The authors speak from a just-war moral perspective to provide Christians with expert and accessible answers to more than one hundred common questions concerning the ethics of war.
|
Acknowledgments
|
15
|
|
Introduction
|
17
|
|
Part
One.
Just-War Tradition and the Philosopher
|
|
1.
What is the role of natural-law thinking in just-war moral reasoning?
|
27
|
|
2.
Is there a development of natural-law thinking in the classical philosophical tradition?
|
37
|
|
3.
What about cultural relativism? Aren’t “truths” relative to the culture in which they are held?
|
44
|
|
4.
What is the relationship between law, natural law, and coercion?
|
48
|
|
5.
Isn’t “just war” a contradiction in terms?
|
51
|
|
6.
Doesn’t just-war thinking really serve as a justification or pre-text for violence?
|
53
|
|
7.
Don’t just war and pacifism represent two opposing poles on the spectrum of force?
|
55
|
|
8.
Aren’t all wars, because of the tragic loss of human life, inherently unjust and immoral?
|
59
|
|
9.
Aren’t there different varieties of pacifism?
|
63
|
|
10.
Don’t pacifists and just warriors want the same goal, namely, peace?
|
66
|
|
11.
Doesn’t the sanctioning of force inevitably lead to violence?
|
70
|
|
12.
Isn’t it a weakness of the just-war tradition that it can justify a war that is unjust?
|
75
|
|
13.
What is the difference between a preemptive war and a preventive war?
|
77
|
|
14.
What about the statement “All is fair in love and war”?
|
78
|
|
15.
Isn’t there a “presumption against war” in the just-war tradition?
|
79
|
|
16.
What is the relationship, if any, between human rights and just-war thinking?
|
82
|
|
17.
What about warfare and the environment?
|
85
|
|
18.
What are the shortcomings of the just-war tradition?
|
86
|
|
19.
What good is the just-war tradition in a secular and multi-faith world in which not everyone accepts it?
|
88
|
|
20.
Does the just-war tradition prevent or promote war?
|
89
|
|
21.
Does just-war moral reasoning apply to the problem of terrorism?
|
90
|
|
Part
Two.
Just-War Tradition and the Historian
|
|
22.
In the history of ideas, is just-war moral reasoning a uniquely religious or specifically Christian perspective on war and peace, or are there precursors?
|
97
|
|
23.
What is the significance of these just-war parallels in pre- or non-Christian cultures?
|
103
|
|
24.
Given the clear traces of an emergent just-war thinking in early Christian history, what were early Christian attitudes toward war and military service? Was pacifism pervasive and universal?
|
108
|
|
25.
What were attitudes toward military service and war among particular early fathers of the church?
|
113
|
|
26.
When in the early centuries a.d. does just-war moral theory begin to develop in the Christian historical tradition?
|
122
|
|
27.
Why is legitimate authority so important in the just-war thinking of Thomas Aquinas?
|
128
|
|
28.
Isn’t just-war thinking a pretext for crusading and imperialism?
|
130
|
|
29.
What effect did the Protestant Reformation have on the church’s understanding of war and military service?
|
135
|
|
30.
What were Luther’s views on war and military service?
|
137
|
|
31.
What were Calvin’s views on war and peace?
|
141
|
|
32.
What about the “radical Reformation”? Not all Protestant Reformers shared the views of the high Reformers like Luther and Calvin.
|
143
|
|
33.
Were the Crusades examples of the just-war tradition?
|
145
|
|
34.
Isn’t the just-war position really just a Western and European justification for war?
|
148
|
|
35.
How was the American Revolution understood from the standpoint of war?
|
150
|
|
36.
How are we best to understand the American Civil War, and what were prevailing attitudes toward war?
|
154
|
|
Part
Three.
Just-War Tradition and the Statesman
|
|
37.
What are the core criteria for going to war in just-war moral reasoning?
|
159
|
|
38.
What are the prudential criteria in just-war moral reasoning, and how do they differ from the core criteria?
|
171
|
|
39.
What about last resort and exhausting all possible nonviolent alternatives? It seems as if just-war proponents will inevitably justify going to war.
|
174
|
|
40.
If the criterion of just cause is not satisfied, does this render a war unjust?
|
177
|
|
41.
What is the role of the United Nations in a nation’s decision to declare war?
|
180
|
|
42.
How does just-war moral reasoning apply in the context of international relations?
|
183
|
|
43.
Why should governments and people of religious persuasion in particular respond to genocide and egregious human-rights violations?
|
186
|
|
44.
Isn’t the just-war position really a pretext for an uncritical nationalism?
|
189
|
|
45.
What about humanitarian intervention? Short of all-out war, should nations intervene to prevent or retard egregious human-rights violations or catastrophic geopolitical developments, and on what basis? What about a nation’s claims to sovereignty?
|
191
|
|
46.
What is the nature of humanitarian intervention? How does this differ from war?
|
196
|
|
47.
What are the different types of humanitarian intervention?
|
200
|
|
48.
What about the case of former Yugoslavia?
|
203
|
|
49.
What are post bellum (“postwar”) contributions that just-war thinking can make?
|
205
|
|
50.
Can the just-war tradition accommodate the “war” on terrorism?
|
208
|
|
51.
What is a preemptive war?
|
213
|
|
52.
What is a preventive war?
|
215
|
|
53.
Can preventive war be accommodated in traditional just-war categories?
|
216
|
|
54.
How does the concept of “supreme emergency” relate to the just-war tradition?
|
220
|
|
55.
Can just-war thought accommodate a world with weapons of mass destruction?
|
224
|
|
56.
What about the statement “One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter”?
|
228
|
|
57.
What is the relationship between Islamic terrorism, Islamic resurgence, and Islam’s conflict with Western culture?
|
231
|
|
58.
Is the just-war idea limited to self-defense?
|
237
|
|
59.
What are the implications of just-war thinking for
|
239
|
|
60.
How much flexibility is there in the just-war tradition to grow and accommodate new challenges?
|
247
|
|
Part
Four.
Just-War Tradition and the Theologian
|
|
61.
Doesn’t Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount to “turn the other cheek” and not resist evil require pacifism on the part of Christian faith?
|
251
|
|
62.
Doesn’t Jesus set aside the law in favor of a new ethic?
|
254
|
|
63.
Isn’t retaliation counter to Jesus’ teaching and thus unchristian in spirit?
|
259
|
|
64.
Doesn’t St. Paul in Romans 12 require nonretaliatory, nonviolent responses to evil?
|
262
|
|
65.
What about “rendering to Caesar”? After all, Jesus seems to have exposed Rome’s pretensions of sovereignty.
|
263
|
|
66.
Hasn’t Romans 13 been used to justify much evil by political regimes throughout history?
|
267
|
|
67.
Isn’t political power a “necessary evil,” if not inherently evil, as portrayed in the Revelation?
|
271
|
|
68.
Since Christians are called to be “peacemakers,” shouldn’t our highest human goal be to strive for peace around us?
|
275
|
|
69.
Isn’t war immoral since taking human life is a violation of the sixth commandment?
|
278
|
|
70.
What is the relationship between peace and justice?
|
280
|
|
71.
Doesn’t love require us to forgive our enemies?
|
283
|
|
72.
Shouldn’t the Christian trust the eschatological judgment by God of evil rather than fight or go to war?
|
287
|
|
73.
What is the relationship between mercy and justice? Aren’t we commanded to show mercy to all people?
|
291
|
|
74.
Isn’t “turning the other cheek” rather than retribution the more Christian response to evil?
|
294
|
|
75.
Is there a difference between retribution and revenge? Surely, a vengeful spirit is counter to loving one’s enemy.
|
297
|
|
76.
Aren’t fighting and warfare a denial and contradiction of the Lamb of God, whose image projects sacrifice?
|
300
|
|
77.
What is the church’s role in a nation’s decision to go to war? Should the church be involved in deciding what is just cause?
|
303
|
|
78.
Why does God allow war?
|
306
|
|
79.
Can a Christian legitimately serve in the military?
|
310
|
|
80.
Is the just-war idea only a Christian construct, or can other religions embrace it also?
|
313
|
|
81.
What is the view of war in Roman Catholic social teaching?
|
315
|
|
82.
How does Islam view war and peace?
|
317
|
|
83.
Is the concept of “supreme emergency” theologically valid?
|
324
|
|
84.
Is the concept of just war merely for Christians?
|
327
|
|
Part
Five.
Just-War Tradition and the Combatant
|
|
85.
Does deterrence really work?
|
331
|
|
86.
What about nonlethal weapons?
|
334
|
|
87.
Are mercenaries permitted within the framework of just-war thought?
|
336
|
|
88.
How does the just-war tradition understand asymmetric warfare?
|
341
|
|
89.
How relevant is the just-war tradition in a world of high-tech weapons?
|
342
|
|
90.
How does noncombatant immunity affect conflict and war?
|
344
|
|
91.
Aren’t all wars “just” to the victor?
|
348
|
|
Part
Six.
Just-War Tradition and the Individual
|
|
92.
Why do people, including those of religious faith, disagree so strongly about war and peace?
|
353
|
|
93.
Don’t charity and resort to force or going to war stand in blatant contradiction?
|
356
|
|
94.
What about self-defense? Does Christian faith prohibit force in this context?
|
361
|
|
95.
Doesn’t Gandhi demonstrate the effectiveness and necessity of pacifism?
|
364
|
|
96.
Isn’t pacifism a legitimate position for the religious believer who takes seriously his or her faith?
|
367
|
|
97.
In light of Jesus’ call to “peacemaking,” doesn’t the New Testament require pacifism of the Christian disciple?
|
372
|
|
98.
Aren’t strife and conflict always sinful, the product of the human heart?
|
375
|
|
99.
How did C. S. Lewis view war?
|
377
|
|
100.
What about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s example? How are we to reconcile his attraction to pacifism with his willingness to participate in the attempt on Hitler’s life?
|
381
|
|
101.
What are common misunderstandings or misuses of just-war doctrine?
|
386
|
|
102.
Aren’t issues of war and peace matters of individual conscience for religious believers?
|
392
|
|
103.
What should an individual do whose country is involved in an unjust war?
|
394
|
|
104.
From the standpoint of religious conviction, doesn’t going to war mean that fellow Christians from different countries will kill each other?
|
397
|
|
Recommended Reading
|
399
|
|
Index of Names
|
407
|
|
Index of Scripture
|
411
|
