Conflict and Peacebuilding

About the Conference

It is indisputable that conflicts exist everyday in the world nowadays on different levels of life such as selfhood, familial and social bonds, the natural world, the public sphere and politics, civil and international tensions, wars. Peacebuilding is an active, persistent and public endeavour to ensure a natural and social condition for every life to live well and thrive, through engaging conversations, fighting injustice, unmasking contemporary ideologies of suppression such as slavery, patriarchy, racial discrimination and colonisation, reflecting upon the cultural and religious traditions, practising forgiveness and reconciliation, exploring new possibilities and imaginations … etc. This conference invites reflection and exploration of conflict and peacebuilding in Christian ethics, and how faith and religious traditions are involved in the description of the current crises and the imagination of peaceful co-existence and celebration of peoples with diversity. We warmly welcome postgraduate students from different backgrounds (tradition, ethnicity, culture, race, gender) to join us for this enriching experience.

Call for Paper

Postgraduate papers are a vital part of SSCE’s annual postgraduate conference. We welcome papers from postgraduate students researching Christian ethics, doctrinal theology, world Christianity, practical theology, historical theology, biblical studies, religious studies, or any other related fields or interdisciplinary work, as we explore the theme of “Conflict and Peacebuilding” this year. To express interest in giving a paper, you are welcomed to submit a 200-word abstract to email: [email protected] with your name and any institutional affiliation. We accept abstract submissions up until 7th February 2024.

The following questions may guide prospective students to write a proposal for short paper presentation:

• Whose conflict? Whose peacebuilding? Why and in what position can the Christian faith engage in dialogue to address the conflicts nowadays and bring forth a vision of peace?
• In what ways do different narratives of the Christian faith traditions contribute to understanding of conflict and peace?
• In what ways do the current conflicts / peacebuilding advocates offer critical examinations of ethical practices, ideologies, theologies, interpretations of the Bible nowadays?
• How can we reimagine ethical responsibilities and commitments to build up a peaceful environment in the natural world?
• How does our embeddedness in contextual realities (e.g. economic structure, race, gender) inform us, or cloud us from, an understanding of the nature of conflict and a vision of peace?

• In what ways does the Christian theology inform or uncover the structural alienation / sin which underlies the cause of social injustice and conflicts?
• How is conflict manifested and peacebuilding practised in our ethics of daily life (e.g. workplace, friendship, family, politics)?
• How far can the Christian faith offer a vision of politics which resolves conflict and promotes peace in the greatly diverse and polarised societies today?
• How can we evaluate and assess different models of warfare in Christian traditions? (i.e., Just war and pacifism)
• How does literature or performance (e.g. novels, fiction, poetry, drama, music) contribute to an imagination of conflicts or peacebuilding in Christian ethics?
• To what extent is there a role of Christian spiritual practices for peacebuilding in the midst of conflicts in the public squares?
• How far does the Christian involvement in multi-religious dialogues benefit for a renewed understanding of conflicts and peacebuilding?

Those wishing to submit papers should in no way feel limited by the above questions as long as our theme is related.

More information

Price for attending the conference: £20 (Lunch, coffee, and refreshment included). Application for Conference Bursaries available upon request by emailing [email protected] (Please do so before acquiring a ticket). More information about keynote speakers will follow soon. You can follow us on Twitter (@PgSsce) and Facebook (SSCE Postgraduates / @pgssce) to stay tuned. Should you have any questions / further enquiry, please do not hesitate to email us at [email protected].

Host or Publisher The Society for the Study of Christian Ethics (SSCE)