Description:
Pacifism. Jihad. Militarism. Are these our only alternatives for dealing with global injustice today? J. Daryl Charles leads us to reconsider a Christian view of the use of force to maintain or reestablish justice. He shows how love for a neighborcan warrant the just use of force. Reviewing and updating the widely recognized but not necessarily well-understood just-war teaching of the church through the ages, Charles shows how it captures many of the concerns of the pacifist position while deliberately avoiding, on the other side, the excesses of jihad and militarism. Aware of our contemporary global situation, Charles addresses the unique challenges of dealing with international terrorism.
Brief description:
J. Daryl Charles (Ph.D., Catholic University of America and Westminster Theological Seminary) is associate professor of religion and ethics at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He is author of Virtue Amidst Vice (Sheffield Academic Press) and The Unformed Conscience of Evangelicalism (InterVarsity Press), and he translated Roots of Wisdom by Claus Westermann (Westminster John Knox).
Review Quotes:
"This is an important book. Daryl Charles helpfully surveys Christian perspectives, past and present, on the issues of war and peace. Then he offers some wise counsel about how we are to reappropriate just-war theory for the unprecedented challenges of our own day. And best of all he shows us why all of this requires careful theological reflection."
Richard J. Mouw, President and Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary