Just War Theory and Holy War
Just war theory is a set of religious and philosophical criteria used to judge whether going to war, and how it is fought, can ever be morally justified. Holy war is the idea, mainly historical, that a war can be directly commanded or sanctioned by God for a religious purpose. This topic covers the traditional just war criteria, religious and non-religious views on whether war can be justified, and the medieval Crusades as the standard historical case study of holy war.
Method
- Learn the traditional just war criteria: legitimate authority, just cause, last resort, proportionality, reasonable chance of success and right intention.
- Split the criteria into two groups: those about whether to go to war at all, such as just cause, and those about how a war is fought, such as discrimination between combatants and civilians.
- Learn the definition of holy war and the Crusades as the standard historical case study.
- Learn one supporting religious teaching for justified war, from Christianity or Islam, and be able to explain it accurately.
- Learn one religious teaching used to reject holy war or violence as divinely commanded, such as Jesus's teaching to love enemies.
- Learn a secular, non-religious just war position, such as Michael Walzer's rights-based approach.
- Learn the case for and against absolute pacifism as an alternative to just war theory.
- Practise writing a short paragraph that applies one just war criterion to judge a hypothetical scenario.
Worked example
A country's government wants to invade a neighbouring country before that country attacks it, believing an attack is likely but not yet certain. Explain, using one just war criterion, whether this could be judged a just war.
- Choose the most relevant criterion: just cause requires a war to be fought for a right reason, most commonly self-defence against an actual or clearly imminent act of aggression.
- Apply the criterion to the scenario: since the neighbouring country has not yet attacked and an attack is only believed likely, not certain, this looks more like a pre-emptive strike based on suspicion than genuine self-defence.
- Reach a reasoned judgement: on strict just war grounds, this would likely fail the just cause criterion, because just war theory generally requires a real or imminent threat, not merely a possible future one.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Religious Studies exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Using two just war criteria, explain why the medieval Crusades would be difficult to classify as a just war by modern standards.
Evaluate the claim that just war theory is now less relevant than international law for judging whether a war is justified.
Free printable worksheet
Turn this topic into printed practice: pick it in the Book Builder with any other topics a student needs and generate one printable PDF pack. No sign-up, no email wall.
Build a full practice pack.
This topic is one of hundreds in the library - pick the ones a student needs and generate a printable PDF in minutes.