Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7644 Plough Quarterly • Summer 2015 the 1905 constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World, authored by Thomas Haggerty, a Catholic priest. All the same, there is weight to arguments for forceful intervention to protect the inno- cent. The innocent do need protection, and the world as we know it does need a police force. International police action is different from war. That is why, though I am a pacifist, I also believe there is a place for Just War thinking in Christian social teaching. (Un)Just War Just War theory was never intended as a framework by which war may be justified or as a means to deny the obvious meaning of the words of Jesus in the Gospels. Instead, it aspired to be a rational means for limiting war. It grap- ples with the questions: When is it justifiable to go to war (jus ad bellum)? What is permissible in warfare – are there any limits (jus in bello)? And what of the aftermath of victory – are there moral obligations that bind the victors (jus post bellum)? Just War thinking evolved from attempts to answer these questions and to limit the destruc- tiveness of warfare. Since it is based on reason rather than scripture, it belongs to the realm of moral philosophy, not theology. Though primarily associated with Catholic teaching going back to Augustine of Hippo, it has also been developed by Protestants, chief among them Hugo Grotius in the seventeenth century and Paul Ramsey of Princeton University in the twentieth. According to a widely accepted definition, modern Just War theory holds that war may be resorted to: 1) under legitimate authority; 2) for sufficient reason; 3) with a just intention; 4) with reasonable expectation of success; and 5) as a last resort, all other options having been tried and failed. Once war has broken out, Just War theory requires that the means employed to fight it must be: 1) proportional, causing less evil than they remedy; and 2) careful to pre- serve civilian immunity, though Just War theory tolerates noncombatant deaths as “collateral damage” if they are not directly intended and if they are not causal to victory. Is Just War Theory Meaningless? What are Christian pacifists to make of Just War theory? Some have suggested that it should be entirely abandoned, on the grounds that it contradicts Jesus’ clear teaching and has proven meaningless in practice. They have a point. Ever since Just War theory was invented, every side of every Western war has used its language to justify self-interested claims, and done so with ease. After all, no government has ever announced its intention to wage an unjust war. Never has it been observed that war planners, chiefs of state, and their cabinets met with their joint chiefs of staff to discuss how to apply Just War requirements to their agendas. No victori- ous nation has ever attributed its success to its own evil deeds, nor have its leaders ever been indicted by an international tribunal for war crimes. That happens only to losers. Church leaders have had no better track record than the statesmen and generals. Throughout the ages, they have written a blank check to their governments on every side of virtually every war. (One exception came in 1971 when the US Catholic bishops judged the American war in Vietnam to be disproportion- ate in its evil effects, and therefore immoral. They did not, however, broadcast this decision with any clarity, vigor, or urgency.) It might seem high time, then, to consign Just War theory to the scrap heap of church history, along with other discredited relics such as limbo for unbaptized infants. But this would be imprudent and premature, at the very least. Having put the Just War tradition aside, as some pacifists imagine they have done, they quickly