Religion and Development

2011 Developing countries

Author : Gerrie ter Haar
Release : 2011
Genre : Developing countries
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 409/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Religion and Development by : Gerrie ter Haar

Download or read book Religion and Development written by Gerrie ter Haar. This book was released on 2011. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until recently, policy-makers and academics generally saw religion as something that would disappear as countries made economic progress. But we now know that this rarely happens in fact. People in most countries continue to look at the world through the prism of religion even when they develop modern lifestyles. Religion and Development looks at the ways in which a religious worldview influences processes of development. Its great originality is that it does not concentrate primarily on religious institutions and organisations but on religious ideas themselves. In the final resort, it is people's ideas that motivate them. Their worldview stimulates them to act in specific ways. Religion is a dimension of life that often lies behind qualities such as social trust and cohesion that are vital to development. This is of growing importance in a world where technocratic visions of development have lost their way. For communities where religious belief is accepted as a fact of everyday life, religion constitutes a major resource. It can be employed by people who want to destroy society as well as those who want to build it. The contributors to this book explore how religious resources can be harnessed for development. Many of the world's people believe that the material advancement of both individuals and communities is inseparable from their spiritual improvement. The essays in this volume take this point of view seriously.

Handbook of Research on Development and Religion

2013-01-01 Religion

Author : Matthew Clarke
Release : 2013-01-01
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 574/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Handbook of Research on Development and Religion by : Matthew Clarke

Download or read book Handbook of Research on Development and Religion written by Matthew Clarke. This book was released on 2013-01-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With eighty percent of the world's population professing religious faith, religious belief is a common human characteristic. This fascinating and highly unique Handbook brings together state-of-the-art research on incorporating religion into development studies literature and research. The expert contributors illustrate that as religious identity is integral to a community's culture, exclusion of religious consideration will limit successful development interventions; it is therefore necessary to conflate religion and development to enhance efforts to improve the lives of the poor. Issues addressed include: key tenets, beliefs and histories of religions; religious response to development concerns (gender, environment, education, microfinance, humanitarian assistance); and the role of faith based organisations and missionaries in the wider development context. Practical case studies of countries across Africa, Eastern Europe and the Pacific (including Australia) underpin the research, providing evidence that the intersection between religion and development is neither new nor static. By way of conclusion, suggestions are prescribed for extensive further research in order to advance understanding of this nascent field. This path-breaking Handbook will prove a thought-provoking and stimulating reference tool for academics, researchers and students in international development, international relations, comparative religion and theology.

The Development of Religion, the Religion of Development

2004 Religion

Author : Ananta Kumar Giri
Release : 2004
Genre : Religion
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 385/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Development of Religion, the Religion of Development by : Ananta Kumar Giri

Download or read book The Development of Religion, the Religion of Development written by Ananta Kumar Giri. This book was released on 2004. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Development is a key concept for thinking about the global relations between nations, in particular between North and South. But what exactly does it entail and in which forms do development practices manifest themselves? Are we dealing with aid or with co-operation, or perhaps with encounter? And which motives, philosophies of life and ideas about the course of nations and other human communities are lurking behind the programs of actual development? Why has the concept become so popular, that it seems to have become a substitute for the concept of history? Could it be that development programs which are usually rationally conceived, evaluated and managed, betray hegemonic practices, despite the good intentions of donor nations and development agencies? Or are development programs aiming at integration of the South into a global market? If so, could it be that the belief in development is some kind of a secular, quasi-religious view on the ways nations and people must develop? We know after all that religion often is a motivating source for many people involved in development practices. These questions are addressed in short essays by eminent experts in the fields of development studies, cultural anthropology, development policy and social philosophy. They critically analyse the discourses used in development practices. The ultimate focus of the essays is on the ways in which political and development agencies deal with morality, religion and spirituality. The authors come from Great Britain, India, Indonesia and the Netherlands. This volume will be attractive to those working in the fields of development cooperation, missionary work and faith-based international solidarity. Book jacket.

Negotiating Religion and Development

2019-06-19 Political Science

Author : Arnhild Leer-Helgesen
Release : 2019-06-19
Genre : Political Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 415/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Negotiating Religion and Development by : Arnhild Leer-Helgesen

Download or read book Negotiating Religion and Development written by Arnhild Leer-Helgesen. This book was released on 2019-06-19. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that relationships between religion and development in faith-based development work are constructed through repeated processes of negotiation. Rather than being a neat and tidy relationship, faith-based development work is complex and multifaceted: an ongoing series of negotiations between theological interpretations and theories of human development; between identities as professional practitioners and as believers; between different religious traditions at local, regional and international levels; and between institutional structures and individual agency. In particular, the book draws on a deep ethnographic study of Christian faith-based development work in the Bolivian Andes. The case study highlights the importance of seeing theological interpretations as being firmly embedded in local religious and cultural systems involved in a constant process of identity construction. Overall, the book argues that religion should not be seen as homogeneous, or either 'good' or 'bad' for development; instead, we must recognise that institutional faith-based identities are constructed in many ways, formal, theological and interpersonal, and any tensions between ‘religious’ and ‘development’ goals must be worked through in an ongoing recognition of that complexity. This book will be of interest to researchers working in development studies and religious studies, as well as to practitioners and policymakers with an interest in faith-based development work.

Popular eBooks

Religion and Development

Handbook of Research on Development and Religion

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