pt. I. Sorting out the issues. The present teaching of the Magisterium. The Catechism of the Catholic Church ; Evangelium vitae ; Veritatis splendor ; Theological anticipations ; Conclusion and a problem
The justification of punishment. Punishment in the Catechism ; Strict retributivism ; Utilitarian accounts
pt. II. The history of the Church's teaching. The death penalty and Scripture. Old Testament ; New Testament
The patristic consensus. Pre-Constantinian writings ; Post-Constantinian writings
The medieval testimony. The clergy prohibition ; Changing attitudes ; The Decretum Gratiani ; Pope Innocent III and the Waldensian oath ; Thomas Aquinas ; John Duns Scotus
Sixteenth century to the present. The traditional teaching: consolidation and development ; The Church's turn toward opposition
pt. III. Rethinking the Church's traditional notion of justifiable homicide. Capital punishment and the development of doctrine ; With what authority? ; The idea of development of doctrine ; Moral doctrines and the infallible Magisterium ; Development of non-irreformable doctrines
Toward an ethical judgment that capital punishment is intrinsically wrong ; The new position of the Catechism developed ; A reformulated Catholic teaching on killing.