This book integrates humanist approaches in enabling both spiritual growth and social science knowledge in advocating for the emancipation of exploited women, children and youth, based on critical realism. Through an autoethnographic account of the first author’s journey from being a secular Jew, through Anglicanism, to Quakerism and then Islam, a pacifist-based social science methodology is developed. This approach describes attempts to understand and liberate sexually exploited youths in Bangladesh; exploited women and girls in Pakistan; and struggling women in Gaza, Palestine. The model attempts to integrate moral goals of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in seeking peaceful co-operation. Secular humanism is added, creating a research model which seeks the enhancement of human welfare through the universal ethic of the social contract, in which humans and their welfare are both interesting and exciting. A review of research on child sexual exploitation elaborates the model of child-centred humanism.

Discusses the religious and political context of liberation theology, the state of the Latin American economy, Marxist-Christian tensions, and the ethics of reform

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.

Development practice is full of examples of the importance of religion in the lives of people in developing countries. However, religion has largely remained unexplored in development studies. This timely new book aims to fill that gap. The authors expertly review how religion has been treated in the evolution of development thought, how it has been conceptualised in the social sciences, and highlights the major deficiencies of the assumption of secularism. The book argues that development theory and practice needs to rewrite its dominant script regarding its treatment of religion, a script which has so far been heavily inscribed in the secular tradition. It puts forward an understanding of religions as traditions: that religions rest on central thesis and teachings which never cease to be re-interpreted in the light of the social, political and historical context. In addition to providing a conceptual framework for analysing the role of religion in development, the book provides numerous empirical examples drawn from the Christian and Islamic religious traditions. This comprehensive new guide to this key issue is essential for students, development thinkers and practitioners who wish to understand better the role that religion plays in development processes and outcomes.

The text will present, explain and critically evaluate different sorts of literature from a range of disciplines that are relevant to thinking about the relationships between religions and development. It provides insight into a comprehensive range of approaches to guide readers through current debates about the role that religions play in development – from positive contributions to more complicated and contested notions of impact, for instance, in terms of religiously inspired violence or gender inequality.

This is the credo and seminal text of the movement which was later characterized as liberation theology. The book burst upon the scene in the early seventies, and was swiftly acknowledged as a pioneering and prophetic approach to theology which famously made an option for the poor, placing the exploited, the alienated, and the economically wretched at the centre of a programme where "the oppressed and maimed and blind and lame" were prioritized at the expense of those who either maintained the status quo or who abused the structures of power for their own ends. This powerful, compassionate and radical book attracted criticism for daring to mix politics and religion in so explicit a manner, but was also welcomed by those who had the capacity to see that its agenda was nothing more nor less than to give "good news to the poor", and redeem God's people from bondage.