|
 There
is as much ignorance as there is concern about intolerance today.
The most fully developed literature we have on the subject
is that dealing with race and ethnicity.
Although of critical importance in its own right, this
literature also provides a necessary foundation for our engagement
of other “others” - e.g., gender, faith, class, sexual
preference. They and We: Racial and Ethnic Relations in the
United States by Peter I. Rose, a text I use in my American
Pluralism course, is a readily accessible introduction to this
literature. Test your
prejudices against it.
No
one can begin to adequately understand the
social-economic-political situation of any of the multiple,
interconnected places within which one lives if one does not grasp
the significance of globalization’s essential paradox - the
simultaneous ascent of homogenizing global capitalism and
intolerant re-tribalization. The Lexus and the Olive Tree:
Understanding Globalization by Thomas L. Friedman is simply
the best, popularly written portal into this paradox.
Want
to know more about all those rumors you have heard about a new
paradigm of church vitality.
Read Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in
the New Millennium by Donald E. Miller. But beware: if
you’re old-line or invested in organ music and social justice,
this must read story about real movements will be more challenging
than affirming. |
