Theology for International Law

Description

Whilst Christian theology is familiar with questions about the relation of church and state, divine and human law, little attention has been devoted to questions of international law. Esther D. Reed offers a systematic engagement with contemporary issues of international law and its relevance for modern theology. Reed discusses numerous issue driven topics, including: challenges to classic just-war thinking from so-called fourth generation warfare, peoples and nationhood within divine providence, the ethics of territorial borders and the militarization of human intervention. By discussing selected biblical texts Reed helps to move the issues of international law higher up the agenda of Christian theology, ethics and moral reasoning. Cover......Page 1 HalfTitle......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Acknowledgements......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 12 1 Introduction......Page 14 A perceived crisis in international law......Page 16 John Paul II’s call for the renewal of the international legal order......Page 18 Post-1945 political realism......Page 22 Post-2001 new cosmopolitanism......Page 28 International law in Christian (Protestant Thomist) perspective......Page 30 Answerability before God and the international community......Page 31 Answerability and the international common good......Page 36 What is asked of Christian ethics and political theology?......Page 39 2 Towards a Restatement of Natural Law Reasoning......Page 44 Avoiding old caricatures......Page 50 Three moments in the task: Confession, critique, construction......Page 53 The telos of law in God......Page 54 The injustice of human law......Page 60 Reasoning about human law......Page 68 Natural law reasoning as critique......Page 73 Peacemaking......Page 78 Good order......Page 81 Common good......Page 83 3 Jus Cogens Norms and the Impurity of Natural Law Reasoning......Page 86 On the reasonability of law......Page 87 Legal prohibitions against torture......Page 90 The problem of democratic deficit......Page 96 The problem of vagueness......Page 99 What if the consensus supports torture?......Page 102 The problem of legitimacy......Page 103 The problem of prioritizing democratic will over reason......Page 109 On the telos of law......Page 113 Reading Aquinas in context......Page 115 Telos, custom and consent......Page 118 Can international common good be known and advanced?......Page 126 4 Peacemaking through Law: Ambivalence, Violence and Answerability......Page 130 Non-international and international armed conflict......Page 132 Just war criteria stretched to breaking point?......Page 139 On the changing definition of war......Page 143 A brief historical survey......Page 148 ‘Ordinary’ and ‘Extraordinary’ judgement......Page 150 The right of self-defence......Page 154 Membership or non-membership of the foedus amphictyonum......Page 159 Security and imminent threat......Page 166 Perceptions of the enemy......Page 171 Who is my enemy?......Page 173 Enemies of the state?......Page 177 Desiring the enemy’s good......Page 181 5 Responsibility to Protect and Militarized Humanitarian Intervention: Tests and Challenges......Page 184 Vatican and WCC statements on RtoP......Page 185 On the identity of the authority that can approve intervention......Page 193 RtoP and the protection of human rights......Page 198 RtoP and limiting the use of force......Page 203 On the restraint of others from sin......Page 205 Realism and mixed motives......Page 207 Seriousness of risk......Page 210 Right intention......Page 214 Last resort......Page 217 Proportional means......Page 220 Balance of consequences......Page 224 Conclusions......Page 227 6 Nation-States, Borders and Love of Neighbour: Impartiality and the Ordo Amoris......Page 230 A world without borders?......Page 237 Reasons for caution......Page 239 Theoretical contexts......Page 242 Nations and divine wrath......Page 247 Aquinas on the ‘Order in Charity’......Page 251 Nation as family?......Page 255 Proximity and constitutional patriotism......Page 257 Answerability within and beyond territorial borders: Matthew 25.31–35......Page 259 How borders function......Page 260 Particular loves and Catholic benevolence......Page 264 7 Human Rights and Ideological Conflict: Threats to the Rule of Law......Page 266 Universality in international law......Page 270 Enriching human rights?......Page 271 Human rights in Christian perspective(s)......Page 274 Islamic views on the meaning of ‘Universality’......Page 278 Freedom of religion......Page 284 Neo-Kantian theory and the meaning of universality......Page 290 The problem of hegemony......Page 291 The problem of imperialism......Page 294 Kant’s concept of right......Page 296 Implications for the restraint of religious liberty......Page 299 Critical accommodation......Page 307 8 Concluding Theses......Page 312 Bibliography......Page 322 INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES......Page 352 INDEX OF NAMES......Page 354 INDEX OF SUBJECTS......Page 360