Peace on Earth: The Role of Religion in Peace and Conflict Studies provides a critical analysis of faith and religious institutions in peacebuilding practice and pedagogy. The work captures the synergistic relationships among faith traditions and how multiple approaches to conflict transformation and peacebuilding result in a creative process that has the potential to achieve a more detailed view of peace on earth, containing breadth as well as depth. Library and bookstore shelves are filled with critiques of the negative impacts of religion in conflict scenarios. Peace on Earth: The Role of Religion in Peace and Conflict Studies offers an alternate view that suggests religious organizations play a more complex role in conflict than a simply negative one. Faith-based organizations, and their workers, are often found on the frontlines of conflict throughout the world, conducting conflict management and resolution activities as well as advancing peacebuilding initiatives.
Chapter One: Can People of Faith, and People in Peace and Conflict Studies, Work Together? Thomas Matyok and Maureen Flaherty Part I: Peace and Conflict Studies in a Contextualized Place Chapter Two: Religion, Peace and Violence: Tensions and Promises David Creamer and Christopher Hrynkow Chapter Three: Ahimsa: A World without Violence? Klaus Klostermaier Chapter Four Blessing-Based Love (Agape) As a Heuristic to Understanding Effective Reconciliation Practices: A Reading of I Corinthians 13 In a Peacebuilding Context Vern Neufeld Redekop Part II: Religions and Peace and Conflict Studies Chapter Five: Catholic Peacemaking: A History and Analysis with Special Emphasis on the Work of the Community of Sant 'Egidio John Perry Chapter Six: Evangelical Women and Transformative Peacebuilding Kristen Lundquist, Hien Vu, and Chris Seiple Chapter Seven: Judaism and the Path to Peace Michael Lerner Chapter Eight: Islam and Peace and Conflict Studies Nathan Funk Chapter Nine: The Role of Indigenous African Religion in Peacemaking Hamdesa Tuso Chapter Ten: Aboriginal Peoples' in Canada and the Role of Religion in Conflict: The Ever Elusive Peace Paul Nicolas Cormier Chapter Eleven: Mennonite International Peacebuilding and Local Ownership Chuck Thiessen Chapter Twelve: Let Us See What Love Can Do: Quaker Contributions to Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation Vernie Davis Chapter Thirteen: Haitian Vodou: Peace Begins Within Margret Mitchell Armand Chapter Fourteen: Eastern Orthodox Christianity: Provocations and Challenges for a Just Peace in an Era of Conflict and Global Transition Harry Anastasiou Chapter Fifteen: Ancient News from Buddha's Research Lab: the Role of Buddhism in Peace and Conflict Settings Katharina Bitzker Chapter Sixteen: Hinduism: War, Peace, and Peace and Conflict Studies S. I. Keethaponcalan Chapter Seventeen: Daoist Harmony as a Chinese Worldview Yueh-Ting Lee, Honggang Yang, and Min Wang Chapter Eighteen: Humanity's Coming of Age: A Baha'i View of the Process toward World Peace Charles Egerton Chapter Nineteen: Religious Leader Engagement: Military Chaplains Engaging Indigenous Religious Leaders and Their Communities in Operations (Voices from the International Chaplaincy Community) S. K. Moore Part III: The Way Forward: Four Faith Models Chapter Twenty: Striving for Justice and Peace on Earth, Catholic Peace Initiatives Ismael Muvingi Chapter Twenty-One: Peacebuilding Principles and Values in Islam: Beyond the Basic Framework Mohammed Abu-Nimer Chapter Twenty-Two: Peace on Earth: The Anabaptist-Mennonite Perspective Lois Edmund Chapter Twenty-Three: Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam: the 'Oasis of Peace' Deanna Armbruster Chapter Twenty-Four: Conclusions: Peace on Earth Revisited Hamdesa Tuso, Jessica Senehi, and Sean Byrne
