In these essays I often refer to social contracts such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and other international conventions that describe a vision of just human relations, especially in the area of culture and health care. We do not live behind a veil of ignorance where we enter into contemplation of questions of right and wrong without an awareness of our own particularities. Moreover, we do not always determine what is right based on reason. But, we do make decisions every day about how we will live within the social contracts that govern our lives. Many of us go along to get along with a lets-not-rock-the-boat-preserve-the-status-quocaution. Then there are those of us who use the documents of our social contracts to secure more justice and more peace. The purpose is to rock the boat and to disrupt the status quo when it is unjust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I understand Christ as a title not as a person. It is a designation of an anointing. This, in my opinion, is the anointing of radical love. Christ is the human incarnation of divine love. We each ought to strive to become this whether or not we are Christian, whether or not we are even believers. Those of us who are Christians believe that Jesus paid it all. There is no more need for blood-shed sacrifice. Murder is never holy. God does not need it or want it. Our work now is to become living sacrifices that will redeem this world through justice and peace. That is the meaning of these essays. (From the Introduction)

Believing Christians should direct their energies toward finding a set of criteria and a model for a "just peace" instead of "just war", Stassen bases his peace theory on the new reality of our world, recent Biblical interpretation, and on the experiences of people who lived in the face of oppression and nuclear threat.

With issues of war and peace at the forefront of current events, an informed Christian response is needed. This timely volume answers 104 questions from a just-war perspective, offering thoughtful yet succinct answers. Ranging from the theoretical to the practical, the volume looks at how the just-war perspective relates to the philosopher, historian, statesman, theologian, combatant, and individual—with particular emphases on its historical development and application to contemporary geopolitical challenges. Forgoing ideological extremes, Charles and Demy give much attention to the biblical teaching on the subject as they provide moral guidance. A valuable resource for considering the ethical issues relating to war, Christians will find this book's user-friendly format a helpful starting point for discussion.

The first book-length study of Aquinas's teaching on just war, its antecedents, and its reception by subsequent thinkers.

Just War has attracted considerable attention. The words peace and justice are often used together. Surprisingly, however, little conceptual thinking has gone into what constitutes a Just Peace. This book, which includes some of the world's leading scholars, debates and develops the concept of Just Peace.The problem with the idea of a Just Peace is that striving for justice may imply a Just War. In other words, peace and justice clash at times. Therefore, one often starts from a given view of what constitutes justice, but this a priori approach leads - especially when imposed from the outside - straight into discord. This book presents conflicting viewpoints on this question from political, historical, and legal perspectives as well as from a policy perspective.The book also argues that Just Peace should be defined as a process resting on four necessary and sufficient conditions: thin recognition whereby the other is accepted as autonomous; thick recognition whereby identities need to be accounted for; renouncement, requiring significant sacrifices from all parties; and finally, rule, the objectification of a Just Peace by a "text" requiring a common language respecting the identities of each, and defining their rights and duties. This approach basedon a language-oriented process amongst directly concerned parties, goes beyond liberal and culturalist perspectives. Throughout the process, negotiators need to build a novel shared reality as well as a new common language allowing for an enduring harmony between previously clashing peoples.It challenges a liberal view of peace founded on norms claiming universal scope. The liberal conception has difficulty in solving conflicts such as civil wars characterized typically by fundamental disagreements between different communities. Cultures make demands that are identity-defining, and some of these defy the "cultural neutrality" that is one of the foundations of liberalism. Therefore, the concept of Just Peace cannot be solved within the liberal tradition.

This book rewrites the history of Christian peace ethics. Christian reflection on reducing violence or overcoming war has roots in ancient Roman philosophy and eventually grew to influence modern international law. This historical overview begins with Cicero, the source of Christian authors like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. It is highly debatable whether Augustine had a systematic interest in just war or whether his writings were used to develop a systematic just war teaching only by the later tradition. May Christians justifiably use force to overcome disorder and achieve peace? The book traces the classical debate from Thomas Aquinas to early modern-age thinkers like Vitoria, Suarez, Martin Luther, Hugo Grotius and Immanuel Kant. It highlights the diversity of the approaches of theologians, philosophers and lawyers. Modern cosmopolitianism and international law-thinking, it shows, are rooted in the Spanish Scholastics, where Grotius and Kant each found the inspiration to inaugurate a modern peace ethic. In the 20th century the tradition has taken aim not only at reducing violence and overcoming war but at developing a constructive ethic of peace building, as is reflected in Pope John Paul II’s teaching.

"Just Peacemaking is the product of 23 scholars across various denominations who have collaborated annually for six years to specify the 10 practical steps and develop the undergirding principles of this critical approach. Originally published in 1998 and revised in 2004, this new 2008 edition contains a new introduction and conclusion, as well as updated contents."--BOOK JACKET.