Never Again War”

Recent Shifts in the R oman C atholic Just War Tradition and the Question of “Functional Pacifism”

Bibliographic Data

ID14760207
AuthorsKay Norris (0000-0002-1918-4474, corresponding author), Kristopher Norris
Year2014
Volume42
Issue1
Pages108-136
Publication date2014-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/jore.12046
OpenAlexW1833636113
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited4

This essay addresses the complexities of the R oman C atholic position on war by evaluating recent documentary evidence, attending to the contemporary challenges of terrorism and humanitarian interventions. It presents two arguments. First, attending to traditional C atholic resources for assessing war, papal criticism of recent military action, and debates about a recent shift in C atholic just war logic, this essay argues that C atholic teaching on war has undergone a repositioning in a pacifist direction. Second, it contends that recent critiques of this shift in position by scholars such as G eorge W eigel and J ames T urner J ohnson, however, are wrong to categorize this a “functional pacifism.” Though a development from within just war theory and pacifist reasoning, the Church's new stance does not operate as a type of pacifism, allowing too many possibilities for justified armed conflict to be labeled as “functional” pacifism. The essay concludes by examining the traditional C atholic theological commitments that place limits on any movement toward pacifism, precluding even a functionally pacifist position

Action (physics · Criticism · Epistemology · Just war theory · Political science · Position (finance · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Terrorism · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · War, Ethics, and Justification

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