Beyond Theological Essentialism and Ethnic Reductionism: A Review Essay about Religion and the Peace Process in Sri Lanka

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

I review the extant research literature about the role of religious leaders
and organizations in the peace process in Sri Lanka. I conclude that we know
very little about most of the religious communities in the country. In fact, I
have not been able to identify any serious research about the religious leaders
or organizations in the Hindu, Muslim or Christian communities. Some
research has been carried out on the role of Buddhist leaders and
organizations. However, I believe that a large part of this academic literature
may be classified as either theological essentialism or ethnic reductionism.
Theological essentialism takes religious doctrine as its point of departure,
whereas ethnic reductionism sees religion as a static aspect of ethnic identity.
In my view, both of these approaches have shortcomings. I propose that future
research focus less on religion as doctrine and religion as a constituent of
ethnic identity, and more on religious organizations in a transnational context,
and religious leaders and their ways of exercising authority. I suggest some areas where more research would be valuable, particularly on matters related
to the minority religions and their ambitions in a transnational context.

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