Mortal sin

Abstract: To be convicted of a crime in the United States, a person must be proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." But what is reasonable doubt? Even sophisticated legal experts find this fundamental doctrine difficult to explain. In this accessible book, James Q. Whitman digs deep into the history of the law and discovers that we have lost sight of the original purpose of "reasonable doubt." It was not originally a legal rule at all, he shows, but a theological one. The rule as we understand it today is intended to protect the accused. But Whitman traces its history back through centuries of Christian theology and common-law history to reveal that the original concern was to protect the souls of jurors. In Christian tradition, a person who experienced doubt yet convicted an innocent defendant was guilty of a mortal sin. Jurors fearful for their own souls were reassured that they were safe, as long as their doubts were not "reasonable." Today, the old rule of reasonable doubt survives, but it has been turned to different purposes. The result is confusion for jurors, and a serious moral challenge for our system of justice.

Abstract: Preface. Acknowledgments. Part I: Setting the Stage: The Problem of Original Sin:. 1. Creation Gone Wrong: Thinking about Sin. A Doctrine Grown Strange. Biblical Configurations of Sin. Contemporary Attempts to Reclaim Sin-Talk. Original Sin and Actual Sin. 2. Original Sin as Christian Doctrine: Origins, Permutations, Problems. The Emergence of the Doctrine. The Augustinian Turn. Augustinian Revisions. Assessment. Part II: Reconfiguring the Debate: Sin, Nature, and the Will:. 3. Augustine of Hippo: Willing and the Ambiguity of Desire. Augustine's Views in Outline. Concupiscence: Humanity Internally Divided. The Fall: Humanity Temporally Divided. Assessing Augustine's Doctrine of the Will . 4. Maximus the Confessor: Willing Is Not Choosing. Maximus' Christology in Context. Dyothelite Christology in Outline. Maximus' Analysis of the Will. Maximus' Interpretation of Christ's Willing. Anthropological Implications. Conclusion. 5. The Status of Christ's Will: Fallen or Unfallen?. The Question in the Tradition. Preliminary Assessment. The Problem of Christ's Will. Theological Implications. Part III: Reconstructing the Doctrine: Original Sin in Christian Practice:. 6. Original Sin and Human Nature: Solidarity in Sin. Original Sin and the Damaged Will. The Problem of the Origin of Original Sin. Reconceiving the Ontology of Original Sin. 7. Original Sin and the Individual: Being a Sinner. The Scope of Sin. Sin and Agency. From Actual Sin to Original Sin. 8. Original Sin and the Christian Life: Confronting Sin. From Original Sin to Actual Sin. Original Sin as Unbelief. Vocation and the Defeat of Sin. Conclusion. References. Index.

Abstract: In public debates the issue of blasphemy is often marked as a modern phenomenon. In fact, blasphemous speech acts were also an integral part of everyday life in the Middle Ages and in Early Modern Europe. Cursing and swearing, oaths and other blasphemous utterances were used in all strata of society. While enraged preachers condemned this mortal sin and various laws threatened with capital punishment, the common practice was different as most blasphemies passed with minor punishments or even without any kind of prosecution. Attacks on the honour of God were constituent elements of everyday conflict behaviour. Blasphemy therefore must not be misinterpreted as indication of religious indifference or even unbelief, but rather as different usage of the religious sphere in premodern times.

Abstract: Society has historically viewed suicide with hostility and fear. For centuries this hostility was reflected in the English civil law, which condemned suicide as homicide, and in the Church's position towards suicide victims, which historically considered suicide to be a mortal sin. Under the current canon law, set out in Canon B 38, it is the duty of the minister to bury all parishioners, those who die in the parish, or those entered on the electoral roll of the parish according to the rites of the Church of England, except for (among others) those who ‘being of sound mind have laid violent hands upon themselves’. This canon has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as society's attitudes towards suicide have become more tolerant. As a result, General Synod recently voted that this canon should be amended. This article explores the development of the law relating to suicide victims in order to understand the Church's current position. It then considers the shortcomings of the current canon law and reviews the position adopted by the Roman Catholic and Methodist churches. Finally, it examines the proposals for changing Canon B 38.