The Sword, the Cross, and the Eagle: The American Christian Just War Tradition

The Sword, the Cross, and the Eagle explores how Christian principles and the natural law tradition consider the use of military force and how they support the just war tradition over other moral traditions of war. By promoting the use of offensive war as justifiable under a just war rationale, the book challenges the Christian communityOs basic assumptions regarding the use of force. In this book, Davis Brown persuasively argues that the just war tradition drives the contemporary military ethos and statecraft of the United States. As the worldOs only superpower and the worldOs standard-bearer for democracy, the United States has more armed forces stationed or deployed outside its borders than all other countries combined. Because of this, the conduct of the United States―for good or ill―has enormous ramifications on the development of norms in international law and statecraft. It therefore behooves the international community to appreciate what values the United States seeks to advance when it resorts to military force.