Author: Benjamin I. Page File Type: pdf Recent battles in Washington over how to fix Americas fiscal failures strengthened the widespread impression that economic issues sharply divide average citizens. Indeed, many commentators split Americans into two opposing groups uncompromising supporters of unfettered free markets and advocates for government solutions to economic problems. But such dichotomies, Benjamin Page and Lawrence Jacobs contend, ring false. In Class War? they present compelling evidence that most Americans favor free enterprise and practical government programs to distribute wealth more equitably. At every income level and in both major political parties, majorities embrace conservative egalitarianisma philosophy that prizes individualism and self-reliance as well as public intervention to help Americans pursue these ideals on a level playing field. Drawing on hundreds of opinion studies spanning more than seventy years, including a new comprehensive survey, Page and Jacobs reveal that this worldview translates to broad support for policies aimed at narrowing the gap between rich and poor and creating genuine opportunity for all. They find, for example, that across economic, geographical, and ideological lines, most Americans support higher minimum wages, improved public education, wider access to universal health insurance coverage, and the use of tax dollars to fund these programs. In this surprising and heartening assessment, Page and Jacobs provide our new administration with a popular mandate to combat the economic inequity that plagues our nation. **

Author: Jonas Jonasson File Type: epub From the author of the international bestseller The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, a brilliant satirical novel set in modern Swedena story of idealism and fanaticism, gangsters and entrepreneurs, sensationalism and spirituality, that explores the values that matter in contemporary life.In a former brothel turned low-rent hotel, the lives of three unusual strangersa former female priest, recently fired from her church the ruined grandson of an ex-millionaire working as a receptionist and Killer-Anders, a murderer newly released from prisonaccidently collide with darkly hilarious results.Seeing a lucrative opportunity in Killer-Anders, the unlikely trio form an unusual new business. The Priest and The Receptionist will handle strategy and public relations, and coordinate Killer-Anders missions. Using the medias obsessive need for sensational, headline-making stories to advertise their talents superb skill, they quickly build a clientele of rich Swedish gangsters. Suddenly, theyre making an altogether different kind of killing of their own.But when Killer-Anders begins asking deeper questions about purpose and meaning, his curiosity leads him to an unexpected discovery he finds Jesus. Desperate to save the money machine theyve built, The Priest and The Receptionist devise an audacious plan utilizing Killer-Anders newfound and decidedly fervent faith.Mischievous yet big-hearted, filled with Jonas Jonassons trenchant humor and delightful twists, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All is a delightful comic adventure that reminds us its never to late to start overand to discover what truly matters. **

Author: Dennis Vanden Auweele File Type: pdf This volume collects seventeen new essays by well-established and junior scholars on the philosophical relevance of metaxological philosophy and its main proponent, William Desmond. The volume mines metaxological thought for its salience in contemporary discussions in Continental philosophy, specifically in the fields of metaphysics, philosophy of religion, ethics, and aesthetics. Among others, topics under discussion include the goodness of being, the existence and nature of God, and the aesthetic dimensions of human becoming. Interest in metaxological philosophy has been on the rise in recent years, and this volume provides both a practical introduction and thorough engagements with it by experts in the field. The volume concludes with a series of responses by William Desmond on the issues raised by the contributors. **Review William Desmonds work is like a sparkling, multi-faceted diamond. Its many faces expand and enrich its deep inner core (the idea of the between) without compromising its integrity. This volume is multi-faceted in two further ways. Its contributors come at Desmonds work from a rich variety of places on the philosophical landscape, and in so doing they bring his work into constructive engagement with an equally rich variety of other thinkers, traditions, and themes. (Merrold Westphal, author ofIn Praise of HeteronomyandOvercoming Onto-Theology) This is an artful collection of the work of the highest order by the leading luminaries in the field. It is a fitting tribute to the work of William Desmond, one of the most important continental philosophers of religion of the day. A must read. (John D. Caputo, author ofThe Weakness of God) From the Back Cover This volume collects seventeen new essays by well-established and junior scholars on the philosophical relevance of metaxological philosophy and its main proponent, William Desmond. The volume mines metaxological thought for its salience in contemporary discussions in Continental philosophy, specifically in the fields of metaphysics, philosophy of religion, ethics, and aesthetics. Among others, topics under discussion include the goodness of being, the existence and nature of God, and the aesthetic dimensions of human becoming. Interest in metaxological philosophy has been on the rise in recent years, and this volume provides both a practical introduction and thorough engagements with it by experts in the field. The volume concludes with a series of responses by William Desmond on the issues raised by the contributors.

Author: Brian Morris File Type: pdf Focusing on more recent classical ethnographies, this important study provides a critical introduction to the social anthropology of religion. It covers all the major religious traditions that have been studied concretely by anthropologists--Shamanism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and its relation to African and Melanesian religions and contemporary Neopaganism. Treating religion as a social institution and not simply as an ideology or symbolic system, the book follows the dual heritage of social anthropology in combining an interpretative approach with sociological analysis.ReviewAs a sequel and complement to Morriss previous reader on theoretical approaches to religion this book of impressive scholarship is an admirable success and a thoroughly enjoyable read. The book is characterized by a refreshing, commonsense approach to religion that is eminently accessible due to the consistent avoidance of unnecessary jargon, psycho-babble or lyrical prose... The sympathetic and nonjudgmental ethnographic descriptions, the dynamism of the theoretical polemic, the clear use of English, and the elegance of the narrative structure made this book difficult to put down. A rare experience when reading much modern anthropological writing. Jerome Lewis, London School of Economics and Political ScienceAlthough the volume has obvious value as a general reference resource, it is designed for classroom use (specifically for courses that survey religious traditions). Highly recommended. Choice Book DescriptionA sequel and update of the pioneering text Anthropological Studies of Religion, this book provides a readable, comprehensive and critical introduction to the extensive anthropological literature on religion that has been produced over the past forty years. It focuses on well-know, substantive ethnographic studies, specifically those which have embraced the dual heritage of social anthropology in combining the interpretive understanding of religious phenomena, with a social scientific perspective that situates religion within its wider socio-historical context. Breaking away from the usual thematic approach and taking a comparative perspective, this engaging book emphasizes that religion is essentially a social institution, and is ill-understood if seen simply as an ideological or symbolic system.