Augustine of Hippo (354-430 C.E.), or St. Augustine, was a theologian and Bishop of Hippo Regius in Roman North Africa. His most famous writings include The City of God (413-426 C.E.), which he wrote after Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410, and Confessions (c. 397 C.E.), a sort of spiritual biography.

He wrote far more, however, than these two famous books. The main text below comes from his anti-Manichaean writing Reply to Faustus the Manichaean (c. 400-404 C.E.) where he discussed and refuted several beliefs and arguments of the Manichaean heresy which he had followed before becoming a Christian in 386 C.E. The ideas here have been influential on Christian and secular thought about the rationale for war all the way down to the present day. While the language of the translation here can be a bit old fashioned, focus your attention on what Augustine would use as the criteria for “just” as opposed to “unjust” war.

Reply to Faustus the Manichaean – excerpts

“According to the eternal law, which requires the preservation of natural order, and forbids the transgression of it, some actions have an indifferent character, so that men are blamed for presumption if they do them without being called upon, while they are deservedly praised for doing them when required. The act, the agent, and the authority for the action are all of great importance in the order of nature. For Abraham to sacrifice his son of his own accord is shocking. His doing so at the command of God proves him faithful and submissive.

“Now, if this explanation suffices to satisfy human obstinacy and perverse misinterpretation of right actions of the vast difference between the indulgence of passion and presumption on the part of men, and obedience to the command of God, who knows what to permit or to order, and also the time and the persons, and the due action or suffering in each case, the account of the wars of Moses will not excite surprise or abhorrence, for in wars carried on by divine command, he showed not ferocity but obedience; and God, in giving the command, acted not in cruelty, but in righteous retribution, giving to all what they deserved, and warning those who needed warning. What is the evil in war? Is it the death of some who will soon die in any case, that others may live in peaceful subjection? This is mere cowardly dislike, not any religious feeling. The real evils in war are love of violence, revengeful cruelty, fierce and implacable enmity, wild resistance, and the lust of power, and such like; and it is generally to punish these things, when force is required to inflict the punishment, that, in obedience to God or some lawful authority, good men undertake wars, when they find themselves in such a position as regards the conduct of human affairs, that right conduct requires them to act, or to make others act in this way. Otherwise John, when the soldiers who came to be baptized asked, ‘What shall we do?’ would have replied, ‘Throw away your arms; give up the service; never strike, or wound, or disable anyone.’ But knowing that such actions in battle were not murderous, but authorized by law, and that the soldiers did not thus avenge themselves, but defend the public safety, he replied, ‘Do violence to no man, accuse no man falsely, and be content with your wages.’ [Luke 3:14] …[and ] hear the Lord Jesus Christ Himself ordering this money to be given to Caesar, which John tells the soldiers to be content with. ‘Give,’ He says, ‘to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.’ [Luke 20:25] For tribute-money is given on purpose to pay the soldiers for war. Again, in the case of the centurion who said, ‘I am a man under authority, and have soldiers under me: and I say to one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it,’ [Matthew 8:9] Christ gave due praise to his faith: He did not tell [the centurion] to leave the service. But there is no need here to enter on the long discussion of just and unjust wars.

“A great deal depends on the causes for which men undertake wars, and on the authority they have for doing so; for the natural order which seeks the peace of mankind, ordains that the monarch should have the power of undertaking war if he thinks it advisable, and that the soldiers should perform their military duties in behalf of the peace and safety of the community. When war is undertaken in obedience to God, who would rebuke, or humble, or crush the pride of man, it must be allowed to be a righteous war; for even the wars which arise from human passion cannot harm the eternal wellbeing of God, nor even hurt His saints; for in the trial of their patience, and the chastening of their spirit, and in bearing fatherly correction, they are rather benefited than injured. No one can have any power against them but what is given him from above. For there is no power but of God,4 who either orders or permits. Since, therefore, a righteous man, serving it may be under an ungodly king, may do the duty belonging to his position in the State in fighting by the order of his sovereign,—for in some cases it is plainly the will of God that he should fight, and in others, where this is not so plain, it may be an unrighteous command on the part of the king, while the soldier is innocent, because his position makes obedience a duty, – how much more must the man be blameless who carries on war on the authority of God, of whom everyone who serves Him knows that He can never require what is wrong?

”If it is supposed that God could not enjoin warfare, because in after times it was said by the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the left also,’ [Matthew 5:39] the answer is, that what is here required is not a bodily action, but an inward disposition. The sacred seat of virtue is the heart, and such were the hearts of our fathers, the righteous men of old. But order required such a regulation of events, and such a distinction of times, as to show first of all that even earthly blessings (for so temporal kingdoms and victory over enemies are considered to be, and these are the things which ‘the community of the ungodly all over the world are continually begging from idols and devils) are entirely under the control and at the disposal of the one true God. …Thus the name martyrs, which means witnesses, was given to those who, by the will of God, bore this testimony, by their confessions, their sufferings, and their death. The number of such witnesses is so great, that if it pleased Christ – who called Saul by a voice from heaven, and having changed him from a wolf to a sheep, sent him into the midst of wolves – to unite them all in one army, and to give them success in battle, as He gave to the Hebrews, what nation could withstand them? What kingdom would remain unsubdued? …God… sends His disciples as sheep into the midst of wolves, and bids them not fear those that can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, and promises that even the body will be entirely restored, so that not a hair shall be lost. …

”It is therefore mere groundless calumny to charge Moses with making war, for there would have been less harm in making war of his own accord, than in not doing it when God commanded him. And to dare to find fault with God Himself for giving such a command, or not to believe it possible that a just and good God did so, shows, to say the least, an inability to consider that in the view of divine providence, which pervades all things from the highest to the lowest, time can neither add anything nor take away; but all things go, or come, or remain according to the order of nature or desert in each separate use, while in men a right will is in union with the divine law, and ungoverned passion is restrained by the order of divine law; so that a good man wills only what is commanded, and a bad man can do only what he is permitted, at the same time that he is punished for what he wills to do unjustly. Thus, in all the things which appear shocking and terrible to human feebleness, the real evil is the injustice; the rest is only the result of natural properties or of moral demerit. This injustice is seen in every case where a man loves for their own sake things which are desirable only as means to an end, and seeks for the sake of something else things which ought to be loved for themselves. …This being the case, and as the judgments of God and the movements of man’s will contain the hidden reason why the same prosperous circumstances which some make a right use of are the ruin of others, and the same afflictions under which some give way are profitable to others, and since the whole mortal life of man upon earth is a trial, who can tell whether it may be good or bad in any particular case – in time of peace, to reign or to serve, or to be at ease or to die – or in time of war, to command or to fight, or to conquer or to be killed? At the same time, it remains true, that whatever is good is so by the divine blessing, and whatever is bad is so by the divine judgment.” (Book 22, Ch. 73-77) ¹

City of God – excerpts

Two other quotes are often pointed to from Augustine’s work to highlight his view on war. This first is a quotation from The City of God taken from a section of the work titled Of the cases in which we may put men to death without incurring the guilt of murder. ²

“However, there are some exceptions made by the divine authority to its own law, that men may not be put to death. These exceptions are of two kinds, being justified either by a general law, or by a special commission granted for a time to some individual. And in this latter case, he to whom authority is delegated, and who is but the sword in the hand of him who uses it, is not himself responsible for the death he deals. And, accordingly, 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.’ Abraham indeed was not merely deemed guiltless of cruelty, but was even applauded for his piety, because he was ready to slay his son in obedience to God, not to his own passion. And it is reasonably enough made a question, whether we are to esteem it to have been in compliance with a command of God that Jephthah killed his daughter, because she met him when he had vowed that he would sacrifice to God whatever first met him as he returned victorious from battle. Samson, too, who drew down the house on himself and his foes together, is justified only on this ground, that the Spirit who wrought wonders by him had given him secret instructions to do this. With the exception, then, of these two classes of cases, which are justified either by a just law that applies generally, or by a special intimation from God Himself, the fountain of all justice, whoever kills a man, either himself or another, is implicated in the guilt of murder.” (Book 1, Ch. 21)

This second piece is also from The City of God, this time from a section titled Of the diversity of languages, by which the intercourse of men is prevented; and of the misery of wars, even of those called just. The phrase “just war” may have originated with this work, though from this quote it seems that he expects his readers to follow the concept without much explanation. ³

“For though there have never been wanting, nor are yet wanting, hostile nations beyond the empire, against whom wars have been and are waged, yet, supposing there were no such nations, the very extent of the empire itself has produced wars of a more obnoxious description—social and civil wars—and with these the whole race has been agitated, either by the actual conflict or the fear of a renewed outbreak. If I attempted to give an adequate description of these manifold disasters, these stern and lasting necessities, though I am quite unequal to the task, what limit could I set? 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. For it is the wrong-doing of the opposing party which compels the wise man to wage just wars; and this wrong-doing, even though it gave rise to no war, would still be matter of grief to man because it is man’s wrong-doing. Let every one, then, who thinks with pain on all these great evils, so horrible, so ruthless, acknowledge that this is misery. And if any one either endures or thinks of them without mental pain, this is a more miserable plight still, for he thinks himself happy because he has lost human feeling.” (Book 19, Ch. 7)

Questions

1. In these excerpts, what does St. Augustine point to as justifying war or indicating that a war is fought for good reason? Under what circumstances is war unjust?
2. How does St. Augustine reconcile the act of war with Christ’s command to “turn the other cheek” (as it is often put)?
3. How do these ideas about what makes a war just from the 4th – 5th c. C.E. compare with ideas about what justifies war in modern times?

Notes

1. Philip Schaff ed., A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (New York : Scribner, 1898), 300-303. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31158006718877. ↩
2. Aurelius Augustine, The City of God: Volume I, A Project Gutenberg EBook., accessed July 17, 2020, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45304/45304-h/45304-h.htm. ↩
3. Aurelius Augustine, The City of God: Volume II A Project Gutenberg EBook.,” accessed July 17, 2020, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45305/45305-h/45305-h.htm. ↩

St. Augustine of Hippo – Just War by  Nicole V. Jobin is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0