Abstract

Taking its cue from Augustine’s hesitancy to punish, this article develops an account of punishment as an exercise in Christian subjectivity, understanding by the latter term ‘self-knowledge’ and ‘being subject to another’s control.’ Framed in terms of the sacrament of reconciliation and mediated through the Late Medieval Ecclesiastical Courts, the explicit contours of this Christian subjectivity gradually eroded as secular practices and theories (retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and restorative) developed during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the process, the rehabilitative ethos that this subjectivity upheld was lost also. Retrieving it is essential for understanding contemporary punishment from a Christian perspective.