Not by Faith Alone Social Services, Social Justice, and Faith-Based Organizations in the United States

by Adkins, Julie; Occhipinti, Laurie A.; Hefferan, Tara; Bauer, Janet; Brashler, Janet G.; Cadge, Wendy; Chivakos, Andrea; Fitzgerald, Scott T.; Garriott, William; Laird, Lance D.; Lambert-Pennington, Katherine; Morrison, Isaac; Mundell, Leah; Pfromm, Julie;

• ISBN13: 9780739146583
• ISBN10: 0739146580
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-07-02
• Publisher: Lexington Books

Summary

This edited collection provides an in-depth ethnographic study of faith-based development organizations in the United States, shining a much needed critical light onto these organizations and their role in the United States by exploring the varied ways that faith-based organizations attempt to mend the fissures and mitigate the effects of neoliberal capitalism, poverty, and the social service sector on the poor and powerless. In doing so, Not by Faith Alone generates provocative and sophisticated analyses-grounded in empirical case studies-of such topics as the meaning of 'faith-based' development, evaluations of faith-based versus secular approaches, the influence of faith-orientation on program formulation and delivery, and examinations of faith-based organizations' impacts on structural inequality and poverty alleviation. Taken together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate the vital importance of ethnography for understanding the particular role of faith-based agencies in development. The contributors argue for an understanding of faith-based development that moves beyond either dismissing or uncritically supporting faith-based initiatives. Instead, contributors demonstrate the importance of grounded analysis of the specific discourses, practices, and beliefs that imbue faith-based development with such power and reveal both the promise and the limitations of this particular vehicle of service delivery.

Author Biography

Julie Adkins is adjunct lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. Laurie Occhipinti is associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, Geography, and Earth Sciences at Clarion University. Tara Hefferan is visiting assistant professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Central Michigan University.

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	p. ix
Social Services, Social Justice, and Faith-Based Organizations in the United States: An Introduction	p. 1
A Theology of Presence: Faith Partnerships with U.S. Public Schools	p. 33
On the Border: Faith-Based Initiatives and Pentecostal Praxis in Brownsville, Texas	p. 51
Faith-Based Development and Community Renaissance: Tradition and Transformation in South Memphis	p. 69
Bricks without Straw: Faith-Based Responses to Homelessness in the Hostile City	p. 91
Muslims, Medicine, and Mercy: Free Clinics in Southern California	p. 107
Culture, History, and Discourse at Tree of Life: A Faith-Based Relief Agency in Mission, South Dakota	p. 129
What's Islam Got to Do with It? American Pluralism, Ethnographic Sensibilities, and Faith-Based Refugee Resettlement in Hartford, Connecticut	p. 145
Translating Religious Traditions into Service: Lessons from the Faith and Organizations Project	p. 165
Religious Organizational Identity and Environmental Demands	p. 187
"Bio-pistis": Conversion of Heroin Addicts in Prisons, on Medicine, and with God	p. 207
Straight from the Devil: Contours of "the Public" in American Public Health	p. 231
Index	p. 255
About the Authors	p. 261
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