Description:
Just War and Christian Traditions introduces readers - lay persons and clergy alike - to classical Christian thinking across denominational lines on the tradition of just war thinking. Representing a two-millennia-old conversation in our wider cultural tradition, just war thinking (often going by the misnomer "just war theory") is rooted in biblical texts from the Old and New Testaments, historic Christian thinkers such as Ambrose, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Vitoria, Suárez, and Grotius, ethical principles such as the "Golden Rule" and neighbor-love, as well as natural law principles embedded in Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian thought. As such, it is a shared tradition that unites the vast majority of the world's Christians across denominational and theological divides.
Brief description:
Eric Patterson is executive vice president at the Religious Freedom Institute and scholar at large at Regent University. He is author or editor of eighteen books, including Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in U.S. Military History.
Review Quotes:
"This book is a superb resource that documents the many Christian roots of the just war tradition's thought and practice. It is much needed now to remind us of how God's people have sought best to meet each age's spiritual and temporal challenges. Just War and Christian Traditions deserves a central place of reference and influence in debates on this topic." --Mark A. Jumper, co-editor of The Holy Spirit and the Reformation Legacy