History
A look at the history of the early church is key to the formation of the doctrine of the "just war." Before Augustine, in fact before Constantine, the Church and the Roman government were adversaries. You have to understand that the emperors considered themselves gods. Devotion to the state--patriotism--meant adoration and worship of the emperor, the Father of the Nation. And serving in the military was just uncalled for.
But then came the conversion of Constantine to Christianity. One can debate whether this conversion was genuine or a political move on Constantine's part. But there is no denying the fundamental shift in church-state relations. Two sworn enemies now worshiping the same God, saying the same prayers, and finding a need to defend the same territory.
It wasn't long after Constantine's conversion that Rome itself was repeatedly sacked and burned. No doubt the first invasion came as a surprise much like September 11 came to Americans. But Christians, proclaimers of peace, soon found themselves, defending their very own homes. Thus the question of whether to go to war or not.
In this it is thought that Augustine developed the principles of a "just war" that Thomas Aquinas would elaborate on in his Summa. The thing is, I'm not sure Augustine had that foremost in his mind. From what I read, Augustine looked at it as self-defense.
Augustine's City of God was written in a tumultuous time. Rome, the eternal city, was attacked by various Gothic tribes. And as each wave of attack came, the city eroded further. The emperor had relocated the capitol of the empire to a new city called Constantinople (City of Constantine--like Philippi and Antioch and Alexandria, this city was named for its king). The only ruling authority remaining in Rome was the Pope, and this political arrangement would have long lasting effects. In the 12th century the church would split in a Great Schism over the primacy of the Roman pontiff.
Back to Augustine and why he wrote The City of God (De Civitas Dei, literally the collection of citizens of God). In Augustine's day, many saw the decline of Rome. And when there is decline, tragedy, and crisis, someone needs to be blamed. In Augustine's day it became popular to blame Christians and Christianity. It was this "new religion," many opined, that was leading the empire to ruin. The gods must be mad.
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