1 / 4

JUST WAR THEORY

JUST WAR THEORY. STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES. Strengths. Provides a clear framework for assessing legitimacy of warfare for Christians. It provides a practical compromise between OT militarism and NT pacifism. It seeks to limit and control , not support universally, the use of violence.

haile
Download Presentation

JUST WAR THEORY

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. JUST WAR THEORY STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

  2. Strengths • Provides a clear framework for assessing legitimacy of warfare for Christians. • It provides a practical compromise between OT militarism and NT pacifism. • It seeks to limit and control, not support universally, the use of violence. • It has remained flexible, incorporating new ideas such as US Bishop’s notion of comparative justice, over centuries. • It seeks to protect innocents not carrying weapons.

  3. Weaknesses • It allows for conflict, harm and suffering. • It is an ethic largely based on a 2,500 year old book. • It contradicts Jesus’ pacifist stance – “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5). • Nuclear weapons and modern technology ask too much of the JWT. • Aquinas contradicts himself: one of his ‘primary precepts’ is to preserve life. • Does such a religious framework have a place in modern secular society? • Monarchy/democracy is on form of government: can’t other cultures promoting other forms of government be considered a just authority?

  4. How have technological developments, particularly during the 20th century, challenged the Just War theory?

More Related