Ethicists and military chaplains dialogue on just war

Lutheran ethicists gathered in Washington, D.C. to discuss just war theories with military chaplains of the ELCA, Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and The Episcopal Church in January 2012. I served as the Chaplain for this event, and wondered as I pulled up to the Grand Hyatt on 9th Street whether I might have to mediate a conflict there. Instead, I found the gathering to be one of some agreement and of some reasoned disagreement.

At the heart of the gathering and in the hearts of those gathered was great love and care for both the Church and those seeking to live faithfully in the midst of war.

“Facing Ambiguity in Warfare” and “A New Language for Just War”** are among presentation and discussion topics of the gathering that are published in the latest edition of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics (JLE).* You can read the results of this gathering at www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Journal-of-Lutheran-Ethics.aspx.

Editor’s Note: *JLE is a free, bi-monthly online publication bridging academic study of Christianity and the contemporary life of the Church. **The author of the “New Language” paper is a pastor on the roster of the ELCA Metro D.C Synod: the Rev. Wollom Jensen, who serves as the Executive Officer and Deputy Endorser to the Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries of the Episcopal Church.