V. Bradley Lewis on Punishment

“Punishment, particularly in its theoretical justification, has always been amongst the most vexed provinces of law’s empire.” Listen to On Punishment by Professor V. Bradley Lewis on the Thomistic Institute Podcast👉 https://t.co/YNPKFyJTsk#Catholic #podcast #ThomisticInstitute pic.twitter.com/xNaUlh884O

— Thomistic Institute (@ThomisticInst) October 25, 2023

Defending the Common Good: Mercy and Punishment, from Stoicism to Christianity

Prof. Sarah Byers

Feser Responds to Finnis

CWR: Unnatural Lawyering: John Finnis’s brief against traditional Catholic teaching on capital punishment

John Finnis is a prominent Catholic law professor and chief apostle of the “new natural law theory” (NNLT) invented by the late Germain Grisez in the 1960s. At Public Discourse, Finnis and I have been [...]

Exactly

Chastek on Feser's defense of retribution

Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Some reject the idea of hell as a fiery punishment, maintaining that hell is primary a spiritual state, the sinner's own rejection of God (and thus the beatitude that consists of communion with Him). If God is all-loving and good, then why would He need to inflict an additional punishment to this misery that the unrepentant sinner will experience? But if we accept that there is a sensible component to the Divine glory and love that we can experience, and that those who are in beatitude will experience this as a pleasant sensation (the warmth of the sun, to which the warmth of feeling loved by another is compared), then conversely, those who are in hell because they have turned away from God, might they not they also experience the warmth of this Divine Love as something painful, as they have rejected it? Hellfire then would not be a separate punishment, but the sensible consequence of their rejection of God, an unquenchable fire because the sinner has rejected it and the transformation that it would bring to him.

As for purgatory, even if purgatory will end on the Last Day with the resurrection of all who have died, followed by Judgment, perhaps the soul too will somehow experience the Divine Love as a "fire" as a part the purgation process, the removal of any lingering imperfections, which are burned off, while he is heated and transformed in the Divine Love.

If the Patriarch of Rome has overstepped the limits of his authority regarding the Church Universal, is it appropriate to break communion with him? Is it sufficient to ignore his claims and commands if they are not legitimate? Or does there need to be a more severe censure in order to alert him of a problem?

Not Mutually Exclusive

Hell: punishment or self-inflicted? What if it is both, especially if we keep more than the sense of poena in mind -- that it is a privation. Secondly, God's judgment is not a distinct act from His being or His love.

The Heresy of Hell as Self-Inflicted by Charles Robertson

I also note that while the title calls it a heresy, there is no evidence that it is so, other than that the position that Hell is self-inflicted seems to go against Scripture. And this only if we hold that Hell being self-inflicted contradicts it being a punishment. But more likely than not supporters of Hell being self-inflicted can offer an explanation of how it is still a punishment, or harmonize it with the words of Christ.

If Excommunication Is Not a Remedy, Then What Is?

What ecclesial punishment exists for the senators who voted against the bill to outlaw abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy?

CWR Dispatch: The Bloody 14 and the question of excommunication by Edward N. Peters

Capital Punishment as Deterrent

CWR: How and why the death penalty deters murder in contemporary America by Joseph M. Bessette

Too many churchmen simply ignore the evidence that the death penalty saves lives and promotes public order. Catholic public officials charged with the care of the common good deserve better from their religious leaders.

Feser Responds to Griffiths and Hart

Ed Feser: Reply to Griffiths and Hart - Hot Air vs. Capital Punishment: A Reply to Paul Griffiths and David Bentley Hart

Is lex talionis part of the natural law?

It is certainly in operation in the animal world. Even if it is a consequence of the Fall, can a Christian deny that it is ordered to a good, even if a limited or subordinate good?

Sins that Cry to Heaven for Vengeance?

Catholic.com: What are sins that cry to heaven for vengeance and sins against the Holy Spirit?

There is no mention of tyranny in the Old Testament -- were tyrants seen as a punishment deserved by the people in all instances? If the list is scriptural, one should be hesitant to add to it, but what seem to be other candidates? Social Justice Warriors may have their own choices; I think of tyranny and the imposition of a feminist legal and social order, which is contrary to Natural Law. (Catholics who have been indoctrinated in liberalism would disagree.)

Punishment and Reward

But Capital Punishment Does Not Exclude Hope

How to pray the “Cursing Psalms” against our enemies

Rather than talking about "Divine Justice" (as an analogue to human retributive justice) as Pius Parsch does in his introduction to the breviary, wouldn't it be better to talk about punishments/chastisements/etc. in relation to Divine Mercy or Righteousness?

Can God will an evil (or punishment) to a sinner for its own sake, without willing the further good of conversion or penitence, or just as a means to maintaining good order or discipline or to prevent them from doing greater evil, for the sake of others only? Or does sin suffice as its own punishment?

Ed Feser on Capital Punishment

Why the Church Cannot Reverse Past Teaching on Capital Punishment
If Pope Francis were to teach that capital punishment is “absolutely” immoral, he would be contradicting the teaching of scripture, the Fathers, and all previous popes, and substituting for it “some new doctrine.”

Why the Death Penalty is Still Necessary
Given the Church’s longstanding and irreformable teaching that death may in principle be a legitimate punishment for grievous crimes, the key issue for Catholics is an empirical and practical question.

Theodore of Mopsuestia and his writings were declared anathema by an ecumenical council, even though the pope was reluctant to do this, preferring rather to condemn only part of his writings and leaving untouched reputation of the man(who was considered orthodox while he was alive). Was the pope's opinion on this matter a better one? After all, if excommunication primarily manifests the medicinal aspect of punishment and is a call of repentence, what point is there to anathematizing or excommunicating other than to express a strong disapproval of a person (or his teachings)? How can he be condemned after death, when he has already before the judgment seat of God but was also considered orthodox while he was alive?

Putting the "Equal" Back in Justice

Dr. Helen brings to our attention a new book by Thane Rosenbaum, Payback: The Case for Revenge. The part of the book description that caught my eye:

Revenge, Rosenbaum argues, is not the problem. It is, in fact, a perfectly healthy emotion. Instead, the problem is the inadequacy of lawful outlets through which to express it. He mounts a case for legal systems to punish the guilty commensurate with their crimes as part of a societal moral duty to satisfy the needs of victims to feel avenged. Indeed, the legal system would better serve the public if it gave victims the sense that vengeance was being done on their behalf. Drawing on a wide range of support, from recent studies in behavioral psychology and neuroeconomics, to stories of vengeance and justice denied, to revenge practices from around the world, to the way in which revenge tales have permeated popular culture—including Hamlet, The Godfather, and Braveheart—Rosenbaum demonstrates that vengeance needs to be more openly and honestly discussed and lawfully practiced.

University of Chicago Press

Aquinas does list a virtue whose name is translated as "vengeance."

I don't expect liberals and others with mushy-headed ideas about "love" to accept Rosenbaum's case.

The Chronicle of Higher Education
Where ‘An Eye for An Eye’ Should be the Letter of the Law

Vindictive Versus Rehabilitative

Vatican Insider: Pope: “Justice fails if prison fails to re-educate”

Should a punishment itself be meant to be rehabilitative? (In so far as it may be the occassion of repentence.) One must prepare the offender or criminal for reintegration into society, and supply the moral formation that he may not have received. But I would not consider this to be a part of the punishment itself, but a necessary supplement required by civic friendship and social justice.

Vengeance and Justice

Something of note: Ed Feser has written something on vengeance and its relation to justice - Justice or Revenge?