New York, USA—The winter 2017 issue of Dialogue & Alliance, a journal of UPF, is now available. The theme of this issue is “Religion, Peace and Nation-building.”
This issue of Dialogue and Alliance features a diverse set of articles with topics that range from Africa to China, from what we might call spiritual highways to international highways. As is evident from observation of our world, there is growing interdependence and overlap of various sectors and jurisdictions, including the realms of politics, economics, culture, religion and the many forms of collective or group identity. In light of this growing awareness, the interplay between matters political and matters religious are continually intersecting. As such, religious persons who wish to engage the world should not live in a spiritual silo without developing literacy about and engagement with global, political, economic and social affairs. Similarly, those who inhabit the political sphere of life should learn about and respectfully engage the sphere of religion. While the two spheres of politics and religion are not to be conflated, they should be collaboratively involved in the large objectives of peace, human development and sustainable development.
Over the past two years, the Universal Peace Federation has initiated two programs that underscore the above-mentioned need for a wider global collaboration that builds bridges not only between nations or between religions, but between nations and religions, as partners in the pursuit of peace. These include both the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace, on the one hand, and the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development on the other hand. Moreover, the UPF is carrying forward a vision first outlined by its founders in 1981 for the development of an international highway project, known as the “Peace Road.” Two articles in this issue touch on the need for a new “silk road.”
To view the table of contents, please see below.
Dialogue & Alliance
Vol. 31 No. 2, Winter 2017
Religion, Peace and Nation-building
Introduction
The Role of Religion in the Making of the Nigerian State
Dr. Samson O. Olanisebe and Dr. Fola T. Lateju, Department of Religious Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife
Inter-Religious Conflicts: A Review of Zimbabwe’s Religious Landscape, Post-Independence
Dr. Obediah Dodo, Macdonald Makoni, Thelma Mutandi, Bindura University of Science Education
Is Universal Peace Possible? A Jaina Response to Its Deeper Aspects
Dr. Sohan Lal Gandhi, International President, Anuvrat Global Organization (ANUVIBHA)
Jesus the “Satyagrahi”
Dr. Ambrose Ih-Ren Mong, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
The Cultural Dimension of Peace
Dr. Walther Lichem, President, InterPress Service; Former Ambassador, Austria
The Way of Promoting the Cross-Strait Peaceful Development and Co-Creating the Future of China
Dr. King-yuh Chang, Former Minister, Mainland Affairs Council of the Executive Yuan, ROC (1996-1999)
Response to China’s “Belt and Road”
Dr. Quanyi Zhang, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Zhejiang Wanli University; Researcher, Centre of Non-traditional Security and Peace Development Studies, Zhejiang University Columnist, United Press International (Asia)
One Belt, One Road
Hon. Jose De Venecia, Jr., Special Envoy of the President for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and for intercultural dialogue, Philippines
Do We Need a New “Helsinki Process”?
Dr. Vladimir Petrovskiy, Full member, Russian Academy of Military Science, Chief Research Associate, Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences Position
Book Reviews