Category: War and Coercion
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The Times: ‘Ukraine’s tragedy shows why we need Faslane’
27 March 2023. By Nigel Biggar for The Times. World leaders, even Putin, take the nuclear threat seriously. Why if Kyiv had kept its stockpile? When Russian forces crossed the border and advanced on Kyiv just over a year ago, only two responses were possible: acquiesce or fight. The Ukrainians chose to fight and the…
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Conference, ‘Faithful to the Call: Renewing Theological Ethics from the Ground Up’
The 2022 McDonald Centre Annual Conference was hosted in May. The presentations featured at the conference are now available on YouTube. See the playlist for the ‘Faithful to the Call: Renewing Theological Ethics from the Ground Up’ conference event here. Alternatively, see links to the following sessions below: McDonald Distinguished Lecture SeriesProfessor Oliver O’Donovan: “Statues”Professor Nigel Biggar: ‘”Honour…
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Grasping Nettles, Dirty Hands
Nigel Biggar recently joined Marc LiVecche and Daniel Strand for the Christianity and National Security Conference in Washington, D.C. Biggar opened the panel discussion with his paper, ‘Wishful thinking or nettle-grasping?’. LiVecche followed with an explanation of Reinhold Niebuhr’s relationship to the just war tradition while Strand talked about Paul Ramsey’s contribution. Please watch and listen via the Providence…
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Intervention Policy Report
Paul Cornish, Nigel Biggar, Robert Johnson and Gareth Stansfield prepared a report commissioned by the Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) of the UK Ministry of Defence. The authors considered intervention policy and practice for those circumstances in which the UK national interest might demand action. The authors argue that UK intervention operations are permissible to maintain the rules-based…
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The Great War: Its End and Effects
If you, or others you know, were unable to join us for the Hilary Term public lecture series The Great War: Its End and Effects, please take the time to enjoy the lectures at the McDonald Centre YouTube channel or on the McDonald Centre website via the ‘Events’ > ‘Lectures’ menu (here) and under the ‘Media’ menu (here). The eight lectures in…
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Biggar on ‘The Thin Red Line’
Listen to Providence’s latest Dark Ops podcast (episode 17). Executive Editor and McDonald Visiting Scholar Marc LiVecche sits down with Nigel Biggar to discuss Terrence Malick’s 1998 war film The Thin Red Line, which is based on the 1962 autobiographical novel by James Jones and his experiences in the Guadalcanal campaign of the Second World War. The podcast can be streamed at…
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Thank God for the RAF
Nigel Biggar recently reflected on the legacy of the Royal Air Force, with particular attention given to Flight Lieutenant Richard Hope Hillary (1919-1943). Hillary was the author of The Last Enemy (1942), an account of his experiences that was republished by Penguin in their 2018 Centenary Collection. The article was published alonside other reflections on the centenary of the First…
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A Conversation with Michael Ruse: Unbelievable?
Nigel Biggar and philosopher of science Michael Ruse were in conversation on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable? broadcast. The episode, Is War Justified by Christianity and Nature? Michael Ruse vs Nigel Biggar, aired 10 November 2018.
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2017 Hinsley Memorial Lecture
Prof Nigel Biggar delivered this year’s Hinsley Memorial Lecture in the Main Lecture Theatre of the Old Divinity School at St. John’s College, Cambridge, under the title ‘After Iraq: When to Go to War?’ The Hinsley Memorial Lecture is an annual lecture on international relations in honour of Sir Harry Hinsley, a Second World War cryptanalyst…
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After Iraq: When to Go to War?
On January 31, 2017, Policy Exchange, one of Britain’s leading public-policy think-tanks, invited Prof Nigel Biggar to deliver a lecture on some of the moral lessons to be learned from the recent history of British military interventions abroad. After Iraq, he asks, in what circumstances should Britain go to war? The lecture was followed by a Vote…