Developing Social Science and Religion for Liberation and Growth

Developing Social Science and Religion for Liberation and Growth
Author: Chris Adam-Bagley
Publisher: Ethics International Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2023-11-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1804411248

This book integrates humanist approaches in enabling both spiritual growth and social science knowledge in advocating for the emancipation of exploited women, children and youth, based on critical realism. Through an autoethnographic account of the first author’s journey from being a secular Jew, through Anglicanism, to Quakerism and then Islam, a pacifist-based social science methodology is developed. This approach describes attempts to understand and liberate sexually exploited youths in Bangladesh; exploited women and girls in Pakistan; and struggling women in Gaza, Palestine. The model attempts to integrate moral goals of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in seeking peaceful co-operation. Secular humanism is added, creating a research model which seeks the enhancement of human welfare through the universal ethic of the social contract, in which humans and their welfare are both interesting and exciting. A review of research on child sexual exploitation elaborates the model of child-centred humanism.

A Theology of Liberation

A Theology of Liberation
Author: Gustavo GutiŽerrez
Publisher: Orbis Books
Total Pages: 495
Release: 1988-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0883445425

This is the credo and seminal text of the movement which was later characterized as liberation theology. The book burst upon the scene in the early seventies, and was swiftly acknowledged as a pioneering and prophetic approach to theology which famously made an option for the poor, placing the exploited, the alienated, and the economically wretched at the centre of a programme where "the oppressed and maimed and blind and lame" were prioritized at the expense of those who either maintained the status quo or who abused the structures of power for their own ends. This powerful, compassionate and radical book attracted criticism for daring to mix politics and religion in so explicit a manner, but was also welcomed by those who had the capacity to see that its agenda was nothing more nor less than to give "good news to the poor", and redeem God's people from bondage.

Handbook of Development Policy Studies

Handbook of Development Policy Studies
Author: Gedeon M. Mudacumura
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 776
Release: 2004-04-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780824706029

Considering the current challenges to human progress, this reference book examines recent theories, policies, and sectoral priorities, as well as various social, economic, and administrative factors that impact worldwide modernization and development. The book emphasizes the fact that communities must evaluate continuously and adjust their program activities in order to achieve a genuine mode of development. This volume includes case studies demonstrating effective applications of the major operational tools for the layout and execution of major development policies and examines the current trends and future directions in development theories, policies, and practices in the 21st century.

Religion, Community and Development

Religion, Community and Development
Author: Gurpreet Mahajan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2010-06-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1136704558

By making religious community a relevant category for discussing development deficit, the Sachar Committee Report (that was submitted to the Prime Minister of India in 2007) initiated a new political discourse in India. While the liberal secular framework privileged the individual over the community and was more inclined to use the category of class rather than the identity of religion, the Sachar Committee differentiated citizens on the basis of their religious identity. Its conclusions reinforced the necessity of approaching issues of development through the optic of religious community. This volume focuses on this shift in public policy. The articles in this collection examine the nature and implications of this new approach to the Indian social reality. Taking a close look at the findings of the Sachar Committee Report (SCR) they highlight the challenges posed by inter-community comparisons. At another level the articles supplement the debate initiated by the SCR by constructing a profile of religious communities in India so as to factor in their concerns of development into the present discourse and to nuance and modify the simple indicators to which development is often reduced. As most religious communities are themselves engaged in development-related activities the volume also examines some of these initiatives in order to see what development connotes to the members themselves and what receives attention by the community. Students of social sciences and development studies as well as those dealing with issues of marginalization will find this collection an invaluable resource for understanding contemporary India and for undertaking further theoretical and empirical research.

Religion and Economic Justice

Religion and Economic Justice
Author: Michael Zweig
Publisher: Temple University Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781439901663

Original essays by distinguished contributors from economics, religious ethics, and biblical studies.

Qur'an of the Oppressed

Qur'an of the Oppressed
Author: Shadaab Rahemtulla
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 019879648X

This study analyses the commentaries of four Muslim intellectuals who have turned to scripture as a liberating text to confront an array of problems, from patriarchy, racism, and empire to poverty and interreligious communal violence. Shadaab Rahemtulla considers the exegeses of the South African Farid Esack (b. 1956), the Indian Asghar Ali Engineer (1939-2013), the African American Amina Wadud (b. 1952), and the Pakistani-American Asma Barlas (b. 1950). The authors considered all proritise the Qur'an over the hadith. Rahemtulla considers this an essential move for a Muslim liberation theology and concludes with proposals with a new construal of what a politically radical Islam might mean, sharply differentitated from Islamism. This work provides a rich analysis of the thought-ways of specific Muslim intellectuals, it substantiates a broadly framed school of thought. Rahemtulla draws out their specific and general importance without displaying an uncritical sympathy. He sheds light on the impact of modern exegetical commentary which is more self-conciously concerned with historical context and present realities. In a mutally reinforcing way, this work thus illuminates both the role of agency and heremnetucal approaches in Modern Islamic thought.

Religion and Development in Southern and Central Africa: Vol 2

Religion and Development in Southern and Central Africa: Vol 2
Author: Amanze, James N.
Publisher: Mzuni Press
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2020-01-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9996060764

This book is a result of a joint conference, which was held from 18th-22nd July 2017 under the theme Religion, Citizenship and Development – Southern African Perspectives." The theme of the conference was adopted in order to underline the importance and significance of religion in the socio-economic development of people in the world generally and in Southern and Central Africa in particular. The papers in the book are divided into two volumes. Volume one consists of papers which directly discuss religion and development in one form or another. The second volume contains papers that discuss religion and other pertinent issues related to development. The papers are grouped into sub-themes for ease of reference. These include Citizenship and Development, Migration and Development, Disability and Development, Pentecostal Churches and Development and Religion and Society. All in all, despite a divergence of sub-themes in volume two, all point to issues to do with the role of religion in development in Southern and Central Africa today.

Christianity, Social Change, and Globalization in the Americas

Christianity, Social Change, and Globalization in the Americas
Author: Anna Lisa Peterson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2001
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780813529318

This volume resulted from a collaborative research project into responses of Protestant and Catholic religious communities in the Americas to the challenges of globalization. Contributors from the fields of religion, anthropology, political science, and sociology draw on fieldwork in Peru, El Salvador, and the United States to show the interplay of economic globalization, migration, and growing religious pluralism in Latin America. Organized around three central themes-family, youth, and community; democratization, citizenship, and political participation; and immigration and transnationalism-the book argues that, at the local level, religion helps people, especially women and youths, solidify their identities and confront the challenges of the modern world. Religious communities are seen as both peaceful venues for people to articulate their needs, and forums for building participatory democracies in the Americas. Finally, the contributors examine how religion enfranchises poor women, youths, and people displaced by war or economic change and, at the same time, drives social movements that seek to strengthen family and community bonds disrupted by migration and political violence.

Asian Perspectives on Education for Sustainable Development

Asian Perspectives on Education for Sustainable Development
Author: Liz Jackson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2020-05-21
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000710920

This book critically considers what various Asian philosophies can contribute to a more substantive discourse on sustainability education and educational philosophy. The contributors examine how ‘east’ and ‘west’ interact in educational philosophy and practice in Asian contexts. As a collection, they provide a broad view of Asian sustainability thinking that is not dominated by Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, and post-colonialism, but rather which regards these themes—and other frameworks for sustainable education—as dynamic aspects of Asian contexts, both historically and today. As such, the book invites readers to consider the challenges and opportunities for theorising of sustainability in the philosophy of education, while also critically engaging with the way in which ‘Asia’ and ‘east’ are typically understood. Of interest to those researchers in Asian conceptions of sustainability, this book highlights a series of potential insights in relation to the often-foregrounded perspectives of Global North and western-based frameworks. The chapters were originally published in Educational Philosophy and Theory.

Liberation Theologies in the United States

Liberation Theologies in the United States
Author: Stacey M Floyd-Thomas
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2010-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 081472793X

Liberation Theologies in the United States reveals how the critical use of religion can be utilized to challenge and combat oppression in America. In the nascent United States, religion often functioned as a justifier of oppression. Yet while religious discourse buttressed such oppressive activities as slavery and the destruction of native populations, oppressed communities have also made use of religion to critique and challenge this abuse. As Liberation Theologies in the United States demonstrates, this critical use of religion has often taken the form of liberation theologies, which use primarily Christian principles to address questions of social justice, including racism, poverty, and other types of oppression. Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas and Anthony B. Pinn have brought together a stellar group of liberation theology scholars to provide a synthetic introduction to the historical development, context, theory, and goals of a range of U.S.-born liberation theologies: Black Theology—Anthony B. Pinn Womanist Theology—Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas Latina Theology—Nancy Pineda-Madrid Hispanic/Latino(a) Theology—Benjamín Valentín Asian American Theology—Andrew Sung Park Asian American Feminist Theology—Grace Ji-Sun Kim Native Feminist Theology—Andrea Smith Native American Theology—George (Tink) Tinker Gay and Lesbian Theology—Robert E. Shore-Goss Feminist Theology—Mary McClintock Fulkerson “An extraordinary resource for understanding the vitality of liberation theologies and their relation to social transformation in the changing U.S. context. Written in an accessible and engaged way, this powerful and informative text will inspire beginners and scholars alike. I highly recommend it."—Kwok Pui-lan, author of Postcolonial Imagination and Feminist Theology “A delight to read . . . [and] an exemplary account of the genre of liberation theologies." ―Religious Studies Review