Contents

From the Editor

Multiplying Conversation Partners and Intercultural Translators

by:

Joseph C. Liechty

Even as religious studies scholars and theologians debate the meaning, utility, and integrity of the category of “religion,” says a recent call for papers for the Journ

Essay

Building a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence in a Context of Oppression

by:

Jean Zaru

Sisters and brothers, I share with you my personal witness to peacemaking in my native land of Palestine, where to be actively engaged in the building of a culture of peace and non

Articles

Isaac and Ishmael

by:

J. Kristen Urban

The present conflict within Israel/Palestine between the Israeli state and Palestinian Arabs living in territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War is often pictured as mirroring a “sibling rivalry” that has been a part of biblical history for centuries. But while the Genesis story of Isaac and Ishmael is painful reading today for anyone sensitive to the emotional well-being of the other, the narratives that have grown up around this story in Judaism and in Islam are markedly different! What constitutes an expulsion within Jewish tradition, and thus evokes a concern for the trauma visited upon Hagar and Ishmael, actually marks the beginnings of the Islamic tradition and is accepted as the action of an unfathomable and all-knowing God/Allah.

Reconciling Past and Present

by:

Jeremy M. Bergen

This review essay examines two recent edited books on collective apologies. The 2008 apology of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to former students of Indian Residential Schools provides the lens through which the reviewer shows how the books provide critical interdisciplinary perspectives on apologies and their reconciling possibilities, as well the kind of further work required.

The Curious Conversion of Adriaan Vlok

by:

Katie Day

In early August of 2006, one of South Africa’s most notorious apartheid-era leaders, Adriaan Vlok, contacted the Rev.

The Potential for Peacebuilding in Islam

by:

Hisham Soliman

After some general thoughts about the relationship between religion, conflict, and peace, the focus of this papers narrows to the relationship between Islam and peacebuilding in particular. Foundations for this relationship are laid upon a discussion of the misinterpreted concept of jihad. Islamic values and mechanisms are highlighted to further support an argument for an Islamic concept of peace; of particular importance are the capacities in Islam for nonviolence, the concept of justice in Islam, motivations for humanitarian work in Islam and the duty to work for peace. Excerpts from the sacred texts in Islam as well as examples of practical experiences are used to illustrate and support the argument. The article concludes with thoughts about the absence of most of these practices from the lived reality of Muslim societies.

Case Study

Religious Leaders, Peacemaking, and the First Liberian Civil War

by:

George Klay Kieh, Jr.

On December 24, 1989, a group of rebels operating under the umbrella of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), a warlordist militia under the leadership of Charles Taylo

Book Reviews

A Violent God-Image: An Introduction to the Work of Eugen Drewermann. Matthias Beier. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006.

by:

Unlike René Girard, the influential French thinker with whom he is often compared, renowned German theologian Eugen Drewermann remains relatively unknown in the English-sp

Justice: Rights and Wrongs . Nicholas Wolterstorff. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.

by:

Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Justice: Rights and Wrongs is an original and engaging study of justice. What is justice?

Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace. David Whitten Smith and Elizabeth Geraldine Burr. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007.

by:

Understanding World Religions: A Road Map for Justice and Peace explores major religious and other influential worldviews and how each conceptualizes and seeks peace in