Author: Daniel M. Bell

Daniel M. Bell, Jr. is Professor of Theology and Ethics at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, holds the General Hugh Shelton Chair of Ethics at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and is the author of Just War as Christian Discipleship: Recentering the Tradition in the Church Rather than the State.

The Drone Wars and Just War

Drones have risen in prominence during the war on terror in the last ten years. In theory, they make war safer, by protecting civilians and American soldiers. However, ​is this actually how drones function? And what are the moral and psychological implications of committing acts of violence thousands of miles away behind a screen? Bell examines the darker side of drones and how the rise of robotic warfare will change the moral landscape of combat.

Review of Cavanaugh’s, Migrations of the Holy: God, State and the Political Meaning of the Church

[1] It is widely remarked that postmodernity is characterized by a certain “return to religion.” Bill Cavanaugh’s Migrations of the Holy might aptly be described as a work that simultaneously reflects and interrogates religion’s political resurgence in this postmodern era. It is a potent work of political theology by one of the leading voices articulating […]

Response to Paul Hinlicky’s Review of Liberation Theology after the End of History

See also Daniel M. Bell, Jr.’s Liberation Theology after the End of History: The Refusal to Cease Suffering by Paul R. Hinlicky I am grateful for the care and charity with which Professor Hinlicky read the book. I hope the comments that follow reflect the same. — Daniel Bell [1] Capitalism. Professor Hinlicky asks why […]

Review of Jean Bethke Elshtain, Just War Against Terror: The Burden of American Power in a Violent World

[1] This book was a disappointment to me, and therefore a missed opportunity. It is a disappointment in the sense that those looking for a sustained and informative treatment of the struggle against terrorism illuminated by the just war tradition will be let down- a conclusion confirmed for me by both civilians and soldiers (one […]