From Dialectics to Theo-Logic: The Ethics of War from Paul Ramsey to Oliver O’Donovan

This article studies the fundamental shift between Paul Ramsey’s and Oliver O’Donovan’s ethics of war and so reintroduces Hegel into the debate on political ethics. The topic is approached through the notion of divine-human and political mediation, whereby Hegel’s early movement from Christology to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Studies in Christian ethics
Main Author: Feiler, Therese 1982- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2015
In: Studies in Christian ethics
IxTheo Classification:CG Christianity and Politics
KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history
KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history
NCD Political ethics
Further subjects:B Paul Ramsey
B Hegel
B Dialectics
B ethics of war
B Oliver O’Donovan
B Logic
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:This article studies the fundamental shift between Paul Ramsey’s and Oliver O’Donovan’s ethics of war and so reintroduces Hegel into the debate on political ethics. The topic is approached through the notion of divine-human and political mediation, whereby Hegel’s early movement from Christology to dialectics provides the analytical framework. The article first studies the theo-logic of Paul Ramsey’s early agapist notions of war up to his transformist period. It then traces how O’Donovan fundamentally transforms Ramsey’s dialectical framework within that of narrated Christology. O’Donovan’s focus culminates in the unified reign of Christ and the overcoming of Hegel’s dialectics. But it is argued that the transition to Hegel’s and Ramsey’s perspectives is constantly required in order to prevent Christian ethics from becoming ossified. The article thus hopes to initiate a comprehensive, because logical-systematic discussion of contemporary wars and war machines, especially in critical conversation with philosophers and military practitioners.
ISSN:0953-9468
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Christian ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0953946815585080