ABSTRACT Through specific, historical, interchanges and the more diffuse molding of our ‘Western’ social imaginary, the Judaic-Christian tradition has helped shape several of the criminal law’s culpability concepts, including guilt, blame and reconciliation. In doing so, it has contributed towards the inherent moral grammar of our criminal justice thinking. By considering perennial questions, such as the importance of consciousness and intentionality in determining culpability, and the importance of culpability within the architecture of criminal liability more broadly, this article argues that re-engaging with the religious underpinnings of these debates is important and worthwhile, particularly in an age marked by the desire to secularise the criminal law and to become ‘emancipated’ from religious thinking. It concludes by suggesting that this re-engagement yields important insights regarding the tensions that permeate our criminal justice practices and points towards ways in which these might potentially be reconciled.

中文翻译：

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质疑罪魁祸首：社会法律历史的教训

摘要通过特定的，历史的，相互的交流以及对我们的“西方”社会想象的更广泛的塑造，犹太教-基督教的传统帮助塑造了刑法的多种罪魁祸首概念，包括罪恶感，责备与和解。这样，它有助于我们刑事司法思想的内在道德语法。通过考虑常年性的问题，例如意识和意向性在确定犯罪的重要性，以及更广泛的范围内刑事责任架构中的犯罪的重要性，本文认为，重新参与这些辩论的宗教基础是重要且值得的，特别是在以世俗化刑法和从宗教思想中“解放”为标志的时代。