John Langan, S.J., Ph.D.
Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics; Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University
Professor Langan is a Jesuit priest with graduate degrees in philosophy, classics, and theology. Since 1987 he has been the Rose Kennedy Professor of Christian Ethics in the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown. He has also taught at Yale Divinity School, Drew University, and Loyola University Chicago. His research interests include ethics and international affairs, especially applications of just war theory; business ethics; human rights in theory and practice; capital punishment; Catholic social teaching; the place of religion in liberal political thought; the ethical theories of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine. He is currently working on a manuscript on the ethics of humanitarian intervention.
Dr. Langan has served as a consultant to the Chemical Bank (New York) and to the U.S. Navy Corps of Chaplains. He currently serves on the boards of the Bon Secours Health System (Maryland), the Society of Christian Ethics, Theological Studies, and the Georgetown University Press. He is chair of the American section of the Council on Christian Approaches to Defense and Disarmament.
Recent publications include: "Developing the Just War Tradition in a Multicultural World," in Peacemaking (Washington DC: US Catholic Conference, 1994); "Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Religion," Theological Studies 56 (March 1995), 122-136; "Ethics, Business, and the Economy," Theological Studies 55 (March 1994), 105-123; "Proportionality, Charity, and the Use of Nuclear Weapons," The Thomist (1996); "Religious Pacifism and and Quietism: A Taxonomic Approach and a Catholic Response," in Pacifism and Quietism in the Abrahamic Faiths, ed. J. Patout Burns (1993). He has edited Catholic Universities in Church and Society (Georgetown University Press, 1993) and A Moral Vision for America (Georgetown University Press, 1998), a collection of the addresses of Cardinal Bernardin on public policy and the consistent ethic of life.
Just War Course Engages Undergraduates
Selection adapted and reprinted with permission from the Blue & Gray:
When is a conflict a "just war?" It's a question the Rev. John Langan, S.J., explores with his students as they analyze whether and how wars are ethically justified. He brings a particular perspective to the course, informed by his membership in the clergy. Though the Bible encourages peace, Catholic doctrine says there are legitimate uses of force.
"The central claims of [just war theory] are that war is sometimes necessary and sometimes justifiable to protect certain values, and secondly, that war, if it's to be just, must be conducted in a limited way - trying to avoid excessive force and trying to protect civilian lives," Langan says.
In the class, he encourages his students to understand how religious and philosophical traditions inform moral stances on war, and how these situations relate to broader issues in ethical theory. Satisfaction in teaching comes from "students beginning to think about how soldiers and officers understood what they were doing in this war, or any war," Langan explains, and in having those students realize that "there's a long history of thinking and reflecting on these problems."
"I have a strong conviction that within every major area of human activity, there is a kind of implicit ethic, and I rely very much on talking to reflective practitioners about what that ethic requires," he says. "I think that's true in business, it's true in sports, wherever human beings are cooperating over a serious period of time, to do some things that are demanding and challenging. Ethics is not imported into these subjects, and it's not a kind of imposed constraint that the Church or society seeks to put on. It's something that grows out of the activity as intelligent people carry it forward."
"On just about every imaginable social issue, John has made significant contributions to the public conversation," says the Rev. Christopher Steck, S.J., associate professor of theology. Steck credits Langan's work, in part, with bringing him to Georgetown. "He always approaches contentious issues with a sensitive appreciation for the complexities involved and careful insight into the values and goods at stake."
Source: http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=28498