The Sound of Sheer Silence and the Killing StateThe Death Penalty and the Bible by Millard Lind |
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This book unambiguously opposes capital punishment as the immoral act of "the killing state." The author notes that there are utilitarian reasons to oppose capital punishment, such as the observation that it does not deter crime, that it cannot be justly implemented, and that it is expensive. But these reasons, though important, become idolatrous if they supplant Yahweh's justice and personal concern.
Lind traces Yahweh's saving action and steadfast love for Israel and the world from Moses to Elijah to Jesus, and shows how they are to be emulated on the societal level by obedience to covenant law. This leads to his conclusion that capital punishment is to be opposed because from the perspective of the God revealed in the Bible -- determined in Lind's view by the careful reading of the text he has attempted here -- capital punishment is simply wrong.
In the Sound of Sheer Silence and the Killing State, the ancient Israelite and modern American problem of capital punishment and its solution--do not engage in it--answer are used to propose that both social ethics and theology are rooted in the Israelite experience with God and are of prime importance to our twenty-first century challenge: the killing state.
About the Author
Millard Lind, Goshen, Indiana, is a retired Professor of Old Testament at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, where he taught for 30 years. A widely traveled and published scholar, Lind is the author of such books as Yahweh Is a Warrior; Monotheism, Power, Justice; and Ezekiel in the Believers Church Bible Commentary.