Browsing by Author "Wittberg, Patricia"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Comparing Practical Theology across Religions and Denominations
    (2011) Schneider, Jo Anne; Wittberg, Patricia
    While significant research and practice has examined congregational involvement in providing for those in need, few have looked at the denominational theology that informs these initiatives or influences the non-profit systems created to provide them. Drawing on ethnographic research from the Faith and Organizations project, a national research/practice initiative designed to explore the relationship between religions and faith based organizations, this paper compares the practical theology behind stewardship of social welfare and educational programs for Catholics, Mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, Jews, Quakers and African American Christians. The paper returns to older, expanded definitions of stewardship and provides identifies three stewardship systems based on religious practical theology. It observes strengths and weaknesses of each system and offers practical suggestions for strengthening connections between faith communities and FBOs in each system
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    The comparison of religious nonprofit organizations between mainland China and Taiwan: A comparative case study based on Tzu Chi
    (2016-10) Tao, Ling; Wittberg, Patricia
    Nonprofit organizations in mainland China have been increasing at an amazing rate in the past two decades, and the religious sector is now organized to actively participate in providing social services as well. Religious NPOs in both mainland China and Taiwan follow rather different developmental paths. Why do they follow dissimilar paths? I suggest that the different institutional environments shape religious nonprofit sectors and influence their developmental trajectories. In this thesis, I use a Buddhist charity –Tzu Chi– as a comparative case study and propose three factors to explain the different developmental trajectories between Taiwan and mainland China.
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    Competing Frames? The War on Terror in Campaign Rhetoric
    (2007-06) Kaufman, Heather L.; Seybold, Peter James, 1950-; Wittberg, Patricia; Foote, Carrie
    The Iraq War and the War on Terror were pivotal issues in the presidential race for the White House in 2004. Competing frames about the meaning of September 11, 2001, terrorism, and American power were constructed by the rival candidates and established a limited debate that marginalized alternative interpretations of war and peace. It is likely that the dilemma over U.S. forces in Iraq and the War on Terror will continue to be a major issue in the upcoming 2008 Presidential Election. Therefore, the campaign speeches of the presidential candidates, President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry, during the 2004 Election regarding terrorism were important to understanding the themes that initiated public debate in the U.S. about the conflict in Iraq and the War on Terror. In this document analysis, these candidates’ public addresses illustrated how the role of the U.S. power to combat terrorism shaped a particular perspective about the post-9/11 world. Ideas that challenged “official” debate about war and national security were excluded from mainstream media coverage of the campaign. In order to examine the narrow debate over terrorism and how alternative “ways of seeing” war have been and continue to be marginalized, this study compared how the candidates framed the war in contrast to anti-war voices. Cindy Sheehan, who is an emergent leader in the peace and social justice movement, and more “official” voices of dissent like Representative Dennis Kucinich, have criticized “official” framing of the war. Dissenting perspectives about the Iraq War and the War on Terror invite a different understanding about U.S. hegemony, terrorism, and the consequences of the War on Terror for foreign and domestic policies. The impact of the war upon domestic policy and national crises, such as the widely televised and heavily criticized federal response to Hurricane Katrina Summer 2005, were examined to explore how domestic crises undermine “official” framing of the Iraq War and the War on Terror and empower alternative understandings of war and peace.
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    Faith-Based Umbrella Organizations: Implications for Religious Identity
    (2012-10) Wittberg, Patricia
    Little research has been done on the role of umbrella organizations in affecting how faith-based organizations (FBOs) relate to their sponsoring faith community. Using interviews, archival historical data, and ethnographic observations compiled between 2004 and 2008 by the Faith and Organizations Project, this article applies previous typologies for secular nonprofit umbrella organizations to faith-based umbrellas and outlines some of the benefits and liabilities that these umbrella organizations pose for both faith communities and their local FBOs.
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    The Sisters of Charity in Nineteenth-Century America: Civil War Nurses and Philanthropic Pioneers
    (2010-07-19T15:11:44Z) Coon, Katherine E.; Robertson, Nancy Marie, 1956-; Schultz, Jane E.; Wittberg, Patricia
    This thesis seeks to answer the following question: What was the legacy of the Sisters of Charity in the history of philanthropy, women’s history, medicine and nursing? The Sisters of Charity was a Catholic religious order that provided volunteer nurses, and became highly visible, during the American Civil War. Several hundred Catholic sister nurses served; they supported both the Union and Confederacy by caring for soldiers from both armies. The sisters’ story is important because of the religious and gender biases they overcame. As nurses, the Sisters of Charity interacted with different people: they cared for soldiers, worked at the direction of surgeons and alongside lay relief workers. The war propelled them into public view, and the sisters acted as agents of change. Their philanthropy eroded some of the antebellum cultural proscriptions that previously confined Catholics, women and nurses. This thesis argues the Sisters of Charity created and implemented an antebellum philanthropic model, key aspects of which the majority, non-Catholic culture emulated after the war. The Sisters of Charity were agents of social change: they broke down religious, social and gender barriers, and developed a prototype for a healthcare model that the secular world emulated. Many women responded to the unprecedented suffering and cataclysmic conditions of the Civil War in a multitude of ways, and philanthropy was forever changed as a result. Wartime benevolence provided templates for large-scale voluntary organizations, illuminated the issue of payment for charity workers, moved the practice of philanthropy from individual to institutional, and led to the development of nursing as a profession. Female voluntarism shifted into the front and center of the public sphere. Charitable work moved along the continuum from individual to institutional, from volunteer to professional. Questions regarding the respective roles of payment to charitable workers developed. Nursing gained recognition as a profession, and formal training began. The Sisters of Charity were leaders in all these areas, and their orders served as models for the future of philanthropy. Yet they are often absent from analyses of the trajectory of nineteenth-century philanthropy, and this thesis delivers them to the discussion.