Customer Reviews

The Ethics of War: Classic and Contemporary Readings

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I am a Catholic seminarian who hopes to serve as an Army chaplain so the topics addressed in this book are of extreme importance to me. I have read extensively in the area of just war theory and this might be the best single book I have come across.

The discussion of the views Aquinas and other medieval and counter-reformation era Catholics when it comes to offensive war were of particular interest. They show that from the 13th to 17th centuries there was a general consensus among major Catholic thinkers that offensive wars were justifiable in some circumstances. This is a line of thought that was seemingly ignored by many who sought to apply the just war theory during the build up to the Iraq War. That is not to say that serious questions can't be asked about the wisdom of the decision to invade Iraq. However, it does show that those Christians who automatically dismissed the legitimacy of an offensive war were not taking into consideration the whole of the just war tradition.

The authors of this book also provided a service by including some material relevant to the discussion of whether or not the Church as a whole accepted pacifism prior to the conversion of the Empereor Constantine. It is good to see someone make an effort to dismiss this false claim. However, there are other sources that do a better job of discussing the pre-Constantinian sources. "When God Says War is Right" by Darrel Cole, "The Virtue of War" by Cole and Fr. Alexander Webster, and Louis J. Swift's book on Patristic just war sources cover this particular topic in greater depth.