Editing Just war theory (section)

====Saint Augustine====
[[Saint Augustine]] held that individuals should not resort immediately to violence, but God has given the sword to government for a good reason (based upon Romans 13:4). In ''Contra Faustum Manichaeum'' book 22 sections 69–76, Augustine argues that Christians, as part of a government, need not be ashamed of protecting peace and punishing wickedness when they are forced to do so by a government. Augustine asserted that was a personal and philosophical stance: "What is here required is not a bodily action, but an inward disposition. The sacred seat of virtue is the heart."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/septemberweb-only/9-17-55.0.html|title=A Time For War?|author=Robert L. Holmes|work=ChristianityToday.com|date=September 2001 |access-date=25 April 2015}}</ref>

Nonetheless, he asserted, peacefulness in the face of a grave wrong that could be stopped by only violence would be a sin. Defense of oneself or others could be a necessity, especially when it is authorized by a legitimate authority:<blockquote>They who have waged war in obedience to the divine command, or in conformity with His laws, have represented in their persons the public justice or the wisdom of government, and in this capacity have put to death wicked men; such persons have by no means violated the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill."<ref name=":0b">{{cite web|url=http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=AugCity.xml&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130725190746/http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=AugCity.xml&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=all |title=City of God |archive-date=25 July 2013 |access-date=25 April 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>While not breaking down the conditions necessary for war to be just, Augustine nonetheless originated the very phrase itself in his work [[City of God (book)|''The City of God'']]:

<blockquote>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.<ref name=":0b"/></blockquote>

Augustine further taught:
<blockquote>No war is undertaken by a good state except on behalf of good faith or for safety.<ref >City of God, 22.6, quoted in {{cite web |last1=Lockwood |first1=Thornton |title=Cicero's Philosophy of Just War |url=https://philarchive.org/archive/LOCCPO |website=PhilArchive |access-date=28 July 2023}} The text seems from a missing fragment of [[Cicero]]'s dialog [[On the Republic]], by the Laelius character.</ref></blockquote>

J. Mark Mattox writes,<blockquote>In terms of the traditional notion of jus ad bellum (justice of war, that is, the circumstances in which wars can be justly fought), war is a coping mechanism for righteous sovereigns who would ensure that their violent international encounters are minimal, a reflection of the [[Will of God|Divine Will]] to the greatest extent possible, and always justified. In terms of the traditional notion of jus in bello (justice in war, or the moral considerations which ought to constrain the use of violence in war), war is a coping mechanism for righteous combatants who, by divine edict, have no choice but to subject themselves to their political masters and seek to ensure that they execute their war-fighting duty as justly as possible.<ref name="augustine_war_and_peace_just_war">[http://www.iep.utm.edu/aug-poso/#SH3c Augustine: Political and Social Philosophy], §3-c "War and Peace – The Just War"</ref></blockquote>