Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. By Rodney Stark and Roger Finke. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. 343 pp. $48.00 (cloth); $18.95 (paper). At a recent American Academy of Religion meeting, after a brilliant paper was presented on God and religious experience, the speaker was asked this question by an academic: "But how can you say these things in our postmodem, anti-enlightenment, pluralistic age?" Acts of Faith secures the thesis that not just talk about, but devout belief in, God is rational, widespread, and shows no sign of abating. For a vast number of well-educated, articulate human beings talk of God is not very difficult at all. Acts of Faith is an important treatment of the sociology of religious belief and should be considered required reading by anyone interested in the social standing and assessment of religion. It overturns the conventions of a great deal of earlier sociological inquiry into religion and stands as a model of clarity and rigor. Rodney Stark and Roger Finke begin by documenting the social and intellectual history of atheism, noting how history, sociology, and psychoanalysis have been employed to exhibit the irrationality of religious belief. They underscore how many of these projects have done little more than presup- pose the credulous nature of religion. There is something darkly humorous about the many techniques employed by "intellectuals" and social scientists to explain why religion persists and even grows amidst "modernity." Stark and Finke's analysis is devastating. From the outset through to the last chapter the writing is crisp and at times quite amusing. Here is a passage from the introduction, lamenting the fact that many sociologists focus their work on fringe religious groups: A coven of nine witches in Lund, Sweden, is far more apt to be the object of a case study than is, say, the Episcopal Church, with more than two million members. Some of this merely reflects that it is rather easier to get one's work published if the details are sufficiently lurid or if the group is previously undocumented. A recitation of Episcopalian theology and excerpts from the Book of Common Prayer will not arouse nearly the interest (prurient or otherwise) than can be generated by tales of blondes upon the altar and sexual contacts with animals (p. 19). Stark and Finke have written a text that abounds in technical case studies, while at the same time giving us a book that is a pleasure to read. The introduction and first three chapters alone are a tour de force. They expose the blatant inadequacy of sociological work that reads religious belief as pathology or flagrant irrationality. They challenge the thesis of impending, virtually inevitable secularization, for instance, in part by refuting the claim that in the distant past almost everyone was religious. …

Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion

Human Development Report 2007/2008: fighting climate change: human solidarity in a divided world

Part 1 Judaism and the liberal state: on liberty reconsidered Judaism and the liberal state particularism, pluralism and liberty the communitarian-liberalism debate in Jewish perspective can Judaism incorporate human rights, democracy and personal autonomy? democracy and Judaism - the current debate Part 2 Liberty and authority in Jewish political thought: is there a concept of political liberty in medieval Jewish philosophy? liberty, authority and the consent in Judaism - a Maimonidean reconstruction of the biblical text political liberty - the rhetoric of the responsa

On Liberty: Jewish Philosophical Perspectives

* List of Figures and Tables * Preface * Introduction * Part One: Classic Models * Chapter 1 - Classical Democracy: Athens * Political ideas and aims * Institutional features * The exclusivity of an ancient democracy * The critics * In sum: Model I * Chapter 2 - Republicanism: Liberty, Self-Government and the Active Citizen * The eclipse and re-emergence of homo politicus * The reforging of republicanism * Republicanism, elective government and popular sovereignty * From civic life to civic glory * In sum: Model IIa * The republic and the general will * In sum: model IIb * The public and the private * Chapter 3 - The Development of Liberal Democracy: For and Against the State * Power and Sovereignty * Citizenship and the Constitutional State * Separation of Powers * The problem of factions * Accountability and Markets * In sum: model IIIa * Liberty and the development of democracy * The dangers of despotic power and an overgrown state * Representative government * The subordination of women * Competing conceptions of the 'ends of government' * In sum: Model IIIb * Chapter 4 - Direct Democracy and the End of Politics * Class and class conflict * History as evolution and the development of captialism * Two theories of the state * The end of politics * Competing conceptions of Marxism * Part Two: Variants from the Twentieth Century * Chapter 5 - Competitive ELitism and the Technocratic Vision * Classes, power and conflict * Bureaucracy, parliaments and nation-states * Competitive elitist democracy * Liberal democracy at the crossroads * The last vestige of democracy? * Democracy, capitalism and socialism *'Classical' v. modern democracy * A technocratic vision * In sum: model V * Chapter 6 - Pluralism, Corporate Capitalism and the State * Group politics, government and power * Politics, consensus and the distribution of power * Democracy, corporate capitalism and the state * In sum: Model VI * Accumulation, legitimation and the restricted sphere of the political * The changing form of representative institutions * Chapter 7 - From Post-War Stability to Political Crisis: The Polarization of Political Ideas * A legitimate democratic order or a repressive regime? * Overloaded state or legitimation crisis? * Crisis theories: an assessment * Law, liberty and democracy * In sum: model VII * Participation, liberty and democracy * In sum: model VII * Chapter 8 - Democracy after Soviet Communism * The historical backdrop * The triumph of economic and political liberalism * The renewed necessity of Marxism and democracy from 'below'? * Chapter 9 - Deliberative Democracy and the Defence of the Public Realm * Reason and Participation * The limits of democratic theory * The aims of deliberative democracy * What is sound about public reasoning? Impartialism and it's critics * Institutions of deliberative democracy * Value pluralism and democracy * In sum: Model IX * Part Three: What Should Democracy Mean Today? * Chapter 10 - Democratic Autonomy * The appeal of democracy * The principle of autonomy * Enacting the principle * The heritage of classic and twentieth-century democratic theory * Democracy: A double-sided process * Democratic autonomy: compatibilities and incompatibilities * In sum: Model Xa * Chapter 11 - Democracy, the Nation-State and the Global System * Democratic legitimacy and borders * Regional and global flows: old and new * Sovereignty, autonomy and disjunctures * Rethinking democracy for a more global age: the cosmopolitan model * In sum: model Xb * Acknowledgements * References and Select Bibliography * Index

民主的模式 = Models of democracy

This article takes issue with influential views in Brazil that depict the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST), the largest popular movement in this country, as a threat to democracy. Contrary to these assessments, it argues that a sober review of the MST's actual practice shows that it is far from an antistate or antidemocratic organization. Quite to the contrary, the MST demands that the state play an active part in reducing the nation's stark social inequities through the institution of an inclusive model of development. The MST's contentious edge has contributed to Brazil's ongoing democratization process by (1) highlighting the role of public activism in building political capabilities among the poor and catalyzing downward redistribution policies; (2) facilitating the extension of basic citizenship rights, broadening the scope of the public agenda, and strengthening civil society through the inclusion of groups representing the most vulnerable strata of the popu lation; and (3) fostering a sense of hope and utopia through the affirmation of ideals imbued in Brazil's long-term, complex, and open-ended democratization process.

The landless rural workers movement and democracy in brazil

Combatendo a desigualdade social : o MST e a reforma agrária no Brasil

Challenging Social Inequality: The Landless Rural Workers Movement and Agrarian Reform in Brazil

The origins of brazil's landless rural workers' movement (mst): the natalino episode in rio grande do sul (1981-84). a case of ideal interest mobilization

The Country Social Analysis (CSA) is a new type of World Bank-financed study that seeks to provide an overview of key opportunities and constraints to sustainable development from a social development perspective. This Paraguay case study analyzes existing information and summarizes the main features of the socioeconomic, cultural, political and institutional context of Paraguay. It identifies constraints for poverty alleviation and inclusive development, opportunities for addressing those constraints, and the social development inputs that can contribute to the advancement of the Bank's strategy in Paraguay. The CSA is intended to feed into the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy and other economic and sector work, as well as into project-related work. This report was prepared between December 2002 and March 2003 by a team of Bank Staff and consultants. It is based on currently available information and in-depth interviews with a broad range of stakeholders. In August 2003, a new administration took office, and since then many and positive significant changes have taken place. However, this report has not been updated to reflect these changes. Rather, it should be read as a baseline of social issues and attitudes prevalent in Paraguay prior to the current administration assuming office.

Miguel Carter

Papers

The landless rural workers movement and democracy in brazil

Combatendo a desigualdade social : o MST e a reforma agrária no Brasil

Challenging Social Inequality: The Landless Rural Workers Movement and Agrarian Reform in Brazil

The origins of brazil's landless rural workers' movement (mst): the natalino episode in rio grande do sul (1981-84). a case of ideal interest mobilization

Paraguay - social development issues for poverty alleviation : country social analysis