Capital Punishment and Roman Catholic Moral Tradition » (New Edition)

What is the Catholic Church's position on the death penalty? How and why has it changed through the ages? In his book, Capital Punishment and Roman Catholic Moral Tradition, E. Christian Brugger traces the history of this thorny moral issue.

Library Journal

Destined to become a primary resource on the complex moral question of capital punishment, this book is the culmination of many years of extensive scholarship by Brugger (ethics, Loyola Univ.). The material is historically and theologically sound, relying on the influence of Thomas Aquinas, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the encyclicals of Pope John Paul II, including Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor. The text is divided into three major sections, beginning with a philosophical discussion on punishment and its justification. Brugger follows this with a thorough exegesis of Scripture and a chronological explication showing the evolution of doctrine through patristic, medieval, 16th-century, and modern times appropriate to the subject. In the final section, Brugger makes an academic and moral argument against capital punishment and posits a radical rethinking and rejection of Roman Catholicism's traditional understanding of justifiable homicide. The book boasts 60 pages of meticulously documented notes and an exhaustive 20-page bibliography. Impressive, scholarly, and authoritative, this is recommended for large university libraries.-John-Leonard Berg, Univ. of Wisconsin, Platteville Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.