CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY DAREN BOWYER JUST WAR DOCTRINE

premise by which Augustine came to a confident enough judgement as to a
Christian’s responsibility in justifiable (if not unambiguously just) war. 130
Building on the arguments of Ambrose, Augustine also added in broad terms to the
concept of jus in bello, insisting that mercy be shown to prisoners and that there be
moderation in the general conduct of war.
1.2.2 Aquinas and Development of the Theological Doctrine
It was only some 900 years later that something resembling a coherent doctrine entered
into the mainstream of Christian thought when St Thomas Aquinas included it in his
Summa Theologiæ. In fact much of the systematic codification had been completed in
the previous century by Gratian of Bologna in his Decretals, but Aquinas’s eminence
brought it to new prominence. 131 Drawing on the work of Augustine, Gratian and other
scholars, Aquinas lays emphasis on wars of defence – for the protection of person,
property or community; and to obtain redress for wrongs inflicted. 132 Aquinas makes
quite clear that the burden of proof lies with those who would resort to force, as is
evidenced by his heading a section ‘Whether it is always sinful to wage war?’ 133
Justification of war, Aquinas sets out, rests on the satisfaction of 3 conditions:
It must be waged by the due authorities, for those who may lawfully use the
sword to defend a commonwealth against criminals disturbing it from within
may also use the sword of war to protect it from enemies without. But the cause
must be just (those whom we attack must have done some wrong which deserves
attack), and those waging war must intend to promote good and avoid evil. 134
If the latter two conditions were self explanatory to Aquinas as a religious scholar, then
today, in secular debate, they perhaps beg as many questions as they answer. The
challenges to received understanding of these will be the focus consideration later in
this thesis. Aquinas does, however, expand on the first condition – that of due
authority. He explains, for example, that ‘fights are like private wars, conducted not by
a public authority but by the unregulated wills of private persons. They are always sins
…’ 135 . This issue of due authority also opens debate in the contemporary context,
especially as the primacy of the state is challenged by non-state, transnational and
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