The Biblical Truth about America's Death PenaltyNortheastern University Press, 1 de des. 2015 - 320 pàgines 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. |
Continguts
Part 1 What Does Biblical Truth Tell Us About Who Is Deserving of Death and the Authority to Kill? | 35 |
Part 2 What Does Biblical Truth Tell Us About the Required Procedures and the Plight of the Families of the Victims? | 117 |
Appendix A Short Form of an Abolition Resolution for People of Biblical Faith | 345 |
Appendix B Short Form of a Moratorium Resolutionfor People of Biblical Faith | 348 |
Appendix C 2000 Southern Baptist Convention Resolution on Capital Punishment Passed in Orlando Florida in June 2000 | 351 |
Abbreviations and Notes on Citations | 353 |
Notes | 361 |
Bibliography | 393 |
Cases Cited | 409 |
Permissions | 411 |
421 | |
423 | |
Altres edicions - Mostra-ho tot
The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty Dale S. Recinella Previsualització no disponible - 2004 |
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accused alty American death penalty appeals atonement attorney Bible Belt biblical death penalty biblical faith biblical standard Biblical truth reveals Birmingham Post-Herald bracketed language Cain capital punishment Chicago Tribune citations omitted citing clemency committed confessions convicted crime death pen death row death row inmates death sentence defendant Deut DNA testing evidence of innocence Excerpts Exod fact false federal Florida Supreme Court Florida Times-Union Florida’s death Gemara Georgia God’s Governor guilty Hebrew judge judicial jury Juvenile Ken Armstrong Law Review lawyers Maimonides mandate ment mentally ill mentally retarded Miami Herald Mosaic law Moses one’s percent person Petersburg police political Possley prison procedural prosecutorial misconduct prosecutors provisions of Talmud put to death racial Report Reprinted with permission Sanhedrin SCHR scriptures slavery standards of biblical state’s statutes Talmud testimony Texas text accompanying note tion tooth Torah Torah/Pentateuch trial U.S. Supreme Court Washington witnesses