Why Just War Theory Always Matters

by George Weigel

The claim that “there is no such thing as a just war” is dangerous nonsense. Continue Reading »

17 Jul 2024

Christian Realism About Ukraine

by R. R. Reno

That we should grieve for the people of Ukraine is unquestionable. The boot of their powerful Russian neighbor is on their necks. That we should condemn Moscow’s aggression while cheering the courage of Ukrainian soldiers and the determination of that aggrieved nation’s leaders is also . . . . Continue Reading »

1 May 2022

Father Berrigan Remembered

by William Doino Jr.

When Daniel Berrigan died recently at the age of 94, obituaries throughout the world described the legendary Jesuit as a defiant pacifist, who will be remembered most for his political protests, legal trials, and time in prison. But there was also a more contemplative side—one that reveals his . . . . Continue Reading »

9 May 2016

Solzhenitsyn's Red Wheel

by Daniel J. Mahoney

It is not uncommon for readers of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s final novel, The Red Wheel, to draw comparisons with another Russian masterpiece, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Like its predecessor, The Red Wheel is a massive, sweeping work, six thousand pages divided into four . . . . Continue Reading »

1 May 2015

Our Partial Pacifism

by Matthew Schmitz

I am inclined to blame pacifism for our embrace of torture Continue Reading »

11 Dec 2014

Carl’s Rock Songbook #8: Bob Dylan, “Masters of War”

by Carl Scott

Back to war, and the “anti-war” stance. Part of the conclusion of Songbook #6 was that the stance of songs like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “New Years Day” could easily lead to despair and overindulgence of anger. “Masters of War” certainly is a . . . . Continue Reading »

27 Jun 2011

Carl’s Rock Songbook #6: Bob Dylan, “Blowin’ in the Wind”

by Carl Scott

In the comments on Songbook #5, I was reminded that Bono said he wrote the central verse of U2’s “New Year’s Day” with Solidarity’s struggle in mind. My reply there lays out the erotic and political elements any full analysis of that song would address, and why the . . . . Continue Reading »

10 Jun 2011

Carl’s Rock Songbook #5: U2, “New Year’s Day”

by Carl Scott

One night in early 1983, my teenaged-Christian-60s-obsessed-socialist/pacifist-leaning self heard this song on the radio. I had not heard U2 before, and I was thrilled. Here was a band politically committed in a way that smacked of the idealism of the 60s I had been reading about in library books, . . . . Continue Reading »

30 May 2011

Pacifism, Just War & the Gulf: An Exchange

by Stanley Hauerwas and Richard John Neuhaus

January 30, 1991 Dear Richard, Your column in the Wall Street Journal (January 23, 1991), “Just War and This War,” came just in time for me. I have been thinking hard, as you can imagine, about what a pacifist does in war. The article—well done as usual—has provoked me to . . . . Continue Reading »

1 May 1991