Abstract
Recent years have seen increasing interest in the potential of religion for peacemaking. This chapter conceptualizes the role of religious actors in peacemaking, starting from a distinction among three facets of religion: its normative aspect, its relationship to identity, and its organizational function. Each may feed into the emergence or escalation of conflict, and each is in itself transformed through exposure to armed conflict. Similarly, each fact forms part of the peacemaking potential of religious actors in various ways. Focusing on the identity aspect of religion, along with the extent to which a given identity is shared by both the broker and conflictual parties, we suggest may be of three distinct types: the liaison, the coordinator, and the representative.
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Harpviken, K.B., Røislien, H.E. (2010). Faithful Brokers? Potentials and Pitfalls of Religion in Peacemaking. In: Engebretson, K., de Souza, M., Durka, G., Gearon, L. (eds) International Handbook of Inter-religious Education. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9260-2_58
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