Nigeria, a country under a military regime for several years, transitioned to a civilian regime in May 1999. Since this change, violent conflicts between Christians and Muslims have continued to erupt. They constitute one of the gravest dangers facing Nigeria, a country with a population of 189 million people. What have Nigerian religious leaders done about this situation, especially in educational circles? Have they received formal educational training to understand the causes of this violence and especially how to provide alternatives for more peaceful relations within Nigeria? Does the current educational system in Nigeria provide the main ingredients for the promotion of a culture of peace? The absence and neglect of interreligious peace education as part of a peace education core program and the lack of an interreligious curriculum for peace education in the training of religious leaders are the two problems contributing towards the lack of effectiveness of religious leaders in promoting less violent and more peaceful living. The solution to the problem is proposed in this book entitled Interreligious Curriculum for Peace Education in Nigeria. The book develops a one-year curriculum, building on Yoruba, Islamic & Christian conceptions of peace, and teaches how to create safe, caring, spiritual, peaceful and successful interfaith relationships between all Nigerian religious communities. In the long term, the book helps to educate religious leaders to contribute, in themselves and with the help of their respective religious communities, to reducing the growing religious violence in Nigeria.

Clear and well-defined identities are hard to sustain in a rapidly shifting world. Peoples, goods, and cultures are on the move. The internet and other technologies increase the amount, the speed, and the intensity of cultural exchanges. Individuals, organizations, and nations develop complex identities out of many traditions, different ideals, various ways of life, and many models of organization. Religious traditions both collide and interact, with spiritual journeys crossing religious boundaries. In this book, more than 20 contributors from different backgrounds and academic disciplines offer an array of practical theological perspectives to help understand these complex identities and negotiate this shifting world. (Series: International Practical Theology - Vol. 17) [Subject: Religious Studies, Cultural Studies]

This book advances knowledge about the implementation of peace and non-violence strategies in education that counter violence. Addressing both hidden and direct violence, it examines the harm to wellbeing and learning through a unique exploration of the role of teachers, and confronts the roots of violence in educational settings. Presenting and critiquing a range of pedagogical tools, case examples, and research, it examines how various methods can be used for identifying and proactively responding to conflicts such as injustice, discrimination, and prejudice, among others. Contributors present case studies from a range of global contexts and offer cutting-edge research on the applications of these resources, and how they contextualize peace education. An essential read for educators, teacher educators and peace scholars, it crucially offers pathways for confronting and healing from violence in both formal and informal sites of education.

What might reconciliation and forgiveness mean in relation to various forms of personal, structural, and historical violence across the African continent? This volume of essays seeks to engage these complex, and contested, ethical issues from three different disciplinary perspectives – Biblical Studies, Systematic Theology and Practical Theology. Each of the authors reflects on aspects of reconciliation, forgiveness and violence from within their respective African contexts. They do so by employing the tools and resources of their respective disciplines. The end result is a rich and textured set of interdisciplinary theological insights that will help the reader to navigate these issues with a greater measure of understanding and a broader perspective than what a single approach might offer. What is particularly encouraging is that the chapters represent research from established scholars in their fields, recent PhD graduates, and current PhD students. This is the first book to be published under the auspices of the Unit for Reconciliation and Justice in the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology.

Religion as a powerful impulse in human existence plays a paradoxical role in society as it both contributes significantly in shaping the spiritual, socio-political and economic lives of millions of people and also acts as a source of conflict. The sad experience of interreligious conflict in Northern Nigeria challenges the claim of Islam and Christianity to be religions of peace. However, understood as closely intertwined with culture and custom of a people, religion can be central in the establishment of peace and conflict resolution in and between communities. This text using the model of dialogue (Nostra Aetate) explores and presents the socio-political and theological resources available in Northern Nigeria (the locality) for a consistent peace building process.

Given the amazing interest in interfaith relationships among the religions in Nigeria, and the desire to proffer a better approach to these relationships , this book proposes a trialogical approach as a solution to the religious conflicts and crises that have become the order of the in Nigeria. In this approach, no religion is left out; all (ATR, Islam, and Christianity) are treated as equal partners in seeking and offering solutions towards better relationships among religious followers and the Nigerian people. Interfaith relationships and activities involving all three religions in Nigeria (ATR, Islam and Christianity) without excluding any, is a powerful tool for promoting religious harmony, peace and cooperation for the stability and advancement of our nation. This volume offers the guidelines and practical activities towards making trialogical relationships possible and fruitful among the followers of African Traditional Religion, Muslims, and Christians in Nigeria.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the problem of religious intolerance has become a worldwide problem. In todays pluralistic society, the dialogical tension between openness and identity has become a major challenge for interreligious dialogue and peaceful co-existence. This tension is expressed in the question, Can one maintain ones own religious identity without one closing oneself off from the other? This question is central to the challenges posed on how religious education can contribute to sustainable peace in Nigeria and the world over. In this book Stella Nneji critically assesses the various models of religious pedagogy (mono-religious, multi-religious and inter-religious) by asking how these models relate to the dialogical tension between openness and identity in Nigeriaa nation perceivably confronted with an enduring history of post-colonial strife, religious intolerance and violence. The contention is that the mono-religious and multi-religious models, which, while dominant in current practice and in academia, nevertheless fall short of expressing the authentic challenges and opportunities religious intolerance presents in Nigerian multi-religious/cultural context. In this connection, this book provides a clear notion of the theological foundation, principles, and framework of inter-religious education and a practical guide for authentic dialogue in a plural context. She calls for a paradigm shift for confessional religious pedagogy to a model of inter-religious learning as incorporated within the hermeneutical-communicative education. On this basis, the book proposes a new model for the role of religious education in Nigeria. This model in a critical-enculturated way, attempts to recognize the tensions of authentic religious difference, presupposing a broad spectrum of difference in the classroom in a way that also incorporates genuine religious encounters and expressions of identity.

Although there is growing interest in the role of religion in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 2030, very few studies have focused on the contributions of interfaith networks. Most of the contemporary publications on religion and development focus on single religions or faith-based organizations. This volume addresses the lacuna in the available scholarship by undertaking detailed analyses of how interfaith networks in diverse African contexts contribute to development. Chapters in this volume engage in theoretical debates on interfaith networks and development, while describing concrete, fresh case studies on how particular interfaith networks are contributing towards the meeting of the SDGs in specific contexts. Thus, the volume describes older and newer interfaith networks and analyses their achievements and challenges. Contributors focus on SDGs that include peacebuilding, gender, youth, the environment, as well as overviews of interfaith initiatives in different African contexts.

This volume Psychology of Peace Promotion builds on previous volumes of peace psychology, extending its contributions by drawing from peace research and practices from five continents – Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The book discusses emerging disciplinary and inter-disciplinary theories and actions. Each chapter begins with a theoretical framework for understanding peace, followed by a critical review of peace promotion in a specific setting, and concludes with an illustration of psychological principles or theories in either a narrative format or an empirical investigation. This volume develops, as well as guides, its readers on the epistemology of promoting and sustaining peace in varied settings around the world. This book presents relevant, cutting-edge peace promotion strategies to anyone interested in promoting peace more effectively, including peace practitioners, scholars, teachers, and researchers, as well as the general reader. It presents a number of innovative approaches, illustrating their applications to specific social problems, settings and populations. In addition, this volume has much in store for both academic and practice-based scientists in the field of peace psychology, mental health professionals, administrators, educators, and graduate students from various disciplines. The goal is the promotion and sustenance of peace, using theoretically sound, yet innovative and creative approaches. As expressed by the United Nations Secretary, “peace does not occur by happenstance.” Promoting and sustaining peace requires reflective, thoughtful, and targeted efforts. This book inspires its readers to develop a better understanding of peace and the means of promoting peace in a sustainable way.

Over the past three decades scholars, students and policy makers studying and engaged in conflict resolution have veered between conflict management and resolution. However, the changing nature of conflict, which is taking the form of radicalization and extremism are deeply rooted in individual's ideology, personalities and genes, hence, rendering the conventional macro-level power balance analytics obsolete. The psychology and human genetics are at the center of this evolution. This shift in conflict trends and methods of warfare in Africa and the world over demands that we search for alternative approaches, mechanisms, and innovative response. It is against this background that this new book initiates a fundamental debate on how interdisciplinary adventure could increase the understanding off man-kind and the socio-biological systems surounding man, hence, the emphasis on the discispline of Conflictology to embody scientific approaches, methods and prescription to conflict resolution. For instance, does individual's gene influence human behaviours, such as "hate"? If so, can this be corrected through gene transposition? If human relations should be anchored on "peace", what are these genetic and behavioural factors that creat "hate" and "violence"? How then, should such a gene or neurobiological system be altered in order to prevent extremism and radicalization?