Putting Faith into Action

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Braunstein
Keyword(s):  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Public Role ◽  
Religious Others ◽  
Democratic Societies

Chapter 4 demonstrates that Interfaith and the Patriots developed different ways of enacting active citizenship in the course of their work together, and specifically their efforts to put their faith in action. Although both groups asserted that there was a public role for religion in diverse and pluralistic democratic societies, they differed in their understandings of how this should work in practice. Interfaith’s efforts to put their faith in action were driven primarily by concerns about religious inclusion, while the Patriots were driven primarily by concerns about religious liberty. Participants in the groups thus emphasized subtly different religious values, developed different ways of engaging with religious others, and engaged in different kinds of religious (and civil religious) practices. The chapter concludes by tracing the groups’ choices about how to put their faith in action to differences in their democratic imaginaries—their ways of understanding how democracy works and the proper role of active citizens in it.

scholarly journals Democracy & Religion: Some Variations & Hard Questions

Daedalus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 149 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-36
Author(s):  
Kent Greenawalt
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Free Exercise ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Religious Convictions ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Governmental Institutions ◽  
The Military ◽  
The U.S

The ideas sketched here concern the nonestablishment and free exercise norms expressed in the U.S. Constitution, their application to governmental institutions from legislatures to prisons and the military, the place of religion in the curricula of public schools, and the proper role of religious convictions in lawmaking. A major concern of the essay is the problem of achieving an appropriate balance between governmental neutrality toward religion, as required by the nonestablishment norm, and governmental accommodation of religious practices that would otherwise violate ordinary laws, as required by the free exercise norm. A recurring theme is the complexity of the issues and the variability of possible solutions given differences in the history and culture of democratic societies.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Braunstein
Keyword(s):  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Democratic Tradition ◽  
Democratic Ideals

Chapter 7 summarizes the key findings and contributions of the book. First, it highlights the book’s contributions to understanding how broadly shared democratic ideals can refract into different understandings of what it means to be a good citizen in practice, and ultimately, different styles of engaging in active citizenship. It then discusses the implications of these findings for American democracy itself. Although Interfaith and the Patriots disagree about how democracy ought to work and the proper role of citizens within it, they share an abiding faith in the American democratic project itself. Moreover, the book suggests that this disagreement is not new, and that the complexity of America’s democratic tradition is both a blessing and a curse, fueling perpetual disagreement over what it means to be a good citizen, but also encouraging political commitment. It concludes by suggesting that as long as groups like Interfaith and the Patriots continue to cultivate and enact many different stories of America, and no single story becomes dominant, then citizens can productively interrogate their respective benefits and drawbacks.

Narratives of Active Citizenship

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Braunstein
Keyword(s):  
American Culture ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Shared Commitment ◽  
Active Citizen ◽  
The Ideal

Chapters 3 traces how Interfaith’s and the Patriots’ shared commitment to the ideal of active citizenship began to refract into two different group styles of active citizenship. Specifically, this chapter identifies a key process through which the groups’ developed different ways of imagining what it meant to be an active citizen in practice. Both groups drew on American culture and history to develop narratives of active citizenship, yet the groups’ narratives highlighted different combinations of characters, events and plotlines that coalesced into different ideal-typical models of active citizenship—the prophet and the patriot. The fact that they told such different stories about the origins and development of the American democratic project reveals profoundly different democratic imaginaries—ways of understanding how democracy works and the proper role of active citizens in it. Consequently, when these narratives were referenced in the course of the groups’ efforts, they offered different blueprints for their action.

From the Sacristy to the Public Square The Public Character of Theology

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Júlio Paulo Tavares Zabatiero
Keyword(s):  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Public Role ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Public Character

Abstract This article is a study of the public role of Christian theology in contemporary democratic societies. It focuses on the role of theologians as intellectuals in the public square, as defenders of values like justice, democracy and peace. After a brief reflection on Brazilian experiences of the presence of Christians in public debates, it discusses the role of intellectuals such as Habermas, Bourdieu, Said, Bauman and others.

Holding Government Accountable

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Braunstein
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Active Citizenship ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Moral Communities

Chapter 5 demonstrates that Interfaith and the Patriots developed different ways of enacting active citizenship in the course of their work together, and specifically in their efforts to hold government accountable. Although holding government accountable was a central component of both groups’ efforts, the ways in which they organized their neighbors for collective action, described how accountability should work, became informed about political issues and processes, and interacted with public officials differed in significant ways. Interfaith’s efforts to work alongside public officials to solve shared problems were grounded in a vision of a covenantal relationship between moral communities, political authorities and God. Meanwhile, the Patriots’ confrontational relationship with government reflected a contractual model of citizenship, which framed their individual God-given rights as perpetually threatened by government control. The chapter concludes by demonstrating that the groups’ choices about how to hold government accountable reflected differences in their democratic imaginaries—their ways of understanding how democracy works and the proper role of active citizens in it.

Public Administration in the Islamic World: Considering the Importance of Religion, its Values and Culture

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-38
Author(s):  
Daniel Hummel
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Core Values ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Salient Region ◽  
The People ◽  
Comparative Public Administration

A small but growing area of public administration scholarship appreciates the influence of religious values on various aspects of government. This appreciation parallels a growing interest in comparative public administration and indigenized forms of government which recognizes the role of culture in different approaches to government. This article is at the crossroads of these two trends while also considering a very salient region, the Islamic world. The Islamic world is uniquely religious, which makes this discussion even more relevant, as the nations that represent them strive towards legitimacy and stability. The history and core values of Islam need to be considered as they pertain to systems of government that are widely accepted by the people. In essence, this is being done in many countries across the Islamic world, providing fertile grounds for public administration research from a comparative perspective. This paper explores these possibilities for future research on this topic.

Syncretisms

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippa Adrych ◽  
Robert Bracey ◽  
Dominic Dalglish ◽  
Stefanie Lenk ◽  
Rachel Wood
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Ancient Religion

The Conclusion to this volume returns to the three main questions posed in the Introduction, examining how a shared name, alongside material culture, can affect our understanding of ancient religious practices. The first section explores the benefits of a collaborative and comparative endeavour, drawing out examples from the earlier chapters and showing how they informed our perceptions of what a name can mean. The second and third parts ask more theoretical questions about how we can use our case studies to explore broader problems of interpreting ancient religious practices, and the role of objects within them. Finally, we return to the main theme of the volume: the name Mithra, and the ideas, expectations, and traditions that have been attached to it in antiquity and in modern scholarship. We suggest a new way of approaching the phenomenon of the shared name, and what that can entail for those interested in ancient religion.

Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Energy Services in Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Professor Adebambo Adewopo ◽  
Dr Tobias Schonwetter ◽  
Helen Chuma-Okoro
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Intellectual Property Rights ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Energy Services ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
The Law

This chapter examines the proper role of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in achieving access to modern energy services in Africa as part of a broader objective of a pro-development intellectual property agenda for African countries. It discusses the role of intellectual property rights, particularly patents, in consonance with pertinent development questions in Africa connected with the implementation of intellectual property standards, which do not wholly assume that innovation in Africa is dependent on strong intellectual property systems. The chapter examines how existing intellectual property legal landscapes in Africa enhance or impede access to modern energy, and how the law can be directed towards improved energy access in African countries. While suggesting that IPRs could serve an important role in achieving modern energy access, the chapter calls for circumspection in applying IP laws in order not to inhibit access to useful technologies for achieving access to modern energy services.

THE RHETORIC OF RELIGIOUS CONFLICT IN ARNOBIUS’ADVERSVS NATIONES

2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 402-416
Author(s):  
Konstantine Panegyres
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Religious Conflict ◽  
Religious Practices ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
Local Religion ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Writer

In this paper I discuss the ways in which the early Christian writer Arnobius of Sicca used rhetoric to shape religious identity inAduersus nationes. I raise questions about the reliability of his rhetorical work as a historical source for understanding conflict between Christians and pagans. The paper is intended as an addition to the growing literature in the following current areas of study: (i) the role of local religion and identity in the Roman Empire; (ii) the presence of pagan elements in Christian religious practices; (iii) the question of how to approach rhetorical works as historical evidence.

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