ABSTRACT

Faith traditions continue to exert a strong influence on the lives of many people in developing countries. Religious beliefs can shape values about key development concerns, such as education and economics, and they frequently have an impact on styles of social and political organization. Moreover, many faith-based organizations are engaged in development-related activities, from service delivery to humanitarian aid and disaster relief. Nevertheless, in recent years, there has been a growing number of scholars and practitioners who have expressed concern at the failure of mainstream development theory and practice to consider the relationship between faith traditions and development (White and Tiongco 1997; Selinger 2004). A survey of three major development studies journals, between 1982 and 1998, revealed that religion and spirituality are ‘conspicuously under-represented in development literature and in the policies and programmes of development organizations’ (Ver Beek 2002: 68). There is, however, a burgeoning literature from ‘within’ religious traditions on development-related topics such as economics, sustainability and human rights. These themes have also been taken up within academic research outside the field of development: for instance, in religious studies, anthropology, sociology and economics (see the working papers of the Religion and Development Research Programme Consortium, available at https://www.rad.bham.ac.uk).