Are Americans less civil than they used to be? If so, is that a bad thing? Perhaps we are just learning to be more honest. And what does civility mean? Is it just good manners? It so, perhaps it is only the complaint of privileged classes, annoyed that taxi drivers are increasingly rude and that men no longer give up their seats to women on public transportation. Or is civility a question of morality? The philosopher Peter Bertocci once argued that promptness is a fundamental form of social justice. In this lively conversation on an increasingly significant theme, major philosophers and religious scholars argue the issue on three levels. The first is manners: Henry Rosemont argues the Confucian case that manners are the substance of social relations, while Edwin Delattre and Adam Seligman believe that the issue is deeper than that; and the sociologist Alan Wolfe is persuaded that we are not less civil or ill-mannered than our predecessors. Secondly, as a social issue, James Schmidt, Lawrence Cahoone, and Adam Seligman turn to questions of structure and meaning in a civil society; Ninian Smart, David Wong, and Virginia Straus put the issue in a cross-cultural context; and Carrie Doehring warns that civility may be a barrier to honest Communication in family life. Finally, the metaphysical and religious dimensions of civility are explored by Robert Pippin and Adam McClellan. There seems to be a consensus that the lack of civility is, indeed, an increasing problem, that it is more than a class issue of manners, and that its current loss is troubling for contemporary society.

As the federal system of entitlements and social services long provided by New Deal--era programs is dismantled and shifted to the states, the religious community finds itself relied upon more than ever to assist with social services for the needy.

"The Newer Deal" calls upon religious-based organizations and the social work--social service community to put aside their differences and forge a "limited partnership" to provide the social and welfare services that millions depend on. The proposed partnership focuses on joint care for those in need -- with attention to services for people of color, gays and lesbians, women, and programs for community empowerment and economic development -- while maintaining the values and other interests each partner traditionally holds.

The authors discuss different types of religious-based social services and draw on case examples and research findings to show how the religious community's role in providing social services is stronger than ever. They examine the relationship between the religious and the social work--social service communities, as well as the issues that have divided the two, and explain the ways in which concern for the poor is integral to the major faith groups.

Whereas many books look at how women's "bodies" are represented in different religions and cultures around the world, this work explores the site of a woman's voice and identity, her "head," The female head threatens to disrupt the classic gender distinctions that link men to speech, identity, and mind while relegating women to silence, anonymity, and flesh. The contributors to this collection argue that the objectification of women as sexual and reproductive bodies results in their symbolic beheading. Decapitation occurs symbolically in myths as well as in actual practices such as veiling, head covering, and cosmetic highlighting, which by sexualizing a woman's face turns it into an extension of her body.
The essays explore how similar treatments of the female head find their unique articulation in diverse religious traditions and cultures: in Hindu myths of beheading, in Buddhist and Tantric practices and poetry about the hair of female nuns, in the resistance to veiling by early Christian women at Corinth, in contemporary veiling practices in a Turkish village, in the eroticization of the female mouth in ancient Judaism, and in Greek and Roman cosmetic practices.
Together these essays show how the depiction of the female head is critical for an understanding of gender and its influence on other fundamental religious and cultural issues.

As head of the Sufi Order in the West, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan has been conducting workshops and giving personal counseling for over thirty years. Introducing Spirituality into Counseling and Therapy sums up Pir Vilayat's experience in applying spiritual principles to everyday life situations, problem solving, and personal growth. Among the topics explored are spiritualizing emotion, personality and the divine inheritance, relationship, creativity, awakening and cause and purpose. Pir Vilayat gives detailed instructions for many meditation practices that can be used to bring fresh insights to bear on specific problems. Everyone concerned with human growth, whether professionally or on a more personal level, will find inspiration in this book.

This volume focuses on the role that religion and spirituality can play in recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other forms of trauma, including moral injury. Religious texts, from the Bible to Buddhist scriptures, have always contained passages that focus on helping those who have experienced the trauma of war. Many religions have developed psychological, social, behavioral, and spiritual ways of coping and healing that can work in tandem with clinical treatments today in assisting recovery from PTSD and moral injury. In this book the authors review and discuss systematic research into how religion helps people cope with severe trauma, including trauma caused by natural disasters, intentional interpersonal violence, or combat experiences during war. They delve into the impact that spirituality has in both the development of and recovery from PTSD. Beyond reviewing research, they also use case vignettes throughout to illustrate the very human story of recovery from PTSD, and how religious or spiritual beliefs can both help or hinder depending on circumstance. A vital work for any mental health or religious professionals who seek to help people dealing with severe trauma and loss.

Meeting the psychological and spiritual needs of patients is vital to supporting their wellbeing in health care settings. To develop an effective, holistic and inclusive approach to care within predominantly medical health care models, practitioners across health care disciplines must work collaboratively to understand the complex, significant relationships between their patients' medical, therapeutic and spiritual requirements. Bridging the gap between care disciplines, the book presents an innovative vision of patient wellbeing enriched by a synthesis of psychological, spiritual and medical approaches. Prominent practitioners from a range of disciplines including nursing and psychiatry demonstrate how their psycho-spiritual approaches meet the individual needs of patients, adapting to their emotional, spiritual and religious requirements. Accessible and enlightening, this book offers significant practical insight into the role of psychologically informed spiritual care.

This new edited collection explores the intersection of spiritual direction and counselling/psychotherapy, and the relationship between the two. Citing the influencing effect prayer and counselling have had on each other, the contributors offer insight into the similarities and differences of spiritual direction and counselling, and of what the disciplines have to learn from each other. Advocating the importance of addressing the spiritual dimension of care in areas such as mental health and social care, this book promotes a synthesis of pastoral guidance and psychological counselling. The chapters offer insight to the healing role spirituality and prayer can play when counselling for trauma, sexual abuse or loss of a loved one. Whether discussing training counsellors to be spiritually literate, or exploring how spiritual accompaniers can take a psychologically-informed approach, all the contributors bring their extensive experience to bear working with spiritual and psychological issues.

Providing a bridge between research in healthcare and spirituality and practitioner perspectives, these essays on chaplaincy in healthcare continue dialogue around constructing, negotiating and researching spiritual care and discuss the critical issues in chaplaincy work, including assisted suicide and care in children's hospices. Each section of the book is introduced by an academic theologian, giving the book a strong theoretical base, before serving healthcare chaplains offer their perspectives and experiences with material drawn from practice in a broad spectrum of healthcare contexts. The integration of theory and practical application in these essays will be of interest to chaplains, healthcare practitioners, and students of theology and healthcare.

Elfie Hinterkopf describes the Experiential Focusing Method, a model to help clients work through religious and spiritual problems, deepen existing spiritual experiences, and bring about new, life-giving connections to spirituality. Focusing can be used in conjunction with any psychotherapeutic model and is an essential part of any mental health professional or counselor's repertoire. Through Focusing, the client learns to examine subtle, but concrete, bodily feelings that are a vital part of spiritual discovery and growth. Hinterkopf describes the Six Focusing Steps and illustrates the attitudes crucial to the Focusing process (receptive, expectant, patient, and accepting) with case examples, revealing how they help facilitate spiritual development. She also discusses how counselors can use Focusing to explore their own spirituality and outlines special considerations to ensure that sessions suit the individual client's religious tradition or spiritual orientation.

This is an historical survey of 20th Century Roman Catholic Theological Ethics (also known as moral theology). The thesis is that only through historical investigation can we really understand how the most conservative and negative field in Catholic theology at the beginning of the 20th could become by the end of the 20th century the most innovative one. The 20th century begins with moral manuals being translated into the vernacular. After examining the manuals of Thomas Slater and Henry Davis, Keenan then turns to three works and a crowning synthesis of innovation all developed before, during and soon after the Second World War. The first by Odon Lottin asks whether moral theology is adequately historical; Fritz Tillmann asks whether it's adequately biblical; and Gerard Gilleman, whether it's adequately spiritual. Bernard Haering integrates these contributions into his Law of Christ. Of course, people like Gerald Kelly and John Ford in the US are like a few moralists elsewhere, classical gate keepers, censoring innovation. But with Humanae vitae, and successive encyclicals, bishops and popes reject the direction of moral theologians. At the same time, moral theologians, like Josef Fuchs, ask whether the locus of moral truth is in continuous, universal teachings of the magisterium or in the moral judgment of the informed conscience. In their move toward a deeper appreciation of their field as forming consciences, they turn more deeply to local experience where they continue their work of innovation. Each continent subsequently gives rise to their own respondents: In Europe they speak of autonomy and personalism; in Latin America, liberation theology; in North America, Feminism and Black Catholic theology; and, in Asia and Africa a deep post-colonial interculturatism. At the end I assert that in its nature, theological ethics is historical and innovative, seeking moral truth for the conscience by looking to speak crossculturally. >

Facing a Pandemic traces the history and spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in Africa and its impact on African society and public policy before considering new priorities needed to combat the pandemic. The central argument is that the theological motif of the image of God invites a prophetic critique of the social environment in which HIV/AIDS thrives and calls for a praxis of love and compassion.

A collection of caregiving tools combining the values of Jewish tradition and self-relationsuseful for practitioners of ANY faith! Self-relations, a powerful framework for doing respectful and humane caregiving for oneself and for others is here brought into relationship with Jewish thought. Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other's Keeper is an extensive resource for caregiving tools and approaches. Using Jewish tradition and Self-Relations as take-off points, experts from many fields provide insightful perspectives and effective strategies for caregiving. In the language of self-relations each of us is not referred to as a Self. Instead, each of us is more accurately described as a relationship between selvesrelationship is the basic psychological and religious unit! Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other's Keeper sensitively centers on relationships and the healing process, using the understanding that to spark healing in others, a loving, respectful relationship must first be present between every aspect of our selves. Thirty-six categories of caregiving are comprehensively presented, allowing its use as a helpful resource for any clergy considering any of the included topics. Each author's personal reflections, and personal experiences using care tools clearly illustrate how love-respect relationships within oneself can transcend into effective care for others. Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other's Keeper provides helpful tools and explores: the use of language as a relational care tool time management for optimum performance for oneself and for others compassion fatigue, the need for self-care, and nurturing your own spiritual and psychological development purposeful visiting as a sacred task silence as an important part of spiritual care the profound difference made in lives through relational listening music as sacred powera communion between humans and the Divine chanting as an intimate expression of the soul creative ritual in relational healing spontaneous prayer, and its place in relational care relational care with other faiths inside and outside of the community care for those going through divorce care when a pregnancy is unwelcome relational care for sexual orientation and gender identity issues successful caring for those who don't care about you dealing with traumatic loss care for those who have sinned sexually fragile relationships care with the healthy aging relational care and retired clergy care for those traumatized by sexual abuse care for the cognitively impaired, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled care for the final moments of life care for the sick and dying care within the grieving process Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other's Keeper is practical, insightful reading for clergy and caregivers of all denominations, educators, students, and lay people who care about clergy and their work.

Gender, Religion and Diversity provides an introduction to some of the most challenging perspectives in the contemporary study of gender and religion. In recent years, women's and gender studies have transformed the international study of religion through the use of interdisciplinary and cross-cultural methodologies, which have opened up new and highly controversial issues, challenging previous paradigms and creating fresh fields of study. As this book shows, gender studies in religion raises new and difficult questions about the gendered nature of religious phenomena, the relationship between power and knowledge, the authority of religious texts and institutions, and the involvement and responsibility of the researcher undertaking such studies as a gendered subject. This book is the outcome of an international collaboration between a wide range of researchers from different countries and fields of religious studies. The range and diversity of their contributions is the very strength of this book, for it shows how gendering works in studying different religious materials, whether foundational texts from the Bible or Koran, philosophical ideas about truth, essentialism, history or symbolism, the impact of French feminist thinkers such as Irigaray or Kristeva, or again critical perspectives dealing with the impact of race, gender, and class on religion, or by deconstructing religious data from a postcolonial critical standpoint or examining the impact of imperialism and orientalism on religion and gender.

"The Jewish Social Contract" begins by asking how a traditional Jew can participate politically and socially and in good faith in a modern democratic society, and ends by proposing a broad, inclusive notion of secularity.

David Novak takes issue with the view--held by the late philosopher John Rawls and his followers--that citizens of a liberal state must, in effect, check their religion at the door when discussing politics in a public forum. Novak argues that in a "liberal democratic state, members of faith-based communities--such as tradition-minded Jews and Christians--ought to be able to adhere to the broad political framework wholly in terms of their own religious tradition and convictions, and without setting their religion aside in the public sphere.

Novak shows how social contracts emerged, rooted in biblical notions of covenant, and how they developed in the rabbinic, medieval, and "modern periods. He offers suggestions as to how Jews today can best negotiate the modern social contract while calling upon non-Jewish allies to aid them in the process. "The Jewish Social Contract" will prove an enlightening and innovative contribution to the ongoing debate about the role of religion in liberal democracies.

Historicamente, las organizaciones basadas en la fe (OBF) han desempenado una funcion importante en la prestacion de servicios sociales y de salud en paises en desarrollo; sin embargo, poco se ha investigado sobre su papel en la prevencion y la atencion del VIH, particularmente en America Latina. Este trabajo describe la participacion de las OBF en el abordaje de la epidemia del VIH/sida en Belice, Guatemala y Honduras. Los autores describen la variedad de actividades que desarrollan las OBF, y analizan las ventajas y los desafios de dicha participacion, asi como las posibles acciones que las OBF pueden adoptar para mejorar su labor, tanto en forma independiente como en colaboracion con otras organizaciones, tales como los ministerios de salud.

This lively book focuses on how different Jewish, Muslim, and Christian communities engage with new media. Rather than simply reject or accept new media, religious communities negotiate complex relationships with these technologies in light of their history and beliefs. Heidi Campbell suggests a method for studying these processes she calls the "religious-social shaping of technology" and students are asked to consider four key areas: religious tradition and history; contemporary community values and priorities; negotiation and innovating technology in light of the community; communal discourses applied to justify use.

A wealth of examples such as the Christian e-vangelism movement, Modern Islamic discourses about computers and the rise of the Jewish kosher cell phone, demonstrate the dominant strategies which emerge for religious media users, as well as the unique motivations that guide specific groups.

In A Child Sees God, Howard Worsley explores how we can all learn from a child's perspective of the world and shows how a child's eye view of the Bible reveals many interesting ideas about ethics and morality, and provides new ways of understanding these ancient stories. By asking families to read Bible stories to their children and discuss these stories with them, recording the ensuing conversations, Howard Worsley offers not only fresh insights into the meaning and significance of these stories but also reflections on how adults can use the Biblical text in the company of children at different stages of development. Following the theory that all stories ever written fall into one of seven categories, this book shows that the themes of the Bible are no different, dividing stories into sections containing texts of wonder, adventure and leadership, terror, justice and judgement, comfort and hope, comedy, and mercy and forgiveness. This fresh look at the Bible through the eyes of children will be a fascinating read for parents, teachers, ministers, and anyone with an interest in child spirituality or ethics.

Commissioned by the Blanton-Peale Institute, Cultivating Wholeness is a practical, comprehensive, contemporary guide to community care and counseling. Margaret Zipse Kornfeld, a pastoral psychotherapist for almost thirty years, focuses on wholeness, the dynamics change, an inclusive understanding of spirituality, the caregiver/ counselor, and on community as not merely the context for healing but also the means by which healing happens.>

The Spanish language translation of The New Day Journal.

Learn: Pastoral Care is written for all ordained and lay pastoral ministers, youth and children's workers, community leaders, chaplains and volunteers working in all branches of health and residential care. This latest volume in the Learn series is designed to provide you with an introductory resource and guidance on Christian pastoral care and to help you to reflect upon your care for others as well as yourself. This publication is divided into four parts. The first part explores what Christians mean by pastoral care and why we care from biblical, theological and missional perspectives. The second part considers who could or should provide pastoral care, the opportunities for the Church to work in partnership with other professional organisations and where pastoral care should be offered. The third part focuses on various ways that pastoral care could be offered, while looking at the significance of self-awareness when offering care to others and caring for the self. Finally, the fourth part explores seven selected themes of pastoral care, each of which deals with two topics and suggests practical guidance. Each part begins with a `My Story', which shares a real-life experience of pastoral care, and closes with a prayer. Selected themes include: * Caring for children and young people * Relationships and separation * Loneliness and isolation * Mental health struggles * Dementia * Caring for the terminally ill and their loved ones * Bereavement Attractively illustrated throughout and illuminated by real life human stories, this is an essential volume for all involved in working in this key area of ministry.

At first glance, Orthodox Judaism is not compatible with the prevailing world view of equal treatment for all people, regardless of their race, gender or religion. But modern Orthodox Jews share the sense that egalitarianism is a positive moral value, so they cannot simply dismiss this contemporary ethos as incompatible with their faith. In a range of ways and variety of perspectives from the leading Orthodox scholars in the field, this collection of essays explores the affinities and disaffinities between egalitarianism and Jewish tradition.