James Turner Johnson

The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in the Age of Terror by Michael Ignatieff Princeton University Press, 212 pp. $22.95 Is it ever justifiable to do evil that good may come of it? Addressing the threat posed by terrorism, Michael Ignatieff answers Yes, with conditions. He argues that terrorists in . . . . Continue Reading »

The just war tradition came into being during the Middle Ages as a way of thinking about the right use of force in the context of responsible government of the political community. With deep roots in both ancient Israel and classical Greek and Roman political thought and practice, the origins of a . . . . Continue Reading »

In February 1998, long before the September 11 terrorist attacks on America, Osama bin Laden and four other leaders of radical Islamist groups in various countries issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, calling for jihad against “the crusader-Zionist alliance” in the following language: In . . . . Continue Reading »

In the aftermath of the United States military response to the car-bombing of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania last August, New York’s John Cardinal O’Connor drew a distinction between ad hoc, after-the-fact moral judgments about such particular responses to terrorism and a . . . . Continue Reading »

Does Christianity Cause War?by david martinoxford university press, 226 pages, $56 The question posed by the title of this book is a simple one, which, on the face of it, fits squarely within the debate over the relation of religion to politics and to conflict that has emerged at the end of the . . . . Continue Reading »