Abstract
No society can experience sustainable development without peace. Thus, in a world greatly stricken by political, economic, social and religious instabilities, building peace becomes inevitable if sustainable development is to be realized. Some of the methods that have been used to build peace are liberal democratic practices, multi-party political systems, regular elections and free-market economics. Several frameworks which include security, political governance and transition, human rights, justice and reconciliation, humanitarian assistance, reconstruction and socio-economic development, and women and gender equality have also been used to create peace in Africa. The continuing instabilities in countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Sudan and Kenya, among others, show that some of these approaches are failing and need to be supplemented. This chapter therefore makes a contribution to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, Goal number 16, by investigating the role that the Bible can play in peace building and social development in Africa, especially in communities that largely identify as Christian. Building on Coward and Gordon’s (2004) argument that the Bible is a vital source for social togetherness, the chapter investigates the Bible’s role in peace building using data from document analysis, personal observations and historical narratives. It concludes that while some current approaches to peace building focus on communities and nations, peace building needs to begin at individual level.
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Togarasei, L., Makamure, C. (2023). The Bible, Peace Building and Sustainable Development in Africa. In: Kilonzo, S.M., Chitando, E., Tarusarira, J. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Religion, Peacebuilding, and Development in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36829-5_5
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