The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of PunishmentThis bold work confronts the spirit of punishment that permeates our culture and its deleterious effects on today's penal system and society at large. Rooted in experiences of prison reality, the book sets forth an original theory about the theological roots of our current punitive ethos and offers a creative antidote informed by a commitment to restorative justice. Snyder shows that the spirit of punishment in our culture is rooted in and reinforced by popular Christian misunderstandings of human nature and God's grace. These misunderstandings include two consequential errors: the absence of any notion of "creation grace" and an understanding of "redemption grace" couched exclusively in individualistic, internalized, and nonhistorical terms. In both cases the social-historical dimensions of grace necessary for holistic redemption are ignored. These theological distortions, coupled with a prevailing cultural context that divides people between "them" and "us"-the most virulent form of which is racism-make a spirit of punishment inevitable. Snyder finds clues for a different understanding of humanity and God in responses to crime categorized as "restorative justice". These alternative perspectives seek redemption not only for the perpetrator but also for the victims of crime and the larger community. They also recognize all persons as "graced," no matter what their actions may have been. Drawing on these clues, Snyder initiates fresh ways of thinking about the traditional theological concepts of covenant, incarnation, and trinity as foundations for a restorative approach to justice. He also challenges religious communities to understand God's good news in ways that offer hope for a transformed world. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Punishment is an eye-opening work with profound implications for contemporary social life. |
Contents
Getting Even The Rush to Punish | 1 |
The Air We Breathe Hegemony and the Spirit of an Age | 17 |
Grace Isnt Only for Wretches | 33 |
Jesus and Me The Individualization of Redemptive Grace | 55 |
Is There Anything Else Out There? Restorative Justice Alternatives | 74 |
Common terms and phrases
alternatives anti-Judaism apartheid become behavior biblical Bill Webber capital punishment capitalism Christ Christian church circle of redemption color commit crimes conversion Cornel West covenant creation criminal justice system culture deal Desmond Tutu doctrine Dorothee Sölle drug economic essential Ethic evangelism faith forgiveness fundamental God's grace guilt habilitation healing hegemony heterosexism human ideology important imprisoned individual involved Jesus Karl Barth lives mandatory sentencing ment ministry nation Native American nature neighborhoods ness offenders offers ontological penal system perpetrators persons policies political possible prison problem programs Protestant Protestantism punitive racism recidivism recognize reconciliation redemptive grace rehabilitation relationship release religion religious response to crime restorative justice retribution role roots Sallie McFague Scripture sentencing circles simply Sing Sing social South Africa spirit of punishment theology tion tradition TRC process Trinity truth ture Ubuntu understanding victims Weber women York