The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty

by Dale S. Recinella

Book Overview

Religious conservatives, particularly in the Bible belt, remain advocates of the death penalty, citing biblical law and practice to defend government-sanctioned killing. Dale S. Recinella compares... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555536328
• ISBN13: 9781555536329
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Northeastern University Press
• Length: 433 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.6" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Thought-provoking and convicting

This should be a must-read for everyone who claims to be a Christian and also supports the death penalty in the United States. I'm guessing that because the writer is a lawyer and wants to make his point bullet-proof, he repeats himself frequently, and that becomes tedious. However, the meat of the book is incredibly challenging. It is a wake-up call to use the entirety of Scripture in our approach to criminal law, rather than thoughtlessly picking and choosing sound bites to support an only marginally thought-out point of view.

Excellent book on the topic!

The Biblical Truth about America's Death Penalty is a must-read. It deals with Biblical standards of Capital Punishment and then compares them to the system used in America today. It is the best-researched, most faithful to scripture, and most evenhanded analysis I have ever read concerning the Death Penalty. Whatever your persuasion on the issue, this book will teach you a great deal. Recinella is a trained lawyer and committed Christian who now volunteers full-time on Florida's death row. He thus understands law, the Bible, and the system of execution in America. I challenge anyone who supports the Death Penalty to read this book.

Thought-provoking and scary

This is an excellent review of the death penalty and its application in the U.S. today. Given the vociferous nature of the claim that the Bible supports the death penalty, the focus of the book is a legal analysis of what that standard is and whether the death penalty in the U.S. actually meets that standard. The author, an attorney himself, has done his research and has provided extensive citations to the authorities he relies upon, so that the reader, if interested, can check those authorities for him or her self. The interesting thing I found about the book was that, despite its focus on the biblical standards for death and the U.S. death penalty's (lack of) compliance with those standards, it also provided a thought-provoking and, to me, scary insight into how our death penalty is administered and applied today. I hope that every person who is involved in the application and administration of the death penalty, from the legislator who votes for it, to the governor who signed the bill, to the prosecutor who prosecutes the cases, to the parol or pardon board member which decides clemency issues, reads this book.

Reads like a thriller...

The author involves you in the journey and you become part of the process of discovery on the truth of the death penalty in America. Very well written.