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 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 HalfTitle Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgements Abbreviations 1 Introduction A perceived crisis in international law Theoretical contexts John Paul II’s call for the renewal of the international legal order Post-1945 political realism Post-2001 new cosmopolitanism International law in Christian (Protestant Thomist) perspective Answerability before God and the international community Answerability and the international common good What is asked of Christian ethics and political theology? 2 Towards a Restatement of Natural Law Reasoning Avoiding old caricatures Three moments in the task: Confession, critique, construction The telos of law in God The injustice of human law Reasoning about human law Natural law reasoning as critique Peacemaking Good order Common good 3 Jus Cogens Norms and the Impurity of Natural Law Reasoning On the reasonability of law Legal prohibitions against torture The problem of democratic deficit The problem of vagueness What if the consensus supports torture? The problem of legitimacy The problem of prioritizing democratic will over reason On the telos of law Reading Aquinas in context Telos, custom and consent Can international common good be known and advanced? 4 Peacemaking through Law: Ambivalence, Violence and Answerability Non-international and international armed conflict Just war criteria stretched to breaking point? On the changing definition of war A brief historical survey ‘Ordinary’ and ‘Extraordinary’ judgement The right of self-defence Membership or non-membership of the foedus amphictyonum Security and imminent threat Perceptions of the enemy Who is my enemy? Enemies of the state? Desiring the enemy’s good 5 Responsibility to Protect and Militarized Humanitarian Intervention: Tests and Challenges Vatican and WCC statements on RtoP On the identity of the authority that can approve intervention RtoP and the protection of human rights RtoP and limiting the use of force On the restraint of others from sin Realism and mixed motives Five tests Seriousness of risk Right intention Last resort Proportional means Balance of consequences Conclusions 6 Nation-States, Borders and Love of Neighbour: Impartiality and the Ordo Amoris A world without borders? Reasons for caution Theoretical contexts Nations and divine wrath Aquinas on the ‘Order in Charity’ Nation as family? Proximity and constitutional patriotism Answerability within and beyond territorial borders: Matthew 25.31–35 How borders function Particular loves and Catholic benevolence 7 Human Rights and Ideological Conflict: Threats to the Rule of Law Universality in international law Enriching human rights? Human rights in Christian perspective(s) Islamic views on the meaning of ‘Universality’ Freedom of religion Neo-Kantian theory and the meaning of universality The problem of hegemony The problem of imperialism Kant’s concept of right Implications for the restraint of religious liberty Critical accommodation 8 Concluding Theses Bibliography INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES INDEX OF NAMES INDEX OF SUBJECTS