The Practice of Altruism: Caring and Religion in Global PerspectiveCambridge Scholars Press, 2006 - 209 pages The study of altruism and altruistic behavior has caught the attention of social scientists especially in recent years. What motivates individuals to cultivate attitudes and actions that promote the wellbeing of others at the expense of, or at the risk of negative consequences for their own? In our contemporary global society marked by conflict and violence among different sectors of the population in various regions of the world, and wherein religion can be a factor that exacerbates such conflict and violence, harnessing the power of religion towards directions of reconciliation, creativity, and altruistic action, remains a crucial task for humankind. This volume addresses a question especially relevant in our day: do people who profess religious commitment or affiliation in a particular religious community tend to nurture altruistic kinds of attitude and action more than others? Social scientists present results of their empirical studies on Japanese society, as well as on North American, European, Indian, and Thai societies, to focus on this issue and offer insightful reflections on the relationship between religion and society. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 81
... groups , including many of the new religious movements , encourage both direct assistance through such activities as volunteer work and participation in social welfare activities , as well as efforts to address structural inequality and ...
... groups I visited for this informal survey saw no need to change their approach to the establishment of world peace , at least at that point . My peace research in Japan at that time was done in the wake of the first Persian Gulf War ...
... groups has had an impact on government policy , however . While it is perhaps unreasonable to ask these groups to engage in a critique based on just war theories , as we have seen from Paul Gilbert , the resort to rhetoric that ...
Contents
Altruism in New Religions in Japan | 12 |
Kamagasaki Ecumenical Network | 43 |
Japanese Buddhist Responses to Terrorism | 60 |
Copyright | |
7 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
The Practice of Altruism: Caring and Religion in Global Perspective Ruben Lf Habito,Keishin Inaba No preview available - 2008 |