by Henry A. Giroux (2011)
"For thirty years Henry Giroux has been theorizing pedagogy as a political, moral, and cultural practice, drawing upon critical discourses that extend from John Dewey and Zygmunt Bauman to Paulo Freire. This impassioned book starts with the crucial role of pedagogy in schools before extending the notion to the educational force of the wider culture. Giroux focuses on five crucial elements associated with critical pedagogy. First, he presents an overview of the term as it applies to schooling and to larger cultural spheres. Second, he analyzes the increasingly empirical orientation of teaching, focusing on the culture of positivism. Section Three examines some of the major economic, social, and political forces undermining the promise of democratic schooling in both public and higher education. Giroux then outlines increasing attempts by both right wing and liberal interests to reduce schooling to training and students merely to customers. Finally, the book focuses on the legacy of Paulo Freire and issues a fundamental challenge to educators, public intellectuals, and others who believe in the promise of a radical democracy."--Pub. desc.
James Choung
James Choung narrates this imaginative dialogue between three young friends attempting to come to terms with Christianity's loss of cultural capital, tectonic shifts in spiritual temperament from one generation to the next and the persisting feeling of God summoning them to an embodied faith despite everything.
Calum Carmichael
If we look to the Bible for historical accounts of ancient life we make profound error. So contends Calum Carmichael in this reading of some of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament's most famous narratives.
R. Andrew Chesnut
"Outstanding history of growth of Pentecostal churches in Belém, Pará, 1910-93, focuses on Assemblies of God. Based on church administrative documents and interviews with converts, work stresses experience of faith cures of socially and biologically 'sick' slum dwellers as major motive for conversions. Also discusses church leaders in politics. Superb first-person accounts of spiritual experience make this an excellent introduction to Latin American Pentecostalism for students"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.
John E. Tropman
Based on years of scholarly research, the Catholic Ethic in American Society reveals a Catholic ethic that parallels the more well-known Protestant ethic. Tropman presents an innovative analysis of the deeply ingrained attitudes Americans have about money and work and their view of people who have neither. In this book, Tropman offers a fresh perspective on the Protestant "achievement" ethic by contrasting it with the newly identified Catholic "sharing" ethic. He outlines the key features that distinguish the Catholic ethic from its Protestant counterpart, including the perspectives of each ethic on the value of money and work, the importance of family and community, and the individual. The Protestant ethic - first articulated by sociologist Max Weber in the early 1900s - is rooted in the values of work, wealth, and achievement, whereas the Catholic ethic is firmly based on longstanding traditions and beliefs of sharing. Given the fundamental differences between the two ethics, the Catholic ethic has a stronger value base for providing assistance to others, especially the poor and the disadvantaged. Because of the Protestant ethic's emphasis on achievement and self-reliance, charitable acts become fraught with concern, worry, and hesitancy. Distinguishing between the poor who are worthy and those deemed unworthy becomes an essential part of the helping activity. . The Catholic Ethic in American Society is a valuable work for sociologists, political scientists, social activists, religion scholars and students, and fundraisers of Catholic charitable organizations.