Book Reviews : War and the Christian Conscience: How Shall Modern War be Conducted Justly? By PAUL RAMSEY. (Durham: Duke Uiversity Press, 1961. Pp. xxiv, 331. $6.00.)
| Published date | 01 December 1961 |
| Author | John A. Schutz |
| Date | 01 December 1961 |
| DOI | 10.1177/106591296101400437 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
991
is
that
first
monarchy
arises,
to
be
superseded
by
aristocracy,
which
is
replaced
by
democracy,
which
may
well
be
the
prelude
to
monarchy
again.
The
an-
nounced
plan
followed
in
the
book
is
&dquo;to
take
each
form
in
turn
and
show
its
origins,
its
nature,
its
relative
success,
its
theoretical
justification,
its
decline
and
its
decay.&dquo;
In
following
this
plan
Mr.
Parkinson
ranges
from
the
facts
of
pre-
history,
where
he
is
much
at
home,
to
the
postwar
developments
of
the
Air
Age.
He
tells
us
about
the
world-wide
political
significance
of
the
Semang
of
Malaya,
the
Sun
God
cult of
Heliopolis,
the
King
of
Ankole,
the
Shaikhs
of
the
Abaidat,
Sargon
of
Agade,
Thothmes
III
of
Egypt,
and
many,
many
more.
In
the
process
of
revelation
he
throws
some
startling
pearls
to
the
wrong-headed
professional
swine:
&dquo;Rule
by
the
many
can
take
the
form
of
Democracy,
Representative
De-
mocracy,
or
Anarchy.&dquo;
&dquo;Socialism
in
the
United
States
appeared
in
1910
when
Woodrow
Wilson
was
first
heard
of
as
Democratic
candidate
for
the
Governor-
ship
of
New
Jersey.&dquo;
&dquo;Dictatorship
is
the
natural
sequel
to
the
anarchy
which
results,
very
often,
from
the
collapse
of
democratic
rule.&dquo;
&dquo;The
study
of
the
art
of
suggestion
has
made
nonsense
of
democratic
theory.&dquo;
Since
this
is
a
&dquo;new
approach,&dquo;
only
science
can
save
us
from
a
fate
worse
than
living.
The
beginnings
of
a
scientific
approach
came
with
Benedict
Spinoza
(1634-1677).
Democracy
is
&dquo;obviously&dquo;
an
unscientific
method
of
rule;
efficiency
is
the
thing.
So
Mr.
Parkinson
concludes,
after
his
intellectual
junket
through
thousands
of
years
of
human
experience
and
in
every
province
of
the
globe:
&dquo;It
might
well
prove
more
possible
to
discern,
in
the
first
instance,
what
size
of
state
is
to
be
preferred,
or
rather,
perhaps
what
size
of
state
tends
to
produce
the
highest
level
of
efficiency.&dquo;
Step
aside,
Plato;
here
comes
Parkinson
with
another
&dquo;law.&dquo;
University
of
Arizona
CURRIN
V.
SHIELDS
War
and
the
Christian
Conscience:
How
Shall
Modern
War
be
Conducted
Justly?
By
PAUL
RAMSEY.
(Durham:
Duke
Uiversity
Press,
1961.
Pp.
xxiv,
331.
$6.00.)
Mr.
Ramsey
has
a
single
theme
in
his
book:
he
is
concerned
as
a
professor
of
religion
about
weapons
systems
and
weapons
strategy
and
the
just
conduct
of
war.
He
brings
to
his
analysis
of
current
military
problems
his
vast
understanding
of
religious
history
and
philosophy.
In
his
examination
of
current
aspects
of
military
policy,
he
relates
the
works
of
Thomas
Murray,
Herman
Kahn, John
C.
Ford,
and
George
Kennan,
among
others,
and
judges
their
thought
according
to
the
norms
of
the Christian
heritage.
Mr.
Ramsey,
in
accepting
the
thesis
that
Christian
teaching
over
the
ages
allowed
for
justified
violence
in
turning
away
harm,
surveys
the
attitudes
towards
war
of
St.
Augustine,
St.
Thomas
Aquinas,
present
Catholic
and
Protestant
theologians,
and
modern
political
writers.
Until
the
present
age,
he
notes,
Chris-
tian
war
was
usually
considered
limited
war,
to
triumph
over
injustice
and
bring
about
better
world
conditions;
preparedness
was
made
to
deter
injury
and
the
collected
arms
of
peacetime
were
used
in
wartime
to
assure
victory.
The
com,
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