Scott Seay's in-depth analysis of hundreds of execution sermons shows how people in New England understood capital crime and punishment in a theological context. He argues that the public execution ritual, of which the sermon was a key part, ‘warned of the wages of sin, reconciled the convict to both God and the community, and demonstrated the cooperative authority of church and state’ (p. 14). While his analysis of doctrinal aspects of the sermons is informative, with his discussion of the connection between human sinfulness and criminality, and of the economies of redemption and salvation, his greatest contribution comes with his argument on how the relationship between civil government and execution preachers changed between the beginning of the seventeenth century and the early nineteenth century. He organises each section of the book around three chronological periods: the Puritan (1623–1700), provincial (1700–74), and early national (1775–1835). By situating the doctrine and function of the sermons in these contexts he is able to show how the relationship between Church and State changed over time, from a religious focus on the sinfulness of crime and the potential redemption of the criminal, to a blending of secular and religious themes, until in the first decades of the nineteenth century the clergy finally gave way to the state and to a rising legal professional class in adjudging the meaning of criminal prosecution. This chronological argument is convincing for New England, but does leave the reader wondering about the broader meaning of execution sermons and public executions overall. Seay connects what happened in New England with England but what role did the ritual of public execution play in other regions in British colonial America? As the power of the State superseded that of the Church during the formative years of the United States, how did this process manifest itself in non-New England (and non-Puritan) contexts, as disparate colonies came together to form a new system of governance? Further, Seay mentions in his conclusion that early national preachers viewed Native Americans, persons of colour, and women as more likely to commit capital crimes. It would have been interesting to see more inclusion of these ‘segments of the population’ (p. 168) throughout his narrative, such as in a gender and racial profile of the executed criminals, and of the audiences to the executions and execution sermons. This would have added to his excellent discussion of the sermons that were spoken and printed by focusing more on who heard and read such sermons. Overall, the clarity of its structure and prose makes Hanging between heaven and earth a highly accessible book for theologians and historians who wish to understand the interplay between crime and theology in New England.