Eric Patterson, Ph.D., is President & CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, DC and scholar-at-large and past dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University. His expertise, informed by time at the US Department of State and in the military, is on just war thinking, the nexus of religion and national security, and Christian Realism. He is the author or editor of 22 books, including Just American Wars, Politics in a Religious World, and Ending Wars Well.
Just war theorizing has typically left the issue of national honor untouched, although warriors and statesmen routinely emphasize the importance of vindicating the sacrifice of the fallen. Does prolonging a war in order to assuage or vindicate national honor comport with the just war tradition?
Eric PattersonApril 23, 2018
This essay provides a brief overview of the just war tradition and then applies the framework to the problem of contemporary terrorism.
Eric PattersonNovember 30, 2016
Christianity can provide us with a clear lens with which to scrutinize the Paris terror attacks. They were deliberate, unrestrained, unprovoked, and unlawful (extra-judicial) mass murder perpetrated by sadistic criminals on unsuspecting, legally innocent civilian victims.
Eric PattersonAugust 25, 2016
Religions, particularly the Christian faith that animated so much of US history, typically tell their adherents to pray for peace. A consortium of faith groups, under the umbrella “Evangelicals for Peace” has launched a thoughtful new year prayer initiative that anyone can participate in.
Eric PattersonJanuary 6, 2016
There are two ways to think about the November 13 Paris attacks. The first is that ISIS has taken a strategy to hit Western countries in order to pull them out of the game, to dissuade them from further airstrikes in greater Syria. The second way to understand this is as a strategic miscalculation that will raise Western resolve. Let’s explore both strategies and what is then likely to happen.
Eric PattersonNovember 14, 2015
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