Capital punishment, abolition and Roman Catholic moral tradition
The last fifty years have seen a turn in the Catholic Church's public attitude toward capital punishment. From openly defending the right of the state to kill malefactors, the Church has become an outspoken opponent. What accounts for this? How can it be reconciled with Catholic tradition? Should the current teaching be called a 'development of doctrine'? Can we expect further change? These questions shape this thesis. The work is divided into three parts comprising a total of eight chapters. Part I undertakes a detailed exegesis of the death penalty teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997). I conclude that the text, while not explicitly stating that the death penalty is in itself wrong, lays down premises which when carried to their logical conclusions, yield just such a conclusion. This conclusion is checked and confirmed by the fundamental moral reasoning found in the papal encyclicals Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor. In light of this conclusion (what I call the new position), Part II asks the question: may the Church, constrained by sound biblical interpretation and dogmatic tradition, legitimately teach in a definitive way that capital punishment is per se wrong? This is a question
Brugger, E. Christian
Capital punishment ; Moral and ethical aspects ; Religious aspects ; Catholic Church
Capital punishment, abolition and Roman Catholic moral tradition. The last fifty years have seen a turn in the Catholic Church's public attitude toward capital punishment. From openly defending the right of the state to kill malefactors, the Church has become an outspoken opponent. What accounts for this? How can it be reconciled with Catholic tradition? Should the current teaching be called a 'development of doctrine'? Can we expect further change? These questions shape this thesis. The work is divided into three parts comprising a total of eight chapters. Part I undertakes a detailed exegesis of the death penalty teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997). I conclude that the text, while not explicitly stating that the death penalty is in itself wrong, lays down premises which when carried to their logical conclusions, yield just such a conclusion. This conclusion is checked and confirmed by the fundamental moral reasoning found in the papal encyclicals Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor. In light of this conclusion (what I call the new position), Part II asks the question: may the Church, constrained by sound biblical interpretation and dogmatic tradition, legitimately teach in a definitive way that capital punishment is per se wrong? This is a question
capital punishment abolition roman_catholic moral tradition see turn catholic_church public attitude_toward capital punishment openly defend right state kill church become opponent account reconcile catholic tradition current teaching call development doctrine expect change question shape thesis work_divide three_part comprise total chapter part undertakes detailed exegesis death penalty teach catholic_church conclude text explicitly state death penalty wrong premise carry logical conclusion yield conclusion conclusion check fundamental moral_reason find papal vitae light conclusion call new position part ask_question may church constrain sound biblical_interpretation dogmatic tradition legitimately teach definitive way capital punishment per wrong question