Elusive Togetherness Church Groups Trying to Bridge America s Divisions 1st Edition by Paul Lichterman ISBN 0691096511 978-0691096513

Elusive Togetherness Church Groups Trying to Bridge America s Divisions 1st Edition by Paul Lichterman – Ebook PDF Instant Download/Delivery:0691096511 ,978-0691096513
Full download Elusive Togetherness Church Groups Trying to Bridge America s Divisions 1st Edition after payment

Product details: 

ISBN 10: 0691096511 

ISBN 13: 978-0691096513

Author: Paul Lichterman

Many scholars and citizens alike have counted on civic groups to create broad ties that bind society. Some hope that faith-based civic groups will spread their reach as government retreats. Yet few studies ask how, if at all, civic groups reach out to their wider community. Can religious groups–long central in civic America–create broad, empowering social ties in an unequal, diverse society?

Over three years, Paul Lichterman studied nine liberal and conservative Protestant-based volunteering and advocacy projects in a mid-sized American city. He listened as these groups tried to create bridges with other community groups, social service agencies, and low-income people, just as the 1996 welfare reforms were taking effect. Counter to long-standing arguments, Lichterman discovered that powerful customs of interaction inside the groups often stunted external ties and even shaped religion’s impact on the groups. Comparing groups, he found that successful bridges outward depend on group customs which invite reflective, critical discussion about a group’s place amid surrounding groups and institutions.

Combining insights from Alexis de Tocqueville, John Dewey, and Jane Addams with contemporary sociology, Elusive Togetherness addresses enduring questions about civic and religious life that elude the popular “social capital” concept. To create broad civic relationships, groups need more than the right religious values, political beliefs, or resources. They must learn new ways of being groups.

Table of contents: 

Chapter One: In Search of the Social Spiral

Chapter Two: Studying the Social Spiral

Chapter Three: Networkers and Volunteers Reaching Out

Chapter Four: Crying Out: Social Critics

Chapter Five: Christ-Like Care: Social Servants

Chapter Six: A Social Spiral Winds Outward: Partners

Chapter Seven: Doing Things with Religion in Local Civic Life

Chapter Eight: Doing Things Together: Lessons from Religious Community Service Groups

Appendix I: Theory and Evidence in a Study of Religious Community Service Groups

Appendix II: Studying Customs

People also search for:

bridge church belonging

communities under the bridge with church under the bridge

second bridge the church

building bridges between our divisions song

pastor lloyd pulley bridging the gap

Tags: Paul Lichterman, Elusive Togetherness, Church Groups, Bridge America