Toward a Global Civilization? The Contribution of Religions

Creating a peaceful and sustainable global future is as much an ethical and spiritual matter as an economic, social, and legal one. To respond to the challenges resulting from today’s global economic and ecological interdependence, twenty-one distinguished scholars from the world’s major religions describe their traditions’ contributions to the development of a shared global ethic respectful of national, cultural, and religious diversity, and its applications in humane and effective global governance structures and systems. They show how each tradition frames comprehensive values for human society, contains seeds of world systems thinking, and approaches multireligious initiatives. These contributors are seekers, doers, and path-pointers on the human journey toward a global civilization, in which people of diverse cultures and belief systems will need to learn to live in true community.