Ochendo: An African Journal of Innovative Studies

The lifetime of the Prince of Peace (Jesus Christ) from his infancy to the cross was conflict-laden. Despite the duality of his nature, his unparalleled love and peace blueprint for humankind, both physical and supernatural forces resisted the divine mission of Christ for the liberation and redemption of the world in order to avert its fulfilment. This article focused on the recorded conflicts encountered by Jesus Christ during his short redemptive ministry, particularly in his attempt to correct long established but wrong notions, hypocrisies and corrupt traditions under the guise of religion. The synoptic gospel writers and the gospel of John documented the conflicts that led to grave conspiracy against Christ and culminated in his death, but without exposition on his conflict management styles. This article therefore adopts a critical analytical method to examine the importance of the dual nature of the Prince of Peace, the recorded conflict scenarios involving him and other parties as well as the conflict management approaches he adopted in varied circumstances, which are analogous to but predated the Thomas-Kilmann model. This paper also underscores mediation and reconciliation as Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods employed by the Prince of Peace to resolve the age long conflict, end the alienation and restore peace between God and man. This paper concluded that the utopia peace, which is the quest of the world and the eschatological essence of Christ's title of the Prince of Peace, would only be attained during his millennial reign.

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