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Book Review: Daniel M. Bell, Jr., Just War As Christian Discipleship: Recentering The Tradition In The Church Rather Than The State, Brian Stiltner
Book Review: Daniel M. Bell, Jr., Just War As Christian Discipleship: Recentering The Tradition In The Church Rather Than The State, Brian Stiltner
Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications
From his conversations in church settings and classrooms, Daniel M. Bell, Jr. has observed that Christians by and large do not know the church’s just war tradition very well, but that they are receptive to learning about it. Most theologians would likely agree that they know a number of Christians who are hungry to see better thinking and more effective action in response to war in our time. Bell, a Lutheran seminary professor and ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, wrote this book to interpret ‘the just war tradition in terms of concrete practices that might contribute to the …
Watchmen And Mimetic Theory: Are We Ready For Rorschach?, Vanessa Avery
Watchmen And Mimetic Theory: Are We Ready For Rorschach?, Vanessa Avery
Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications
Captive on a flight across the Atlantic, I viewed the movie Watchmen, which is an adaptation from the graphic novel by Alan Moore. Watchmen, in short, is the story of a band of “dark” superheroes who, despite good intentions, succumb to violence and fail in their yearnings for justice. To my delight and surprise, Watchmen is also an undeniable illustration of Girard’s mimetic theory, and a philosophical exploration of possible responses to a culture trapped in a destructive mimetic cycle. In a climactic scene, Moore’s character Rorschach speaks a stunningly fundamental Girardian truth: “God doesn’t make the world …