Christianity And Criminal Law

Author : Mark Hill QC,Norman Doe,RH Helmholz,John Witte, Jr.
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 267 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2020-05-28
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000071559

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Christianity and Criminal Law by Mark Hill QC,Norman Doe,RH Helmholz,John Witte, Jr. Pdf

This collection, by leading legal scholars, judges and practitioners, together with theologians and church historians, presents historical, theological, philosophical and legal perspectives on Christianity and criminal law. Following a Preface by Lord Judge, formerly Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, and an introductory chapter, the book is divided into four thematic sections. Part I addresses the historical contributions of Christianity to criminal law drawing on biblical sources, early church fathers and canonists, as far as the Enlightenment. Part II, titled Christianity and the principles of criminal law, compares crime and sin, examines concepts of mens rea and intention, and considers the virtue of due process within criminal justice. Part III looks at Christianity and criminal offences, considering their Christian origins and continuing relevance for several basic crimes that every legal system prohibits. Finally, in Part IV, the authors consider Christianity and the enforcement of criminal law, looking at defences, punishment and forgiveness. The book will be an invaluable resource for students and academics working in the areas of Law and Religion, Legal Philosophy and Theology.

Author : Gerald Austin McHugh
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 1978
Category : Christianity
ISBN : UCR:31210003625710

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Christian Faith and Criminal Justice by Gerald Austin McHugh Pdf

Author : J. M. B. Crawford,John F. Quinn
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 540 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Law
ISBN : STANFORD:36105041107991

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The Christian Foundations of Criminal Responsibility by J. M. B. Crawford,John F. Quinn Pdf

A treatise on the medieval and Christian foundation of common law, this work argues that intellectual sources for the concept known in criminal law as intention, or mens rea, owe a debt to various Christian writings and philosophy.

Author : Aaron Griffith
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2020-11-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674238787

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God’s Law and Order by Aaron Griffith Pdf

An incisive look at how evangelical Christians shaped—and were shaped by—the American criminal justice system. America incarcerates on a massive scale. Despite recent reforms, the United States locks up large numbers of people—disproportionately poor and nonwhite—for long periods and offers little opportunity for restoration. Aaron Griffith reveals a key component in the origins of American mass incarceration: evangelical Christianity. Evangelicals in the postwar era made crime concern a major religious issue and found new platforms for shaping public life through punitive politics. Religious leaders like Billy Graham and David Wilkerson mobilized fears of lawbreaking and concern for offenders to sharpen appeals for Christian conversion, setting the stage for evangelicals who began advocating tough-on-crime politics in the 1960s. Building on religious campaigns for public safety earlier in the twentieth century, some preachers and politicians pushed for “law and order,” urging support for harsh sentences and expanded policing. Other evangelicals saw crime as a missionary opportunity, launching innovative ministries that reshaped the practice of religion in prisons. From the 1980s on, evangelicals were instrumental in popularizing criminal justice reform, making it a central cause in the compassionate conservative movement. At every stage in their work, evangelicals framed their efforts as colorblind, which only masked racial inequality in incarceration and delayed real change. Today evangelicals play an ambiguous role in reform, pressing for reduced imprisonment while backing law-and-order politicians. God’s Law and Order shows that we cannot understand the criminal justice system without accounting for evangelicalism’s impact on its historical development.

Author : Elicka Peterson Sparks
Publisher : Prometheus Books
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2016-02-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781633881518

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The Devil You Know by Elicka Peterson Sparks Pdf

In this trenchant examination of Christianity’s dark side, a criminologist argues persuasively that high rates of violent crime in the United States can be correlated with Christian conservative attitudes, especially in regard to social mores and politics. Of particular concern is “Christian nationalism.” Supporters of this movement argue that America was founded as a Christian nation and they work to install their fundamentalist brand of Christianity as the dominant factor in American political and social life. Far from being a fanatic outlier sect, this group is shown to have significant cultural influence, especially in the American South. Not coincidentally, the author suggests, the South also has the highest homicide rates. Noting the violent biblical passages often cited by religious conservatives, their sense of righteousness, their dogmatic mindset that tolerates no dissent, and their support for harshly punitive measures toward “sinners,” Peterson Sparks shows that their worldview is the ideal seedbed for violence. Not only does this mindset make violent reactions in interpersonal conflicts more likely, the author says, but it exacerbates the problems of the criminal justice system by advocating policies that create high incarceration rates. The author also devotes particular attention to the victimization of women, children, and LGBT people, which follows from this rigid belief system. While not resorting to a blanket condemnation of Christianity or religion as a whole, Peterson Sparks issues a wake-up call regarding conservative Christianity’s toxic mixture of fundamentalism, authoritarian politics, patriotism, and retributory justice.

Author : Robert F. Cochran,David VanDrunen
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2013-09-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780830825738

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Law and the Bible by Robert F. Cochran,David VanDrunen Pdf

The Bible is full of law. Yet too often, Christians either pick and choose verses out of context to bolster existing positions, or assume that any moral judgment the Bible expresses should become the law of the land. Law and the Bible asks: What inspired light does the Bible shed on Christians’ participation in contemporary legal systems? It concludes that more often than not the Bible overturns our faulty assumptions and skewed commitments rather than bolsters them. In the process, God gives us greater insight into what all of life, including law, should be. Each chapter is cowritten by a legal professional and a theologian, and focuses on a key aspect of the biblical witness concerning civil or positive law--that is, law that human societies create to order their communities, implementing and enforcing it through civil government. A foundational text for legal professionals, law and prelaw students, and all who want to think in a faithfully Christian way about law and their relationship to it.

Author : Andrew Skotnicki
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2016-03-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781317026389

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The Last Judgment by Andrew Skotnicki Pdf

In a culture obsessed with law, judgment, and violence, this book challenges Christians to remember that Jesus urged his followers to judge no one, bring harm upon no one, and follow no law save the law of altruistic love. It traces Christian history first to show that Christians of an earlier age took very seriously the gospel injunctions against punitive legal judgment and then how the advent of formal legal codes and philosophical dualism undermined that perspective to create a division between a private Christian spirituality and a public morality of order and legally sanctioned violence. This historical approach is accompanied by an argument that the recovery of a Christian ethic based upon unconditional love and forgiveness cannot be accomplished without the renewal of a Christian spirituality that mirrors the contemplative spirituality of Jesus.

Author : Aaron Griffith
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 346 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2020-11-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674249752

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God’s Law and Order by Aaron Griffith Pdf

Winner of a Christianity Today Book Award An incisive look at how evangelical Christians shaped—and were shaped by—the American criminal justice system. America incarcerates on a massive scale. Despite recent reforms, the United States locks up large numbers of people—disproportionately poor and nonwhite—for long periods and offers little opportunity for restoration. Aaron Griffith reveals a key component in the origins of American mass incarceration: evangelical Christianity. Evangelicals in the postwar era made crime concern a major religious issue and found new platforms for shaping public life through punitive politics. Religious leaders like Billy Graham and David Wilkerson mobilized fears of lawbreaking and concern for offenders to sharpen appeals for Christian conversion, setting the stage for evangelicals who began advocating tough-on-crime politics in the 1960s. Building on religious campaigns for public safety earlier in the twentieth century, some preachers and politicians pushed for “law and order,” urging support for harsh sentences and expanded policing. Other evangelicals saw crime as a missionary opportunity, launching innovative ministries that reshaped the practice of religion in prisons. From the 1980s on, evangelicals were instrumental in popularizing criminal justice reform, making it a central cause in the compassionate conservative movement. At every stage in their work, evangelicals framed their efforts as colorblind, which only masked racial inequality in incarceration and delayed real change. Today evangelicals play an ambiguous role in reform, pressing for reduced imprisonment while backing law-and-order politicians. God’s Law and Order shows that we cannot understand the criminal justice system without accounting for evangelicalism’s impact on its historical development.

Author : Kjell Å Modéer,Helle Vogt
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2020-10-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781000201536

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Law and The Christian Tradition in Scandinavia by Kjell Å Modéer,Helle Vogt Pdf

This book presents a comprehensive history of law and religion in the Nordic context. The entwinement of law and religion in Scandinavia encompasses an unusual history, not widely known yet important for its impact on contemporary political and international relations in the region. The volume provides a holistic picture from the first written legal sources of the twelfth century to the law of the present secular welfare states. It recounts this history through biographical case studies. Taking the point of view of major influential figures in church, politics, university, and law, it thus presents the principal actors who served as catalysts in ecclesiastical and secular law through the centuries. This refreshing approach to legal history contributes to a new trend in historiography, particularly articulated by a younger generation of experienced Nordic scholars whose work is featured prominently in this volume. The collection will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers working in the areas of Legal History and Law and Religion.

Author : Devora Steinmetz
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2008-06-10
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780812240689

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Punishment and Freedom by Devora Steinmetz Pdf

Punishment and Freedom offers a fresh look at classical rabbinic texts about criminal law from the perspective of legal and moral philosophy, arguing that the Rabbis constructed an extreme positivist view of law that is based in divine command and that is related to the rabinnic notion notion of human freedom and responsibility.

Author : Robert E. Rodes
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 282 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 1986
Category : Law
ISBN : UCAL:B4372854

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Law and Liberation by Robert E. Rodes Pdf

According to Robert Rodes, liberation theology -- with its concern for the individual's to respond to building God's kingdom; its demand that Christians align themselves with the oppressed and work to reform or dismantle unjust social structures; and its recognition of the Church as a sign of God's salvific and liberating purpose -- gives to the pursuit of justice through law an eschatological significance independent of any immediate or predictable consequences. Rodes assigned new importance to laws that symbolize aspirations they cannot fully implement, and laws that confront destructive forces they cannot fully implement, and laws that confront destructive forces they cannot fully contain. He begins by briefly discussing the basic tenets of liberation theology and relates them to goals that traditional jurisprudence has assigned to law. In later chapters he develops agendas for ameliorating some of the major problems in contemporary American life, rootlessness, powerlessness. He addresses each in light of past perceptions, how a Christian should respond to them today, and how law can respond to them.

Author : Matthew T. Martens
Publisher : Crossway
Page : 501 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2023-10-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781433581854

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Reforming Criminal Justice by Matthew T. Martens Pdf

Noted Attorney and Seminary Graduate Matthew T. Martens Answers the Question: Does the Design and Operation of the American Criminal Justice System Reflect Christian Love of Neighbor? Jesus told his followers that the entirety of the Old Testament's law is encapsulated in the commands to love God and to love their neighbors as themselves. In Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal, Matthew T. Martens argues that love of neighbor must be the animating force for true reformation of the criminal justice system, obligating us to seek the best for both the criminally victimized and the criminally accused. Using his theological training Martens reveals how Scripture provides several guideposts (accuracy, due process, accountability, impartiality, and proportionality) for loving our neighbors as it relates to criminal justice. Then, drawing on his near quarter century practicing criminal law, he examines how America's justice system falls short of the biblical standard. By understanding how our current system operates and considering how love of neighbor relates to issues of crime and justice, we will be better equipped to seek true Christian reform of the justice system. A Biblical Perspective on Criminal Justice: Offers a biblical framework for thinking about the concept of justice for both the victim and the perpetrator Examines the History of the American Criminal Justice System: Surveys the evolution of the criminal justice system in the United States with a focus on its misuse from the time of the Civil War to the civil rights movement Assesses the Criminal Justice System: Examines the operation of the American justice system today, including plea bargains, assistance of counsel, the death penalty, and more Foreword by Derwin L. Gray: Pastor of Transformation Church in Indian Land, South Carolina, and the author of How to Heal Our Racial Divide and Building a Multiethnic Church

Author : Millie, Andrew
Publisher : Bristol University Press
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2020-11-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781529207392

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Criminology and Public Theology by Millie, Andrew Pdf

At a time when criminal justice systems appear to be in a permanent state of crisis, leading scholars from criminology and theology come together to challenge criminal justice orthodoxy by questioning the dominance of retributive punishment. This timely and unique contribution considers alternatives that draw on Christian ideas of hope, mercy and restoration. Promoting cross-disciplinary learning, the book will be of interest to academics and students of criminology, socio-legal studies, legal philosophy, public theology and religious studies, as well as practitioners and policy makers.

Author : Michael Gaddis
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 415 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2005-10-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780520241046

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There Is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ by Michael Gaddis Pdf

Focusing on the 4th and 5th centuries, Michael Gaddis explores how various groups employed the language of religious violence to construct their own identities, to undermine the legitimacy of their rivals, & to advance themselves in the competitive & high stakes process of Christianizing the Roman Empire.

Author : Chris Wood
Publisher : Hyperion Books
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 1991
Category : Law
ISBN : STANFORD:36105041266169

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The End of Punishment by Chris Wood Pdf

Based on a study of the principles and assumptions of penal policy, this book addresses important, complex contemporary problems for the lay-person. Penal institutions house individual men and women, not faceless offenders and officers.