Violence, Society, and the Church: A Cultural ApproachLiturgical Press, 2004 - 252 pages Violence and its effects are constantly in the news, but the roots of that violence often go unexplained. Violence, Society, and the Church examines the cultural roots of violence and the processes in cultures that foster or allow violence to occur. Arbuckle analyzes society's role in violence, the emergence of the New Right in Western societies, and cultural attitudes and issues concerning the Church. The power within mythologies and the process of using mythologies to legitimize violence against others and environment are explained. The concept of a culture having forces that resist change is a central theme, and Arbuckle proposes and studies four models of cultures: premodernity, modernity, postmodernity and paramodernity. The first three legitimize particular types of violence, and individuals move from one type to the other depending on the circumstances they face. The fourth model-paramodernity-describes people's efforts to counter violence. Chapters are: "Violence, Power, and Culture," "Premodernity and Violence," "Premodernity: Impact on Church," "Premodernity: Violence through Gossip, Shame, and Humor," "Modernity, Rationality, and Violence," "Destructive Envy, Jealousy, and Scapegoating in Modernity," "Postmodernity: Background to New Forms of Violence," "Demanding Certitudes: Ethnicity, Fundamentalism, Restorationationism," and "Paramodern Culture: 'Signals of Transcendence.'" |
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action American Anthropology Arbuckle axiom behavior bishops bullying bureaucratic Cambridge University Press Catholic Church cause century chaos chapter Christ Christian contemporary cults death deconstructionism developed dominant economic economic rationalist ethnic cleansing evil example fear feel football hooligans force founding myth fundamentalism fundamentalist Geoffrey Chapman globalization Gospel gossip healthcare honor human Ibid identity Inculturation individual Islamic Jean-François Lyotard Jesus Jews John Paul justice Liturgical lives London Luke Maryknoll means metanarratives Michel Foucault modernity moral panic movements mythology nation nonviolent one's oppression Opus Dei Orbis Books organizations Oxford papal paramodern patriarchal person Pius political poor Pope postmodern premodern culture pro-order prophets protect relationship Religion religious restorationism revolution rituals Rome Samaritan scapegoating secular sense shame social society spirit structures symbols Terrorism terrorist theologians theology tion traditional values Vatican Vatican II victim violence Western women Yahweh York Yves Congar Zygmunt Bauman
Popular passages
Page 50 - torture" means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind...
Page 115 - Merciful heaven! What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows; Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak Whispers the o'erfraught heart, and bids it break.
Page 231 - If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Page 153 - Eclecticism is the degree zero of contemporary general culture: one listens to reggae, watches a Western, eats McDonald's food for lunch and local cuisine for dinner, wears Paris perfume in Tokyo and 'retro' clothes in Hong Kong; knowledge is a matter for TV games.
Page 12 - Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger, we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depends on us.
Page 148 - True, authorities of the Jews and those who followed their lead pressed for the death of Christ (cf. Jn. 19:6); still, what happened in His passion cannot be blamed upon all the Jews then living, without distinction, nor upon the Jews of today.
Page 71 - When you see your wife commit an offense, don't rush at her with insults and violent blows. . . .Scold her sharply, bully and terrify her. And if this still doesn't work. . .take up a stick and beat her soundly, for it is better to punish the body and correct the soul than to damage the soul and spare the body.
Page 93 - He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
Page 148 - The Church repudiates all persecutions against any man. Moreover, mindful of her common patrimony with the Jews, and motivated by the gospel's spiritual love and by no political considerations, she deplores the hatred, persecutions, and displays of antiSemitism directed against the Jews at any time and from any source.