The Request and the Gift in Religious and Humanitarian Endeavors

This collection revisits classical anthropological treatments of the gift by documenting how people may be valued both through the requests they make and through what they give. Many humanitarian practitioners, the authors propose, regard giving to those in need as the epitome of moral action but ar...

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Bibliographic Details
Contributors: Klaits, Frederick (Editor)
Format: Electronic Book
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Cham Palgrave Macmillan 2017
In:Year: 2017
Series/Journal:Contemporary Anthropology of Religion
SpringerLink Bücher
Springer eBook Collection Social Sciences
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Gift / Gift
Further subjects:B Collection of essays
B Religion and sociology
B Social Sciences
B Ethnology
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Printed edition: 9783319542430
Description
Summary:This collection revisits classical anthropological treatments of the gift by documenting how people may be valued both through the requests they make and through what they give. Many humanitarian practitioners, the authors propose, regard giving to those in need as the epitome of moral action but are liable to view those people’s requests for charity as merely utilitarian. Yet in many religious discourses, prayers and requests for alms are highly valued as moral acts, obligatory for establishing relationships with the divine. Framing the moral qualities of asking and giving in conjunction with each other, the contributors explore the generation of trust and mistrust, the politics of charity and accountability, and tensions between universalism and particularism in religious philanthropy
1. Introduction: Asking in Time -- 2. The Power of the Gift: Killing and Healing in Northwest Zambia -- 3. Seeking the Wounds of the Gift: Recipient Agency in Catholic Charity and Kiganda Patronage -- 4. When God Is a Moral Accountant: Requests and Dilemmas of Accountability in U.S. Medical Relief in Madagascar -- 5. How Asking and Giving Beget Distrust in Christian Child Sponsorship -- 6. Funding Meaning on Jewish Service Trips to Post-Katrina New Orleans -- 7. Universal Dignity: Fundraising, Zakat, and Spiritual Exchange
ISBN:3319542443
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-54244-7