Issues

Much of the human experience is consumed in the pursuit of peace. It is a universal human longing. The peace we pursue is not merely the quiet enjoyment of life’s little pleasures, but the restoration of the real life we were created to enjoy.

In the ceaseless struggle between civilization and barbarism, America has tipped the scales toward civilization, toward freedom and justice. In many ways, it has organized its national life—its economic, military, and moral resources—toward this end. Are we still up to the task?

While Lewis and Tolkien’s faith and contributions are well-known, most do not realize they both fought in the First World War as young men. Even fewer recognize how their time in the western front’s trenches influenced their faith and later works. However, in A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War, Providence senior editor Joseph Loconte explains in his typical, approachable prose how the war affected these two men deeply and how those experiences influenced their writings and faith.

If we follow scripture as understood by Hazony, perhaps then we face his “either nation or empire” mentality. From other Christian perspectives, an appeal could be made to the varying levels of political organization available to polities over time, ranging from the city to the nation-state, to regional federations, and so on. Hazony’s account, however, allows no such appeal.

It’s hard to deny that America’s record in the Middle East has been pretty poor overall. If we hope to better secure our interests, advance our values, and protect those who share them, we need to study the last century of mistakes and do our best to correct them.

Just war theorists should agree that war must be waged according to the rule of law if it is to be considered an exercise of “legitimate authority.” The American system, with its marbling of war powers between the executive and legislative branches, usually requires authorization based on the deliberative consent of the popular will expressed through the people’s representatives in Congress.

We cannot change Palestinian society, but Palestinians who embrace pluralism and peace most certainly can. Our main task is to help them.

As Americans become less demographically European, will American foreign policy focus less on traditional European allies?

Religious freedom and foreign affairs have always been inextricably linked.