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Just War
By the end of today’s lesson you will:
•Be familiar with ‘jus ad bellum’•Be able to
distinguish this from ‘jus in bello’
Augustine and Just War• Context: 3rd-4th century. Christians
failure to fight was weakening Roman’s defence.
• Augustine put forward two conditions under which a war could justifiably be waged:
• It was declared by a legitimate authority
• There was a just cause
Aquinas and Just War• Developed from Augustine’s theory
• Aquinas added a further condition:
• That there had to be right intention
• Nowadays, there are 9 conditions developed from Augustine's and Aquinas’ thinking
• These 9 conditions fall under two categories:• Jus ad bellum• Jus in bello
Jus in bello• 1. There should be a reasonable proportion
between the injustice being fought and the suffering inflicted
• The cause of justice must not be upheld by unjust means. Robert Holmes ‘Unless one can justify the actions necessary to waging war, one cannot justify the conduct of war’
• 2. Proportionality must be exercised• The use of weapons must be proportional to the
threat. Only minimum force should be used. • 3. Warfare must be discriminate• Civilians should not be direct targets. Geneva
convention.
Homework• Research a particular war and, on a
sheet, compare it with the 7 principles we have studied today under the ‘jus ad bellum’. Do you think Christians would say that it was right to go to this war?