Catholic Worker Movement Take 321Follow The Instr
Respond to question-sets A, D, & H and one other question-set.
A) Discuss the interviews with sociologist Peter Berger and professor of Business Administration Rosabeth Moss Kanter in “Globalization and the Rise of Religion.”
B) Summarize and discuss the kinds of urban living conditions brought about by the Industrial Revolution in post-Civil War Amerca that prompted what was at first called “applied Christianity” and later became known as “the social gospel.”
C) What elements of American life, and understandings of the personality of Jesus, helped inspire the “gospel of prosperity” promoted by advertizing executive Bruce Barton and others? Compare/contrast this perspective with that of “the social gospel.” How are these perspectives represented in today’s American religious life?
D) What sorts of labor standards were demanded by individuals and organizations such as James Cardinal Gibbons, Walter Rauschenbusch, The Federal Council of Churches, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis? The text points out that many of these standards were regarded as “radical at the time…but are commonplace now.” Some American religious organizations and individuals argue that such standards and demands remain both radical and dangerous to American religion and life in general; others maintain that such historically-demanded standards are still urgently in need of being implemented and continued—that even now they are often far from being “commonplace,” widespread, or secure. How do you assess the current situation compared to that of the period described in the text? Has American religion embraced and achieved the goals of the social gospel?
E) Summarize and discuss the religious factors involved in the U.S. invasion, occupation, and annexation of the Philippines during the Spanish-American War.
F) How did American religious groups react to World War I while it was in progress and how did they react in the period following the end of the war? Why do you think this shift occurred? Discuss.
G) Describe and discuss the shift of American religious interest from a focus on foreign missions to “the mission at home.” What were some of the causes, features, and results of this shift in focus?
H) What religious approach did Dorothy Day and her Catholic Worker movement take toward American social problems? The Catholic Worker movement is still very active across the U.S. today. Are the problems it was founded to address the same now? mostly a thing of the past? or larger than ever?