Please don’t judge this book by its cover – a garish illustration of US soldiers under bombardment in World War II. The content of this book is much more sophisticated, enriching, well-written, and worthy of study. It is refreshing because a trained soldier and military historian has brought his comprehensive scholarship to bear on the military dimensions of warfare in the Book of Mormon, which has so often been the province of scriptorians and linguists who are innocent of any military or national security background. [1] This is significant because Deane points out through a soldier’s eye military and strategic context and connotations for passages in the Book of Mormon that might otherwise have been overlooked as impertinent to war.
Also, please don’t judge this book by its title – which can be perplexing at first glance, and needs a bit of context. Deane explains that the phrase “to stop a slaughter” is drawn from an obscure (Deane uses the word “prominent,” but that is relative) British theologian and even more obscure work by that author to explain that love can motivate and justify an offensive use of force to defend the innocent. [2] Deane explains that “powerful love compelled the Nephites, reluctantly, to take up arms to prevent the barbarous and cruel massacre of their friends and family.” [3] This establishes one of the major themes of the book, which is that offensive action is sometimes necessary to head off an even greater calamity, or “slaughter” as the title would have it, but only when undertaken with a heart centered on the love of Christ and in defense of innocent lives. [4]
Deane is well known in the LDS national security community as a prolific author on issues of war and strategy in the Book of Mormon and the canon of the Restored Gospel, and a key contributor to many conferences of LDS scholars on issues of war peace. [5] It may be less well known that he is an equally prolific writer and scholar on ancient Chinese military thought and history. [6] In this volume, he brings these various strands of intellectual pursuits together to compare just war principles such as just authority, just cause, last resort, and just conduct in ancient American scripture with similar concepts and principles from ancient Chinese philosophers, demonstrating that the conduct of war in the Book of Mormon follows many of the same patterns of war that can be observed throughout the course of ancient China and Asia, helping confirm the authenticity of the Book of Mormon text. And further, that the considerations of warfare in the Book of Mormon were also consistent with traditional Christian thinking on just war.
Deane has frequently written about warfare in the Book of Mormon, so it is fair to ask what new this book brings to this scholarship. Deane joins with other scholars such as John Mark Mattox, Mark Henshaw, and Ken Stiles in arguing that classical Christian just war theory provides a solid framework for understanding decisions in the Book of Mormon to go to war, and decisions to guide conduct when at war. [7]
However, the central theme expounded upon by Deane throughout this volume is that intentions matter, that a soldier’s heart must be in the right place to know when and how to use force in the defense of rights, liberty, and innocent lives. He agrees with Mark Henshaw’s statement that the causes of war reside in the human heart, but goes on to assert that “a person can renounce war in their hearts while wielding the sword.” If that person’s heart is filled with love, and is repulsed by the shedding of innocent blood, then the Spirit can direct the timing, character, and limits of using force. On the other hand, Deane explains that when a person’s heart, or the collective hearts of a society are filled with hate, unrighteous bloodshed and national catastrophe ensues. He cites as counterpoints Mormon 4:5 (“it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed”) and Mormon 4:11 (“every heart was hardened so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually”).
Deane also provides a carefully reasoned discussion of the limits of preaching the Word as a mechanism for bringing peace in troubled times, and balances that with observations on when the sword must trump the Word. This much might be passed off as commonly accepted Sunday School doctrine. But where Deane contributes to the discourse is by arguing that offensive and preemptive war may be justifiable – even targeted assassinations such as undertaken by Teancum – if the people and their leaders’ hearts are filled with love for their neighbors, and the deed is undertaken with the right intent. Deane does not underestimate or diminish the task of retaining the degree and fortitude of Christ-like love needed in these circumstances. “The kind of heart required to wage just war,” according to Deane, “had to withstand the worst that war offered. . . while retaining the love of Christ.”
In this way, Deane augments the traditional reading of D&C 98:16 for the sake of provoking thought by saying that “people can proclaim peace in their hearts while waging a just war.”
Deane further argues that those scriptures which have sometimes been cited as prohibiting offensive war should instead be interpreted to mean that fighting without a proper love of Christ in one’s heart is forbidden, and that when the Nephites ventured upon preemptive attacks, it was not the preemptive nature of the attacks that is condemned in Mormon Chapter 4, but rather embarking on such crusades out of hatred and a lust for revenge that exempted them from the protection and the guidance of the Spirit.
There are other key themes explored in this book worth mentioning.
Violence and bloodshed are symptoms of a fallen world. But because “it is impossible to live in peace with a treacherous neighbor,” it is not a sin to use cunning, stratagem and deception in defense of innocent lives. Furthermore, he adds that defeat in battle does not necessarily mean that God has abandoned His people, or that the strategy was flawed, but could be attributed to incompetence or government failure. Sometimes, it is the army commander’s heart that was evil and not the strategy or tactics used in war, either preemptive, offensive, or defensive.
But what of an innocent people that are enslaved and oppressed by an evil government? Certainly they should be justified in fighting for their freedom. Deane includes a chapter arguing that such circumstances do not necessarily justify a people in rising up in righteous fervor to overthrow such rulers. The issues surrounding when revolution or rebellion may or may not be justified are complex and have received little attention in the LDS literature on just war (beyond discussions of the righteousness of the American revolution), and Deane’s insight here is a significant contribution to the discourse. Deane asserts that there is an extremely limited right to overthrow an unjust ruler or government, and that such action can unleash untold bloodshed, factionalism, and chaos. Deane cites classical Christian just war theorists such as Augustine, Vittorio, and Grotius in support of this thesis. Therefore, any such uprising must be undertaken with prayer for the Lord’s guidance and must conform to the Lord’s timing. In some cases, the Lord may use a people’s suffering from bondage to chasten and try the hearts and faith of His people, and He will in His own time grant them escape from their bondage. [8]
Deane applies much the same reasoning to fighting insurgencies, asserting that “one’s spiritual state is more important than strategy,” and that even in combating terrorism, just war principles of right authority, just cause, and discrimination between combatants and non-combatants must be strictly observed.
Another unique insight that Deane offers is in showing that there was not a consistent, unchanging attitude toward war over the course of Nephite history, but that there was a shift in the latter half of their history toward a more nuanced theory of just war. This evolution ranged from always placing emphasis on maintaining a strictly defensive posture, and only engaging in combat when attacked, to a more aggressive, proactive defense of Nephite rights, property, and liberty that sometimes employed espionage and stratagem as evidenced in Captain Moroni’s campaigns.
In summary, this volume offers a substantial, detailed, and nuanced explanation of military and strategic issues in the text of the Book of Mormon, and a vigorous defense of the imperative to sometimes wield the sword to defend oneself and one’s neighbors. Deane brings a formidable knowledge of warfare, the development of Christian just war theory, and the military history of ancient China to bear on this material. He is also attuned to contemporary American defense and foreign policy issues, with frequent references to how the principles he expounds in this book apply at the policy level in today’s world. This book is an important contribution to the discourse among LDS national security scholars and practitioners. Its message of how a righteous people may sometimes be reluctantly compelled to take up arms to stop the slaughter of their innocent neighbors deserves careful consideration in our day as we confront “wars and rumors of war.”
NOTES:
[1] Much of the material covered in Duane Boyce’s book Even Unto Bloodshed: An LDS Perspective on War (Greg Kofford Books, 2015) is consistent with Deane’s own doctrinal and just war arguments, and while the content of that book is deeply enriching, solidly gospel-based, and comprehensive, Boyce’s background is clinical psychology and therefore lacks the authenticity and subtly of a soldier’s perspective. I would say the same is true of religious education scholar John Bytheway’s Righteous Warriors: Lessons from the War Chapters in the Book of Mormon (Deseret Book, 2004). [Back to manuscript].
[2] Harro Hopfl, Luther and Calvin on Secular Authority ((London: Cambridge University Press, 1991). [Back to manuscript].
[3] It’s hard to indicate where in Deane’s book a quote is derived from, since other than the table of contents, there are no page numbers in this book. Such can be the vagaries of self-publishing. [Back to manuscript].
[4] Deane thoroughly and convincingly elaborates on this theme in “Offensive Warfare in the Book of Mormon and a Defense of the Bush Doctrine,” in Patrick Q. Mason, J. David Pulsipher, and Richard L. Bushman, eds., War and Peace in Our Time: Mormon Perspectives (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2012), pp. 29-39.
[Back to manuscript].
[5] Morgan Deane, Bleached Bones and Wicked Serpents: Ancient Warfare in the Book of Mormon (eBookIt.com, 2014), and his more recent contribution to the 2023 LDS National Security Conference (whose proceedings are forthcoming).
[Back to manuscript].
[6] See Morgan Deane, Decisive Battles in Chinese History (Yardley, PA: Westholme Publishing, 2018), which debunks many popular narratives about the Chinese way of war. See also Morgan Deane, Beyond Sun-Tzu: Classical Chinese Debates on War and Statecraft (Arsenal of Venice Press, 2021); and, Morgan Deane, Dragon’s Claws with Feet of Clay: A Primer on Modern Chinese Strategy (self-published, 2019). [Back to manuscript].
[7] However, Henshaw has earnestly argued that we must look beyond traditional Christian just war principles to establish a restored gospel-centered framework for just war. See, among his other essays, “Murder to Get Gain: LDS Thoughts on Elements of National Power,” in Wielding the Sword While Proclaiming Peace, edited by Valerie Hudson and Kerry M. Kartchner (Brigham Young University, Kennedy Center, 2004). [Back to manuscript].
[8] This theme is also explored in my own essay titled “Fight, Flee, or Fold: Alternative Responses to Violence in LDS Scripture,” in A Time of War, A Time of Peace: Latter-Day Saint Ethics of War and Diplomacy. Valerie M. Hudson, Eric Talbot Jensen, Kerry M. Kartchner, eds. (Provo, Utah: Kennedy Center, Brigham Young University, 2018). Deane adds considerably to this discussion by exploring the conditions, albeit constrained, under which rebelling against a captor would be justified. [Back to manuscript].
Full Citation for this Article: Kartchner, Kerry M. (2024) "Book Review: To Stop a Slaughter: Just War and the Book of Mormon, by Morgan Deane (2024)," SquareTwo, Vol. 17 No. 3 (Fall 2024), http://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleKartchnerToStopASlaughter.html, accessed <give access date>.
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