Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology
of Cyril and Methodius
Comenius University Bratislava

APVV-23-0509

Grant APVV-23-0509: A Paradigmatic Shift in the Understanding of War and Armed Conflicts from Theological-Historical and Legal Perspective (2024-2028)

Solution period: July 2024 – June 2028.
Interdisciplinary project of Faculty of Theology at CU (12 researchers) and Law Faculty at CU (3 researchers).
Main researcher and project leader: Assoc. prof. ThDr. Ing. Jozef Jančovič, PhD.
Responsible researcher for Law Faculty: JUDr. Lukáš Mareček, PhD.
Finances allocated 180.000 Eur

Project's website: frcth.uniba.sk/apvv-23-0509

The problem of war is vast in its historical breadth and controversial in its nature. The project's research focus is on the paradigmatic shift in the perception of war and armed conflict. This change directly affects modern international legal sources and the magisterium of contemporary popes, which in turn redirects theological studies on war. The given focus of the project converges with a just war tradition rooted in moral and legal realism and with a history of over 1500 years, which has evolved into what today would be called a legitimate defence theory.

The main aim of the project is both to clarify, identify and describe aspects of the paradigmatic change in the perception of war in the sources of theological and legal scholarship in order to gain a synthetic knowledge of the paradigm shift and to define the correlation of value judgments about war and armed conflict in both disciplines, where quite often theological-moral and legal principles intersect. The research will be developed against the background of an interdisciplinary intersection in which the historical significance of the paradigm shift in the perception of war and the current contribution to the promotion of international and domestic academic debate on war will be assessed, with consideration also of the ripple effect of this shift into the lay environment. Selected theological and legal sources will be examined for the purpose of clarifying and updating objective theological and legal principles for minimizing to eliminating wars with an emphasis on building a just peace.

Methodologically, the research will be carried out by analysing, interpreting and comparing texts and ideological sources on war and by using each of the disciplines' respective tools. The specific aim of the project is the development of more effective evaluative theological-legal principles in the assessment of modern forms of warfare and to contribute to the dissemination of knowledge in schools and academic military environment.