Saint Augustine

Saint Augustine was a bishop of Hippo during the 5th century. he was the one who influenced the crusades to take place through his various writings, which in fact were very popular with the clerics of the Medieval Time. His views on warfare and Christian ethos were very important in the "Just War" theory.
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"The decline of the Roman Empire gave rise to two problems, which combined to form one of the most perplexing philosophical questions of late antiquity. On the one hand, Rome found itself under constant military threat as various tribes from the north and east encroached along its borders to fill the power vacuum left by the receding Empire. On the other hand, adherents to the Empire’s new official faith — Christianity — found themselves without clear guidance as to what military roles their faith would permit. The death of the apostles had left Christians without ongoing revelatory guidance, and the New Testament writings alone were not definitive on the subject. The question thus became: ‘Can a Christian answer the Empire’s call to military duty and still have a clear conscience before God?’

Fifth-century philosopher St. Augustine of Hippo sought to provide an answer to the question. His approach formed the foundation of the ‘just war’ tradition, which has had enormous influence upon moral-philosophical thought on military issues in the West ever since. This major new study identifies Augustine’s fundamental premises, reconstructs his just-war theory, and critically evaluates the reconstructed theory in light of his historical context and neo-Platonic and Christian philosophical considerations."(Mattox Online Book)

St. Augustine was able to begin to compel the people that, though they didn't know what to do, they were able to fight because of his "Just War" theory. he slowly begins to build the foundation on which most of the western civilizations use today. His legacy still goes on and that is why we study him to know what this theory actually is, and how we use it today, if we use it today.

There were 8 principles that made up his Just War theory:

1)A punitive conception of war.
2)Assessment of the evil of war in terms of the evil moral attitudes and wants.
3)The authorization of the use of violence.
4)A duelistic epistemology which gives spiritual priorities to goods.
5)Interpretation of evangelical norms in terms of inner attitudes.
6)Passive attitude to authority and social change.
7)use of texts within the Bible to the participation of war.
8)An analogical knowledge of what peace is.

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"The Just War Theory is an authoritative Catholic Church teaching confirmed by the United States Catholic Bishops in their pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response, issued in 1983. More recently, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in paragraph 2309, lists four strict conditions for "legitimate defense by military force":

* the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
* all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
* there must be serious prospects of success;
* the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

While proponents claim such views have a long tradition, critics claim the application of Just War is only relativistic, and directly contradicts more universal philosophical traditions such as the Ethic of reciprocity.[citation needed] Secular humanists may accept just war theory based on universal ethics without reference to Christian morality.

Just War theorists combine both a moral abhorrence towards war with a readiness to accept that war may sometimes be necessary. The criteria of the just war tradition act as an aid to determining whether resorting to arms is morally permissible. Just War theories are attempts "to distinguish between justifiable and unjustifiable uses of organized armed forces"; they attempt "to conceive of how the use of arms might be restrained, made more humane, and ultimately directed towards the aim of establishing lasting peace and justice."[6]

The Just War tradition addresses the morality of the use of force in two parts: when it is right to resort to armed force (the concern of jus ad bellum) and what is acceptable in using such force (the concern of jus in bello).[7] In more recent years, a third category — jus post bellum — has been added, which governs the justice of war termination and peace agreements, as well as the prosecution of war criminals.

Libertarian scholar Murray Rothbard stated, "a just war exists when a people tries to ward off the threat of coercive domination by another people, or to overthrow an already-existing domination. A war is unjust, on the other hand, when a people try to impose domination on another people, or try to retain an already existing coercive rule over them."[8] Rothbard was an admitted anarchist or "anti-Statist", but left room nevertheless for a "minarchist" stance to allow social contracts to defend the general public from clear and present dangers."

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"Augustine's two greatest surviving works, out of several dozen, are his City of God and his Confessions. His conversion to Christianity is among the most famous, as many are familiar with his quip in which he asked God to make him chaste, but do it later. As the Bishop of Hippo, Augustine also was involved with the Council of Hippo in 393 which, along with the Council of Carthage in 397, first recognized the 27 books of the New Testament that are still recognized as the New Testament today.

His influence on Christian theology continued from the middle ages until the present day. All Medieval monks were likely made aware of Augustine at some point in their career and would have studied his works if they had the opportunity to receive a proper education in theology from the Church."

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His ability to influence and "charm" the monks in the middle ages played such a significant role in making the crusades begin, that if he wasn't there to influence them there probably wouldn't have been any crusades, and the world would be completely different than it is now.

"But, say they, the wise man will wage just wars. As if he would not all the rather lament the necessity of
just wars, if he remembers that he is a man; for if they were not just he would not wage them, and would
therefore be delivered from all wars. For it is the wrongdoing of the opposing party which compels the
wise man to wage just wars; and this wrong-doing, even though it gave rise to no war, would still be
matter of grief to man because it is man's wrong-doing… (Chapter 7)

Whoever gives even moderate attention to human affairs and to our common nature, will recognize that if
there is no man who does not wish to be joyful, neither is there any one who does not wish to have peace.
For even they who make war desire nothing but victory -- desire, that is to say, to attain to peace with
glory. For what else is victory than the conquest of those who resist us? And when this is done there is
peace. It is therefore with the desire for peace that wars are waged, even by those who take pleasure in
exercising their warlike nature in command and battle. And hence it is obvious that peace is the end sought
for by war. (Chapter 12)

For even when we wage a just war, our adversaries must be sinning; and every victory, even though
gained by wicked men, is a result of the first judgment of God, who humbles the vanquished either for the
sake of removing or of punishing their sins. Witness that man of God, Daniel, who, when he was in
captivity, confessed to God his own sins and the sins of his people, and declares with pious grief that these
were the cause of the captivity. (Chapter 15)"(Hippo Chapters 7, 12, and 15)

In the end it is not enough to wage war to achieve justice without treating the underlying causes. "Injustice, excessive economic or social inequalities, envy, distrust, and pride raging among men and nations constantly threaten peace and cause wars. Everything done to overcome these disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding war" [CCC 2317]. The Church has no illusions that true justice and peace can be attained before the Coming of the Lord. It is the duty of men of good will to work towards it, nonetheless. In the words of the spiritual dictum, we should work as if everything depended upon our efforts, and pray as if everything depended upon God.
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Mattox, John Mark. Saint Augustine and the Theory of Just War New York. 2006. Pp. 196 (online book)

Hippo, Augustine of. “The City of God,” Trans. by Marcus Dodds, D.D. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series One, Volume 2. Edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. American Edition, 1887.