For Providence readers, there are three topics of particular interest from the Prodigal Prophet’s second half: justice, politics, and patriotism.

C.S. Lewis, standing in an Augustinian stream, reveals the guidance found in the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian patrimony that has fortified Christian intelligence regarding the use of force since the beginnings of the church.

Modern authors tend to view American evangelicals as a monolithic assembly, rarely describing the varying facets of their beliefs. In his book “Swords and Plowshares: American Evangelicals on War, 1937–1973,” Timothy D. Padgett attempts to dispel this misconception.

Dmitry Adamsky’s outstanding Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy explains the religious imagination that has swept not only through the Russian nuclear arsenal since 1991, but also into all levels of the country’s nuclear tirade, military forces, and even Russian foreign policy more broadly.

Westminster Abbey recently held a commemorative service to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Royal Navy submariners’ continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, carrying the Trident nuclear missile system. Some Christian anti-nuclear activists were unhappy.

The development of this weaponry raises a question relevant to Christian ethics: Can weaponry be humane?

The international community should renew the responsibility to protect and empower regional organizations to uphold it. Such would be a fitting remembrance of the Rwanda genocide.

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?

Cultivating the garden of world order includes tending to the tasks that uphold public safety, execute justice and promote human flourishing.