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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Understanding Myanmar’S Buddhist Extremists: Some Preliminary Musings, Kumar Ramakrishna Nov 2020

Understanding Myanmar’S Buddhist Extremists: Some Preliminary Musings, Kumar Ramakrishna

New England Journal of Public Policy

This article examines Buddhist extremism in Myanmar. It argues that Buddhist extremism—like other types of religious extremism—is an acute form of fundamentalism. The article begins with a survey of how extremism is usually understood in the theoretical literature, showing that its religious variant is best conceived of as an acute form of fundamentalism. It then fine tunes this understanding, arguing that religious extremism is a fundamentalist belief system that justifies structural violence against relevant out-groups. The article outlines seven core characteristics of the religious extremist culled from the various theoretical approaches to extremism. It employs these seven characteristics to examine …


Damnatio Memoriae: On Deleting The East From Western History, Koert Debeuf Nov 2020

Damnatio Memoriae: On Deleting The East From Western History, Koert Debeuf

New England Journal of Public Policy

The story we read in books about the Renaissance tells us that Petrarch and Poggio rediscovered the books of antiquity that had been copied for centuries in medieval abbeys. The re-introduction of Greek science and philosophy, however, began in the twelfth century but occurred mainly in the thirteenth century. These works were first translated into Syriac and Arabic in the eighth and ninth centuries and stored in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. There they were read, used, and commented on by Arab philosophers, of whom the most famous was Averroes (1126–1198), who lived in Cordoba. The translation of his …


The Crisis Of Cultures And The Vitality Of Values: A Commentary On Emmanuel Macron’S Declaration Of The Need For Religion, Scott Atran May 2019

The Crisis Of Cultures And The Vitality Of Values: A Commentary On Emmanuel Macron’S Declaration Of The Need For Religion, Scott Atran

New England Journal of Public Policy

French president Emmanuel Macron’s claim that society needs religion is explored in the light of rising populism and illiberalism, and failures allied to the forced gamble of globalization. Historical and experimental research indicates that the universal religions have no fixed meanings or essences that drive followers. Religions have adapted to many contexts and cultures because core elements are believed sacred and transcendental, that is, non-negotiable, logically inscrutable, empirically unverifiable or falsifiable and therefore always open to interpretation under changing sociopolitical influences. Recent studies in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe suggest that “devoted actors” committed to transcendental causes are …


From Just War To Just Intervention, Susan J. Atwood Sep 2003

From Just War To Just Intervention, Susan J. Atwood

New England Journal of Public Policy

What is Just War? What is Just Intervention? This paper examines the evolution of the criteria for Just War from its origins in the early Christian church to the twenty-first century. The end of the Cold War era has expanded the discussion to include grounds for intervention. Indeed, in the 1990s, a number of multilateral interventions took place on humanitarian grounds. But the debate is ongoing about whether the criteria applied in the Just War theory — proper authority, just cause, and right intent — remain valid in an era of Just Intervention. The author examines as case studies some …


Redeeming The City: Exploring The Relationship Between Church And Metropolis, Meredith Ramsay Sep 2000

Redeeming The City: Exploring The Relationship Between Church And Metropolis, Meredith Ramsay

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author calls attention to a neglected force in urban political life by highlighting how positivism undermined scholarly interest in cultural forces, particularly religion. She shows that although community organizing was formerly led by leftist radicals, today it is led by the church. Five factors contribute to the leading role of congregations in grassroots organizing and urban revitalization. Analysis and interpretation of these factors led the author to conclude that secularization and urban restructuring have left only the church with a sufficient moral and institutional presence in distressed urban neighborhoods to spearhead a return to more direct participatory forms of …


Spirituality And Rehabilitation: Intimate Views From Insiders, Dierdre Woody Mar 2000

Spirituality And Rehabilitation: Intimate Views From Insiders, Dierdre Woody

New England Journal of Public Policy

The author became interested in spirituality and rehabilitation during her summer 1999 employment at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institute-Graterford and as a legal intern in the law firm of Woody and Falkenbach, which specializes in criminal defense work, during the summers of 1991 to 1998. The article focuses on the role of spirituality in rehabilitation processes in correctional settings. It pays special attention to the sources offaith and inner strength, the nature of spiritual guidance, the roles of values, beliefs, and moral commitments, and the effects of cultural, social, political, and economic forces.


The Catholic Church And The Desegregation Of Boston's Public Schools, James E. Glinski Jun 1988

The Catholic Church And The Desegregation Of Boston's Public Schools, James E. Glinski

New England Journal of Public Policy

Recent studies of Boston 's desegregation crisis, most notably J. Anthony Lukas's Common Ground, have been highly critical of the Catholic church and its local leader, Humberto Cardinal Medeiros, archbishop of Boston. Their criticisms have been that the church, guided by the ineffective leadership of Cardinal Medeiros in an effort to save its own schools, allowed its schools to become havens for those Bostonians attempting to escape busing. This article is an account of the church's effort to develop a desegregation policy that would allow it to preserve its own schools but not at the expense of court-ordered desegregation …