The Execution Of God

We kill. We kill each other. We kill God. The altar of the death chamber is open, the hour of execution upon us. Is there salvation amidst the horror of the death penalty? We must save to get saved. We must save our God. How will we encounter the execution of God? Will we save or will we kill? In this stunning fusion of biblical interpretation and memoir, radical theologian of mercy Jeff Hood takes us on a unique spiritual journey into the heart of the death penalty. The Execution of God is a powerful invitation to encounter God in the last place we expect divinity to dwell...on the gurney. The Execution of God will invite you to re-examine your belief in the ultimate punishment and consider:How the death penalty kills our relationship with GodThe idea that the divine image of God dwells in those on death rowHow we cannot be both people of love and people of murderHow our cultural obsession with violence harms our spiritual lifeHow to stop the killing and join the work of abolition and restoration

We kill. We kill each other. We kill God. The altar of the death chamber is open, the hour of execution upon us. Is there salvation amidst the horror of the death penalty? We must save to get saved. We must save our God. How will we encounter the execution of God? Will we save or will we kill? In this stunning fusion of biblical interpretation and memoir, radical theologian of mercy Jeff Hood takes us on a unique spiritual journey into the heart of the death penalty. The Execution of God is a powerful invitation to encounter God in the last place we expect divinity to dwell...on the gurney. The Execution of God will invite you to re-examine your belief in the ultimate punishment and consider:How the death penalty kills our relationship with GodThe idea that the divine image of God dwells in those on death rowHow we cannot be both people of love and people of murderHow our cultural obsession with violence harms our spiritual lifeHow to stop the killing and join the work of abolition and restoration

We kill. We kill each other. We kill God. The altar of the death chamber is open, the hour of execution upon us. Is there salvation amidst the horror of the death penalty? We must save to get saved. We must save our God. How will we encounter the execution of God? Will we save or will we kill? In this stunning fusion of biblical interpretation and memoir, radical theologian of mercy Jeff Hood takes us on a unique spiritual journey into the heart of the death penalty. The Execution of God is a powerful invitation to encounter God in the last place we expect divinity to dwell...on the gurney. The Execution of God will invite you to re-examine your belief in the ultimate punishment and consider:How the death penalty kills our relationship with GodThe idea that the divine image of God dwells in those on death rowHow we cannot be both people of love and people of murderHow our cultural obsession with violence harms our spiritual lifeHow to stop the killing and join the work of abolition and restoration

In this reasoned exploration of justice, retribution, and redemption, the champion of the new monastic movement, popular speaker, and author of the bestselling The Irresistible Revolution offers a powerful and persuasive appeal for the abolition of the death penalty. The Bible says an eye for an eye. But is the state’s taking of a life true—or even practical—punishment for convicted prisoners? In this thought-provoking work, Shane Claiborne explores the issue of the death penalty and the contrast between punitive justice and restorative justice, questioning our notions of fairness, revenge, and absolution. Using an historical lens to frame his argument, Claiborne draws on testimonials and examples from Scripture to show how the death penalty is not the ideal of justice that many believe. Not only is a life lost, so too, is the possibility of mercy and grace. In Executing Grace, he reminds us of the divine power of forgiveness, and evokes the fundamental truth of the Gospel—that no one, even a criminal, is beyond redemption.

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A deeply reported, searingly honest portrait of the death penalty in Texas—and what it tells us about crime and punishment in America “If you’re one of those people who despair that nothing changes, and dream that something can, this is a story of how it does.”—Anand Giridharadas, The New York Times Book Review WINNER OF THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS AWARD In 1972, the United States Supreme Court made a surprising ruling: the country’s death penalty system violated the Constitution. The backlash was swift, especially in Texas, where executions were considered part of the cultural fabric, and a dark history of lynching was masked by gauzy visions of a tough-on-crime frontier. When executions resumed, Texas quickly became the nationwide leader in carrying out the punishment. Then, amid a larger wave of criminal justice reform, came the death penalty’s decline, a trend so durable that even in Texas the punishment appears again close to extinction. In Let the Lord Sort Them, Maurice Chammah charts the rise and fall of capital punishment through the eyes of those it touched. We meet Elsa Alcala, the orphaned daughter of a Mexican American family who found her calling as a prosecutor in the nation’s death penalty capital, before becoming a judge on the state’s highest court. We meet Danalynn Recer, a lawyer who became obsessively devoted to unearthing the life stories of men who committed terrible crimes, and fought for mercy in courtrooms across the state. We meet death row prisoners—many of them once-famous figures like Henry Lee Lucas, Gary Graham, and Karla Faye Tucker—along with their families and the families of their victims. And we meet the executioners, who struggle openly with what society has asked them to do. In tracing these interconnected lives against the rise of mass incarceration in Texas and the country as a whole, Chammah explores what the persistence of the death penalty tells us about forgiveness and retribution, fairness and justice, history and myth. Written with intimacy and grace, Let the Lord Sort Them is the definitive portrait of a particularly American institution.

The popular Patheos blogger wants to restore the cross as primarily a symbol of God’s overwhelming love for us and to rescue Christians from the shame and guilt from seeing our situation as “sinners in the hands of an angry God,” which was an invention of the medieval church and became enshrined as orthodox Christianity. Many Christians believe that God the Father demanded his only Son die a cruel, gruesome death to appease His wrath, since humanity is so irredeemably sinful and therefore repugnant to God. Tony Jones, popular progressive Christian blogger, author, and scholar, argues that this understanding is actually a medieval invention and not what the Bible really teaches. He looks beyond medieval convictions and liberates how we see Jesus’s death on the cross from this restrictive paradigm. Christians today must transcend the shame and guilt that have shaped conceptions of the human soul and made us fearful of God, and replace them with love, grace, and joyfulness, which better expresses what the cross is really about. How we understand the cross reflects directly what kind of God we worship. By letting go of the wrathful God who cannot stand to be in our presence unless he pretends to see Jesus in our place, we discover the biblical God who reaches out to love and embrace us while “we were yet sinners.” Jones offers a positive, loving, inclusive interpretation of the faith that is both challenging and inspiring. Did God Kill Jesus? is essential reading for modern Christians.

TORTURE -- INFANTICIDE -- BRUTALITY -- MURDER The World Would Never Be the Same "The execution of Jesus was a crime born of the streets, the barracks, the enclaves of the privileged, and the smoke-filled back rooms of religious and political power brokers. Its meaning lives in these places still." It is the most fiercely debated murder of all time. Its symbol is worn by billions of people worldwide. Its spiritual meaning is invoked daily in time-honored rituals. In Killing Jesus, New York Times best-selling author Stephen Mansfield masterfully recounts the corrupt trial and grisly execution of Jesus more than two thousand years ago. Approaching the story at its most human level, Mansfield uses both secular sources and biblical accounts to bring fresh perspective to the human drama, political intrigue, and criminal network behind the killing of the world's most famous man