Mediating Institutions

This original book studies a wide variety of mediating institutions, both organizational and non-organizational, in workplaces, residential areas, and in wider society. Focusing upon institutions in the Thames Gateway and with case studies across south-east London, Europe and the USA, Meditating Institutions highlights the importance of understanding, creating and maintaining these organizations that facilitate relationships between religious institutions and others within society. Discussing their structures and activities, the author asserts that good relationships between religious institutions and other groups in our society are essential for a cohesive and peaceful society.

«It is better one man dies than the whole nation perishes» (Jn 11: 50). Caiaphas' sentence goes beyond ethical principles and religious expectations. It appears as the saying of a cynic politician. Besides, it is seen as the perfidious advice of a corrupted high priest to the members of the Sanhedrin. Who is this man on whose saying a school is formed? Who is this man who played the most important role in the death of Jesus? Indeed Caiaphas' sentence gives rise to the following relevant question: is the prohibition of killing (Dt. 5: 17), even the killing of a single individual in order to save a whole nation, legitimate? Thus, many issues that are associated with this high priest are associated with Jesus. The book is mainly an exegetical and comparative analysis of Jn 11: 45-54 and the Akan myth of the crossing of the river. By providing new theological insights into Caiaphas link to Jesus' death, it gives pertinent answers to the above questions.

America has always been committed to the idea that citizens can work together to build a common world. Today, three afflictions keep us from pursuing that noble ideal. The first and most obvious affliction is identity politics, which seeks to transform America by turning politics into a religious venue of sacrificial offering. For now, the sacrificial scapegoat is the white, heterosexual, man. After he is humiliated and purged, who will be the object of cathartic rage? White women? Black men? Identity politics is the anti-egalitarian spiritual eugenics of our age. It demands that pure and innocent groups ascend, and the stained transgressor groups be purged. The second affliction is that citizens oscillate back and forth, in bipolar fashion, at one moment feeling invincible on their social media platforms and, the next, feeling impotent to face the everyday problems of life without the guidance of experts and global managers. Third, Americans are afflicted by a disease that cannot quite be named, characterized by an addictive hope that they can find cheap shortcuts that bypass the difficult labors of everyday life. Instead of real friendship, we seek social media “friends.” Instead of meals at home, we order “fast food.” Instead of real shopping, we “shop” online. Instead of counting on our families and neighbors to address our problems, we look to the state to take care of us. In its many forms, this disease promises release from our labors, yet impoverishes us all. American Awakening chronicles all of these problems, yet gives us hope for the future.

Robert M. Franklin provides first-person advice and insight as he identifies the crises resident within three anchor institutions that have played key roles in the black struggle for freedom. Black families face a "crisis of commitment" evident in the rising rates of father absence, births to unmarried parents, divorce, and domestic abuse or relationship violence. Black churches face a "mission crisis" as they struggle to serve their upwardly mobile and/or established middle class "paying customers" alongside the poorest of the poor. Historically black colleges and universities face a crisis of "relevance and purpose" as they now compete for the best students and faculty with the broad marketplace of colleges. With clarity and passion, Franklin calls for practical and comprehensive action for change from within the African American community and from all Americans.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.

Amongst the most serious consequences of the 2008 global financial collapse and sovereign debt crisis were a series of unprecedented international bailouts for Greece, Ireland, and Portugal between 2010 and 2011. This book analyses the development policies of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal between 1990 and 2008, before the Eurozone crisis. It identifies national-level differences between the policy strategies and outcomes that have characterized recent developments in the Greek, Irish, and Portuguese political economies. In addition, it provides an explanation for these differences that takes into account variations in political institutions and state-society relations. In doing so, it locates an explanation for policy divergence in the presence or absence of the policy-making institutions and processes that make up a 'zone of mediation'. Overall, it argues there is significant variation in the extent to which Ireland, Portugal and Greece have adapted their developmental goals and strategies in order to address the labour market challenges posed by the post-industrial era. This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of European politics and studies, comparative political economy, public policy/policy studies, and democracy studies.

Faith on Trial explains how the Supreme Court's reliance on "procedural liberalism" hampers its ability to adequately address the reality of religion as a pluralistic social institution.

First Published in 2002. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.