The Morality of Self-Defense and Military Action: The Judeo-Christian Tradition

by David B. Kopel

Overview

Shedding new light on a controversial and intriguing issue, this book will reshape the debate on how the Judeo-Christian tradition views the morality of personal and national self-defense.

Are self-defense, national warfare, and revolts against tyranny holy duties—or violations of God's will? Pacifists insist these actions are the latter, forbidden by Judeo-Christian morality. This book maintains that the pacifists are wrong. To make his case, the author analyzes the full sweep of Judeo-Christian history from earliest times to the present, combining history, scriptural analysis, and philosophy to describe the changes and continuity of Jewish and Christian doctrine about the use of lethal force. He reveals the shifting patterns of thought in both religions and presents the strongest arguments on both sides of the issue.

The book begins with the ancient Hebrews and Genesis and covers Jewish history through the Holocaust and beyond. The analysis then shifts to the story of Christianity from its origins, through the Middle Ages and the Reformation, up the present day. Based on this scrutiny, the author concludes that—contrary to popular belief—the legitimacy of self-defense is strongly supported by Judeo-Christian scripture and commentary, by philosophical analysis, and by the respect for human dignity and human rights on which both Judaism and Christianity are based.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440832772
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/16/2017
Series:	Non-Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	328,368
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

David B. Kopel, JD, is adjunct professor of advanced constitutional law at Denver University, Sturm College of Law.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction ix

Part 1 The Old Testament and the Jews 1

1 The Torah 3

2 The Rise and Fall of the Hebrew Republic and Monarchy 23

3 Israel Returns 65

4 Psalms, Prophets, and the Problem of Violence in the Hebrew Bible 79

5 Diaspora to Holocaust to Israel 97

Part 2 The New Testament to the Present 145

6 The New Testament 147

7 From the Early Apostles to the Fall of Rome 173

8 The Middle Ages 219

9 Reformation 261

10 Revolutions 289

11 The American Revolution 319

12 Modern Christianity 347

13 Quakers: Respect for Conscience 383

14 Modern Pacifism 397

Conclusion: Defending Creation 429

Index 441

Editorial Reviews

Engaging and certainly controversial, this book lays out a tendentious argument and reading of history in its promotion of a gun culture. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.” —Choice

“A well-researched and magnificently written tome. Kopel has succeeded in The Morality of Self-Defense and Military Action by David B. Kopelobjectively discussing difficult and controversial topics of moral philosophy that spill into hotter political issues of armed self-defense and justification for wars and revolution, and he does this in an eloquent, logical, and enthralling fashion. . . . The Morality of Self-Defense and Military Action: The Judeo-Christian Tradition is highly recommended for moral philosophers, lawyers, sociologists, criminologists, and the lay public, and it would be of more than passing interest to citizens following or participating in the gun control and gun rights debate.” —Hacienda Publishing

From the Publisher