Thursday, January 05, 2006

Current reading - James Turner Johnson on the Iraq war and just war theory


I've started into James Turner Johnson's exemplary short book, The War to Oust Saddam Hussein: Just War and the New Face of Conflict (Rowman & Littlefield 2005). Jim Johnson, whom I've had the pleasure of meeting at a couple of academic conferences, is, along with of course Michael Walzer and Jean Bethke Elshtain, a leading theorist of the just war. His book is written with his plain, lucid style, and so far I have found it very compelling. He begins with a chapter on the meaning of jihad and sets it within a discussion of Islam's view of the ethics of war and peace, which is by itself very informative. I give this book a strong thumbs up for anyone interested in contemporary issues of just war theory from a leading theologian and ethicist of the same. Rowman & Littlefield should be very proud to have released this book.

1 comment:

Christopher Blosser said...

I'm halfway through the book myself and agree with everything you say -- a strong thumbs up for a solid presentation of just war thought -- and its many contemporary deviations.