Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

40 BRIAN V. JOHNSTONE
the centuries old search for a responsible way to deal with
unavoidable violence. Is it still appropriate to present the “traditional”
doctrine of the just war, 4 in the public forum, as a moral
framework within which we may answer questions concerning
the legitimacy of a war and the morality of the conduct of that
war?
In its present form, the JWD is usually taken to mean an ethical
and/or legal doctrine which, while adopting a presumption
against war, holds that it may be justified, according to a set of
criteria. A first group of these criteria refers to the decision to go
to war, and requires legitimate authority, just cause, right intention,
while the second concerns the conduct of war, and requires
discrimination, proportionality, last resort, and reasonable hope
of success. The criteria of proportionality refer both to the decision
to go to war— the foreseen harms which inevitably accompany
war ought be proportionate to the good being sought—
and to the use of violence for particular objectives, which ought
to be proportionate to the importance of this objective for
achieving the purpose of the war.
Critics, have long seen the doctrine as a corruption of the
genuine Christian tradition. 5 It is further charged that it has not
fostered peace, but has simply opened the way to the justification
of violence, which has resulted in the murder of millions. 6
As a response to the first criticism, this article will offer an interpretation
of how the change in the tradition, from the early
Church’s rejection of violence, to the acceptance of just war,
came about. In respect to the second charge, historical studies
have claimed that the doctrine was invoked to legitimize wars,
or at least that authorities twisted the doctrine to provide pretexts
for their wars. 7 According to one author, even St. Francis of
4 Henceforth, the JWD.
5
ROLAND H. BAINTON, Christian Attitudes to War and Peace (Nashville:
Abingdon, 1960) 236.
6
JOHN DEAR, The God of Peace:Towards a Theology of Nonviolence
(Maryknoll N.Y: Orbis Books, 1994) 126.
7
JAMES TURNER JOHNSON, Ideology, Reason, and the Limitations of War
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1975) 19.