Punishment and Atonement: Retrieving Anselmian Jurisprudence

Abstract

Even though legal positivism has tended to distance law from theology with its separation thesis, in
the recent literature discussion of the relationship between law and religion has become a topic of
scholarly attention once more. Today there is a flourishing body of work at the interstices between
these two disciplines. This thesis contributes to this area of research by examining how a key theme
in Christian theology, that of the doctrine of atonement or reconciliation, may have a bearing on
several central issues in contemporary punishment theory. The introductory chapter sets the scene by
staking out the conceptual space for the subsequent chapters, drawing on recent work at the
intersection of political philosophy, law, and religion. Chapter 2 provides a working definition of
punishment and its justification, as well as an account of relevant issues in the doctrine of atonement.
Chapter 3 focuses more specifically on the work of the medieval divine, Anselm of Canterbury (1033-
1109 CE), whose treatise on atonement, Cur Deus Homo (Why the God Human), is one of the most
influential treatments of the doctrine. The chapter considers his understanding of atonement as
satisfaction, as well as his notions of punishment and forgiveness. Chapter 4 deals with the way the
American philosopher Katherin A. Rogers has recently appropriated Anselm’s work for an account
of legal punishment that she calls the character creation view. Her work demonstrates one way in
which Anselm’s intellectual legacy can be used constructively for thinking about nodal issues in
punishment theory. The chapter critically interacts with her retrieval of a broadly Anselmian account
of punishment, considering both its strengths and weaknesses. The upshot is that there continue to be
ways in which law and religion can learn from each other, and that a specific theological tradition—
in this case, Anselmianism—may provide important conceptual resources for current thinking about
punishment and its alternatives in legal theory.