One of the world's most important religious leaders puts forward a compelling manifesto for inter-religious dialogue that represents a profound step forward for organized religion.

Understanding World Religions studies major worldviews in relation to justice and peace: Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Marxist, and Native American. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is given as a case study for how worldviews impact justice and peace. Further chapters explore Christian social teaching, liberation theologies, active nonviolence, and just war theory.

Religion Seeking Justice and Peace not only highlights the values that the different religions share in their pursuit of justice and peace but also provides concrete examples of how individuals and institutions from different religious backgrounds have worked for justice and peach throughout history. The book also exposes the danger of religious extremism, religious exclusivism and other such negative traits to the struggle for justice and peace. It takes cognisance of the impact of the larger environment upon religious ideals and, at the same time, makes a plea for the application of universal values and principles embodied in the various religions to politics. Economics, culture and society. This is particularly important, some of the contributors argue, at a time like this when humanity is confronted with multiple global crises.

The eighth volume of the series "Key Concepts of Interreligious Discourses" investigates the roots of the concept of "peace" in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and its relevance for the present time. Facing present violent conflicts waged and justified by religious ideas or reasons, peace building prevails in current debates about religion and peace. Here the central question is: How may traditional sources in religions help to put down the weapons and create a society in which everyone can live safely without hostilities and the threat of violence? When we take the Sacred Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam into consideration it becomes obvious that the term "peace" and its equivalents in Hebrew, Greek and Arabic describe, at first, an ideal state based on the "love" / "mercy" of God to his creation. It is a divine gift that brings inward peace to the individuum and outer peace resting upon justice and equality. One main task of Jews, Christian and Muslims in the history is to find out how to bring down this transcendent ideal upon earth. The volume presents the concept of "peace" in its different aspects as anchored in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It unfolds commonalities and differences between the three monotheistic religions as well as the manifold discourses about peace within these three traditions. The book offers fundamental knowledge about the specific understanding of peace in each one of these traditions, their interdependencies and their relationship to secular world views.

In face of unprecedented awareness of religious diversity, as well as the dangers of conflict, interreligious dialogue has become vital. Yet, these authors maintain, it is the commitment to think together about religious faith and our inherited traditions that genuinely moves mutual understanding to new levels. Here is such a religious experiment, an interreligious theological quest, framed in the interests of peacemaking. Fadi Daou and Nayla Tabbara, a Maronite priest and a Muslim Sunni, respectively, share one objective: to show what the Christian and Muslim faiths teach with regard to religious "otherness" and to indicate the relationship which may link the believer of another religion to God. It is this honest attempt to find divine hospitality that opens each religion to spiritual solidarity and to the reality, presence, and gift of the other. *** "This is truly an exceptional book. Fadi Daou and Nayla Tabbara have shown that the teaching of theology is not enough, and that . . . it is necessary to promote spiritual communion between believers from different religions and to translate theological questions into terms of daily life." --Jean-Marc Aveline, Institut Catholique de la Mediterranee[Subject: Religious Studies, Muslim Studies, Christian Studies]