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Orthodox Perspectives on War ed. by Perry T. Hamalis and Valerie Karras (review)

I won’t lie. When I first learned of Orthodox Perspectives on War and saw the list of authors, the first thought that crossed my mind was “Oh, great, the Orthodox version of American liberalism here to critique the U.S. military or at least implicate it in criticized foreign policy decisions.” Having now read the book, I can say such a reaction was both unfair and inaccurate, though a kernel of truth remains and a couple of other weaknesses prove important for future exploration. If one were to ask whether war can be just or justified, most of the essays in this volume would tend to the “left” end of the spectrum. That much is true. One way in which this can be seen is in who is omitted from this volume. Conspicuously absent is Alexander Webster. He is criticized in several essays for his own argument on behalf of a “justifiable war,” on which he is a published author, and yet he has no essay here himself. Another conspicuously absent voice is that of an Orthodox military chaplain (especially if they wanted to go to someone other than Webster). For a book that discusses war and the ethics of war, this is an odd omission, even stranger still when one reads the contributors’ bios and realizes that not one person cited military experience. There are a good number of Orthodox military chaplains to choose from, including military chaplains who have ministered to servicemen and servicewomen directly in the kill chain and with combat experience. In fairness, the editors did not include an essay from the likes of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship arguing for pacifism, either, but given the tenor of most of the essays, this omission is, perhaps, more tolerable. At least pacifism gets a fair hearing in several essays. The notion that a war can be “just” really does not, with one exception (Gallaher’s)—but more on that later. The essays included do cover a wide range of perspectives and the editors clearly state that “the purpose is not to advance a single theory of ‘the meaning of war’” (2). The essays are divided into sections comprising “present-day reality,” history, and constructive ethics. This division proves helpful and the editors should be commended for making this neither just church history (all too often an Orthodox default, I’d suggest) nor strictly constructive ethics. One of the more probing essays from the entire work may be found in the “present-day reality” section—the book’s very first essay, by Aristotle Papanikolaou. Basing his article on Jonathan Shay’s seminal work, Papanikolaou seeks to shift the discussion from whether war can ever be the “just” thing to do to one that examines the spiritual well-being of the combatant. Anyone who has ministered to combatants and/or combat veterans or even has them in their families should appreciate Papanikolaou’s turn toward the moral well-being of the combatant. Papanikolaou is correct that PTSD does affect one’s ability to relate to others, and his