Joseph E. Capizzi is a professor of moral theology and ethics and the executive director of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America. He teaches in the areas of social and political theology, with special interests in issues in peace and war, citizenship, political authority, and Augustinian theology. He is the author of Politics, Justice, and War: Christian Governance and the Ethics of Warfare (Oxford University Press, 2015).
We can be grateful for Congressman McNerney reminding us that force serves politics and not the other way around.
Joseph E. CapizziFebruary 20, 2023
The Catholic tradition reminds us that just war thinking is critical to peacemaking.
Joseph E. CapizziJune 28, 2022
Joseph Capizzi discusses just war theory’s relationship to politics and morality. The following is a transcript of the lecture. Thank…
Joseph E. CapizziApril 12, 2022
To reject civility is to reject politics. The alternative to politics is not war, but barbarism.
Joseph E. CapizziJanuary 8, 2021
Pope Francis calls out the language of war. He speaks against “war” as a solution. In this, he echoes many prior popes.
Joseph E. CapizziOctober 15, 2020
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) joined many Americans in expressing strong emotional responses to two Supreme Court decisions, one relating to Title VII protections against discrimination (Bostock v. Clayton County) and the other to the “Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” or DACA program (Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California).
Joseph E. CapizziJune 23, 2020
A theologian’s task in time of plague is to show the light and give people hope. In recent years, many of us trained as theologians have traded our office for that of the pundit and scold. That we have so little worthwhile to say now, in this unprecedented time of fear and uncertainty, is yet one more sign of judgment.
Joseph E. Capizzi & H. David BaerMarch 31, 2020
Realism and the just war ethic both pursue war in certain contexts, so they can appear to be close cousins. But the just war ethic shares less with realism than realism shares with pacifism.
Joseph E. CapizziMarch 23, 2020
If an assessment of and recommitment to human rights protections is the mandate of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, I humbly suggest they study the current status of the most basic rights and lessons to be drawn from the post-9/11 context.
Joseph E. CapizziJuly 22, 2019
The Ordinaries’ statement is extraordinary, and not primarily for its reorientation away from a two-state solution toward one state.
Joseph E. CapizziMay 30, 2019