The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America (Aaron Griffith)
Episode Summary
In the latter half of 20th century, the evangelical community’s developing attitudes toward crime and punishment overlapped with the increasingly punitive approach of the American criminal justice system. Faith leaders such as Billy Graham and James Dobson cast crime as an issue of the criminal’s heart, deemphasizing its enmeshment with broader social structures and ills.
On this episode, Aaron Griffith discusses his book God’s Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America and how thinking about criminality can help people deepen their understanding of sin and redemption.
Chapters
- 0:25 20th-century Christianity and justice
- 6:31 Crime: A matter of the heart?
- 15:45 Cities
- 21:37 How neighborhoods function
- 26:45 Biblical principles to guide policing
- 33:00 Equal treatment for all: a biblical perspective
- 39:00 Is there room for an inclusive, restorative justice model?
Books/articles mentioned:
Transcripts are AI generated and are not guaranteed to correctly reflect the content of the podcast.
Transcript
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Aaron L. Griffith
Aaron Griffith is Assistant Professor of modern American history at Whitworth University. He writes and speaks about American religion, politics, and criminal justice for academic and popular audiences.His book God's Law and Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America recently won the 2022 Best Book Award for History & Biography from Christianity Today. His writing has also appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Religion News Service, Religions, and Fides et Historia.
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