Conflict & Reconciliation: The Contribution of Religions

Editor: John W. Bowker
ISBN: 978-0-9780431-9-3

Synopsis

Religions are involved in many long-running conflicts around the world from the Balkans and the Middle East to Kashmir and Sri Lanka. All that is well-known. Not so well-known are the resources that religions can bring, specifically and uniquely, to the process of peace and reconciliation after conflict. This book looks in detail at the ways in which the search for reconciliation is an obligation, even a command, in particular religions.

Religions understand reconciliation very differently, and those differences are made clear in this book. But the quest for reconciliation, however differently it is understood, is an obligation in religions that should be much better understood and employed by those who seek peace in the world.

Chapters by various experts cover topics including:

About the Editor

John Bowker is a prize-winning author who was formerly Professor of religious Studies at the University of Lancaster, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and Professor at Gresham College, London. He has been Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and at North Carolina State University. He is the editor of The Oxfrd Dictionary of World Religions, and author of What Muslims Believe, God — A Brief History, The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions, The Sacred Neuron, Beliefs that Changed the World: The History and Ideas of the Great Religions and The Meanings of Death, which won the HarperCollins Book Prize.He lives with his wife in Cambridge. Also by John Bowker.

Contributors to Conflict & Reconciliation: The Contribution of Religions:

Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok -- religious scholar and author of numerous books including Who's Who in Christianity (Routledge) and A History of Jewish Civilization (Bison Books).

Christopher Lamb -- well known lecturer on Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. He has focused within each domain on conflict issues, including: sati, female and male circumcision, religiously-inspired homophobia, abortion, gender inequality, persecution of non-believers, religious privilege and the religious indoctrination of children.

Customer Reviews:

Endorsements

Conflict and Reconciliation admirably draws on wide-ranging scholarly expertise for the most important and practical goal
of uncovering how our various religious traditions can most directly and deeply serve the work of peace. It will engage and challenge readers who want
to do what is practical, yet with full awareness of how religions diagnose our crisis and recommend our healing.

—Francis X. Clooney, SJ, Parkman Professor of Divinity, Harvard University.


This timely book brings
together the insights into conflict resolution and transformation of contemporary research and practise with the resources to be found within the
major religions and religious philosophies. It is a reminder that each of the latter has its own internal language, conceptual framework and history
and that it is important not to be satisfied with assuming over-simplified equivalencies amongst them. Nevertheless the necessity of creating social
harmony is a common feature, so that, at the very least, points of meeting can be found, and, at best, mutual
respect and trust engendered. The
book is a forcible reminder that the quest for the universal has to acknowledge and accommodate the particularities of our spiritual traditions. />
—Rabbi Professor Jonathan Magonet, Emeritus Professor of Bible, Leo Baeck College. Editor of the journal ‘European Judaism’. Author
of ‘Talking to the Other: Jewish Interfaith Dialogue with Christians and Muslims’.

Reviews

BY J. EDWARD SUMERAU
©

Metro Spirit Augusta's Independent Voice

Issue #20.13 :: 10/22/2008 - 10/28/2008

AUGUSTA, GA - In an
intricate, critical examination of the major faiths of the world, a collection of scholars edited by John W. Bowker offers an attempt to argue for
peace via religious tradition in “Conflict and Reconciliation: The Contribution of Religions.”

Headed by a former professor of
Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster, this volume offers a star-studded lineup of scholars evaluating the world’s religious traditions.
The author of “What Muslims Believe,” “God: A Short History,” and “The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions,” John W. Bowker is a
leader in the field of religious scholarship offering experience and concern in the editing of this work. Including voices representing the Centre
for Chinese Studies at University of Wales, Lampeter, a parish priest in Hertfordshire, religious scholars who’ve published a collection of books,
and the Director of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, this volume offers a wide expanse of experience, academic expertise, and critical analysis.


Within this framework, authors dissect a variety of topics in hopes of shedding light on the ability of religious systems to
facilitate peace and the resolution of conflict. While much attention is given to conflict, warfare and terrorism carried out in the name of religion,
this volume does a masterful job of expressing the other side of the coin. In so doing, it offers readers a necessary opportunity view religious
tradition in light of its multifaceted place within the modern societal landscape.

This volume addresses core issues such as conflict
resolution, examples of peace and justice in Hinduism, resources for the dissolution of conflict in Buddhism, and further resources found in analysis
of discourse and tradition in Judaism, Islam, Confucius traditions, and Christianity. Throughout the work, the aspects of each of these major
traditions are critically evaluated and examined in hopes of finding practical advice for the world.

Delicately collected with an eye
for diversity and complexity in the world of religion, this volume provides a much-needed broad view of the brighter side of religion in the conflicts
of the world. While it fails to offer insights into Pagan and Wiccan communities throughout the world, it does offer an intriguing perspective on the
religions it chooses to address.