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Books > History > History of specific subjects > General
Clergy have historically been represented as figures of authority,
wielding great influence over our society. During certain periods
of American history, members of the clergy were nearly ever-present
in public life. But men and women of the clergy are not born that
way, they are made. And therefore, the matter of their education is
a question of fundamental public importance. In Clergy Education in
America, Larry Golemon shows not only how our conception of
professionalism in religious life has changed over time, but also
how the education of religious leaders have influenced American
culture. Tracing the history of clergy education in America from
the Early Republic through the first decades of the twentieth
century, Golemon tracks how the clergy has become increasingly
diversified in terms of race, gender, and class in part because of
this engagement with public life. At the same time, he demonstrates
that as theological education became increasingly intertwined with
academia the clergy's sphere of influence shrank significantly,
marking a turn away from public life and a decline in their
cultural influence. Clergy Education in America offers a sweeping
look at an oft-overlooked but critically important aspect of
American public life.
Established in 1871 on the outskirts of London, the Royal Indian
Engineering College at Coopers Hill was arguably the first
engineering school in Britain. For thirty-five years the college
helped staff the government institutions of British India
responsible for the railways, irrigation systems, telegraph
network, and forests. Founded to meet the high demand for engineers
in that country, it was closed thirty-five years later because its
educational innovations had been surpassed by Britain's
universities - on both occasions against the wishes of the
Government of India. Imperial Engineers offers a complete history
of the Royal Indian Engineering College. Drawing on the diaries of
graduates working in India, the college magazine, student and
alumni periodicals, and other archival documents, Richard Hornsey
details why the college was established and how the students'
education prepared them for their work. Illustrating the impact of
the college and its graduates in India and beyond, Imperial
Engineers illuminates the personal and professional experiences of
British men in India as well as the transformation of engineering
education at a time of social and technological change.
This literary analysis of the representation of 'Gypsies' in
juvenile literature is unique in its comparative scope, as well as
in the special attention to rare pre-1850 narratives, the period in
which juvenile literature developed as a specific genre. Most
studies on the subject are about one national literary tradition or
confined to a limited period. In this study Dutch, English, French
and German texts are analysed and discussed with reference to main
academic publications on the subject. Emphasis is on the rich
variation in narrative presentations, rather than on an inventory
of images or prejudices. An important topic is the fundamental
difference between early English and German narratives. Important
because of the wide dissemination of German stories.
Whose job is it to teach the public about sex? Parents? The
churches? The schools? And what should they be taught? These
questions have sparked some of the most heated political debates in
recent American history, most recently the battle between
proponents of comprehensive sex education and those in favor of an
"abstinence-only" curriculum. Kristy Slominski shows that these
questions have a long, complex, and surprising history. Teaching
Moral Sex is the first comprehensive study of the role of religion
in the history of public sex education in the United States. The
field of sex education, Slominski shows, was created through a
collaboration between religious sex educators-primarily liberal
Protestants, along with some Catholics and Reform Jews-and "men of
science"-namely physicians, biology professors, and social
scientists. She argues that the work of early religious sex
educators laid the foundation for both sides of contemporary
controversies that are now often treated as disputes between
"religious" and "secular" Americans. Slominski examines the
religious contributions to national sex education organizations
from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first. Far
from being a barrier to sex education, she demonstrates, religion
has been deeply embedded in the history of sex education, and its
legacy has shaped the terms of current debates. Focusing on
religion uncovers an under-recognized cast of characters-including
Quaker and Unitarian social purity reformers, military chaplains,
and the Young Men's Christian Association- who, Slominski deftly
shows, worked to make sex education more acceptable to the public
through a strategic combination of progressive and restrictive
approaches to sexuality. Teaching Moral Sex highlights the
essential contributions of religious actors to the movement for sex
education in the United States and reveals where their influence
can still be felt today.
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