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Theology Is Everywhere 2.11 Week 11 – Theological Perspectives on War U Prophetic Voices Isaiah 2:4

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Theology Is Everywhere 2.11 Week 11 – Theological Perspectives on War U Prophetic Voices Isaiah 2:4 u Theology is Everywhere 2.11 Week 11 – Theological Perspectives on war u Prophetic Voices Isaiah 2:4. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. u The New Testament and Authority u Romans 13 1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, u John the Baptist u Jesus – “Blessed are the peacemakers” u Just War (Jus Bellum Justum) u Jus ad Bellum (right to go to War) The morality of going to war. u Jus in Bello (Right conduct in War) Moral conduct within war u Jus Post Bellum (Justice Post war) Dealing with the morality of post-war settlement and reconstruction u Pre-Christian discussions: The Hindu epic, the u Augustine on War - Augustine of Hippo (354 –430 CE) claimed that, while individuals should not resort immediately to violence, God has given the sword to government for good reason (based upon Romans 13:4). u Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) u First, just war must be waged by a properly instituted authority such as the state. (Proper Authority is first: represents the common good: which is peace for the sake of man's true end—God.) u Second, war must occur for a good and just purpose rather than for self- gain (for example, "in the nation's interest" is not just) or as an exercise of power (just cause: for the sake of restoring some good that has been denied. i.e. lost territory, lost goods, punishment for an evil perpetrated by a government, army, or even the civilian populace). u Third, peace must be a central motive even in the midst of violence (right intention: an authority must fight for the just reasons it has expressly claimed for declaring war in the first place. Soldiers must also fight for this intention). u The Salamanca School (1500’s Spain) u Jonathan riley Smith u The consensus among Christians on the use of violence has changed radically since the crusades were fought. The just war theory prevailing for most of the last two centuries—that violence is an evil that can, in certain situations, be condoned as the lesser of evils—is relatively young. Although it has inherited some elements (the criteria of legitimate authority, just cause, right intention) from the older war theory that first evolved around AD 400, it has rejected two premises that underpinned all medieval just wars, including crusades: first, that violence could be employed on behalf of Christ's intentions for mankind and could even be directly authorized by him; and second, that it was a morally neutral force that drew whatever ethical coloring it had from the intentions of the perpetrators. u u Catholic Doctrine (1993) u Just cause u Comparative Justice u Competent authority u Right Intention u Probability of Success u Last Resort u Proportionality u JUS in Bello- Distinction u Military necessity u Fair Treatment of Prisoners u No Means (Malum in Se) u Combatants may not use weapons or other methods of warfare that are considered evil, such as mass rape, forcing enemy combatants to fight against their own side or using weapons whose effects cannot be controlled (e.g., nuclear/biological weapons). u Pacificism u A "just war"—if there could be such a thing—would not require conscription. Volunteers would be plentiful. u Ben Salmon, An Open Letter to President Wilson (October 14, 1919) u Pacifism is the belief that war of any kind is morally unacceptable and/or pragmatically not worth the cost. Pacifists extend humanitarian concern not just to enemy civilians but also to combatants, especially conscripts. For example, Ben Salmon believed all war to be unjust. He was sentenced to death during World War I (later commuted to 25 years hard labor) for desertion and spreading propaganda. u “Pacifism is a godly mistake in that it fails to take seriously the sinfulness of humans, for monsters do exist and do need stopping. We are all capable of 2 Dr. Michael Hegeman doing real harm to our neighbor and need the constraint of law and order and of good government.” ~ Phillip Jensen u http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/bible- answers/personalconcerns/perspectivewar.html u “Why the Christian Church is Not Pacifist” Reinhold Niebuhr u Niebuhr argued that in a world marred by sin, coercion and violence were sometimes necessary to pursue justice. u ‘Realist’ Nonviolence Walter Rauschenbusch (1861- 1918) Key Work: A Theology for the Social Gospel (1917) u The Nonviolence of the Disinherited Howard Thurman (1899-1981) Key Work: Jesus and the Disinherited (1949) 3 Dr. Michael Hegeman .
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