As the sun set on the middle ages a new generation of Just War thinkers rose to prominence, seeing the world through a new lens their predecessors never accounted for: colonialism. It was the sixteenth century and Columbus sailed the ocean blue, bringing Mother Spain’s armed conquistadors with him and… Read More
SEE THE COMMENTS ON THE PREVIOUS POST REGARDING MARTIN LUTHER KING’S QUOTATIONS TO SEE WHY AND WHERE BRANT ASKED ME THESE QUESTIONS: BRANT ASKED: “Is your [brand of pacifism] one that holds that our nation, or any nation, should not use force to defend itself, or innocents in other nations?”… Read More
Once these major contributions to Just War thinking by warriors (knights) and the Church (Augustine and Aquinas) were made and largely accepted among Catholics of the Middle Ages, the tradition of Just War was taught as having two components: the right to go to war and the right conduct of… Read More
Picking up where we left off with Augustine and Aquinas, the next major development in the evolution of Just War doctrine was chivalry – the code of conduct followed by the knights of the Middle Ages. Chivalry imposed upon warriors a set of regulations for the conduct of war(1). Since… Read More
Aquinas wasn’t just under the influence, to some degree, of Catholic crusaders though. He was also blazing a new trail for Catholic theologians by allowing the writings of Aristotle and other non-theologians/philosophers to color his thinking on God. Specifically, Aquinas was among the first to say out loud that he… Read More
From time to time, when there’s nothing interesting enough about my life to journal for others, I’d like to introduce you to great minds and lives that have in some way impacted my own. Today: Stanley Hauerwas. This introduction is from The Progressive… “As a theological ethicist, Duke University Divinity… Read More
Shaun Groves