The Power over Life and Death Christian's Capital Punishment and Government

Sunday, January 08, 2006

  

“The death penalty requires some extraordinary authority, and if we reject the divine election of kings . . . then we have also rejected the justification for a legal system to claim to be enacting the highest story of earthly justice.”

So writes Dr. Joseph Bottum, in the August/September 2005 issue of “First Things,” the journal of religion, culture and public life.

Bottum, who is the editor of “First Things,” will speak on “The Power over Life and Death: Christians, Capital Punishment and Government” as the 2006 Snuggs Lecturer at The University of Tulsa, January 29, 2006, 7:00 p.m., in the Faculty Study of McFarlin Library on TU’s campus.

Before joining “First Things” as editor, Bottum was literary editor of “The Weekly Standard,” and his books include “The Fall & Other Poems.” He has taught philosophy at Loyola College in Baltimore and has hosted “Book Talk” a nationally syndicated radio program for three years.

Bottum’s essays, reviews and poetry have appeared in “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Atlantic Monthly,” “19th-Century Literature,” “Commentary”, “National Review,” “Philosophy & Literature” and elsewhere.

A native of South Dakota, he is a graduate of Georgetown University and has a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Boston College.

For more information, please call the TU Department of Philosophy and Religion, (918) 631-2279.