Dialing 911 on 9/11
In the immediate wake of the horrific attacks on September 11, 2001, a number of Christian theological ethicists questioned whether a “war on terrorism” was the most effective, let alone ethical,...
View ArticleOn the 25th Anniversary of the United Methodist Bishops’“In Defense of Creation”
Earlier this autumn I was invited to speak about theological ethics, war, and peace to a United Methodist congregation in Des Moines, Iowa. At the beginning of my presentation, I held up the foundation...
View ArticleUnited Methodism on War and Peace: Embracing the Tension between Optimism and...
United Methodism embraces an internal tension in its official statements on war. The United Methodist Discipline both teaches that war is “incompatible with the teachings of Christ” (¶165.C) and...
View ArticleWar, Peace, and the Wesleyan Tradition’s Charism: to be “perfect in love in...
By D. Stephen Long When I published my first book, which was on United Methodism and war, John Howard Yoder surprised me by blurbing it with the comment that it was interesting to see “non binding...
View ArticleOn War and Peace: Methodism’s Responsible Ambivalence
The third post for our short series of reflections on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the United Methodist bishops’ war and peace pastoral letter, In Defense of Creation; this one is by Dr. J....
View Article“Inaction” in the Face of Injustice? United Methodism on War and Peace
By Nicole L. Johnson In response to changing political and cultural realities over the past several decades, the United Methodist Church has come to embrace various positions on the subject of war and...
View ArticleBook Preview: Modern Just War Theory by Michael Farrell
[Michael Farrell, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, previews his new book, Modern Just War Theory: A Guide to Research (Scarecrow Press, 2013).] The just war tradition is one of several...
View ArticleThe Work of Prudential Judgment: Another Perspective on Syria from Catholic...
On Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013, Catholics, Christians of other denominations, and women and men of good will observed a day of prayer and fasting in response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, at the...
View ArticleAsking a Different Question
Last night in his second national address on the global response to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, President Obama asserted: “If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using...
View ArticleBook Preview – Fighting for Rights by Tal Dingott Alkopher
[Tal Dingott Alkopher, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, previews her new book, Fighting for Rights: From Holy Wars to Humanitarian Military Interventions (Ashgate, 2013). NATO’s humanitarian war in...
View ArticleThe Nuclear Revolution and the Bellum Contra Bellum Justum
Back in September, I suggested that the current literature on just intelligence theory may be unduly influenced by jus contra bellum thinking; that is, a strain popular among the more pacifistic...
View ArticleWomen Combatants and Just War Theory
"Those who espouse the Just War ethic must continually be ready to review the premise of the theory- the conviction that lethal force merits moral support.” At times throughout history certain...
View ArticleJames Childress and the Presumption Against War
....Because war’s constituent ingredients are killing and/or physical harm, and because, in Childress’ argument, those two things are “intrinsically prima facie wrong” because of the prima facie...
View ArticleUkraine: Prospects for a Just Revolution – Anna Floerke Scheid
Having spent the last several years researching and writing on the ethics of revolution, I listened to initial reports about the protests in Kiev with hopeful, empathic interest. Ukrainians seemed to...
View ArticleJohn Calvin and the Logic of Armed Resistance, Pt. 2 (Andrew Fulford)
Later Calvinist texts, like the famous Vindiciae, Contra Tyrannos, would go further than the Reformer and claim natural law defenses for resistance.[1] I want to contend that Calvin’s principles...
View ArticleOn Gaza: If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
When Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in response to cross-border terrorist rocket-fire, European (see here and here) and US leaders endorsed their claim to have just cause. But were they...
View ArticleGaza, Ukraine, and the Limits of International Law (Paul W. Kahn)
Since World War II, the primary ambition of international humanitarian law — the law of armed conflict — has been to insulate military violence from the civilian population. Military forces are...
View ArticleBarth on War, Peace, and Pacifism: A Primer
Current crises across the Middle East and other war-torn locations demand careful consideration of war, just war theory, and other tenets of military interventionism. The Christian theologian faces a...
View ArticleApplying Just War Theory To Community Policing (Nathaniel Grimes)
How can peace-minded Christians (specifically Roman Catholics and Mennonites) find common ground on the problems of war and policing? A decade ago, Gerald Schlabach put forward a proposal for “Just...
View ArticleThe Nuclear Revolution and the Bellum Contra Bellum Justum
Back in September, I suggested that the current literature on just intelligence theory may be unduly influenced by jus contra bellum thinking; that is, a strain popular among the more pacifistic...
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