Crime and Forgiveness: Christianizing Execution in Medieval Europe. By Adriano Prosperi, translated by Jeremy Carden
2021; Oxford University Press; Volume: 64; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jcs/csab078
ISSN2040-4867
Autores Tópico(s)Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
ResumoThe history of execution often conflicts with the messages of Western Christianity, which promotes forgiveness rather than vengeance. Crime and Forgiveness: Christianizing Execution in Medieval Europe situates the contradictions inherent in Church-sanctioned executions within the fourteenth-century context of the development of Confraternities of Mercy designed to offer comfort to the condemned as they faced their final end. In this English translation from the Italian (originally published 2013), Adriano Prosperi considers an extensive range of materials, offering an insightful look into these organizations that existed from the late-medieval period through the eighteenth century. As a modernist, Prosperi ties the contradictions of Christian messaging regarding executions to modern examples of capital punishment, connecting the compassion of people like Sister Helen Prejean to the late-medieval confraternities that specialized in easing the final moments of the condemned. The book is massive and covers a wide scope of both time and subjects, frequently bouncing between...
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