Bøger af Gabriel Moran

Everyone knows that the death rate on earth is 100 percent. If one were to concentrate obsessively on that fact, it could become an obstacle to living. But fleeing from all talk about death can also be unhealthy. Death is omnipresent in today's media. But the portrayal of death in the movies, television and video games can be a way of distancing oneself from the reality of one's own death. This book provides language for personally grappling with issues that eventually concern every individual. The author brings an historical perspective to practices that have undergone a change in public perception. Euthanasia and suicide were until recently judged to be sickness or sin. These practices are now sometimes thought to be acceptable but language is needed for a better discussion of them. The book is particularly concerned with education, not just courses in school but the teachable moments in the lives of both children and adults. A child's encounter with the death of a family member or even the death of a pet are important moments for integrating into one's life a healthy attitude to death. The idea that there are stages of dying was made popular by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. This book critically examines what truth there may be to the idea and its practical relevance. In a sense, everyone is dying from the moment of birth. A diagosis that one has a few weeks or months to live simply makes one aware of the process. Dr. Johnson's famous comment that "getting hanged in a fortnight wonderfully concerntrates the mind" applies more broadly to every reminder of one's mortality. Every adult eventually has the experience of mourning a loved one. In most societies there is a careful ritual for mourning. This book discusses the absence of support for mourning in many people's lives. In recent years public tragedies bring forth makeshift memorials. That can be a help but it is not a substitute for expressions of personal grief which are best helped by the support of a few friends and family members. The last two chapters of this book concern the place of religion in relation to dying. Death functions as a helpful point of reference for an ecumenical conversation among the major religions. The beliefs of Christianity are examined to help Christians find support in their religion when they are dying. The many philosophical issues discussed in this book are dramatized in the two memoirs that begin the book. Memoir is a strange literary genre which assumes a reader's interest in the private details of an individual's life. The popular appeal of memoirs confirms the meaning of "human uniqueness" that the author has frequently written about. A person's uniqueness is not based on having nothing in common with others; instead, human uniqueness is based on openness to all others. Sherwin Nuland begins his great book, "How We Die," by saying that "the uniqueness of each of us extends even to the way we die." Yet he can write a helpful book on his experiences with the dying because a person's unique death can teach every other unique person about how to die. The first memoir in "Talking About Dying" describes in detail the author's caring for his wife as she suffered from dementia during the last four years of her life. There are millions of people confronted with this problem; they often feel alone. The reader might learn from the author's attempt to cope with dementia, including mistakes that he made. The second memoir is a reflection by the author on his own experience of dealing with colon cancer. Dying takes on a vivid reality when one comes up against a disease that can soon end one's life. Whatever one had previously thought about dying is suddenly challenged when the death is one's own. In both memoirs the author recounts the kindnesses of friends and the skill and dedication of medical professionals. Ultimately we die alone but the support of others is invaluable in every moment up to the very la

The Act of Teaching answers an important but seldom asked question: What does it mean to teach someone something? Most books that say they are about teaching discuss only the special form of teaching that occurs in a classroom.This book traces two philosophical traditions from ancient times to the present. One tradition assumes a group of people who are the teachers and others who are the learners. The second tradition recognizes all human beings. and at least some nonhumans, as engaged in teaching and learning. This tradition is more comprehensive in meaning and more practical in application. The meaning of teaching in this second tradition is showing someone how to do something. Teaching begins with the way a mother cares for a child and speaks to a child. A child learns by responding to its parents and to other people in its environment. Every individual continues throughout life to learn from teachers who are often unaware that they are teaching. Most teaching is communal and nonverbal.Teaching in the context of a school is not the main topic of this book. Nevertheless, schoolteachers might find many of this book's examples of teaching-learning to be a valuable source for reflection on their own work.Author Description: Gabriel Moran is Professor Emeritus of Educational Philosophy at New York University where he taught for thirty-five years. He is the author of twenty-eight books which cover a wide range of topics in education, religion, ethics and politics. All the books are concerned with finding language that can help conversation about divisive issues. The meaning of teaching has been a central concern of the author for many decades.

America is five hundred years old; the United States is less than half that age. The term America was coined in 1507 to refer to a continent and a dream of a new world. People in the United States, especially government leaders, have a serious problem of regularly speaking as if their country were America. Author Gabriel Moran reflects on the use of the word America in the United States from its beginning to the present. He cites numerous examples to show the importance of distinguishing between the United States and America. The result is a different way of perceiving and understanding the history of the United States. This book is especially relevant to the current political division within the United States and some of the missteps in its foreign policy. The failure to consistently distinguish between the nation of the United States and the continent and dream America underlies nearly every political, cultural and economic problem that the country faces.

The concept of the ""uniqueness"" of Christianity often blocks attempts at dialogue with other religions. Traditionally, the argument goes: if Christianity is unique, then to dialogue with others somehow diminishes the weight of the claim that Jesus and the Gospel are unique. But what if ""uniqueness,"" properly defined, actually constitutes the key for understanding both Jewish and Christian traditions? Author Gabriel Moran frames his analysis of ""uniqueness"" by discussing the implications of that question.In this fluent and conversational work, Moran examines the paradox surrounding the concept of ""uniqueness"" in Christian and Jewish religious traditions. He uncovers the layers of meaning that accrue in a word that is in some sense both illogical and yet indispensable for human religious conversation. Tracing a logic of uniqueness embodied in ""revelation,"" ""faith,"" ""chosenness,"" ""covenant,"" and ""mediator,"" Moran opens a conversation between Jews and Christians that will lead readers to greater wisdom and religious depth.

Well-known religious educators Maria Harris and Gabriel Moran challenge the religious education community to risk change. Focusing on themes of foundations, development, spirituality, and a wider world, Harris and Moran discuss issues such as gender, death and dying, and both interreligious and international...

Are human beings naturally violent? Is war the fate of the human race? Despite the depressing record of the past, the worlds future depends upon avoiding war and drastically reducing violence. Living Nonviolently: Language for Resisting Violence examines carefully the language of violence and war. One of the first casualties of violence is language, which in turn makes resistance to violence difficult to articulate. In the first four chapters, Gabriel Moran proposes distinctions for the interconnected ideas of force, power, aggressiveness, violence. and warnot to invent a new and logical language but to ground the meaning of these terms in our human experience. That revitalization of ordinary language depends upon an inclusive language of men and women, adults and children, human and nonhuman animals. The fifth chapter locates the potential for both encouraging violence and resisting violence in the peculiar logic of religion. Jesus Sermon on the Mount is commonly invoked by people who say that nonviolence may be an admirable ideal for a few people but it is irrelevant for most people and for all nations; in this chapter, Moran examines the widely misunderstood sermon in detail to illustrate its potential for resisting violence. For a conclusion, he discusses practical means of education that are helpful to reaching some understanding of violence and resistance to violence. Living Nonviolently is written for scholars in peace studies, political philosophy, or religious studies and for anyone who wishes to understand the roots of violence and war.

Speaking of Teaching: Lessons from History focuses on teaching as a fundamental act of all human beings, viewing the question of teaching through the lens of five famous thinkers and two contemporary problems. Moran argues that teaching is not given the attention that it deserves and proposes to situate school teaching in the context of many forms of teaching. Tracing the history of the idea of teaching from Socrates to Wittgenstein in the first several chapters, this book also examines the intricacies of teaching morality and religion, showcasing society's ambivalence about teaching.