Dealing with Church and (Religious) Organizational Conflicts

This course offers an in-depth exploration of conflict management and resolution within religious organizations, with a particular focus on religious sectarianism and its role in fuelling conflicts. Students will examine the complex relationship between identity, religion, and conflict, exploring how different identities and interpretations of religious beliefs can lead to misunderstandings and violence. Through readings, lectures, case studies, and practical exercises, students will learn strategies for identifying and addressing identity-based conflicts, including those related to ethnicity, culture, and historical formation of identity. The course will also cover the political and psychological perspectives on identity and religion, major religious traditions, and views about war and peace. By the end of the course, students will have gained practical skills for intervening in religious conflicts and promoting peaceful resolution of conflicts within religious organizations.