ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses several contemporary Christian approaches to the questions that have been raised concerning law, judgment, and punishment. It summarizes two interrelated contentions that, in this author's opinion, are essential to Christian ethics: a non-judgmental, indiscriminately compassionate, and legally minimalist stance that accompanies and indeed derives from a contemplative spirituality. One of the ways to frame the questions for Christians concerning the legitimacy of law, judgment, and punishment is epistemological. It has been suggested here that Christian history has provided a continuum, one side of which mirrors the knowledge derived from an unconditional acceptance, the other from a reasoned and objective distance. Law is and always will be a central focus of political institutions.
