March / April 2012: The Challenges of Asymmetrical War to Just War Theory: Conversations between Ethicists and Military Chaplains

The Challenges of Asymmetrical War to Just War Theory: Conversations between Ethicists and Military Chaplains
   by Kaari Reierson
The preponderance of the papers in this month comes from the 2012 Lutheran Ethicists Gathering.  This year’s gathering was an extremely fruitful conversation between military chaplains and ethicists, focused on the question of “The Challenges of Asymmetrical War to Just War Theory: Conversations between Ethicists and Military Chaplains.” Gilbert Meilaender gave the keynote presentation on facing ambiguity in warfare, David Baer spoke on developments in international law and combatant distinction, Wollom Jensen sought new language for just war, and Stewart Herman spoke to vulnerability in their supporting panel presentations.  The report from the conference shows the breadth and depth of the conversation.

For Holy Week

Women and Theological Writing During the Reformation
   by Kirsi Stjerna
In comparison to the volumes of religious writing by medieval (often visionary) women and the booming scholarly work around them in the last three or so decades, the sixteenth century Protestant women have generated significantly less interest. There are reasons for that: First of all, so few women of the period have been remembered even by their name or for their lifetime of achievements that the very idea of studying Reformation women’s theologies has seemed futile or impossible. Second, so few theological texts from the Protestant women have been recognized as of value or been available that it has generated an impression that the mothers of the Protestant faith either did not write theology or were not interested in it.

When Government Defines "Religious" (Church): An Historical Example
   by John R. Stumme
An agency of the federal government issues new regulations that include a definition of a “religious” organization, and critics charge that the definition restricts religious freedom. Sounds like a reference to recent events, and so it is. Yet it is also a summary of events in the late 1970s. The particulars differ but the disputes now and then revolve around the same church-state question.  It might be instructive for us today to recall how Lutherans responded then to a government agency’s determination of what counts as a religious or church-related organization.

Bonhoeffer Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas
   Review by Christine Muir Shahan
Once in a while a nonfiction book comes along that captivates the attention of the reader on multiple levels. The book is vivid, moving, drawing in the reader in the fashion of a good drama, all the while based on profound historical details. In such rare occasions, emotion becomes integrated with fact. And if the author has done his job, the perception of the reader will be changed forever. Eric Metaxas has written such a book, a biography of the famed Christian writer and theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer.