Crime and Forgiveness

Crime and Forgiveness
Author :
Publisher : Belknap Press
Total Pages : 657
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674659841
ISBN-13 : 0674659848
Rating : 4/5 (848 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Crime and Forgiveness by : Adriano Prosperi

Download or read book Crime and Forgiveness written by Adriano Prosperi and published by Belknap Press. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 657 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative analysis of how Christianity helped legitimize the death penalty in early modern Europe, then throughout the Christian world, by turning execution into a great cathartic public ritual and the condemned into a Christ-like figure who accepts death to save humanity. The public execution of criminals has been a common practice ever since ancient times. In this wide-ranging investigation of the death penalty in Europe from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, noted Italian historian Adriano Prosperi identifies a crucial period when legal concepts of vengeance and justice merged with Christian beliefs in repentance and forgiveness. Crime and Forgiveness begins with late antiquity but comes into sharp focus in fourteenth-century Italy, with the work of the Confraternities of Mercy, which offered Christian comfort to the condemned and were for centuries responsible for burying the dead. Under the brotherhoods’ influence, the ritual of public execution became Christianized, and the doomed person became a symbol of the fallen human condition. Because the time of death was known, this “ideal” sinner could be comforted and prepared for the next life through confession and repentance. In return, the community bearing witness to the execution offered forgiveness and a Christian burial. No longer facing eternal condemnation, the criminal in turn publicly forgave the executioner, and the death provided a moral lesson to the community. Over time, as the practice of Christian comfort spread across Europe, it offered political authorities an opportunity to legitimize the death penalty and encode into law the right to kill and exact vengeance. But the contradictions created by Christianity’s central role in executions did not dissipate, and squaring the emotions and values surrounding state-sanctioned executions was not simple, then or now.


Crime and Forgiveness Related Books

Crime and Forgiveness
Language: en
Pages: 657
Authors: Adriano Prosperi
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-07-14 - Publisher: Belknap Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A provocative analysis of how Christianity helped legitimize the death penalty in early modern Europe, then throughout the Christian world, by turning execution
Forgiveness Work
Language: en
Pages: 358
Authors: Arzoo Osanloo
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-06-23 - Publisher: Princeton University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Legal foundations : victim's rights and retribution -- Codifying mercy : judicial reform, affective process, and judge's knowledge -- Seeking reconciliation : s
The Forgiveness Project
Language: en
Pages: 210
Authors: Marina Cantacuzino
Categories: Psychology
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-03-26 - Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Silver Medal Winner in the Essays category of the 2015 Foreword Reviews' INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards What is forgiveness? Are some acts unforgivable? Can f
When Should Law Forgive?
Language: en
Pages: 159
Authors: Martha Minow
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-09-24 - Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

“Martha Minow is a voice of moral clarity: a lawyer arguing for forgiveness, a scholar arguing for evidence, a person arguing for compassion.” —Jill Lepor
Forgiveness and Remembrance
Language: en
Pages: 353
Authors: Jeffrey Blustein
Categories: Law
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014 - Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The theme of Forgiveness and Remembrance is the complex moral psychology of forgiving and remembering in both personal and political contexts. It offers an orig