The Research Training Group “Byzantium and the Euro-Mediterranean Cultures of War” invites scholars to submit paper proposals for a series of sessions on “Perceptions of Just War in the Middle Ages” at the IMC 2025. These sessions aim to explore the diverse theological, philosophical, legal, and cultural perspectives on Just War in medieval Europe and beyond, focusing on the distribution and evolution of associated knowledge traditions.

We welcome contributions on, but not limited to, the following topics:

1. Theological and philosophical foundations
- Just War doctrines and comparable concepts in Western Christian thought and in the Orthodox tradition (Byzantium, etc.)
- Jewish, Islamic or Oriental Christian views and debates on war and justice/righteousness

2. Legal frameworks
- Rules and norms for warfare in legal traditions
- Comparative analyses of different legal systems

3. Cultural and literacy representations
- Narratives and symbolisms of Just War in literature and historiography
- Iconography of justice and war in the visual arts

4. Historical case studies
- Analyses of specific wars and their justifications
- Chroniclers and historiographers on Just Wars

5. Ethical and moral debates
- Ethical justifications and criticisms of Just War
- Concepts of peace and their interactions with war ideologies

Interested scholars are welcome to submit an abstract (no more than 150 words) along with a brief CV (including current affiliation and contact information) to the session organizers, Marco Büttner (marco.buettner@uni-mainz.de), Bart Peters (bart.peters@tu-braunschweig.de) and Johannes Pahlitzsch (pahlitzsch@uni-mainz.de), by 8 September 2024. Acceptance notifications will be sent out by 22 September 2024. Depending on the number of accepted proposals, each presentation will last 15 or 20 minutes.