Stephen Carter on Just-War Theory

Yale Law School's Professor Stephen Carter delivered this year's Rosenthal Lectures at Northwestern University School of Law. Professor Carter's lectures (given over the past three days) were called "Inconvenient Lives: Just War Theory, Nationalism, and the Rhetoric of Killing." I was able to attend the first two lectures, and was both entertained and challenged. I cannot do justice to Carter's arguments here. His aim, I think, was not so much to apply classical just-war principles to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq (though my sense is that many in the audience wanted him to, and came to the talks already convinced of the conclusion to which such an application would lead). Instead, he challenged his audiences to think about the several ways in which "nationalism" (which he distinguished from "patriotism") and consequentialism cloud purported "just war" arguments -- on "both sides" -- in our public square.

What was particularly inspiring, for me, was Professor Carter's very candid statement that he comes to this subject -- i.e., just-war theory -- not as a theorist or lawyer, but "as a Christian." Since I work at Notre Dame Law School, such a statement did not surprise me the way it (evidently) surprised many of Carter's other hearers. At one point, during a question-and-answer session, Professor Carter was asked, "what would you think about just-war theory if you did not subscribe to that particular ideology (i.e., Christianity)"? Professor Carter remarked, "I don't know. I would not be me if I were not a Christian." This exchange was delightful, I thought. With no rancor or defensiveness, Professor Carter simply refused to play the Rawlsian game of "religion as a hobby," or to pretend that we either can or should be expected to "check our faith at the door" when we think about fundamental questions of justice.

Rick