The Death Penalty Debate: Two Opposing Views of Capitol Punishment (Issues of Christian Conscience) [Paperback]

H. Wayne House (Author), John Howard Yoder (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: W Pub Group; First edition. edition (July 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0849933072
• ISBN-13: 978-0849933073
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

H. Wayne House (ThD, JD) is distinguished research professor of theology, law, and culture at Faith Evangelical College and Seminary, Tacoma, Washington, and formerly was professor of law at Trinity Law School, Trinity International University. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Charts of Cults, Sects, and Religious Movements; and Charts of Christian Theology and Doctrine; Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences; Intelligent Design 101; and Reasons for Our Hope: An Introduction to Apologetics.

Dr. House travels each year to the Mediterranean and Middle East and has taught internationally in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the South Pacific. He enjoys reading, travel, playing word games with his wife and grandchildren. He is past president of the Evangelical Theological Society. He and his wife Leta reside in Silverton, Oregon, and have two children and five grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyed seeing this issue discussed from Biblical standpoint, March 25, 2001

By 

Craig Childs (Cordova, TN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Death Penalty Debate: Two Opposing Views of Capitol Punishment (Issues of Christian Conscience) (Paperback)

This book presented opposing viewponts on capital punishment from two prominent Biblical theologians. While I did not agree with either theologian on all points, this somewhat overly scholarly debate did help me reexamine my own beliefs and determine why I believe what I believe.

Dr. House argued that capital punishment is not only condoned but also commanded by God in the Old Testament, and he used New Testament passages to affirm those commands were universal and unchanging. His arguments relied heavily on his interpretion of Genesis 9 (the Noachian Covenant) as a universal mandate establishing God's relationship to man, and man's relationship to each other. Unfortunately, I felt he took the "easy" way out by claiming that the entire Mosaic Law had been invalidated by Christ and therefore was not relevant to his case. I think a more fair analysis would have been to divide the Mosaic Laws into moral, religous, and legal subcomponents and deal with each separately.

Dr. Yoder used a standard "Christ-transforming-culture" argument to assert that God's acceptance of capital punishment has changed from Biblical times to today. The themes of Christ's teachings have helped evolve modern culture past the need for retribution-based systems of punishment (i.e., some Scriptures have to be interpreted in terms of the cultural bias of its authors). Yoder explains away the Noachian Covenant as a reflection of an obsolete era and basis his arguments primarily on John 8, where Jesus pardons an alduteress about to be stoned to death.

I really enjoyed seeing this contemporary issue discussed from Scriptural postions. Both men made interesting arguments, but I felt Dr. Yoder did not respect or believe in the infallibility of Scripture and tried to use secular sources (modern psychology and social science) to bend his interpretations.