I. The Nonviolence–Just War Nexus

Horizons ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-114
Author(s):  
Drew Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Just War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pastoral Letter ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The Us ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
Peace And War

Gerald Schlabach wrote that a key test of progress for Catholicism in its dialogue with the historic peace churches on nonviolence and the use of force would be that the church's teaching on nonviolence would become “church wide and parish deep.” While modern Catholic social teaching has recognized nonviolence since the time of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Saint John Paul II gave nonviolence strong, formal endorsement in his 1991 encyclical Centesimus Annus, the church's teaching on nonviolence is hardly known in the pews. If they are familiar at all with Catholic teaching on peace and war, most Catholics would know the just-war tradition, especially through the US bishops’ 1983 pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace. But the newer and still relatively slight teaching on nonviolence is hardly known at all. Only by rare exception do Catholic preachers address issues of peace and war.

scholarly journals After Vatican II and Veritatis splendor: Five Moral Theology Textbooks

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-84
Author(s):  
Jana M. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
Moral Theology ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Pedagogical Tools ◽  
Humanae Vitae ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Veritatis Splendor ◽  
Stable Field

Pedagogy in moral theology follows some of the particular concerns Catholic theologians have had since the Second Vatican Council as well as the aftermath of John Paul II’s encyclical on moral theology, Veritatis splendor. Most of the textbooks reviewed here teach virtue, Christian practice, and Thomas Aquinas’s theology, as largely positive responses to the Council and John Paul II. Catholic moral theology thus appears as a relatively stable field, though the authors use multiple approaches. There are, however, some moral theologians offering alternative perspectives on moral theology. One book reviewed here contends with Humanae vitae and resists both Thomas Aquinas’s authoritative voice and Veritatis splendor’s argument against proportionalist thought. The textbooks offer a range of pedagogical tools for varying student levels. Two of the overall gaps in the field, as indicated by these textbooks, might be more direct engagement with Scripture, and a proper locating of Catholic social teaching within moral theology.

Jus post vim Revisited

2021 ◽  
pp. 235-254
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Brunstetter
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Just War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Ethical Consideration ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Ideal Form ◽  
Grey Area ◽  
Risk Principle ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
Enforcement Mechanisms

This chapter revisits the theme of jus post vim in the non-ideal form. It begins by looking at the grey area between vim success and failure, characterized by shaky containment (the lingering doubt that the enemy is really contained) or by persistent contested order that threatens the ability of law enforcement mechanisms to uphold a minimalist view of order in certain states. Among the vim failures are the unjust escalation to war, the unfazed enemy outcome, the recurring last straw scenario, and the intractable contested and fragmented sovereignty dilemma. The chapter continues by exploring jus ex vi, or the ethical consideration of terminating the use of limited force, further to tease out what success and failure might look like. The key to defining success and knowing when to end vim operations depends on the just management of military risk principle. The chapter concludes by exploring moral options in cases of failure. Building on the observation that framing the use of force as punishment can be more restrictive than open-ended justifications based in self-defense constructed as prevention or protection against future acts of aggression, the chapter concludes by arguing states might have recourse to the punishment principles. Drawn from an interpretation of the just war tradition privileging a presumption against war as being at the heart of just war thinking, the escalation management and demonstrable retribution criteria depict the narrow moral logic where the legitimate goal of limited force is something other than the moral truncated victory of jus post vim.

Blurring the Lines

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-54
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Brunstetter
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Just War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The State ◽  
Special Forces ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
The Government ◽  
Peace And War ◽  
Clear Line ◽  
Western Democracies

Law enforcement is often seen as the de facto, and relatively pure, alternative to contemporary just war. If we are not at war, then the more restrictive law enforcement is the viable paradigm. This chapter interrogates two assumptions underlying this view. It begins by demystifying the unwritten assumption that the liberal law enforcement paradigm associated with Western democracies is the idealized foil to just war. Using France, whose postcolonial legacy complicates the turn to the Western liberal paradigm as an illuminating case, the chapter explores how domestic warlike violence creates a state of fractured order—the violence and potential for abuses of power that permeate society as the government seeks to balance security and individual rights. The chapter then turns to the transnational context to challenge the view that there exists a clear line between the state of war and the state of peace. Mali serves as a paradigmatic case to illustrate how the effectiveness of law enforcement is curtailed in spaces of contested order where heavily armed terrorist groups challenge the authority of the state, thus prompting a turn to Special Forces and drones to restore order. In both contexts, the chapter identifies a shift away from the restrained norms that typically govern the use of force in law enforcement to more warlike uses of force that blur the lines between peace and war. The chapter concludes with a reflection on how this shift might inform the ethics of limited force, which lies between law enforcement and just war.

Force and the international community: Blair’s Chicago speech and the criteria for intervention

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Just War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
International Community ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
Kosovo War ◽  
Invasion Of Iraq

Tony Blair’s April 1999 Chicago speech is widely seen as foreshadowing his later decision to support the invasion of Iraq. Two sets of context for the speech are described: other criteria for the use of force, going back to the Just War tradition and more recent contributions from Caspar Weinberger and Colin Powell, and the December 1998 strikes against Iraq and the Kosovo War, which began in March 1999. The origins of the five factors mentioned when considering force are explored and their implications assessed.

scholarly journals Atuação em políticas públicas: um areópago prioritário para cristãos

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Seidel
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Lay People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Public Hearings ◽  
The Church

Resumo: A Campanha da Fraternidade de 2019 sobre “Fraternidade e PolíticasPúblicas” dá continuidade e aprofunda as diretrizes estabelecidas para o AnoNacional do Laicato no que tange ao incentivo à participação de cristãos leigose leigas em políticas públicas: seja ofertando serviços de caráter público; rea-lizando controle social por meio de Conselhos de Direitos, audiências públicasou Grupos de Acompanhamento ao Legislativo; ou mobilizando a incidênciapolítica a partir de demandas populares concretas. São fartas as motivaçõese fundamentação que justifique a participação efetiva de cristãos leigos e lei-gas em políticas públicas: o mistério da encarnação do verbo e as “traduçõeshistóricas” realizadas pelo Concílio Vaticano II e pelas Conferências Geraisdo Episcopado Latino-americano e Caribenho; o Documento 105 da CNBB; aparte do JULGAR do texto-base da CF/2019, com citações do antigo e novotestamento; até a parte do DISCERNIR do Documento Preparatório do Sínododa Amazônia; e, finalmente, a Exortação Apostólica “Alegria do Evangelho”do Papa Francisco. Conhecer o que são as Políticas Públicas, seu contextohistórico, seu ciclo de execução; as possibilidades de seu financiamento, entreoutros temas específicos é condição sine qua non para atuar de forma efetiva earticulada em políticas públicas, como uma das formas nobres do exercício dacaridade cristã em diálogo com outras organizações da sociedade e pessoas deboa vontade, resgatando assim a democracia ferida do Brasil neste momentoda história: “serás libertado pelo direito e pela justiça” (Is 1,27).Palavras-chave: Políticas Públicas. Laicato. Ensino Social da Igreja. Partici-pação social.Abstract: The Fraternity Campaign of 2019 on “Fraternity and Public Policies”continues and deepens the guidelines established for the National Year of theLaity with regard to encouraging the participation of Christians lay people in publicpolicies: offering public services; carrying out social control through Councils ofRights, public hearings or Legislative Monitoring Groups; or by mobilizing politicalinfluence based on concrete popular demands. The motives and justification forthe effective participation of Christians lay people in public policies are abundat:the mystery of the incarnation of the verb and the “historical translations” carriedout by the Second Vatican Council and by the General Conferences of the LatinAmerican and Caribbean Episcopate;; the Document 105 of CNBB; the part ofthe CF-2019 basis-text about the analysis of reality, with quotations from the oldand new testament; the part of discernment of the Preparatory Document of theSynod of the Amazon; and lastly the Apostolic Exhortation “Joy of the Gospel”of Pope Francis. To know what Public Policies are, their historical context, theircycle of execution; the possibilities of its financing, among other specific themes,is a sine qua non condition to act effectively and articulated in public policies, asone of the noble forms of the exercise of Christian charity in dialogue with otherorganizations of society and people of good will, rescuing thus the woundeddemocracy of Brazil at this point in history: “you will be liberated by right andjustice” (Is 1,27).Keywords: Public Policies. Laicate. Social Teaching of the Church. SocialParticipation.

scholarly journals “If You Want Peace, Work For Justice:” Assessing Pope Paul VI as a Peacebuilder on the Levels of Insight and Action

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hrynkow
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Gaudium Et Spes ◽  
Peace And Conflict Studies ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Peace And Conflict ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Annual World

Paul VI was the first reigning pope to travel via airplane. On one such trip, he addressed the UN General Assembly, emphatically declaring “War never again! Never again war!” During the same period, Paul VI also saw the Second Vatican Council through to its completion. Vatican II produced an articulation of substantive peace in one of its final documents, Gaudium et Spes. This article employs an analytical yardstick through reading Gaudium et Spes in conversation with a Peace and Conflict Studies perspective, as a means to assess Paul VI’s peacemaking efforts on the levels of insight and action. Specifically, this article addresses Paul VI’s diplomatic initiatives, ecumenical outreach, and his contributions to Catholic Social Teaching, inclusive of the establishment of the annual World Day for Peace Messages. One of those messages is the source of what is his most repeated social teaching: “if you want peace, work for justice.”

The Aggiornamento Framework

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Shadle
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
John Xxiii ◽  
Historical View ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

The official social teaching of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI and the Second Vatican Council embraced secularization—what they called the “legitimate autonomy” of the world. It also recognized the intrinsic value of human work and humankind’s increasing mastery over the created world. The “aggiornamento framework” proposed in their teaching envisions the church as open to the modern world. This framework proposes a humanistic vision of development, including the human person’s material, social, and spiritual dimensions. The aggiornamento framework also presents a historical view of social development, recognizing both that humankind can transform the institutions of society and that God is present in history and leads humankind onward through history to the Kingdom of God.

Fratelli tutti and the Responsibility to Protect

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Drew Christiansen ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Reasoning ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Just War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
The State ◽  
Responsibility To Protect ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
Just War Tradition ◽  
The Military

Fratelli tutti expresses skepticism about the ability of the just-war tradition to provide guidance on the state use of force. It is dismissive of a whole range of rationales for going to war. In rejecting humanitarian “excuses,” Pope Francis puts to question the Church’s support even for armed enforcement of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). In place of abstract moral reasoning, Francis invites contemplation of the suffering of the victims of war. He expands the horizon of analysis from particular acts to consideration of the cascading consequences of war. He invites the military to color their warrior ethic with the kindness of Christ. In practice, his teaching implies increased attention to the ius postbellum and “the responsibility to rebuild” after armed conflict.

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