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This article undertakes a serious assessment of Carl Schmitt’s admonition: viz. that every war that makes a criminal of the enemy and claims to be waged in the name of justice will be a war of annihilation, more inhumane, more total, than traditional wars between equal States for political stakes. A close reading of texts in the theological tradition reveals a more contrasting picture of the doctrine of waging war for just cause: the just war is conceived of simply as exacting reparation for a perceived violation of law; the enemy is indeed viewed as a criminal, but his punishment does not mean his utter extermination; the just war is not a holy war and continues to be regarded as legal in essence.