E 128 When is War Justified?

• Aquinas on War
• The Rights of War and Peace by Hugo Grotius. This work by the Dutch Protestant greatly influenced the later development of international law in relation to war but is not easy to find in print. It is particularly important for its discussions of pre-emptive action and preventive war in Book 2 Chapter 1, sections II, V and XVII
• On the Indians or On the Law of War made by the Spaniards on the Barbarians by Francisco di Vitoria. This discussion by the Spanish Jesuit theologian develops the Thomistic just war tradition.

One of the most important contemporary writers in this area is James Turner Johnson. In addition to his book Morality and Contemporary Warfare he has a number of works available on-line:

• Just Cause Revisited
• The Question of Intervention (ch 3 of M&CW)
• War Crimes and Reconciliation After Conflict (ch 6 of M&CW)
• Can Force be Used Justly? Questions of Retributive and Restorative Justice (the 2001 Kuyper Lecture - in pdf format so requires Adobe Acrobat)

Another strong and clear exponent of Christian just war thinking who has spoken in favour of pre-emption is the Roman Catholic writer George Weigel:

• Moral Clarity in a Time of War (the Second Annual William E. Simon Lecture)
• Just War and Pre-emption: Three Questions
• Reality of terrorism calls for fresh look at just-war tradition

Other good just war reflections include:

• Good Wars by Darrell Cole
• Just War an exchange between Paul J. Griffiths and George Weigel

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Sites providing resources from a more pacifist/non-violence perspective include:

• Writings of John Howard Yoder
• In a Time of War: An Exchange between Stanley Hauerwas & First Things
• Faithfulness First - an interview with Stanley Hauerwas
• Interview with Lee Griffith - author of The War on Terrorism & The Terror of God
• Peacemaking in a Time of War - talk by Lee Griffith
• Early Church Quotations on War and Violence

Among sites containing various resources and links are:

• The Just Cause - this describes itself as 'exploring issues of peace, war, justice and freedom through the eyes of faith'
• War and Terrorism - part of the Faithmaps site this links to a number of articles on evil, suffering, just war and pacifism.
• War, Peace, and Military Ethics - the section of the Ethics Updates site providing links and bibliography across the whole area of war and ethics in the military. 

Different US evangelical perspectives can be found covering:

• An Invitation To Prayer - Prayer resources for praying together for peace, justice and reconciliation
• Iraq statements - responses from various British denominations to the current crisis

On the horrors of modern war see Crimes of War

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