What do the Bible, the Quran and the Torah say about the justification for war?

By Robyn J. Whitaker, Associate Professor, New Testament, & Director of The Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy, University of Divinity
Mehmet Ozalp, Professor of Islamic Studies, Director of The Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation and Executive Member of Public and Contextual Theology, Charles Sturt University
Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita in Hebrew, Biblical & Jewish Studies, University of Sydney

Wars are often waged in the name of religion. So what do key texts from Christianity, Islam and Judaism say about the justification for war?

We asked three experts for their views.

The Bible

Robyn J. Whitaker, University of Divinity

The Bible presents war as an inevitable reality of human life. This is captured in the cry of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes:

for everything there is a season […] a time for war and a time for peace.

In this sense, the Bible reflects the experiences of the…

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