Just War Theory and Holy War

“War has presented the twentieth century with perhaps its most crucial moral problem”
Robin Gill (1985:257)

In this handout we will explore the origins of Just War Theory and look at some of the major contributors. The author of the Stanford article comments: “if we are to name names, the triad of Aristotle, Augustine and Cicero are probably responsible”, although Aquinas is the one perhaps most quoted in the literature.

We have already seen that the Bible is ambiguous on this issue. The Old Testament has many records of wars, such as those fought by Joshua or David. It is fairly clear that Jesus was anti-war, not least because his path to the cross is a paradigm of non-resistance and he rebukes Peter for resisting it in the garden of Gesthemane when he cuts off the ear of the High Priest’s servant (Luke 22:50). Jesus teaching on peace and loving your enemy doesn’t accord with Paul. Tertullian comments in the second century “the Lord afterwards, in disarming Peter, unbelted every soldier”.

We need to keep distinct in our minds three issues:

• Just War
• Holy War
• Pacifism