Elusive Togetherness

Elusive Togetherness PDF Author: Paul Lichterman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780691096506
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Many scholars and citizens alike have counted on civic groups to create broad ties that bind society. Some hope that faith-based civic groups will spread their reach as government retreats. Yet few studies ask how, if at all, civic groups reach out to their wider community. Can religious groups--long central in civic America--create broad, empowering social ties in an unequal, diverse society? Over three years, Paul Lichterman studied nine liberal and conservative Protestant-based volunteering and advocacy projects in a mid-sized American city. He listened as these groups tried to create bridges with other community groups, social service agencies, and low-income people, just as the 1996 welfare reforms were taking effect. Counter to long-standing arguments, Lichterman discovered that powerful customs of interaction inside the groups often stunted external ties and even shaped religion's impact on the groups. Comparing groups, he found that successful bridges outward depend on group customs which invite reflective, critical discussion about a group's place amid surrounding groups and institutions. Combining insights from Alexis de Tocqueville, John Dewey, and Jane Addams with contemporary sociology, Elusive Togetherness addresses enduring questions about civic and religious life that elude the popular "social capital" concept. To create broad civic relationships, groups need more than the right religious values, political beliefs, or resources. They must learn new ways of being groups.

Christians Under Covers

Christians Under Covers PDF Author: Kelsy Burke
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520286332
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
"Christians under Covers shifts how scholars and popular media talk about religious conservatives and sex. In an ethnography drawn from Christian sexuality websites, Kelsy Burke examines how some evangelical Christians use digital media to promote the idea that God wants married, heterosexual couples to have satisfying sex lives. These evangelicals maintain their religious beliefs while incorporating feminist and queer language into their talk of sexuality--encouraging sexual knowledge, emphasizing women's pleasure, and justifying marginal sexual practices within Christian marriages. This book complicates boundaries between normal and subversive, empowered and oppressed, and sacred and profane"--Provided by publisher.

Theopoetics and Religious Difference

Theopoetics and Religious Difference PDF Author: Marius van Hoogstraten
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 3161598008
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
"Why are interreligious encounters and relations both more troubling and more promising than typically assumed, and how can this be embraced? In engaging the contemporary theological discourse of "theopoetics," Marius van Hoogstraten offers a way of approaching religious difference that, while perhaps unusual to readers familiar with more conventional theology, may be especially fitting for this age."--Provided by publisher

Giving Circles

Giving Circles PDF Author: Angela M. Eikenberry
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253220858
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Describes giving circles and how they work to meet social needs and solve community problems and examines the role of philanthropy in democratic society.

Religion and Volunteering

Religion and Volunteering PDF Author: Lesley Hustinx
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319045857
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Religion is considered a key predictor of volunteering: the more religious people are, the more likely they are to volunteer. This positive association enjoys significant support in current research; in fact, it could be considered the ‘default perspective’ on the relationship between both phenomena. In this book, the authors claim that, although the dominant approach is legitimate and essential, it nonetheless falls short in grasping the full complexity of the interaction between religion and volunteering. It needs to be recognized that there are tensions between religion and volunteering, and that these tensions are intensifying as a result of the changing meaning and role of religion in society. Therefore, the central aim and contribution of this book is to demonstrate that the relationship between religion and volunteering is not univocal but differentiated, ambiguous and sometimes provocative. By introducing the reader to a much wider landscape of perspectives, this volume offers a richer, more complex and variable understanding. Apart from the established positive causality, the authors examine tensions between religion and volunteering from the perspective of religious obligation, religious change, processes of secularization and notions of post-secularity. They further explore how actions that are considered altruistic, politically neutral and motivated by religious beliefs can be used for political reasons. This volume opens up the field to new perspectives on religious actors and on how religion and volunteering are enacted outside Western liberal and Christian societies. It emphasizes interdisciplinary perspectives, including theology, philosophy, sociology, political science, anthropology and architecture.

Elusive Togetherness

Elusive Togetherness PDF Author: Paul Lichterman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780691096506
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 331

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Book Description
Many scholars and citizens alike have counted on civic groups to create broad ties that bind society. Some hope that faith-based civic groups will spread their reach as government retreats. Yet few studies ask how, if at all, civic groups reach out to their wider community. Can religious groups--long central in civic America--create broad, empowering social ties in an unequal, diverse society? Over three years, Paul Lichterman studied nine liberal and conservative Protestant-based volunteering and advocacy projects in a mid-sized American city. He listened as these groups tried to create bridges with other community groups, social service agencies, and low-income people, just as the 1996 welfare reforms were taking effect. Counter to long-standing arguments, Lichterman discovered that powerful customs of interaction inside the groups often stunted external ties and even shaped religion's impact on the groups. Comparing groups, he found that successful bridges outward depend on group customs which invite reflective, critical discussion about a group's place amid surrounding groups and institutions. Combining insights from Alexis de Tocqueville, John Dewey, and Jane Addams with contemporary sociology, Elusive Togetherness addresses enduring questions about civic and religious life that elude the popular "social capital" concept. To create broad civic relationships, groups need more than the right religious values, political beliefs, or resources. They must learn new ways of being groups.

Contract, Culture, and Citizenship

Contract, Culture, and Citizenship PDF Author: Mark E. Button
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271046155
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
"Explores the concept of the social contract and how it shapes citizenship. Argues that the modern social contract is an account of the ethical and cultural conditions upon which modern citizenship depends"--Provided by publisher.

For Seven Lifetimes

For Seven Lifetimes PDF Author: Vatsala Sperling
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1594778353
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
How to cultivate a successful marriage based on shared values and spiritual growth • With new chapters on their past 15 years together, stories of happy marriages modeled on the book, marital “obedience,” and the family way to world peace • Reveals how a couple can become an engine for higher spiritual experiences • Includes more than 60 letters written between the authors during their courtship and over 100 full-color photographs, including their traditional wedding in India Defying the norms of her culture and tradition, a highly educated Tamil Brahmin woman decides to arrange her own marriage. Simultaneously, an American book publisher--disillusioned with love in the Western world--looks to India to find a wife by placing an ad in an Indian newspaper. A dialogue between two souls, two families, and two cultures, For Seven Lifetimes chronicles the year-long written courtship of this pair as they share their beliefs on sexuality, desire, gender roles, careers, parenthood, spirituality, and religion. By appreciating the similarities and differences in their worldviews, they initiate a union that reflects their ideals as a couple and the life they will create together. Revealing the secrets to a fulfilling relationship based on shared values and spiritual growth, Vatsala and Ehud outline the principles needed to truly understand the roles of husband and wife and the questions to ask to recognize true spiritual compatibility. With new chapters on the 15 years since their wedding day, stories of happy marriages inspired by and modeled on the book, marital “obedience,” and how a couple can become an engine for higher spiritual experiences, this new edition shows how the successful marriage reflects the greater union between the masculine and the feminine.

Post-Christendom Studies: Volume 3

Post-Christendom Studies: Volume 3 PDF Author: Steven M. Studebaker
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532699395
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 151

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Book Description
Post-Christendom Studies publishes research on the nature of Christian identity and mission in the contexts of post-Christendom. Post-Christendom refers to places, both now and in the past, where Christianity was once a significant cultural presence, though not necessarily the dominant religion. Sometimes “Christendom” refers to the official link between church and state. The term “post-Christendom” is often associated with the rise of secularization, religious pluralism, and multiculturalism in western countries over the past sixty years. Our use of the term is broader than that however. Egypt for example can be considered a post-Christendom context. It was once a leading center of Christianity. “Christendom” moreover does not necessarily mean official public and dominant religion. For example, under Saddam Hussein, Christianity was probably a minority religion, but, for the most part, Christians were left alone. After America deposed Saddam, Christians began to flee because they became a persecuted minority. In that sense, post-Saddam Iraq is an experience of post-Christendom—it is a shift from a cultural context in which Christians have more or less freedom to exercise their faith to one where they are persecuted and/or marginalized for doing so.

Partisan Publics

Partisan Publics PDF Author: Ann Mische
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691141045
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 455

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Book Description
During the 1980s and 1990s, Brazil struggled to rebuild its democracy after twenty years of military dictatorship, experiencing financial crises, corruption scandals, political protest, and intense electoral contention. In the midst of this turmoil, Ann Mische argues in this remarkable book, youth activists of various stripes played a vital and unrecognized role, contributing new forms of political talk and action to Brazil's emerging democracy. Drawing upon extensive and rich ethnography as well as formal network analysis, Mische tracks the lives of young activists through intersecting political networks, including student movements, church-based activism, political parties, nongovernmental organizations, and business and professional organizations. She probes the problems and possibilities they encountered in combining partisan activism with other kinds of civic involvement. In documenting activists' struggles to develop cross-partisan publics of various kinds, Mische explores the distinct styles of communication and leadership that emerged across organizations and among individuals. Drawing on the ideas of Habermas, Gramsci, Dewey, and Machiavelli, Partisan Publics highlights political communication styles and the forms of mediation and leadership they give rise to--for democratic politics in Brazil and elsewhere. Insightful in its discussion of culture, methodology, and theory, Partisan Publics argues that partisanship can play a significant role in civic life, helping to build relations and institutions in an emerging democracy.

Faith and Race in American Political Life

Faith and Race in American Political Life PDF Author: Robin Dale Jacobson
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 081393205X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Drawing on scholarship from an array of disciplines, this volume provides a deep and timely look at the intertwining of race and religion in American politics. The contributors apply the methods of intersectionality, but where this approach has typically considered race, class, and gender, the essays collected here focus on religion, too, to offer a theoretically robust conceptualization of how these elements intersect--and how they are actively impacting the political process. Contributors Antony W. Alumkal, Iliff School of Theology * Carlos Figueroa, University of Texas at Brownsville * Robert D. Francis, Lutheran Services in America * Susan M. Gordon, independent scholar * Edwin I. Hernández, DeVos Family Foundations * Robin Dale Jacobson, University of Puget Sound * Robert P. Jones, Public Religion Research Institute * Jonathan I. Leib, Old Dominion University * Jessica Hamar Martínez, University of Arizona * Eric Michael Mazur, Virginia Wesleyan College * Sangay Mishra, University of Southern California * Catherine Paden, Simmons College * Milagros Peña, University of Florida * Tobin Miller Shearer, University of Montana * Nancy D. Wadsworth, University of Denver * Gerald R. Webster, University of Wyoming