Editor's Introduction | ||
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The Challenges of Asymmetrical War to Just War Theory: Conversations between Ethicists and Military Chaplains | |
For Holy Week | ||
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The Silence of Easter by Clint Schnekloth During the Easter season, I wander the halls of church and mutter on the bike trail, "He is risen!" I'm perennially hoping someone will overhear and respond. Often someone does. Even if I speak into silence, in the absence of others, I can still hear the echo of the Easter Sunday litany resounding in my auditory memory banks — "He is risen indeed! Alleluia!" | |
Papers from the Gathering | ||
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Facing Ambiguity in Warfare by Gilbert Meilaender My assignment, as I understand it, is to try to say something helpful about the fact that soldiers will sometimes find themselves in perplexing situations, circumstances in which all their alternatives seem morally problematic and which may leave them with a burden of guilt so heavy as, even, to be in some respects disabling. What should Lutheran moral reflection and Lutheran pastoral care have to offer them? | |
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The Rule of Distinction and the Military Response to Global Terrorism by H. David Baer A military response to global terrorism raises challenges to the existing moral and legal framework for conduct of war. Indeed, some might argue that the so-called war on terror requires adopting an altogether new framework for thinking about the conduct of war. The older framework, anchored in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, presupposes an antiquated model of war as a conflict between sovereign states, so the argument would go, and this traditional paradigm is irrelevant to the current challenge of fighting terrorist groups, which do not represent sovereign states, but which are nevertheless capable of armed attacks with a global reach. Such an argument would, however, exaggerate the case. | |
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A New Language for Just War by Wollom A. Jensen General Carl von Clausewitz said, "War therefore is an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will" (Clausewitz, 1976). Stated a little differently, the intention of war is the destruction, in the most literal meaning of the word, of the enemy. The issues facing combat soldiers, military commanders, and chaplains are serious and life altering. Chief among these issues is the question of how chaplains can care for warriors who are asked to see, experience, and perform tasks that threaten to erode their souls. | |
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Notes from the Front Lines: Reporting on the 2012 Lutheran Ethicists Gathering by Kaari Reierson Major David Buffaloe spoke about ethical challenges to soldiers. Much of his training focused on high intensity conflict, but there are many other areas in which a soldier encounters ethical challenges. In his own training at West Point, Buffalo spent a fair amount of time on Michael Walzer’s book Just and Unjust Wars, and it proved influential to his thinking. | |
Featured Articles | ||
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Biblical / Ethical Reflections on the Enspirited Life by Paul Jersild I begin these reflections by turning to selected passages in the Gospels, the book of Acts, and the Pauline letters, arguing the centrality of the Spirit to any consideration of Christian faith and life, or to biblical and Christian ethics. Then I address several hermeneutical issues in relating what I call "spirit ethics" to Scripture or specifically the New Testament. The third and final part of the paper makes a brief application of this spirit ethic perspective to the current issue of homosexuality. | |
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Women and Theological Writing During the Reformation | |
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When Government Defines "Religious" (Church): An Historical Example | |
Book Review | ||
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Bonhoeffer Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas
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© March 2012
Journal of Lutheran Ethics
Volume 12, Issue 2