Finding
He adds with relevant particular details and telling citations that each of these institutionalized forms of violence, though once enjoying a status upholding them as essential to preservation of good order, justice and a healthy society, were de-legitimatized by a potent combination of changing public attitudes and moral leadership through law, policy, and influential teaching.
Paper
Catholic Realism and the Abolition of War
Abstract
CATHOLIC REALISM AND THE ABOLITION OF WAR David Carroll Cochran Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014 252 pages, paper, $28.00Catholic bishops are understood to hold a magisterial (teaching) office flowing from the particular nature of their duties as pastors. Emanating from this magisterial office, Catholic Social Teaching is made of statements promulgated by bishops, either collectively (as in the case of the Second Vatican Council) or individually (for example, by the Pope who is the Catholic bishop of Rome). One of these documents, Ex corde ecclesiae, which provides norms for Catholic post-secondary institutions, warns of the presence of what have been called "self-appointed guardians of orthodoxy" within the academy. Such academics presumably overstep their bounds by usurping key aspects of the magisterial office's role of guiding faithful Catholics in their efforts to live out their Christian faith in this world.David Carroll Cochran's Catholic Realism and the Abolition of War can be read as a corrective to one group of such academics, those who seek to undermine the contemporary Catholic Social Teaching on war. Members of this group sclf-idcntify as "Catholic realists." They make overt and covert claims to represent authentic Catholic tradition. Their most well-known representative is George Weigel, who called US military intervention in Iraq in 2003 an example of a just war.While in several cases Catholic realists serve as amplifiers of Catholic Social Teaching, Cochran clearly maps how, in their discussion of war, these thinkers not only depart from but often explicitly refute traditional, even Papal, teachings in this area. For example, in marked opposition to Weigel's views, John Paul II spoke out in no uncertain terms against military action in Iraq in both 1990 and 2003. In this regard, Catholic realists contrast their agenda with the utopianism of a magisterial office that has moved towards an anti-War position in the contemporary period. Sensing and frequently naming the contradictions in both the claimed Catholicity and realism of this group of academics, Cochran unfolds a Catholic argument for the abolition of war as the more cogent position given current geopolitical realities. In the process, he tellingly names his intellectual opponents as "Catholic doctrine's neo-conservative critics" (p.207). The resultant monograph will have appeal and resonance beyond the academic debate that underpins it.Specifically, Cochran's argument proceeds by two main and intertwined strategies: (1) identifying principles in Catholic Social Teaching, which directly and indirectly support the abolition of war, and (2) making parallels to other moral accomplishments, which served to limit institutionalized violence. As many readers of this journal will be aware, the premise that war should be abolished faces major challenges in the present moral environment. War is too often thought of as both necessary and justifiable when fought for a righteous cause. Cochran characterizes such thoughts as destructive lies with little support in socio-political realities or in contemporary Catholic doctrine. In terms of the latter, Cochran emphasizes how war kills unacceptable numbers of civilians (a basic fact that rings true despite a history of propaganda to the contrary). Further, it Hilly legitimizes the killing of soldiers, whom, as he demonstrates, often share with civilizations a large measure of innocence.Additionally, as a strategy to counter war "giveness," Cochran unfolds parallel arguments with other institutionalized forms of violence, by penning chapters centered on the abolition of trial by ordeal and combat (perhaps best remembered today as a means to assess the guilt of witches), the duel, slavery, and lynching. He adds with relevant particular details and telling citations that each of these institutionalized forms of violence, though once enjoying a status upholding them as essential to preservation of good order, justice and a healthy society, were de-legitimatized by a potent combination of changing public attitudes and moral leadership through law, policy, and influential teaching. …
Authors
Christopher Hrynkow
Journal
International Journal on World Peace