Holy War, Just War; early modern christianity, religious ethics and the rhetoric of empire

The horrors of Iraq have forced us to revisit the validity of what constitutes a supposedly 'just war'. In such critical circumstances, a sustained re-examination of the basis for contemporary just-war theory is desperately urgent and required. This is precisely what Patrick Provost-Smith offers in this powerful and original re-evaluation of the topic. The author recognises that a coherent account of the ethics of modern warfare can only begin with history. He therefore explores the great sixteenth-century debates about the nature of conflict, focusing on the Spanish conquistadors, and then shows how these debates were later appropriated by Spanish missionaries. In assessing previous discussions over 'just wars', and the shifting sands of the various logics that were applied to such conflicts, Provost-Smith puts a wholly new complexion on how current moral theory about war might be understood.