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New version of Bowling Alone offers
a challenge for a new and social "Great Awakening"
from Witherspoon president Gene TeSelle
"Bowling Alone" may have a familiar sound to
you. It's the title of an essay by Robert D. Putnam five years ago which
suddenly caught on with the popular press. Putnam had noticed a
widespread drop in "associational" activities, including, of
course, bowling leagues. Now Putnam and his research team have found
much more evidence, presented in a full-length book with many graphs,
entitled Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American
Community (541 pp. $26. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83283-6).
They find a trend since the 1960s in many areas of life -- a decline in
memberships, charitable giving, volunteer activities, churchgoing,
eating at each other's homes, voter turnout for elections, and trust
levels. Causes seem to range from suburbanization to the television set
and now the home computer.
Putnam then measures "social capital," the broad spectrum of
social ties that make life more productive. He finds that it is lowest
in the core Southern states (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
and Tennessee) and highest in New England and the Midwest. (The reason
is a difference in political cultures from the beginning,
exacerbated, of course, by slavery and racial inequality, "a social
system designed to destroy social capital.") The states with low
social capital turn out to be worse off on a number of
measures--education, crime, health and length of life, tolerance,
economic equality, civic participation.
Putnam likens this period to the Gilded Age a hundred years before, and
he hopes for a new Progressive Era, one in which the "bonding"
or "exclusive" kinds of social capital (in local communities
and voluntary groups) will once again be supplemented by
"bridging" or "inclusive" social capital, helping us
to broaden our contacts and
heighten our trust levels in an increasingly complex society.
The final chapter spells out a vision for many segments of life, with
the formula "Let us find ways to ensure that by 2010 . . . "
What does he have to say about religion?
I challenge America's clergy, lay leaders,
theologians, and ordinary worshipers: Let us spur a new, pluralistic,
socially responsible "great awakening," so that by 2010
Americans will be more deeply engaged than we are today in one or
another spiritual community of meaning, while at the same time
becoming more tolerant of the faiths and practices of other Americans.
His agenda for "social capitalists" also
reaches into the workplace, urban design, the media, cultural
institutions, and public life. Not a bad set of suggestions!
from Gene TeSelle, August 17, 2000 |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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