and Psalms series (series volumes have sold over 55,000 copies). Each series volume will cover one book of the Pentateuch, addressing important issues and problems that flow from the text and exploring the contemporary relevance of the Pentateuch. The series editor is Bill T. Arnold, the Paul S. Amos Professor of Old Testament Interpretation at Asbury Theological Seminary.

Reasonable Faith

Reasonable Faith PDF Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433501155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 418

Get Book Here

Book Description
This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

Capital Punishment in the Pentateuch

Capital Punishment in the Pentateuch PDF Author: Simon Skidmore
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567707229
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 233

Get Book Here

Book Description
Through the application of mimetic theory Skidmore examines the social impact of capital punishment upon the community, and explores the cathartic nature of this practice within key Pentateuchal texts. Skidmore shows how Mimetic theorists such as Girard advance a view that a community ravaged by vengeance and blood feuds may be saved from extinction by scapegoating one of their own. As the community select a common scapegoat, and vent their collective violence upon this person, peace and order are restored. Though an in-depth analysis of various passages, Skidmore reveals this process in key Pentateuchal texts concerning capital punishment. These observations suggest that biblical capital punishment may have functioned as a means of protecting the Israelite community by managing rivalry and violence.

The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty PDF Author: Ernest Van den Haag
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1489927875
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
From 1965 until 1980, there was a virtual moratorium on executions for capital offenses in the United States. This was due primarily to protracted legal proceedings challenging the death penalty on constitutional grounds. After much Sturm und Drang, the Supreme Court of the United States, by a divided vote, finally decided that "the death penalty does not invariably violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment." The Court's decisions, however, do not moot the controversy about the death penalty or render this excellent book irrelevant. The ball is now in the court of the Legislature and the Executive. Leg islatures, federal and state, can impose or abolish the death penalty, within the guidelines prescribed by the Supreme Court. A Chief Executive can commute a death sentence. And even the Supreme Court can change its mind, as it has done on many occasions and did, with respect to various aspects of the death penalty itself, durlog the moratorium period. Also, the people can change their minds. Some time ago, a majority, according to reliable polls, favored abolition. Today, a substantial majority favors imposition of the death penalty. The pendulum can swing again, as it has done in the past.

The Death Penalty on Trial

The Death Penalty on Trial PDF Author: Ron Gleason
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780979673672
Category : Capital punishment
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Rigorously examining the controversy over the death penalty with clarity and cogency, Gleason defines ethics philosophically and presents the biblical mandate.

Justice and Compassion in Biblical Law

Justice and Compassion in Biblical Law PDF Author: Richard H. Hiers
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0567269094
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

Get Book Here

Book Description
Annotation. Richard Hiers provides a new consideration biblical law with an emphasis upon the underlying justice and compassion implicit within. Special consideration is given to matters of civil law, the death penalty, and due process.

The Ancient Hebrew Law of Homicide

The Ancient Hebrew Law of Homicide PDF Author: Mayer Sulzberger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Homicide
Languages : en
Pages : 172

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Death Penalty Today

The Death Penalty Today PDF Author: Robert M. Bohm
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1420070126
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
More than 30 years after the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, it is still plagued with egregious problems. Issues of wrongful conviction, inhumane practices, and its efficacy as a deterrent are hotly debated topics. As of August 2007, two-thirds of the worlds countries have abolished the death penalty. Today, the US falls alongside I

Toward Old Testament Ethics

Toward Old Testament Ethics PDF Author: Walter C. Kaiser, Jr.
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 9780310371113
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
Providing exegetical principles for the study of Old Testament ethics, this volume examines 'moral' texts of the Old Testament, and explores the content of Old Testament ethics and its meaning to believers today. It can be used quite effectively as a textbook for Ethics in the Old Testament.