Public Vision, Private Lives

Public Vision, Private Lives PDF Author: Mark Sydney Cladis
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231139694
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Mark S. Cladis pinpoints the origins of contemporary notions of the public and private and their relationship to religion in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His thesis cuts across many fields and issues-philosophy of religion, women's studies, democratic theory, modern European history, American culture, social justice, privacy laws, and notions of solitude and community-and wholly reconsiders the political, cultural, and legal nature of modernity in relation to religion. Turning to Rousseau's Garden, its inhabitants, the Solitaires, and the question of restoration and redemption that preoccupied much of Rousseau's thought, Cladis examines how Rousseau addressed the tension between the joys and moral obligations of social engagement and the desire for solitude. He was caught between two possibilities: active involvement in the creation of an enlightened and humane society or extrication from social entanglements in favor of cultivating a spiritual interior life. Yet Rousseau did not view this conflict as a desperate division. Rather, for him it was a moral struggle to be endured by those who had fallen from the Garden. For this edition Cladis has added a substantive introduction that discusses the role of religion in contemporary democratic societies, particularly in American public life. Cladis proposes four models of thinking about religion in public and champions what he calls spiritual democracy-a dynamic, culturally specific, and progressive democracy. Cladis argues that spiritual democracy refers not only to a society's legal codes and principles but also to its democratic culture and symbols and its daily practices and institutions. It encompasses the nation's character, diverse identities, and a distinctivel exchange between the nation's public vision and citizens' complex, private lives.

Public Vision, Private Lives

Public Vision, Private Lives PDF Author: Mark Sydney Cladis
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231139694
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 364

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mark S. Cladis pinpoints the origins of contemporary notions of the public and private and their relationship to religion in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His thesis cuts across many fields and issues-philosophy of religion, women's studies, democratic theory, modern European history, American culture, social justice, privacy laws, and notions of solitude and community-and wholly reconsiders the political, cultural, and legal nature of modernity in relation to religion. Turning to Rousseau's Garden, its inhabitants, the Solitaires, and the question of restoration and redemption that preoccupied much of Rousseau's thought, Cladis examines how Rousseau addressed the tension between the joys and moral obligations of social engagement and the desire for solitude. He was caught between two possibilities: active involvement in the creation of an enlightened and humane society or extrication from social entanglements in favor of cultivating a spiritual interior life. Yet Rousseau did not view this conflict as a desperate division. Rather, for him it was a moral struggle to be endured by those who had fallen from the Garden. For this edition Cladis has added a substantive introduction that discusses the role of religion in contemporary democratic societies, particularly in American public life. Cladis proposes four models of thinking about religion in public and champions what he calls spiritual democracy-a dynamic, culturally specific, and progressive democracy. Cladis argues that spiritual democracy refers not only to a society's legal codes and principles but also to its democratic culture and symbols and its daily practices and institutions. It encompasses the nation's character, diverse identities, and a distinctivel exchange between the nation's public vision and citizens' complex, private lives.

Private Lives/Public Consequences

Private Lives/Public Consequences PDF Author: William Henry Chafe
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674029321
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
A political leader's decisions can determine the fate of a nation, but what determines how and why that leader makes certain choices? William H. Chafe, a distinguished historian of twentieth century America, examines eight of the most significant political leaders of the modern era in order to explore the relationship between their personal patterns of behavior and their political decision-making process. The result is a fascinating look at how personal lives and political fortunes have intersected to shape America over the past fifty years. One might expect our leaders to be healthy, wealthy, genteel, and happy. In fact, most of these individuals--from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Martin Luther King, Jr., from John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton--came from dysfunctional families, including three children of alcoholics; half grew up in poor or only marginally secure homes; most experienced discord in their marriages; and at least two displayed signs of mental instability. What links this extraordinarily diverse group is an intense ambition to succeed, and the drive to overcome adversity. Indeed, adversity offered a vehicle to develop the personal attributes that would define their careers and shape the way they exercised power. Chafe probes the influences that forged these men's lives, and profiles the distinctive personalities that molded their exercise of power in times of danger and strife. The history of the United States from the Depression into the new century cannot be understood without exploring the dynamic and critical relationship between personal history and political leadership that these eight life stories so poignantly reveal.

Public Vision, Private Lives

Public Vision, Private Lives PDF Author: Mark Sydney Cladis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description


Religion in Public and Private Life (Routledge Revivals)

Religion in Public and Private Life (Routledge Revivals) PDF Author: Clarke E. Cochran
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131765031X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Religious crosses the spheres of both the private life and the public institution. In a liberal democracy, public and private interests and goals prove to be inseparable. Clarke Cochran’s interdisciplinary study brings political theory and the sociology of religion together in a fresh interpretation of liberal culture. First published in 1990, this analysis begins with a reassessment of the nature of the "public" and the "private" in relation to the political. The controversy over religion and politics is examined in light of such contested issues of political life as sexuality, abortion, and the changing nature of the family. Clarifying a number of debates central to contemporary society, this timely reissue will be of particular value to students with an interest in the relationship between religious, society, and politics.

Private Lives in the Public Sphere

Private Lives in the Public Sphere PDF Author: Todd Kontje
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271039582
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
Private Lives in the Public Sphere examines the Bildungsroman in the context of the rapid changes that affected the German literary revolution that made up for its belatedness in its rapidity and scope. The nature and quantity of reading material produced, the social status of the writer, and the reading habits of the public changed dramatically within a few decades. At the beginning of the century the new texts that appeared at the annual book fairs were primarily written in Latin and devoted to theology. By the end of the century the number of new publications each year has increased almost exponentially, with the novel leading the way. This new institution of literature constituted an important part of what J&ürgen Habermas has termed the &"public sphere,&" a forum for public debate in which members of the middle class, although still limited in their direct access to political power, could at least begin to articulate their problems and formulate their hopes. The Bildungsroman emerged during this period. This study focuses on moments of literary self-consciousness in the Bildungsroman as reflections on the rapid transformation of the German literary institution. The novels are viewed as examples of what Patricia Waugh has called &"metafiction,&" that is, &"fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality.&" By concentrating on the interaction between literary form and institutional context in these novels, it becomes possible to mediate between the extremes of those who would view literature as a mere reflection of historical conditions and those who would maintain the purity of the aesthetic object. Literature in this view neither re-creates reality nor does it escape reality; instead, it transforms reality, and the Bildungsroman is the genre that examines this transformation.

Public Spaces, Private Lives

Public Spaces, Private Lives PDF Author: Henry A. Giroux
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742525269
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
While many of the essays in this book were written before 9/11, they point to a number of important issues such as the commercialization of public life, the stepped up militarization, racial profiling, and the threat to basic civil liberties that have been resurrected since the terrorist attacks. Public Spaces, Private Lives serves to legitimate the claim that there is much in America that has not changed since 9/11. Rather than a dramatic change, what we are witnessing is an intensification and acceleration of the contradictions that threatened American democracy before the tragic events of 9/11. Hence, Public Spaces, Private Lives offers a context for both understanding and critically engaging the combined threats posed by the increase in domestic militarization and a neoliberal ideology that substitutes market values for those democratic values that are crucial to rethinking what a vibrant democracy would look like in the aftermath of September 11th.

The Private Lives of Public Birds

The Private Lives of Public Birds PDF Author: Jack Gedney
Publisher: Heyday Books
ISBN: 9781597145749
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
A book to help the ordinary birdwatcher appreciate the fascinating songs, stories, and science of common birds Jack Gedney's studies of birds provide resonant, affirming answers to the questions: Who is this bird? In what way is it beautiful? Why does it matter? Masterfully linking an abundance of poetic references with up-to-date biological science, Gedney shares his devotion to everyday Western birds in fifteen essays. Each essay illuminates the life of a single species and its relationship to humans, and how these species can help us understand birds in general. A dedicated birdwatcher and teacher, Gedney finds wonder not only in the speed and glistening beauty of the Anna's hummingbird, but also in her nest building. He acclaims the turkey vulture's and red-tailed hawk's roles in our ecosystem, and he venerates the inimitable California scrub jay's work planting acorns. Knowing that we hear birds much more often than we see them, Gedney offers his expert's ear to help us not only identify bird songs and calls but also understand what the birds are saying. The crowd at the suet feeder will never look quite the same again. Join Gedney in the enchanted world of these not-so-ordinary birds, each enlivened by a hand-drawn portrait by artist Anna Kus Park.

Religion, Theology, and American Public Life

Religion, Theology, and American Public Life PDF Author: Linell Elizabeth Cady
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791413036
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
In this book, Linell Cady analyzes the role of religion and theology in American public life.

Rousseau's God

Rousseau's God PDF Author: John T. Scott
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226825507
Category : Philosophical anthropology
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
"Rousseau's God offers a comprehensive interpretation of Rousseau's theological and religious writings, both in themselves and in relation to his philosophy of the natural goodness of man. John T. Scott argues that there is a complicated relationship between Rousseau's philosophy, on the one hand, and his theological and religious thought. This relationship revolves around two oppositions: first, between the attributes and psychological needs of natural man and social or moral man; second, between the criteria of truth and utility for evaluating theological and religious doctrines. In short, because the justification of nature through the natural goodness of man does not suffice for developed humans, Rousseau offers theological and religious doctrines which are less true than useful, psychologically, morally, or politically"--

The Once and Future Church Collection

The Once and Future Church Collection PDF Author: Loren B. Mead
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1566996635
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
In 1991 The Once and Future Church by Alban Institute founder and former director Loren B. Mead created an instant sensation in congregational circles with its prophetic insights into the life of the church in a post-Christendom era. Still often-quoted and in demand, the book stands as Alban's all-time best seller. Two subsequent titles, Transforming Congregations for the Future and Five Challenges for the Once and Future Church, extended Mead's original vision with similar success. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Once and Future Church, Alban released all three of these books as a single, special edition hardcover. In addition to these classic texts in beautiful, newly designed formats, this collection features an interview with Loren Mead discussing how his views have changed since the books' first publications and his current thoughts on directions for the church in the twenty-first century. This hardcover volume is the perfect gift for graduating seminary students, new congregational leaders, or for pastors whose original editions of these three books may be dog-eared or missing--and a wonderful addition to every church library. All who love the church and pray for the future of our congregations will value this opportunity to have Loren Mead's seminal works in a single, long-lived edition.