This research project would not have been possible without the strong and persistent support of several institutions and individuals. We are deeply indebted to the German Bishops Conference – and in particular its academic working group on Global Church Affairs (Wissenschaftliche Arbeitsgruppe für weltkirchliche Aufgaben) – for the sustained guidance and generous financial support that allowed this project and its preceding stages to come to fruition. We owe great gratitude to Prof Dr Johannes Müller SJ for his cogent leadership of the group and other learned working group members for their constructive comments and thoughtful suggestions. Dr Ulrich Dornberg, MISEREOR (Aachen), was very supportive in the initial stages of the research project and opened for us many doors of church organizations engaged in peace work. We also thank him for thoughtful comments on a former draft of the manuscript. No less, we thank Dr Heike Rumbach-Thome who has competently, patiently, and always friendly guided us in the administrative and managerial sides of project implementation.
Noteworthy also is the excellent interdisciplinary collaboration with a number of distinguished colleagues from the Institute for Autonomy and Governance at the Notre Dame University in Cotabato City, led by Attorney Benedicto Bacani, and a project team from the Department of Sociology at the University of Pattimura in Ambon City, working under the guidance of Prof Dr Tonny Pariela. In Ambon, we are also greatly indebted to Mrs Mona Litaaysohilait, Mrs Merry Nikilujuw, Rev Jacky Manuputty, Father Kees Böhm, Sister Brigitta Renyaan, and Bishop Peter Canisius Mandagi. For introducing us to his network of peace workers in Ambon, we owe gratitude to Dr Yandry Kurniawan (University of Indonesia, Jakarta). In the Philippines, we are also deeply indebted to Father Bert Layson (Pikit) and Father Sebastiano D’Ambra (Zamboanga City), who introduced us thoroughly and patiently to the intricacies and complexities of practical peace work on the ground. In addition, we thank Mr Benedikt Seemann (Konrad-Adenauer Foundation) for his interest in the project and the provision of access to his partner network in Mindanao.
Without the willingness of our interview partners to sacrifice considerable time to talk to us and share with us their vast expertise, we would have been unable to conduct the fieldwork for this project. We are deeply indebted to all of them. For the opportunity to present our preliminary findings and the excellent feedback we received, we also thank the organizers and participants of the workshop “Mixed Methods Approaches to Studying Peace and Conflict,” held at the University of Mannheim on 9–10 October 2017. The workshop was organized by the German Association for Peace and Conflict Studies’ (AFK) Methods Working Group.
In Freiburg, we thank Prof Theodor Hanf for allowing us to use parts of his questionnaire on religious attitudes as an input for drafting our own questionnaire. Mr Felix Ettensperger provided invaluable technical support in preparing and conducting the Qualitative Comparatie Analysis (QCA). Anne-Kathrin Weber, Teresa Merz, Sebastián Vásquez, Gabriel Velastegui, Lisa Göllert, Annalena Zunftmeister, Simon Straub, Kai Vorberg, Malte Seebens, and Raphael Steinhilber were extraordinarily competent and always reliable research assistants.
Lastly, we thank Alec Crutchley for his – as ever – careful proofreading of major parts of the text. Needless to say, any error committed in this study is the sole responsibility of the authors.