Sacred Places, Civic Purposes

by E. J. Dionne

Author	: E. J. Dionne
Publisher	: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages	: 378
Release	: 2004-05-13
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 9780815798453

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Long before there was a welfare state, there were efforts by religious congregations to alleviate poverty. Those efforts have continued since the establishment of government programs to help the poor, and congregations have often worked with government agencies to provide food, clothing and care, to set up after-school activities, provide teen pregnancy counseling, and develop programs to prevent crime. Until now, much of this church-state cooperation has gone on with limited opposition or notice. But the Bush Administration's new proposal to broaden support for "faith-based" social programs has heated up an already simmering debate. What are congregations' proper roles in lifting up the poor? What should their relationship with government be? Sacred Places, Civic Purposes explores the question with a lively discussion that crisscrosses every line of partisanship and ideology. The result of a series of conferences funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and sponsored by the Brookings Institution, this book focuses not simply on abstract questions of the promise and potential dangers of church-state cooperation, but also on concrete issues where religious organizations are leading problem solvers. The authors – experts in their respective fields and from various walks of life - examine the promises and perils of faith-based organizations in preventing teen pregnancy, reducing crime and substance abuse, fostering community development, bolstering child care, and assisting parents and children on education issues. They offer conclusions about what congregations are currently doing, how government could help, and how government could usefully get out of the way. Contributors include William T. Dickens (National Community Development Policy Analysis Network and the Brookings Institution), John DiIulio (White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and University of Pennsylvania), Floyd Flake (Allen AME Church and Manhattan Institute), Bill Ga

Culture Wars

by Roger Chapman

Author	: Roger Chapman
Publisher	: Routledge
Total Pages	: 2878
Release	: 2015-03-17
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 1317473507

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The term "culture wars" refers to the political and sociological polarisation that has characterised American society the past several decades. This new edition provides an enlightening and comprehensive A-to-Z ready reference, now with supporting primary documents, on major topics of contemporary importance for students, teachers, and the general reader. It aims to promote understanding and clarification on pertinent topics that too often are not adequately explained or discussed in a balanced context. With approximately 640 entries plus more than 120 primary documents supporting both sides of key issues, this is a unique and defining work, indispensable to informed discussions of the most timely and critical issues facing America today.

Sacred Space for the Missional Church

by William R. McAlpine

Author	: William R. McAlpine
Publisher	: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages	: 223
Release	: 2011-02-14
Genre	: Religion
ISBN	: 1608994686

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Sacred Space for the Missional Church examines the strong link between the theology and mission of the Church and the spaces in which and from which that theology and mission are lived out. The author demonstrates that the built environment is not incidental or even subservient to mission. Rather it is a key player in the fulfillment and the communication of that mission. The book begins with a working definition of the missional church, underscoring the connection between God's mission (missio Dei) and the Church's mission. The reader is presented with historical and theological frameworks for sacred space, and reminded of the pivotal role of the built environment in the fulfillment of the mission of the Church. The design and construction of sacred spaces are shown to be fundamentally a theological exercise and not solely a matter of function, pragmatics and fiscal astuteness. The author questions the uncritical application of blanket statements such "form must follow function," and challenges the conviction that it does not matter where worship occurs, only that it occurs. The book addresses genuine concerns such as legitimizing the cost of church buildings and concludes with practical suggestions and essential questions that must be considered in posturing the built environment within the missional praxis of the Church.

People of Faith

by John Schmalzbauer

Author	: John Schmalzbauer
Publisher	: Cornell University Press
Total Pages	: 288
Release	: 2018-10-18
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 1501718355

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Over the past two decades, a host of critics have accused American journalism and higher education of being indifferent, even openly hostile, to religious concerns. These professions, more than any others, are said to drive a wedge between facts and values, faith and knowledge, the sacred and the secular. However, a growing number of observers are calling attention to a religious resurgence—journalists are covering religion more frequently and religious scholars in academia are increasingly visible.John Schmalzbauer provides a compelling investigation of the role of Catholic and evangelical Protestant beliefs in the newsroom and the classroom. His interviews with forty prominent journalists and academics reveal how some people of faith seek to preserve their religious identities in purportedly secular professions. What impact, he asks, does their Christianity have on their jobs? What is the place of personal religious conviction in professional life? Individuals featured include the journalists Fred Barnes, Cokie Roberts, Peter Steinfels, Cal Thomas, and Kenneth Woodward, and the scholars John DiIulio, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Andrew Greeley, George Marsden, and Mark Noll.Some of the journalists and academics with whom Schmalzbauer spoke qualified displays of personal religious belief with reminders of their own professional credibility, drawing a line between advocacy and objectivity. Schmalzbauer highlights the persistent tensions between the worlds of public endeavor and private belief, yet he maintains there is room for faith even in professional environments that have tended to prize empiricism and detachment over expressions of personal conviction.

God and Government in the Ghetto

by Michael Leo Owens

Author	: Michael Leo Owens
Publisher	: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages	: 323
Release	: 2008-11-15
Genre	: Social Science
ISBN	: 0226642089

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In recent years, as government agencies have encouraged faith-based organizations to help ensure social welfare, many black churches have received grants to provide services to their neighborhoods’ poorest residents. This collaboration, activist churches explain, is a way of enacting their faith and helping their neighborhoods. But as Michael Leo Owens demonstrates in God and Government in the Ghetto, this alliance also serves as a means for black clergy to reaffirm their political leadership and reposition moral authority in black civil society. Drawing on both survey data and fieldwork in New York City, Owens reveals that African American churches can use these newly forged connections with public agencies to influence policy and government responsiveness in a way that reaches beyond traditional electoral or protest politics. The churches and neighborhoods, Owens argues, can see a real benefit from that influence—but it may come at the expense of less involvement at the grassroots. Anyone with a stake in the changing strategies employed by churches as they fight for social justice will find God and Government in the Ghetto compelling reading.

The Oxford Handbook of Church and State in the United States

by Derek H. Davis

Author	: Derek H. Davis
Publisher	: Oxford University Press
Total Pages	: 592
Release	: 2010-11-18
Genre	: Political Science
ISBN	: 0190208783

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Study of church and state in the United States is incredibly complex. Scholars working in this area have backgrounds in law, religious studies, history, theology, and politics, among other fields. Historically, they have focused on particular angles or dimensions of the church-state relationship, because the field is so vast. The results have mostly been monographs that focus only on narrow cross-sections of the field, and the few works that do aim to give larger perspectives are reference works of factual compendia, which offer little or no analysis. The Oxford Handbook of Church and State in the United States fills this gap, presenting an extensive, multidimensional overview of the field. Twenty-one essays offer a scholarly look at the intricacies and past and current debates that frame the American system of church and state, within five main areas: history, law, theology/philosophy, politics, and sociology. These essays provide factual accounts, but also address issues, problems, debates, controversies, and, where appropriate, suggest resolutions. They also offer analysis of the range of interpretations of the subject offered by various American scholars. This Handbook is an invaluable resource for the study of church-state relations in the United States.

Godly Republic

by John J. DiIulio

Author	: John J. DiIulio
Publisher	: Univ of California Press
Total Pages	: 328
Release	: 2007
Genre	: Political Science
ISBN	: 0520258002

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"Do you know if you are going to heaven?" -- Saved in South Jersey -- Just ask pops -- What would Madison and Franklin do? -- The founders' faithful consensus -- Myths 1 and 2 : a godly republic, not a secular state or a Christian nation --One nation, under God, for all -- A warm civic welcome, not a high legal wall -- Between Jefferson and Witherspoon : Madison -- Madison's multiplicity of sects versus the anti-federalists -- Most blessed compromise : the Bill of Rights -- Neo-anti-federalists versus judicial tyranny -- The court's neutrality doctrine -- Myths 3 and 4 : equal protection -- Blessings in the balance -- Strict separation doctrine's anti-Catholic roots -- Lemon aid stands : religion and education -- Free exercise versus indirect establishment -- Blame the founders, the anti-federalists, and the people -- The people's charitable choice -- Myths 5 and 6 : religious pluralists, not strict secularists or religious purists -- Bipartisan beliefs -- Purple people on church-state -- Turning red over religion? -- Two electoral extremes equal one-third -- Proxy government gets religion, 1996-2000 -- No Bush versus Gore on "faith-based" -- The president's bipartisan prayer -- Faith-based without works is dead -- Three steps on the road not taken -- Neutrality challenges : the Bush faith bill -- Believers only need apply? -- Religious voucher visions -- Hope in the semi-seen : Amachi -- The nation's spiritual capital -- Myths 7 and 8 : faith-based volunteer mobilization, not faith-saturated spiritual transformation -- Bowling alone versus praying together -- Big picture : bridging Blacks and whites -- Faithful Philadelphia : scores of services for people in need -- Putting faith in civic partnerships -- Esperanza objectivo : the three faith factors -- The republic's faith-based future -- Myths 9 and 10 : civiv ecumenism, not sectarian triumphalism or secular extremism -- Take prisoners : evangelical Christians versus secular liberals -- Do unto others : Pratt versus Pratt -- Think Catholic : church, state, and larger communities -- No post-poverty nation : Matthew 25 -- The faith-based future's blessings -- Second trinity : three faith-free principles -- Invest wisely : FBOS as civic value stocks -- Target blessings : young Black low-income males -- Honor thy Franklin : back to America's faith-based future.

Putting Faith in Partnerships

by Stephen V. Monsma

Author	: Stephen V. Monsma
Publisher	: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages	: 289
Release	: 2009-11-16
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 0472022563

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Putting Faith in Partnerships addresses a major conceptual change in American domestic policy, begun by Reagan and now fully realized by the Bush administration: the shift of responsibility for social services from the federal government to states and communities. In this groundbreaking study of a politically controversial topic---the debut offering in Alan Wolfe's Contemporary Political and Social Issues series---author Stephen Monsma avoids overheated rhetoric in favor of a careful, critical analysis of the hard evidence on whether public-private partnerships really work. The book is based on in-depth studies of social service programs in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas. By examining public-private partnerships between government offices and nonprofit organizations, Monsma seeks to understand how these partnerships affect the balance between government's efforts to deal with social problems and the rights of individual citizens to control their own lives. Putting Faith in Partnerships answers many previously unanswered questions in what may be the most controversial public policy debate today: about the feasibility and wisdom of government agencies forming partnerships with private organizations to provide essential public social services. Stephen V. Monsma is Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University. He has served as director of the Office of Quality Review in Michigan's Department of Social Services and is a widely recognized expert on the role of faith-based organizations in social service programs.

Living Faithfully in an Unjust World

by Melissa L. Caldwell

Author	: Melissa L. Caldwell
Publisher	: Univ of California Press
Total Pages	: 278
Release	: 2017
Genre	: Business & Economics
ISBN	: 0520285840

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What does it mean to be a compassionate, caring person in Russia, which has become a country of stark income inequalities and political restrictions? How might ethics and practices of kindness constitute a mode of civic participation in which “doing good”—helping, caring for, and loving one another in a world marked by many problems and few easy solutions—is a necessary part of being an active citizen? Living Faithfully in an Unjust World explores how, following the retreat of the Russian state from social welfare services, Russians’ efforts to “do the right thing” for their communities have forged new modes of social justice and civic engagement. Through vivid ethnography based on twenty years of research within a thriving Moscow-based network of religious and secular charitable service providers, Melissa L. Caldwell examines how community members care for a broad range of Russia’s population, in Moscow and beyond, through programs that range from basic health services to human rights advocacy. As the experiences of assistance workers, government officials, recipients, and supporters reveal, their work and beliefs are shaped by a practical philosophy of goodness and kindness. Despite the hardships these individuals witness on a regular basis, there is a pervasive sense of optimism that human kindness will prevail over poverty, injury, and injustice. Ultimately, what connects members of this diverse group is a shared belief that caring for others is not simply a practical matter or an idealistic vision but a project of faith and hope. Together care-seekers and care-givers destabilize and remake the meaning of “faith” and “faith-based” by putting into practice a vision of humanitarianism that transcends the boundaries between state and private, religious and secular.