Stanley Hauerwas presents an overall introduction to the themes and method that have distinguished his vision of Christian ethics. Emphasizing the significance of Jesus’ life and teaching in shaping moral life, The Peaceable Kingdom stresses the narrative character of moral rationality and the necessity of a historic community and tradition for morality. Hauerwas systematically develops the importance of character and virtue as elements of decision making and spirituality and stresses nonviolence as critical for shaping our understanding of Christian ethics.
"I did not want to fail, because the stakes were too high. After all, I was after nothing less than the secret of human harmony." The challenge that bestselling author Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson set for himself was formidable: to create a true interspecies peaceable kingdom within his own household. He hoped to learn if several different species-some, natural enemies-raised together from an early age could live peacefully side by side. So he took into his home seven young animals-a kitten, a rabbit, two rats, two chickens, and a puppy-and set about observing the whole process of socialization (or non-socialization) from the very beginning. The initial results were mixed. Tamaiti, the kitten, made herself instantly comfortable, but Hohepa, the Flemish giant rabbit, remained inscrutably reserved. Kia and Ora, the rats, slept all day and became active at night. Moa and Moana, the Polish frizzle chickens, bonded with each other but to no one else. Mika, the stray pup, barked much too much. But as the hours and days passed in this never-before-attempted environment, the animals began to change in startling ways, as Masson wondered which animals would bond, and which would recoil from one another? Can animals, including humans, truly change when direct experience tells them it's safe to do so? Would the experiment end in triumph, or in tragedy? Raising the Peaceable Kingdom poses universal questions we've all had about relationships, social strife, and peaceful coexistence. In its intimations of the potential for planetary harmony, this elegantly written book is a work of major significance. As a unique account of life in an interspecies community, it offers unmitigated enchantment, joy, and delight.
William Penn established Pennsylvania in 1682 as a "holy experiment" in which Europeans and Indians could live together in harmony. In this book, historian Kevin Kenny explains how this Peaceable Kingdom--benevolent, Quaker, pacifist--gradually disintegrated in the eighteenth century, with disastrous consequences for Native Americans. Kenny recounts how rapacious frontier settlers, most of them of Ulster extraction, began to encroach on Indian land as squatters, while William Penn's sons cast off their father's Quaker heritage and turned instead to fraud, intimidation, and eventually violence during the French and Indian War. In 1763, a group of frontier settlers known as the Paxton Boys exterminated the last twenty Conestogas, descendants of Indians who had lived peacefully since the 1690s on land donated by William Penn near Lancaster. Invoking the principle of "right of conquest," the Paxton Boys claimed after the massacres that the Conestogas' land was rightfully theirs. They set out for Philadelphia, threatening to sack the city unless their grievances were met. A delegation led by Benjamin Franklin met them and what followed was a war of words, with Quakers doing battle against Anglican and Presbyterian champions of the Paxton Boys. The killers were never prosecuted and the Pennsylvania frontier descended into anarchy in the late 1760s, with Indians the principal victims. The new order heralded by the Conestoga massacres was consummated during the American Revolution with the destruction of the Iroquois confederacy. At the end of the Revolutionary War, the United States confiscated the lands of Britain's Indian allies, basing its claim on the principle of "right of conquest." Based on extensive research in eighteenth-century primary sources, this engaging history offers an eye-opening look at how colonists--at first, the backwoods Paxton Boys but later the U.S. government--expropriated Native American lands, ending forever the dream of colonists and Indians living together in peace.
Fred Rogers was one of the most radical pacifists of contemporary history. We do not usually think of him as radical, partly because he wore colorful, soft sweaters made by his mother. Nor do we usually imagine him as a pacifist; that adjective seems way too political to describe the host of a children's program known for its focus on feelings. We have restricted Fred Rogers to the realm of entertainment, children, and feelings, and we've ripped him out of his political and religious context. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister, and although he rarely shared his religious convictions on his program, he fervently believed in a God who accepts us as we are and who desires a world marked by peace and wholeness. With this progressive spirituality as his inspiration, Rogers used his children's program as a platform for sharing countercultural beliefs about caring nonviolently for one another, animals, and the earth. To critics who dared call him “namby-pamby,†Rogers said, “Only people who take the time to see our work can begin to understand the depth of it.†This is the invitation of Peaceful Neighbor, to see and understand Rogers's convictions and their expression through his program. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, it turns out, is far from sappy, sentimental, and shallow; it's a sharp political response to a civil and political society poised to kill.
Few Americans understand the Constitution’s workings. Its real importance for the average citizen is as an enduring reminder of the moral vision that shaped the nation's founding. Maxwell Bloomfield looks at the broader appeal that constitutional idealism has always made to the American imagination through publications and films.
Sage Sohier photographed at refuges for exotic animals, wildlife rescues that rehabilitate and re-release animals to the wild, dog and catrescues, and farm animal sanctuaries. She focused on showing the bond between people and animals: »Many of the people pictured here have dedicated most of their adult lives to saving animals. As for the animals, their sweetness, resilience, zest for life, and willingness to forgive people - to coexist with them and often to flourish - is remarkable, and may be their only salvation.« (S. Sohier)Sohier has had six books of her photographs published, and her work is in many important collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.Sy Montgomery is the author of internationally acclaimed books, among them The Soul of an Octopus.
"Fresh, provocative, and powerful. Had I read this book before Istarted building a company of my own, it would have saved me agreat deal of time and pain."-Sam Hill, President, HeliosConsulting, Coauthor, Radical Marketing and The InfiniteAsset "In this insane world of ephemeral company loyalty and revolvingdoors to top positions, Stan Richards has clearly outlinedexceedingly sane ways for any company to retain star performers bycreating an environment that fundamentally rejects officepolitics."-Dick Hammill, Senior Vice President, Marketing andAdvertising, The Home Depot "For the three decades during which I was building Mullen, my herowasn't in New York-he was in Dallas. Stan Richards built aquintessentially creative agency from the uncommon clay of courage,generosity, common sense, loyalty, and integrity. If you'd like tobe famous, respected, loved, and rich, here's the manual."-JimMullen, Founder, Mullen Advertising "Keeping the creative spirit alive with every member of your teamas your company grows should be your highest priority. ThePeaceable Kingdom clearly describes how to keep the spirit aliveand how to encourage every member of the team to constantly focuson improving the company and its services every day."-H. RossPerot The Peaceable Kingdom is a story like no other-one that reveals howa company that admittedly refers to itself as strange and oddnevertheless became one of the most closely watched, respected, andprofitable businesses in the advertising industry. This eye-openingbook takes you inside the doors of The Richards Group, whichmanaged to survive and prosper in this cutthroat business bydefying many truisms not only for ad agencies but for businesses ingeneral. Company founder Stan Richards, along with David Culp,unveils how unconventional methods and a willingness to break downbarriers earned them an A client list including Nokia, Home Depot,Motel 6, Fruit of the Loom, Corona, and Chick-fil-A. Read The Peaceable Kingdom and see how your company-no matter theindustry-can follow in their footsteps and build a more harmonious,productive, and prosperous business.
Some 5000 years ago, civilized societies emerged in the valleys of four great rivers: the Nile, the Euphrates, the Yellow, and the Indus. Of these primary Old World civilizations, that of the Indus remains the least known and the most enigmatic, though, paradoxically, it has left perhaps the most lasting influence on the societies that followed it. In this lucid account - abundantly illustrated with maps and photographs, including sixteen pages in full color - archaeologist Jane McIntosh addresses what we know about the rise and fall of the civilization of the Indus and Saraswati valleys, what it might be reasonable to speculate, and what we still hope to learn. While drawing on archaeological and linguistic evidence to create a portrait of the civilization from the inside, McIntosh also carefully pieces together a wider picture of the Indus civilization using evidence from its trading partners in Mesopotamia, the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, and Southwest Asia. The result is an outstandingly vivid recreation of one of the world's great but all-but-lost ancient civilizations.
