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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Just-War Tradition and the Philosopher | |
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| What is the role of natural-law thinking in just-war moral reasoning? | |
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| Is there a development of natural-law thinking in the classical philosophical tradition? | |
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| What about cultural relativism? Aren't "truths" relative to the culture in which they are held? | |
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| What is the relationship between law, natural law, and coercion? | |
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| Isn't "just war" a contradiction in terms? | |
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| Doesn't just-war thinking really serve as a justification or pretext for violence? | |
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| Don't just war and pacifism represent two opposing poles on the spectrum of force? | |
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| Aren't all wars, because of the tragic loss of human life, inherently unjust and immoral? | |
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| Aren't there different varieties of pacifism? | |
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| Don't pacifists and just warriors want the same goal, namely, peace? | |
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| Doesn't the sanctioning of force inevitably lead to violence? | |
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| Isn't it a weakness of the just-war tradition that it can justify a war that is unjust? | |
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| What is the difference between a preemptive war and a preventive war? | |
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| What about the statement "All is fair in love and war"? | |
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| Isn't there a "presumption against war" in the just-war tradition? | |
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| What is the relationship, if any, between human rights and just-war thinking? | |
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| What about warfare and the environment? | |
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| What are the shortcomings of the just-war tradition? | |
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| What good is the just-war tradition in a secular and multi-faith world in which not everyone accepts it? | |
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| Does the just-war tradition prevent or promote war? | |
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| Does just-war moral reasoning apply to the problem of terrorism? | |
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| Just-War Tradition and the Historian | |
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| In the history of ideas, is just-war moral reasoning a uniquely religious or specifically Christian perspective on war and peace, or are there precursors? | |
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| What is the significance of these just-war parallels in pre- or non-Christian cultures? | |
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| Given the clear traces of an emergent just-war thinking in early Christian history, what were early Christian attitudes toward war and military service? Was pacifism pervasive and universal? | |
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| What were attitudes toward military service and war among particular early fathers of the church? | |
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| When in the early centuries A.D. does just-war moral theory begin to develop in the Christian historical tradition? | |
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| Why is legitimate authority so important in the just-war thinking of Thomas Aquinas? | |
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| Isn't just-war thinking a pretext for crusading and imperialism? | |
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| What effect did the Protestant Reformation have on the church's understanding of war and military service? | |
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| What were Luther's views on war and military service? | |
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| What were Calvin's views on war and peace? | |
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| What about the "radical Reformation"? Not all Protestant Reformers shared the views of the high Reformers like Luther and Calvin | |
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| Were the Crusades examples of the just-war tradition? | |
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| Isn't the just-war position really just a Western and European justification for war? | |
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| How was the American Revolution understood from the standpoint of war? | |
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| How are we best to understand the American Civil War, and what were prevailing attitudes toward war? | |
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| Just-War Tradition and the Statesman | |
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| What are the core criteria for going to war in just-war moral reasoning? | |
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| What are the prudential criteria in just-war moral reasoning, and how do they differ from the core criteria? | |
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| What about last resort and exhausting all possible nonviolent alternatives? It seems as if just-war proponents will inevitably justify going to war. | |
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| If the criterion of just cause is not satisfied, does this render a war unjust? | |
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| What is the role of the United Nations in a nation's decision to declare war? | |
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| How does just-war moral reasoning apply in the context of international relations? | |
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| Why should governments and people of religious persuasion in particular respond to genocide and egregious human-rights violations? | |
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| Isn't the just-war position really a pretext for an uncritical nationalism? | |
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| What about humanitarian intervention? Short of all-out war, should nations intervene to prevent or retard egregious human-rights violations or catastrophic geopolitical developments, and on what basis? What about a nation's claims to sovereignty? | |
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| What is the nature of humanitarian intervention? How does this differ from war? | |
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| What are the different types of humanitarian intervention? | |
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| What about the case of former Yugoslavia? | |
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| What are post bellum ("postwar") contributions that just-war thinking can make? | |
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| Can the just-war tradition accommodate the "war" on terrorism? | |
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| What is a preemptive war? | |
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| What is a preventive war? | |
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| Can preventive war be accommodated in traditional just-war categories? | |
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| How does the concept of "supreme emergency" relate to the just-war tradition? | |
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| Can just-war thought accommodate a world with weapons of mass destruction? | |
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| What about the statement "One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter"? | |
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| What is the relationship between Islamic terrorism, Islamic resurgence, and Islam's conflict with Western culture? | |
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| Is the just-war idea limited to self-defense? | |
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| What are the implications of just-war thinking for jus post bellum ("justice after war"), and what might this suggest in contemporary geopolitics? | |
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| How much flexibility is there in the just-war tradition to grow and accommodate new challenges? | |
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| Just-War Tradition and the Theologian | |
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| Doesn't Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount to "turn the other cheek" and not resist evil require pacifism on the part of Christian faith? | |
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| Doesn't Jesus set aside the law in favor of a new ethic? | |
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| Isn't retaliation counter to Jesus' teaching and thus unchristian in spirit? | |
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| Doesn't St. Paul in Romans 12 require nonretaliatory, nonviolent responses to evil? | |
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| What about "rendering to Caesar"? After all, Jesus seems to have exposed Rome's pretensions of sovereignty. | |
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| Hasn't Romans 13 been used to justify much evil by political regimes throughout history? | |
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| Isn't political power a "necessary evil," if not inherently evil, as portrayed in the Revelation? | |
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| Since Christians are called to be "peacemakers," shouldn't our highest human goal be to strive for peace around us? | |
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| Isn't war immoral since taking human life is a violation of the sixth commandment? | |
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| What is the relationship between peace and justice? | |
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| Doesn't love require us to forgive our enemies? | |
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| Shouldn't the Christian trust the eschatological judgment by God of evil rather than fight or go to war? | |
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| What is the relationship between mercy and justice? Aren't we commanded to show mercy to all people? | |
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| Isn't "turning the other cheek" rather than retribution the more Christian response to evil? | |
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| Is there a difference between retribution and revenge? Surely, a vengeful spirit is counter to loving one's enemy. | |
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| Aren't fighting and warfare a denial and contradiction of the Lamb of God, whose image projects sacrifice? | |
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| What is the church's role in a nation's decision to go to war? Should the church be involved in deciding what is just cause? | |
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| Why does God allow war? | |
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| Can a Christian legitimately serve in the military? | |
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| Is the just-war idea only a Christian construct, or can other religions embrace it also? | |
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| What is the view of war in Roman Catholic social teaching? | |
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| How does Islam view war and peace? | |
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| Is the concept of "supreme emergency" theologically valid? | |
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| Is the concept of just war merely for Christians? | |
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| Just-War Tradition and the Combatant | |
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| Does deterrence really work? | |
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| What about nonlethal weapons? | |
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| Are mercenaries permitted within the framework of just-war thought? | |
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| How does the just-war tradition understand asymmetric warfare? | |
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| How relevant is the just-war tradition in a world of high-tech weapons? | |
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| How does noncombatant immunity affect conflict and war? | |
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| Aren't all wars "just" to the victor? | |
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| Just-War Tradition and the Individual | |
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| Why do people, including those of religious faith, disagree so strongly about war and peace? | |
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| Don't charity and resort to force or going to war stand in blatant contradiction? | |
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| What about self-defense? Does Christian faith prohibit force in this context? | |
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| Doesn't Gandhi demonstrate the effectiveness and necessity of pacifism? | |
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| Isn't pacifism a legitimate position for the religious believer who takes seriously his or her faith? | |
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| In light of Jesus' call to "peacemaking," doesn't the New Testament require pacifism of the Christian disciple? | |
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| Aren't strife and conflict always sinful, the product of the human heart? | |
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| How did C. S. Lewis view war? | |
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| What about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's example? How are we to reconcile his attraction to pacifism with his willingness to participate in the attempt on Hitler's life? | |
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| What are common misunderstandings or misuses of just-war doctrine? | |
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| Aren't issues of war and peace matters of individual conscience for religious believers? | |
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| What should an individual do whose country is involved in an unjust war? | |
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| From the standpoint of religious conviction, doesn't going to war mean that fellow Christians from different countries will kill each other? | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Index of Names | |
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| Index of Scripture | |