When Is War Justified?
Israel, Gaza, Iran, And Just War Theory Explained
Christianity actually has a long, nerdy, and deeply philosophical tradition of thinking through the ethics of war. Like, real thinking. Not the Instagrammable kind. But today? Most Christian reactions to war are trend-chasing, emotion-forward, and secretly baptized in the bathwater of secular humanism. It’s Christ the Moral Mascot, floating above it all, smiling vaguely—while we pretend the Bible’s just a book of quotes about being nice.
There are four heavyweights in the Just War conversation—two theologians, two philosophers, all Catholic. Naturally. Protestants were too busy nailing things to doors and fleeing across Europe to write treatises.
And speaking of Protestants, you really don’t want to get the Reformers started on Just War Theory. We already know what Luther and Calvin would say: launch the nukes.
These guys had zero chill when it came to people messing with the idea of a Christian nation-state. They were not pacifists. They weren’t even paci-curious. To them, war wasn’t some regrettable option—it was Plan A. Why? Because the Reformation wasn’t just a theological pivot; it was a full-blown existential crisis. If the kings and princes didn’t get on board, there was no Reformation.
Ironically, of course, these same Reformers helped ignite the very thing they probably feared: the slow collapse of monarchy and the rise of democratic government. Whoops.
Now here we are, centuries later, and everyone in the Christian world has a hot take on Israel, Gaza, and Iran—usually delivered with absolute certainty by someone who hasn’t read a book since “The Purpose Driven Life.”
Here are four historic thinkers (who are not Dispensationalists) that may surprise you: