The International Lenin School: A Response to Cohen and Morgan

This paper challenges the methods and conclusions of an articleon British students at the International Lenin School by GidonCohen and Kevin Morgan published in a recent issue of TwentiethCentury British History. It questions their model of relationsbetween the Comintern and its national affiliates, and theirassertion of the prominence and total nature of the Lenin Schoolas a control mechanism of the former over the latter. Afterdemonstrating the inadequacy of their data and methodology,it indicates significant deficiencies and omissions in theirhandling of qualitative evidence relevant to the influence ofthe school on its students. It concludes by showing that theauthors underestimate the scale and duration of the impact ofthe school's graduates upon the apparatus of the Communist Partyof Great Britain.     

The Injustice of Some Attacks: A Response to Stephen Strehle

Abstract

Despite Stephen Strehle's criticisms, the ‘just war’ tradition can be a useful and appropriate way of thinking through the ethical problems of war. If it remains grounded in the memory of human suffering, including the suffering of the enemy, then it is a flexible framework, open to new developments, which can guide ethical reflection. In fact, the just war tradition is a good example of the appropriate relation of religion to politics. Religious traditions must neither dictate political options directly, nor be separated from them entirely, but must engage the political sphere ‘indirectly’, via reasoned argumentation. Four elements of this indirect relation are described.     

A Response to the Conference

Abstract

The question discussed in this article is whether Christian theology should influence contemporary political debates. The topic is discussed through two practical case studies: (1) technological advances in genetic engineering and (2) the just war tradition and the use of force. In the first discussion, Dietrich Bonhoeffer's unfinished Ethics is employed to demonstrate the importance of substantial theological categories to resist a reductionist technological utilitarian discourse about the body. Intrinsic human dignity is essentially God-given. In the second, Aquinas and Augustine add theological complexity and substance to secular discussions of war and peace. Human caring is more than the protection of the sovereign state. A peace that is only the absence of war can disguise many harmful situations. In conclusion, theological discussion brings nuance, richness and depth to secular political debates so long as theologians go beyond simplistic contributions such as ‘God demands’ or ‘The Bible forbids’.