God and the welfare state / Lew Daly ; foreword by James Carroll.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Daly, Lew (Lewis C.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poverty--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Poverty.

Church work with the poor--United States.

Church work with the poor.

Church and social problems.

United States.

Faith-based human services.

Church and social problems--United States.

United States--Economic conditions.

Economic conditions.

United States--Social conditions.

Social conditions.

Physical Description:

xix, 132 pages ; 19 cm

Place of Publication:

Somerville, Mass. : Boston Review ; Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, [2006]

Summary:

When the Bush administration introduced the faith-based initiative in 2001 as the next stage in the war on poverty, it provoked a flurry of protest for violating the church-state divide. Most critics didn't ask whether it could work. Setting aside partisan ideas about religion and politics, Lew Daly considers the initiative on its own terms as an anti-poverty project. As he traces it from its roots in Catholic natural-law theory and 19th-century Dutch Calvinist ideas about the proper relationship between government and religion, he shows how century-old ideas were transformed into public policy by a small group of scholars, lawyers, and advocates who worked closely with George W. Bush from his earliest days as the governor of Texas.

Although Daly is deeply skeptical that Bush's initiative can be effective-it primarily helps churches, not poor people-he describes it as an innovative project and the only new strategy in fighting poverty in three decades. Most importantly, Daly suggests that a policy more faithful to the ideas behind it might actually work. At once a remarkable story about the making of public policy and a fresh look at the possibilities for fighting poverty, God and the Welfare State gives us a new starting point in the evolving conversation about religion and American government.

Contents:

1 If you care about fighting poverty 3

2 A vision of rebuilding 11

3 Charitable choice opened the door 21

4 Executive action 31

5 Kuyper's theory of the limited state 45

6 The makings of a movement 59

7 Mastering Catholic governance 73

8 Corrupting ourselves 87

9 The caring state 97

10 False gods 111.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [127]-132).

ISBN:

0262042363

OCLC:

70158587

Publisher Number:

9780262042369