christianity and war

old testament views of war

• god seems to sanction the waging of war

• the people of isreal were allowed to engage in warfare- but only when directed by god

• the act of war was moral if it arose from a divine command

• ‘and you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you’

new testament views of war

• the new testament takes a pacifist stance, and argues that violence is always wrong.

• ‘If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn him the other also’ (matthew 5:39)

• ‘blessed are the peacemakers’ (matthew 5:9)

christians and liberation theology

belief that christians have a duty to fight against unjust governments and leaders, and are inspired to do so by the teaching in luke 4:18 to ‘set free the oppressed’

christians and christian realism

• niebuhr was influenced by augustines’s theology of og sin and argued that human beings were too immoral and sinful to be rational and keep principles like those outlined by aquinas

• he thought that countries were even worse that individuals in theor moral behaviour

• bc of this niebuhr thought that war was inevitable and he was opposed to both nat law and just war theiry

• in order to bring abt the peaceful kingdom of god that jc preached abt, violence was a necessary evil

• v diff from both the classical christian just war tradition and christian pacifism which both insist that christians ought not do evil so that good may come

christians who support just war theory

argue that jc was referring to the behaviour of individuals not nations and that a diff sort of morality is required for international conflict.