Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions E-Book

Irfan A. Omar

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 531

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Written by top practitioner-scholars who bring a critical yet empathetic eye to the topic, this textbook provides a comprehensive look at peace and violence in seven world religions.

• Offers a clear and systematic narrative with coverage of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Native American religions
• Introduces a different religion and its sacred texts in each chapter; discusses ideas of peace, war, nonviolence, and permissible violence; recounts historical responses to violence; and highlights individuals within the tradition working toward peace and justice
• Examines concepts within their religious context for a better understanding of the values, motivations, and ethics involved
• Includes student-friendly pedagogical features, such as enriching end-of-chapter critiques by practitioners of other traditions, definitions of key terms, discussion questions, and further reading sections

Leseprobe

Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions

Edited by

Irfan A. Omar and Michael K. Duffey

This edition first published 2015© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for.

Hardback ISBN: 9781118953433Paperback ISBN: 9781118953426

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: © ussr/ iStockphoto

(IAO) To Farah for her unfailing support

(MKD) To Mary Beth and our four children, my teachers all

Acknowledgments

This book is the result of a joint project between the Marquette University Center for Peacemaking and the Department of Theology. In conjunction with planning this book, the editors collaborated with the Office of the Provost to organize a one-day symposium on the topic of “Peacemaking and Nonviolence in World Religions” held at Marquette University on October 3, 2013. The Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, Dr William Welburn, generously provided funding for the symposium for which we are very grateful. The Center for Peacemaking provided additional funds to host the visiting scholars. The symposium was partially funded by a grant from the United States Institute of Peace, and by the Edward D. Simmons Religious Commitment Fund from Marquette University Office of Mission and Ministry. The staff of the Center for Peacemaking, Patrick Kennelly (director), Carole Poth (associate director), and Chris Jeske (office associate) gave their invaluable assistance in planning and organizing the day-long event. Other Marquette colleagues who participated as session chairs include Abderrahman Atifi, Pranavkumar Achar, Sarah Bond, Bronwyn Finnigan, Duane Loynes, Mark Thiel, and Jing Zhai; we are deeply grateful to each for their contribution.

We would like to acknowledge additional support given by the Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Dr Jeanne Hossenlopp. Special thanks are due to Dr Rick Holz, Dean of the Klingler College of Arts and Sciences, for his opening remarks at the symposium and for his overall enthusiasm for the project. Numerous members of the greater Milwaukee community were in attendance at the symposium to whom we are in debt both for their physical presence and questions and comments. As we subsequently discovered, this collaboration between academics and community leaders and peace activists was immensely inspiring to many of the undergraduate students present at the event.

We are enormously grateful to each of the authors for putting so much effort into this project and for keeping to the deadlines. They not only graciously accepted our invitation to write a chapter on the topic from the perspective of their tradition, and present a summary version at the symposium, they also gave freely of their time to make revisions and offer suggestions for improvement. We thank the reviewers of the manuscript that were assigned by Wiley for their valuable comments and questions, which helped us frame the issues better. Several Marquette students helped at various stages of the editorial process; we would like to acknowledge the assistance given by Jakob Rinderknecht and Marisola Xhelili. Finally, we are deeply grateful to the folks at Wiley, Georgina Coleby, Lisa Sharp, and Ben Thatcher for their professionalism and for entertaining our numerous queries to each of which they replied promptly and graciously. Thanks to Camille Bramall and Sherleena Sandou for shepherding the manuscript through the final stages before printing. We also thank Rebecca Harkin for her willingness to consider our initial proposal and for accepting it, thus making this book possible.

Introduction

Irfan A. Omar and Michael K. Duffey

For several years we have sought a book like this one for our courses in comparative religion and peace studies. We wanted a book that would introduce the teachings on peace, violence, and contemporary peacemaking in world religions. We combed the literature, but no book met this need. We found articles that did deal with aspects of religious violence and peacemaking. Studies of religious violence vastly outnumbered those of religious peacemaking. The tragic fact of our times is pervasive violence. The troubling reality is that so much research focuses on the relationship between religion and violence. There is no end to the claim that religion fosters violence. Religion has become the whipping boy for much of the world’s violence. But one finds hardly a word about religions’ aspirations for peace and engagement in peace activism.