THE CONTEMPORARY U.S. TORTURE DEBATE IN CHRISTIAN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The U.S. turn toward torture tested the moral resources of all faiths, but perhaps especially of Christianity, which has the greatest number of adherents in the United States. This moral crucible revealed that American Christian scholars and leaders were generally blind to the resources available in...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2011
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In: |
Journal of religious ethics
Year: 2011, Volume: 39, Issue: 4, Pages: 589-597 |
Further subjects: | B
Bush Administration
B Imago Dei B Pacifism B enhanced interrogation techniques B Empire B Inquisition B Human Rights B Torture B Christianity B Just War Theory B Evangelicalism |
Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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Summary: | The U.S. turn toward torture tested the moral resources of all faiths, but perhaps especially of Christianity, which has the greatest number of adherents in the United States. This moral crucible revealed that American Christian scholars and leaders were generally blind to the resources available in relation to the resources available to address torture in a study of scripture, early Christian experience under empire, Christian abuses of suspected heretics, and the just war theory, all of which are considered here. Uses of just war theory have revealed a fracture in that theory between deontological/virtue orientations and consequentialist reasoning, the latter proving susceptible to exploitation in defense of torture. Just war theory also revealed a lacuna of explicit reasoning about torture through the centuries, in a world where torture has so often been an instrument of state power. |
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ISSN: | 1467-9795 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religious ethics
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9795.2011.00495.x |