Aquinas & Luther on War & Peace

So What? This is a question that often comes with learning? It connotes a sort of, what does this "stuff" mean in today's world. Investigating the Reformation as an historical topic is much more than an exercise in trying to understand what each church stands for in Camp Hill. Rather, the "meanings" and "interpretations" over reformation studies can help us understand our own circumstances. Be reminded that history is not science as Karl Marx argued (anytime someone says "history repeats itself" we should take caution), but indeed history can inform how we think about ethics, culture, identity,...

And this is how I would like to situate this assignment. This is an example of a scholarly work that examines the implications of Luther and Aquinas on the question war. I took out the Aquinas section of the article to save time. I would like you to read this piece and address the following two prompts on the blog. This will be due on Friday (9/24). You will get a hard copy of the essay tomorrow in class. This is a dense read. Take your time and read without the noise in the backdrop. Look the words up you don't understand.

20 points: 10 per response
each response should reveal: thinking, analyis, effective language, a relevant quote...


1. What context is revealed and established by the author in order to make his argument? Why do you think one might write about this in 2003 by the way? Or why might an editor want to publish it in 2003 if it was actually written earlier?


2. How / why is Luther brought into this discussion? In other words, so what about Luther? What do the words of Luther mean today in the context of this argument?