Newman, Paul, and the Death Penalty
Context: This piece (sans addendum) originated in response to a post by Ed Feser called "Newman on Capital Punishment." I would encourage you to read the whole thing; Dr. Feser's arguments are always well-structured and articulate even when they're completely wrong. I should say that I get rather caustic in my response, which I'm not particularly proud of, but I've retained the worst of it in the interesrs of honesty. I was responding to the particular statement quoted below, in which Feser is summarizing Cardinal Newman's arguments in favor of the death penalty. For note that Newman refers, specifically, to 'St. Paul's transferring the power of the sword to Christian magistrates.' This too is part of the traditional understanding, and yet another thing that modern day abolitionists sometimes resist. My Response: Maybe because it's an utterly anachronistic reading that's incompatible with the facts of Church history. There were no ...
