Intentions And Motive In Augustine’s Just War Teaching

Abstract

Abstract: Augustine, one of the greatest christian thinkers, tries to reconcile the love of neighbors
and justification of wars. He develops a radically different biblical interpretation than those of early
Church Fathers who believe in incompatibility of Jesus's central teaching of loving neighbour and
Christian participation in warfare. Augustine repudiates such incompatibility. This paper investigates
the teaching of Augustine's just war teaching formulated in his masterpiece The City of God. In the
light of this tradition, this paper specifically adresses the intentions and the primary motive of the just
war. This paper argues that both the intentions and motive have to be distinctive. Accordingly, war is
justified if it meets two distinctive conditions. First, the goal of the war is to bring peace, restore
justice, and and punish wrong doers. Second, the war should be based on Christian charity or love of
neighbours. This paper begins by introducing the core issue of Christian understanding of its position
on warfare, followed by brief profile of Augustine. Then, it addresses Augustine's interpretation of
Jesus' teaching and finally it analyses Augustine's just war teaching by focusing on intentions and
motive. Two cases, NATO Interventions in Kosovo 1999 and Libya 2011, are also included to illustrate
the principle of Right Intention and Motive. It argues that NATO interventions meet the conditions of
Right Intention but fail in the principle of Right Motive.

Key Words: Augustine, Just War, Love, Justice, Intentions, Motive