ABSTRACT
The chapter considers the relationship of Christianity to the State and the criminal law in the context of offences against the person, not only concentrating on the present day and the law of England and Wales, but also looking at the biblical background and the historic evolution of the relevant law. An examination is made of the role played by self-control and self-justification in the commission of offences of violence and the topic of consensual violence is also considered, either in the context of fulfilling other desires or as something wanted as a sexual pleasure in itself. Murder and consensual violence are given express consideration and the chapter concludes by considering an unusual case of justification which may in fact have afforded the clerical defendant a defence, although three courts disagreed.
