Context on our minds: Teaching “Thou shall not kill” in the context of a women’s prison and capital punishment

Abstract

Teaching the legal materials in the Old Testament, particularly the Ten Commandments, within the context of seminary classrooms or local congregations can often become overly abstract and philosophical. I found this to be the case within my own teaching context until I began teaching in a Certificate of Theological Studies program at a state prison for women. Not only were some of the women in the program serving sentences for crimes of murder or manslaughter, one of the past graduates of the program, Kelly Gissendaner, was executed by the State of Georgia on September 30, 2015. Five days before her first scheduled date for execution, the class I was teaching discussed the implications of the sixth commandment, “you shall not murder.” Teaching this commandment within a classroom context in which one of their peers was facing capital punishment forever transformed the way I teach the decalogue and this commandment in particular. The experience serves as a constant reminder of the responsibility theological educators and ministers have when teaching and interpreting scripture with those within our sphere of influence.