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The origins and early development of the notion of the just war: A study in the ideology of the later Roman Empire and early medieval Europe
Abstract
The just war is an ethical notion justifying, under certain circumstances, participation in war. The just-war notion has been part of Western thought from the earliest times, and persists to this day in the writings of Michael Walzer and other philosophers. This dissertation explores the middle history of the just-war idea, the post-classical and pre-modern era--from the time of Christ to the rise of the Renaissance. I examine the origins and early development of this notion starting with an ideological analysis of the New Testament and Apocryphal Gospels. The scriptures indicate a diverse, multifaceted tableau of attitudes toward war, ranging from pacifism to acceptance and admiration for the Roman military. This diversity of attitude is corroborated by the surviving funeral inscriptions and papyri of casual correspondence between Christian soldiers and their families, which show no moral compunction about military service. I have concluded that the evidence for Christian participation in the Roman military in the century before Constantine is clear and convincing. The patristic literature before Constantine is divided; while some writers espoused pacifism, others were open to the ethical possibility of military service by Christians, thus preparing the groundwork for the articulation of the just war. The history of the idea of the just war can be pictured as a circular, revolving process, from an ideological preparation for military involvement in the earliest days of Christianity and gradual involvement and ultimately full participation in the Roman military under Constantine. Ambrose and Augustine provided the foundation for this process by Christianizing the Ciceronian concept of just war. However, the history of the just war is not a perfect circle. While Leo I, Gregory I and Isidore ignored Augustine's sanction of the just war, the canon lawyers of the eleventh century revived Augustine. Thomas Aquinas, with Aristotelian thoroughness, gave this concept free and unbridled power, only to have it revert to its origins in secular international law after the Council of Constance.
Subject Area
Ancient civilizations|Middle Ages|Religion
Recommended Citation
Lenihan, David Anthony, "The origins and early development of the notion of the just war: A study in the ideology of the later Roman Empire and early medieval Europe" (1995). Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest. AAI9541124.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations/AAI9541124