Just War As Christian Discipleship: Recentering the Tradition in the Church Rather Than the State

Just War as Christian Discipleship argues that most Americans, seeking to explain their positions on war via the just war tradition in Christianity, actually know little or nothing about what constitutes just war. In this book Daniel Bell seeks to change this lack of knowledge by explicating the history of just war theory, and then applying this information towards interpreting modern wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and possible wars with Iran, North Korea, or intervention in Darfur. All of this is done with an eye to reorienting the doctrine back to the church as moral authority, and into the process of discipleship, while taking the theory away from the state. But, Bell argues, the just war tradition can only be properly understood if we understand it not as a list of qualifications, but as an element which keeps Christians accountable for their actions in war. It must be shaped by the foundational convictions of faith confessions or it is nothing more than making excuses.