RECENT TITLES AND ORDER INFORMATION

Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice

Abolishing War

Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace

Buddhist Perspectives on the Earth Charter

Human Rights, Environmental Law, and the Earth Charter

Subverting Hatred: The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions

Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the Global Economy

Educating Citizens for Global Awareness

Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice

David T. Hansen, Editor

The purpose of this volume is to bring together in a single text the ideas of some of the twentieth century's most dynamic and courageous educational philosophers from a diversity of cultural and historical perspectives. The book's framework encompasses essential educational concerns and explores those concerns in light of the tension that often exists between socio-political goals and the human potential of each child. As the book will show, the philosophies explored here bring to life educational ideas and possibilities that have had an enduring legacy, even though they once seemed inconceivable. Indeed, these are living philosophes worthy of consideration by teachers today. From the lives and thought of these extraordinary people, we learn how to render human affairs more just, more peaceful, and more fulfilling.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Ideas, Action, and Ethical Vision in Education by David T. Hansen, Teachers College, Columbia University

Part I.

Foundational Perspectives on the Aims of Education
John Dewey: United States, 1859-1952
John Dewey on Education and the Quality of Life by David T. Hansen

Paulo Freire: Brazil, 1921-1997
Paulo Freire's Politics and Pedagogy by Stephen M. Fishman & Lucille McCarthy, University of North Carolina Charlotte & University of Maryland Baltimore County

W.E.B. Du Bois: United States, 1868-1963
W. E. B. Du Bois and an Education for Democracy and Creativity by Rodino Anderson, Bowdoin College

Part II. Political Pressures, Educational Responses

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi: Japan, 1871-1944
Value Creation as the Aim of Education: Tsunesaburo Makiguchi and Soka Education by Andrew Gebert, Waseda University, Tokyo, and Monte Joffee, The Renaissance Charter School, NYC

Jane Addams: United States, 1860-1935
Learning from Experience: Jane Addams's Education in Democracy as a Way of Life by Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Purdue University

Tao Xingzhi: China, 1891-1946
Tao Xingzhi and the Emergence of Public Education in China by Zhang Kaiyuan & Wang Weijia, Central China Normal University

Part III. Unleashing Human Growth and Potential

Maria Montessori: Italy, 1870-1952
Peace as a Premise for Learning: Maria Montessori's Educational Philosophy by Jacqueline Cossentino, University of Maryland, and Jennifer Whitcomb, University of Colorado at Boulder

Rabindranath Tagore: India, 1861-1941
Art, Nature, and Education: Rabindranath Tagore's Holistic Approach to Learning by Kathleen M. O'Connell, University of Toronto

Rudolf Steiner: Austria, 1861-1925
Artful Curriculum, Evaluation, and Instruction: Lessons Learned from Rudolf Steiner's Spiritually Based Waldorf Education by Bruce Uhrmacher, University of Denver

Albert Schweitzer: France, 1875-1965
Caring for Others as a Path to Teaching and Learning: Albert Schweitzer's Reverence for Life by A. G. Rud, Purdue University

Complimentary Examination Copies are available for professors. To request a Complimentary Copy, fill out this online order form, click on submit to email your order.

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Table of Contents

Preface
Virginia Straus

Foreword
Saul Mendlovitz

Seminar #1
Toward the Abolition of War: Trends and Prospects, Randall Forsberg
Response, Elise Boulding
Roundtable Discussion

Seminar #2
Peace Culture and War Culture: Changing the Balance, Elise Boulding
Response, Randall Forsberg
Roundtable Discussion

Seminar #3
Process of Demilitarization: Unilateral and Multilateral Steps, Randall Forsberg
Response, Elise Boulding
Roundtable Discussion

Seminar #4
Cultural Strategies for Structural Transformation: IGOs and NGOs, Elise Boulding
Response, Randall Forsberg
Roundtable Discussion

Commentary
Assessing the Peace Plans before Us, Winston E. Langley
The Principles of Fairness and Accountability, Seyom Brown
The United Nations, Servant Leadership, and the Peacebuilding Institute, Virginia Mary Swain
Asking Tough Questions, Elmer N. Engstrom
Making War a Thing of the Past, Barbara Hildt
Two World Orders, Robert A. Irwin
Notes Toward the Abolition of War, George Sommaripa

Reflections
Laying the Foundation for a Stable World Peace, Randall Forsberg
Toward a More Peaceful Twenty-First Century, Elise Boulding

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Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace

"This is not a theoretical book."

David W. Chappell, Editor

Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace is one of the BRC’s most popular books. This collection of essays was edited by David W. Chappell, a scholar of Chinese Buddhism and former graduate chair of the Department of Religion at the University of Hawaii, who currently teaches at Soka University of America. As educator Joan Halifax Roshi states in her preface, Buddhist Peacework "explores the lives and actions, insights and guidelines of some of the world's most beloved Buddhist practitioners, teachers, and social activists who are currently working to end suffering in the life of the world."

This project, according to Virginia Straus, BRC executive director, reflects "our modest effort to support UNESCO's Barcelona Declaration on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace." It is a book intended to help "deepen public understanding, and particularly religious understanding, of what peace in its fullest sense actually entails."

As Buddhist Peacework probes the link between inner peace and global harmony and examines the shift within Buddhist communities from isolated monasticism to an engaged activism for peace, it moves from development of the theme of building inclusive communities to rebuilding moral cultures to a treatment of the correlation between inner peace and outer kindness. The text also includes an enumeration and elaboration of the Buddhist peace principles discussed within the book, the text of the Barcelona Declaration on the Role of Religion, and reflections on the Declaration by Janusz Symonides, director of UNESCO's Department of Peace, Human Rights, Democracy, and Tolerance.

"The many conditions necessary for peace are better understood than they have ever been," Chappell observes in the concluding chapter of Peacework. "Buddhists have always emphasized inner mindfulness work, but social mindfulness is increasingly important in Buddhist peacework... The essays in this volume contribute greatly to clarifying social guidelines for Buddhists." Among the points of emphasis are the importance not only of mindfulness training but also of dialogue and social action. In addition, time and again the authors place emphasis on the Buddhist principle of interdependence with its implicit corollary of social responsibility.

Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace is dedicated to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her life and work symbolizes Buddhist peacework, compassion, and courage. "Several of the authors," David Chappell explains, "are in political exile, others have endured civil war, and others are struggling to create social equality and justice under the threat of terrorism and arrest." For these reasons, the editor insists, "This is not a theoretical book."

The authors of Buddhist Peacework are simultaneously religious spokespersons and world leaders. Authors include the following:

•     Robert Aitken
•     A.T. Ariyaratne
•     José Ignacio Cabezón
•     Maha Ghosananda
•     Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
•     Thich Nhat Hanh
•     His Holiness the Dalai Lama
•     Daisaku Ikeda
•     Stephanie Kaza
•     Lama Bataa Mishigish
•     Dhammachari Lokamitra
•     Shih Sheng-yen
•     Judith Simmer-Brown
•     Sulak Sivaraksa
•     Kosan Sunim
•     Karma Lekshe Tsomo
•     Shih Cheng-Yen
•     Jeon Chong-Yoon

Buddhist Peacework: Creating Cultures of Peace was published in November 1999 by Wisdom Publications in association with the Boston Research Center.

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Complimentary Examination Copies are available for professors. To request a Complimentary Copy, fill out this online order form, click on submit to email your order.

Buddhist Peacework can be ordered for $14.95 plus tax from Wisdom Publications at www.wisdompubs.org or with a credit card at 800-272-4050.

Buddhist Perspectives on the Earth Charter

Published by the BRC in November 1997, Buddhist Perspectives on the Earth Charter presents the views of leading scholars of Buddhism on the contribution of Buddhist teachings to an emerging environmental ethic. While the authors write from diverse perspectives -- including Thai, Tibetan, Nichiren, and Zen Buddhism -- they uniformly call for personal transformation, if practitioners are to apply the fundamental Buddhist principles of compassion and interdependence to protect and respect Earth as a living entity.

Like the two other BRC books on the Earth Charter, Buddhist Perspectives addresses a benchmark draft of the Earth Charter. The publication of these three books played a role in the unprecedented global consultation that led to the final draft of the Charter in year 2000.

Buddhist Perspectives includes essays by:

• Grace Burford, Faculty Member, Integrative Studies Program, Prescott College
• David W. Chappell, Professor and former Graduate Chair, Department of Religion, University of Hawaii; Professor at Soka University of America
• Susan Darlington, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, Hampshire College
• Rita M. Gross, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire
• Yoichi Kawada, Director, Institute of Oriental Philosophy
• Stephanie Kaza, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, University of Vermont
• Sallie B. King, Head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, James Madison University
• Donald K. Swearer, Professor of Religion, Swarthmore College

"It is by bringing together the wisdom and courage of all people on Earth toward a Charter that truly represents the general will of humankind that we will be able to move from an era of sounding warnings, to one of action based on solidarity. It is the solidarity of humanity united in a common struggle that will bring forth a third millennium that shines with the light of hope."

From the Foreword to Buddhist Perspectives

BRC founder Daisaku Ikeda

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Click here to order Buddhist Perspectives on the Earth Charter from the Boston Research Center

Human Rights, Environmental Law, and the Earth Charter

Derived from a consultation held in 1997, "Practical Steps to Realize Environmental Justice: Drawing on 50 Years of Human Rights Developments," Human Rights, Environmental Law, and the Earth Charter incorporates the views of environmental lawyers, ethicists, scholars, and activists engaged in the worldwide struggle to enforce human rights initiatives. Complete texts of the Benchmark Draft of the Earth Charter and the Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development are included along with recommendations for revisions that strengthen existing language.

Like the two other BRC books on the Earth Charter, this volume addresses a benchmark draft of the Earth Charter. The publication of these three books played a role in the unprecedented global consultation that led to the final draft of the Charter in year 2000.

Human Rights, Environmental Law, and the Earth Charter summarizes conflicting points of view and strategies for use of language on issues ranging from the Golden Rule to human rights to gender to Earth rights. One focus of the text is, in the words of Rick Clugston, executive director of the Center for Respect of Life and Environment, "to shift the core paradigm of human ethical relations to the natural world and to get people from different professions, different religions, governments, and NGOs all to agree on a common universal set of principles and then to translate those principles into actual hard law."

Table of Contents

Preface
Virginia Straus

Introduction
Winston E. Langley

Part I: The Earth Charter and the Covenant: "Soft" and "Hard" Law
Remarks of the Co-convenors:
The Earth Charter and Human Rights, Steven C. Rockefeller
The Draft Covenant on Environment and Development: A Sustainable Model for International Lawmaking, Nicholas A. Robinson

Commentaries:
Misconceptions and Misunderstandings, Clarence J. Dias
The Concerns of a Friendly Skeptic, Stephen L. Kass
Establishing the Moral Connections and Restoring the Balance between the Natural World and Human Society, Noel L. Brown

Dialogue

Part II: Global Sovereignty
Presentation:
The Global Sovereignty of the People, Ruud Lubbers

Commentaries:
The Myth of Objectivity, Neil A. F. Popovic
Sounding a Cautionary Note, Stephen P. Marks

Dialogue

Part III: Discussions on the Earth Charter and the Covenant
Report and Recommendations on the Earth Charter
Report and Recommendations on the Covenant

Appendix

1. The Earth Charter Benchmark Draft
2. Proposals for Earth Charter Principles
3. Proposed Language Relating to Human Rights for the Earth Charter Preamble
4. Draft International Covenant on Environment and Development

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Complimentary Examination Copies are available for professors. To request a Complimentary Copy, fill out this online order form, click on submit to email your order.

Click here to order Human Rights, Environmental Law, and the Earth Charter from the Boston Research Center.

Subverting Hatred: The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions

What commonalties would we find among the world's major religious traditions if we focused on the subject of nonviolence? Would we find a straightforward, unambiguous uniformity among the spiritual teachings? Would we find some justification for aggression? Would we find exhortations to violence in some religious traditions and not in others? Would there be surprises in the textual interpretations of some international scholars as they assessed their religious traditions?

In the spring of 1998, the Boston Research Center for the 21st Century commissioned this series of essays to investigate the theme of nonviolence in the sacred texts, the oral teachings, and the traditions of major world religions.

Subverting Hatred: The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions sheds light on the mixed messages and conflicting testimony that emerged from this study and underscores the central questions for religious individuals everywhere: Does my faith have a fundamental message about nonviolence? If it does, what behavior must I follow if I take seriously the message I receive? Is there a mandate for some kind of civil or political action?

This book is a valuable resource in universities where courses of study in comparative religion are offered, in peace studies curricula, and in introductory humanities programs. Subverting Hatred is Published by Orbis Books in association with the Boston Research Center as part of its "Faith Meets Faith Series."

Table of Contents

Preface
Virginia Straus

Foreword
Daisaku Ikeda

Introduction
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher

Jainism and Nonviolence
Christopher Key Chapple

The Peace Wheel: Nonviolent Activism in the Buddhist Tradition
Christopher S. Queen

Subverting Hatred: Peace and Nonviolence in Confucianism and Daoism
Tam Wai Lun

Ahimsa and the Unity of All Things: A Hindu View of Nonviolence
Sunanda Y. Shastri and Yajneshwar S. Shastri

Indigenous Traditions of Peace: An Interview with Lawrence Hart, Cheyenne Peace Chief
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher

Nonviolence in Islam: The Alternative Community Tradition
Rabia Terri Harris

"Let your love for me vanquish your hatred for him": Nonviolence and Modern Judaism
Jeremy Milgrom

Political Atheism and Radical Faith: The Challenge of Christian Nonviolence in the Third Millennium
Daniel L. Smith-Christopher

Epilogue: Reflections on Nonviolence and Religion
Donald K. Swearer

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Complimentary Examination Copies are available for professors. To request a Complimentary Copy, fill out this online order form, click on submit to email your order.

Subverting Hatred can be ordered for $15.00 plus tax from Orbis Books at www.orbisbooks.com or with a credit card at 800-258-5838.

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Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the Global Economy

The Boston Research Center is pleased to announce the publication of Subverting Greed: Religious Perspectives on the Global Economy (Orbis Books, November 2002). This multi-author volume grew out of the BRC´s consideration of the impact of globalization and other economic justice issues (1999-2001). This focus culminated in a conference and lecture series in 2001 entitled Economics for Human Well-Being: Advancing a People´s Agenda. With this foundation in mind, Subverting Greed offers an "interfaith dialogue on paper" focused on one of the most urgent issues of our time: corporate-driven globalization.

Insightful essays by distinguished religious scholars—who are also practitioners of the religious traditions they represent—consider the impact of globalization as they seek to shed light on their own tradition´s concerns, define common problems, and propose common solutions. It is clear from the range of essays that all religious traditions have structures and teachings designed to distribute resources and mitigate greed, though several contributors acknowledge the difficulty of applying ancient teachings to modern life. For some, there is a fine line between prosperity and greed. As Ameer Ali says in his chapter entitled Globalization and Greed: A Muslim Perspective, "Islam is not against profit motive, the cardinal principle of free-market ideology; but it is not willing to allow profit motive to determine human progress." Others, like David Loy in Pave the Planet, or Wear Shoes? A Buddhist Perspective on Greed and Globalization, critique neoclassical economics as they connect the issue of greed to deeper issues of kindness, generosity, and wisdom. Still others raise concerns of sustainability and the shared resource of Planet Earth. In this regard, Sallie McFague´s essay, God´s Household: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living, identifies two world views: neoclassical economics and ecological economics, each of which has different "house rules." As McFague so aptly demonstrates, "The reason economics is so important, why it is a religious and ecological issue, is that it is not just a matter of money; rather, it is a matter of survival and flourishing."

Paul Knitter´s Introduction ends with a series of questions: "In their different diagnoses of the global market, in their varying remedies that they draw from their own traditions, can they [the voices of Subverting Greed] sing together? Of course, singing together would not mean singing the same tune. Whatever harmony might be possible, it would be polyphonic. Do the religions offer a polyphonic, contrasting, yet harmonizing message for those who are in charge of the global economic system, and/or for those who are struggling to understand or reform it? Can the religious communities of the world form any kind of a common front from which to engage the global market?"

Thus, while no definitive conclusions are reached, the deep experience and thoughtful prose of the contributors to this important volume go a long way toward framing the questions that must be answered if religious communities and economic systems are to function with integrity. In the end, as Chandra Muzaffar´s Conclusion suggests, the injustice of the global economy is a spiritual and moral issue that each individual must deal with in order for a collective solution to be found.

Table of Contents

Preface
Virginia Straus

Foreword
Daisaku Ikeda

Introduction:
Paul F. Knitter, Professor of Theology Emeritus, Xavier University

Chapter 1: Igbo and African Religious Perspectives on Religious Conscience and the Global Economy by Ifi Amadiume, Dartmouth College

Chapter 2: Religious Conscience and the Global Economy: An Eastern Perspective on Sociospiritual Activism by Swami Agnivesh, Activist and Chair of the United Nations Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery and the Bandhua Mukti Morcha (Bonded Labor Liberation Front)

Chapter 3: Pave the Planet, or Wear Shoes? A Buddhist Perspective on Greed and Globalization by David R. Loy, Bunkyo University, Chigasaki, Japan

Chapter 4: A Confucian View of the Global Economy by Zhou Qin, National University of Singapore

Chapter 5: Judaism and Economic Reform by Norman Solomon, Member of the Faculties of Theology and of Oriental Studies at Oxford University

Chapter 6: God´s Household: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living by Sallie McFague, Vancouver School of Theology

Chapter 7: Globalization and Greed: A Muslim Perspective by Ameer Ali, University of Western Australia

Conclusion: Chandra Muzaffar, President, the International Movement for a Just World

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Complimentary Examination Copies are available for professors. To request a Complimentary Copy, fill out this online order form, click on submit to email your order.

Subverting Greed can be ordered for $20.00 plus tax from Orbis Books at http://www.orbisbooks.com or by calling 800-258-5838.

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Educating Citizens for Global Awareness

Edited by Nel Noddings

What is global citizenship? Is it primarily a matter of economics? How can we protect the Earth as our home and that of future generations? What sort of diversity should we try to preserve, and can we encourage unity while we maintain diversity? What role should peace education play in preserving global citizenship? These are the key questions addressed in Nel Noddings’ introduction to Educating Citizens for Global Awareness. The far-reaching chapters of this timely volume open address an important conversation that educators are having we prepare young people for a new kind of citizenship.

Table of Contents

Preface: Virginia Straus

Foreword: Daisaku Ikeda

Introduction: Global Citizenship: Promises and Problems, Nel Noddings

Chapter 1: Gender Perspectives on Educating for Global Citizenship, Peggy McIntosh

Chapter 2: The Integration of Conflict Resolution into the High School Curriculum: The Example of Workable Peace, Stacie Nicole Smith and David Fairman

Chapter 3: Place-Based Education to Preserve the Earth and its People, Nel Noddings

Chapter 4: Differing Concepts of Citizenship: Schools and Communities as Sites of Civic Development, Gloria Ladson-Billings

Chapter 5: Incorporating Internationalism into the Social Studies Curriculum, Stephen J. Thornton

Chapter 6: A Letter To Secondary Teachers: Teaching About Religious Pluralism in the Public Schools, Robert J. Nash

Chapter 7: A Changing Vision of Education, Nancy Carlsson-Paige and Linda Lantieri

Conclusion:  What Have We Learned?, Nel Noddings

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Complimentary Examination Copies are available for professors. To request a Complimentary Copy, fill out this online order form, click on submit to email your order.

Educating Citizens for Global Awareness can be ordered for $23.95 from Teachers College Press by phone at 800-575-6566 or online at www.tcpress.com.

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