Do we need a new ethics of a just peace? The war in Kosovo and its consequences: A discussion of a peace ethic in the German Protestant Church

Authors
Citation
Em. Pausch, Do we need a new ethics of a just peace? The war in Kosovo and its consequences: A discussion of a peace ethic in the German Protestant Church, Z EVAN ETH, 45(1), 2001, pp. 17-28
Citations number
20
Categorie Soggetti
Religion & Tehology
Journal title
ZEITSCHRIFT FUR EVANGELISCHE ETHIK
ISSN journal
00442674 → ACNP
Volume
45
Issue
1
Year of publication
2001
Pages
17 - 28
Database
ISI
SICI code
0044-2674(200101/03)45:1<17:DWNANE>2.0.ZU;2-0
Abstract
The article claims that in the current situation there is no need for the E vangelical Church in Germany (EKD) to create a new ethics of peace. Christi an ethics of peace neither tends to bellicism nor to pacifism. Learned by t he history of church, the EKD also rejects the traditional concepts of the holy or the just war. War can never be holy, not even just, but in certain situations warfare may be unavoidable or necessary. Cases of self-defense o r the so-called humanitarian interventions are examples for the latter. As the war in Kosovo shows, the modern Christian ethics of a just peace (or a peace in justice) needs clear and distinct criteria in order to decide whet her in a certain situation a humanitarian intervention is necessary or not.