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The Edge of LifeCapital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition

The Edge of Life: Capital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition CHAPTER 9 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND THE CATHOLIC TRADITION Contradiction, Circumstantial Application, or Development of Doctrine? What place does a chapter on capital punishment have in a book on bioethics? Although consideration of bioethics generally pertains to “private” choices such as physician assisted suicide or abortion, if we understand bioethics in its literal sense, ethics having to do with what might be called “life issues,” then an inclusion of capital punishment within this scope is not at all out of place. Particularly, in the Catholic tradition one hears often of a “consistent life ethic” or a “seamless garment” which would explicitly link the various life issues in moral consideration. Or, those outside the tradition wonder how an absolute exclusion of abortion squares with acceptance of inflicting death in other cases. As Bernard Nathanson wrote years before his conversion, “I also wonder at Catholicism’s inconsistency in holding alpha’s [the fetus’s] life to be so absolutely sacred and yet often accepting intentional killing [in] war or execution” (Nathanson 1979, 241; see also Boonin 2003, 55). Recent years have brought continued discussion of the death penalty within the Catholic tradition, a discussion that raises important questions about how this tradition handles questions of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Edge of LifeCapital Punishment and the Catholic Tradition

Part of the Philosophy and Medicine Book Series (volume 85)
Editors: Spicker, Stuart F.; Engelhardt, H. Tristram; Wildes, Kevin Wm.
The Edge of Life — Jan 1, 2005
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Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer 2005
ISBN
978-1-4020-3155-7
Pages
133 –149
DOI
10.1007/1-4020-3156-4_9
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

CHAPTER 9 CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AND THE CATHOLIC TRADITION Contradiction, Circumstantial Application, or Development of Doctrine? What place does a chapter on capital punishment have in a book on bioethics? Although consideration of bioethics generally pertains to “private” choices such as physician assisted suicide or abortion, if we understand bioethics in its literal sense, ethics having to do with what might be called “life issues,” then an inclusion of capital punishment within this scope is not at all out of place. Particularly, in the Catholic tradition one hears often of a “consistent life ethic” or a “seamless garment” which would explicitly link the various life issues in moral consideration. Or, those outside the tradition wonder how an absolute exclusion of abortion squares with acceptance of inflicting death in other cases. As Bernard Nathanson wrote years before his conversion, “I also wonder at Catholicism’s inconsistency in holding alpha’s [the fetus’s] life to be so absolutely sacred and yet often accepting intentional killing [in] war or execution” (Nathanson 1979, 241; see also Boonin 2003, 55). Recent years have brought continued discussion of the death penalty within the Catholic tradition, a discussion that raises important questions about how this tradition handles questions of

Published: Jan 1, 2005

Keywords: Capital Punishment; Human Person; Retributive Justice; Contemporary Teaching; Catholic Tradition

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