For Congregational Discussion: The Ethics of Incarceration

[1] This issue of JLE uses four different methods to explore the ethics of punishment and incarceration. In order to encourage discussion about the issue, we have picked a quote from each essay that highlights the method used. Each quote is followed by discussion questions that a small group might engage.

[2] Method One: Close Reading of Luther’s Own Biblical Analysis.

Tapio Leinonen takes a close look at Luther’s Lectures on Deuteronomy.  He writes,

“The other part of Luther’s teaching focuses on how to follow and interpret the Law – on how to rule and judge in a godly way. For this, Luther established a conceptual tool that borrows the concept of fairness or evenhandedness from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics.This concept, epieikeia in Greek becomes aequitas in Latin and Billigkeit in German. Luther uses the concept as an interpretive means to understand laws and statues with the goal of a just and equitable outcome. Importantly, Luther uses the concept of charitas (love) synonymously with epieikeia.”  Leinenan says later, “A fair commonwealth does not operate by vengeance but promotes justice and peace. Epieikeia (fairness), or charitas (love), can guide us in interpreting and applying the laws.”

1. How does thinking about the Law as the Godly Way affect how you think about the Ten Commandments?
2. How does thinking about justice as fairness affect the way you think about criminal justice?
3. How does Luther’s idea that love is synonymous with fairness sit with you as you think about concepts of criminal justice?
4. What is one new idea that you are now considering after thinking about Luther’s teachings on the Law and the book of Deuteronomy?

[3] Method Two: Systematic Theological Consideration.

Lauren Larkin explains how Lutheran understanding of justification changes the way Lutherans conceive of a criminal. Quoting theologian, Eberhard Jüngel, she writes,

“An essential element in living out of the righteousness of God, justification by faith alone, is that the person has total and unconditional precedence over their work.” Neither good deed nor ill will be used to define the “I” of the person. One cannot become more human or less human based on good and bad deeds, respectively. The doctrine of the justification of sinners “demythologizes the myth of super-humans who surpass themselves with their successes….[as well as] demythologizes the myth of unhuman beings who have become non-persons through the atrocities they have committed.”

1. The heart of Luther’s reformation is his understanding of justification by faith alone. How is this a radical statement when we consider that no good or bad deed defines the person, that no person’s actions can make them superhuman or unhuman?
2. If Lutherans are committed to seeing ourselves as defined only by God’s love and not by our actions, how might this change how you think about yourself?
3. How would seeing all other people as full human beings regardless of their deeds change the way you think about prisoners and act towards them?

[4] Method Three: Considering Personal Experiences in Ethical Deliberation

Pamela Gustafson starts where Larkin ends: “Prayer and worship place the believer in right relationship to her Creator and Sustainer.”  Gustafson shares her own experiences praying and worshiping with prisoners. She writes about the services,

“Our worship is designed to help those of us involved to see each other and learn from each other. Our worship is different from traditional church services. It is designed to empower the imprisoned and to make them feel they are not “the least of these.””

1. How does worshipping beside another person change you and the other person?  Share a story of someone in your congregation who changed the way you saw yourself.
2. If you have an experience of friend or family member who is or has been incarcerated, how has this changed your view of prisoners or the criminal justice system in the United States?
3. What do you believe you are called to do in response to Christ’s words in Matthew 25?

[5] Method Four: Using Church Teachings to Discover Ethical Norms

Tessa Faust uses ELCA church teachings as well as Scripture to assert a clear ethical command. She writes,

“Being silent or brushing off the injustice being done to immigrants should not be an option. We must remember that what is being done in detention centers is being done to the least of these in society. The church must be louder in its support of immigrants whether that be preaching from the pulpit or marching in the streets. Our church members must not only be aware but be active in speaking out against ICE detention facilities and the abuses going on. Any failure on the church and its members’ part to speak out against injustice is an act of injustice in and of itself.”

1. Faust uses examples from the civil rights movement to remind Christians today that there is an ethical responsibility to speak out against injustice. When in your own life have you found there to be ethical issues that the church and individual congregants needed to address?
2. Faust gives some examples of ways to actively work to stop abuses in ICE detention centers.  Which of these examples seem most practical to you? What other ideas do you have?
3. When talking to a fellow congregant who has different ideas about incarceration and about detention centers than you, what strategies of conversation and relationship do you use to continue seeing each other as members of the same beloved community?