Tradition

One of the main areas of focus at the Institute of Theology and Peace is on analysing and addressing the traditions of the ethics of peace. Typical of thinking in the Western world in general, theological and philosophical traditions in relation to the theme of war and peace have their origins in the ancient world. Since that time, just about every era – from the Middle Ages to modern times through to the present day – has struggled with the question as to where war, peace and justice stand in relation to each other. One of the core questions is whether, from an ethical point of view, the use of militant force should be allowed in order to secure peace and, if so, under which conditions The objective of this project is to work out the results that have been extracted from this debate as well as the impact that they have had in historical terms. This will not only serve to uncover the roots of our present-day thinking, but will also broaden our current perspective of the product of earlier reflective processes. Research and investigation up until now have included such names as Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Francisco de Vitoria and Francisco Suárez. A dissertation „Cicero und der gerechte Krieg. Friedensethik im Kontext römischer Staatsphilosophie“ (Cicero and the Just War. Ethics of Peace in the context of Roman State Philosophy Context) is due to be completed soon. There are plans for further dissertations, postdoctoral treatises and symposia on this theme.

Responsible for this project: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Beestermöller, Assistant Director
Email: beestermoeller@ithf.de
Telephone: +49 (0)40 / 67 08 59-21

Research project: Cicero and the concept of just war. Peace ethics in the context of Roman political philosophy

As part of the research project ‘Tradition’, a dissertation has been dedicated to Cicero’s contemplations regarding the just war theory, which influenced the theological debate up until the Middle Ages. The project is designed to analyse not only the way in which Cicero thought about war, peace and justice, but also how he strived to solve dilemmas related to these concepts. In order to do so, the political and philosophical foundations of Cicero’s peace ethics will be elaborated upon. The ultimate goal of this analysis is a better understanding of the origins of the just war theory.

Project processor: Andrea Keller, M.A.
Email: keller@ithf.de
Telephone: +49 (0)40 / 67 08 59-20

Publications

Series Theology and Peace - Vol. 35
Markus Kremer
Den Frieden verantworten: Politische Ethik bei Francisco Suárez (1548-1617).
Stuttgart 2008. 291 pp.
EUR 38,00
ISBN 978-3-17-020165-1

Francisco Suárez (1548-1617) stands on the threshold between medieval Scholasticism and modern legal philosophy. This makes it possible to see in him a theologian who, while maintaining what has been tried and tested, anticipates important achievements of modern thought, without giving up the Christian perspective (in contrast to the Enlightenment). His synthesis between the ethics of law and virtue becomes most clear in the idea of peace, towards which the demands for justice and the love of God (caritas) are directed, even where political practice appears obviously to contradict that goal: in war. Kremer uses the example of the inter-state power struggle to show how Suárez develops his theory of political action from the perspective of salvation based on the concept of just peace.

Series Theology and Peace - Vol. 26
Norbert Brieskorn/Markus Riedenauer (Eds.)
Suche nach Frieden: Politische Ethik in der Frühen Neuzeit III.
Stuttgart 2003. 441 pp.
EUR 40,00
ISBN 3-17-018154-8

Between the end of the Middle Ages and the Enlightenment philosophers and theologians, humanists and political thinkers, jurists and politicians attempt to solve the problems of peaceful co-existence, both within nations and between themselves. The different, sometimes overlapping, discussions are outlined in this third and final volume of the interdisciplinary examination of the peace ethics of the early modern period up to the early 18th century. On the one hand they make reference to the necessity for tolerance (Sebastian Castellio and Pierre Bayle on this topic in this volume), to a new attitude to morality and to natural right which creates a self-image (Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Samuel Pufendorf and Christian Thomasius on this topic); on the other hand they attempt to define more clearly the role of the state and the principles of national affairs (Thomas Hobbes, Johannes Althusius, Justus Lipsius). Amos Comenius chooses a comprehensive and pedagogical approach in order to further a universal concept of peace. Political thinkers such as Guillaume Aubert or William Penn focus again on conflicts between nations. With reference to martial law, Balthasar de Ayala and Gabriel Vázquez differentiate in a special way between the spheres of competence of law, religion and conscience.

Series Theology and Peace - Vol. 20
Norbert Brieskorn/Markus Riedenauer (Eds.)
Suche nach Frieden: Politische Ehtik in der Frühen Neuzeit II.
Stuttgart 2002. 437 pp.
EUR 35,00
ISBN 3-17-017410-X

Schism and terrible religious wars dominate the problems of political ethics in the 16th and 17th centuries. For the sake of peace, the motives of conscience and pragmatic action, individuality and raison d'état, religion and empire have to be ordered anew. Gradually the use of violence to achieve religious truth is being regarded as illegitimate. For humanist thinkers (in this volume: Pico della Mirandola, Johannes Reuchlin, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas More, Ludovicus Vives and Tommaso Campanella) the focus is on the individual, although the state is seen increasingly as a real power factor. This leads to the political thinkers Niccolò Machiavelli and his opponents (exemplified by Pedro de Ribadeneira), to Diego de Covarrubias y Leyva and Jean Bodin.

At the same time, Protestant reformers, Catholic counter-reformers and politicians look for new ways of finding a basic order capable of bringing about peace while at the same time retaining their own denominational and political interests to the maximum. This volume shows the development from Philipp Melanchthon and the politics at the preliminary stage of the Religious Peace of Augsburg to Robert Bellarmin and the Westphalian peace negotiations.

Series Theology and Peace - Vol. 19
Norbert Brieskorn/Markus Riedenauer (Eds.)
Suche nach Frieden: Politische Ehtik in der Frühen Neuzeit I.
Stuttgart 2000. 276 pp.
EUR 26,00
ISBN 3-17-016439-2

After the collapse of the medieval imperial ideal and its models for peace ethics, in the struggle for power, in social, denominational and inter-religious conflicts, the question of peace and the conditions for peace became extremely pressing. Peace now had to be feasible under the conditions of divergent systems in a culturally and religiously plural world. The structures of the modern era meant that justice had to prevail, even during conflicts. This volume deals with this complex of problems with contributions from Nicholas of Cusa, Martin Luther and John Calvin, several authors of late Spanish Scholasticism and Hugo Grotius.