For the last two decades the campaign for the sanctioning of gay marriages has been defamed by politicians and churches on the grounds that the notion is unnatural, a modern aberration. The notorious Clause 28 tagged onto Mrs Thatcher's egregious Local Government Act (1988) banned "the promotion of homosexuality" in schools, singling out as singularly wicked the notion that homosexual ties are a "pretended family relationship". In this book, John Boswell proves beyond dispute that in pagan Antiquity and during Christianity's first millenium, - for around 2000 years - extensive legal sanction was given to pair-bonding between males, and that societies found little difficulty in accepting the concepts that homosexual ties could indeed be family and familiar relationships. A main argument against homosexual unions has been that they are incapable of fulfilling all that constitutes "marriage", as dictated by a peculiar modern romantic cult of heterosexual love: monogamous erotic passion, procreation, housekeeping and friendship. However, what emerges from Boswell's examination of what the "conjugal alliance" has meant to different societies through the ages, is that male-female marriage itself was never expected to fulfil all these needs. Through analysis of a multitude of induction ceremonies, contractual forms, covenants, oaths, blessings, arrangements for the disposition of property and other types of publicly testified and legally-morally binding unions, Boswell shows that Christendom has had a major homosexual past which weighty authorities during the last few 100 years have chosen to suppress or ignore.

Marriage of Likeness Same Sex Unions In

Politics & Social Sciences

Boswell, John

Social Sciences

Harpercollins

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. The marriage of likeness: same-sex unions in pre-modern Europe. xxx, 412 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., facsims., ports. ; 20 cm.. . Reprint with amendments of the ed. originally published: New York : Villard Books, 1994 ; London: HarperCollins, 1995. Includes translations of Catholic and Orthodox liturgies for same-sex unions. Port on inside front cover. Includes bibliographical references and index.. . Creased spine,Some edge wear , heavier on the top and tail of the spine. Top right of soft cover and back bottom left is creased.Binding tight and square, contents clean and unmarked.

Marriage of Likeness Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe

Fontana

We sell Rare, out-of-print, uncommon, &amp; used BOOKS, PRINTS, MAPS, DOCUMENTS, AND EPHEMERA. We do not sell ebooks, print on demand, or other reproduced materials. Each item you see here is individually described and imaged. We welcome further inquiries.

The Kindness Of Strangers. The Abandonment Of Children In Western Europe From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance

History

Europe

Pantheon Books

Numerical lists in various categories

Five Rings, Six Crises, Seven Dwarfs, and 38 Ways to Win anArgument: Numerical Lists You Never Knew

Humor & Entertainment

Starer, Dan

Puzzles & Games

Penguin??Books

This book explores why naïve ideals about better policymaking persist even in cynical times, revealing the careful reflection at the heart of what appears to be 'magical thinking' in public policy. Contemporary policy scholarship tends to be cynical about movements to reform policymaking by making it more rational or more democratic. Scholars point to the pathologies and vagaries of realpolitik that render ideals such as evidence-based policymaking, long-term prevention, collaboration, transparency, and citizen engagement unattainable. Increasingly, many go further to warn about the democratic dangers of pursuing these foolhardy goals. The fact is, however, that scholarly objections about political obstacles and practical constraints are not news to policy actors themselves - they are acutely aware of the challenges of policy work amid uncertainty, complexity and contestation. They privately express doubt, frustration, and cynicism, but they continue to support, promote, and work 
towards these key aspirations in practice. Through rich case studies and wide-ranging theoretical discussion, John Boswell offers novel insights into the continuing appeal of seemingly naïve ideals. In particular, he shows how turning to these ideals helps actors to reconcile and resolve key dilemmas and challenges in their everyday work. Ultimately, the book offers a nuanced and spirited defence of the value of clinging on to seemingly naïve ideals for better policymaking, even in the face of inevitable failures and disappointments.

Magical Thinking in Public Policy: Why Naïve Ideals about Better Policymaking Persist in Cynical Times

Politics & Government

Oxford University Press

The fabric of contemporary democracy in many liberal Western societies is in tatters. Citizens are disconnected from their elected representatives, they are fractured and polarised in the public sphere, and alienated from increasingly complex systems of public policy. These disconnects - inthe representative relationship, in the public sphere, and in the policy-making process - are weakening the very fabric of our democracies.This book develops the idea of democratic mending as a way of advancing a more connective and systemic approach to democratic repair. It is informed by three rich empirical cases of connectivity in practice, as well as cutting-edge debates in deliberative democracy.The empirical cases uncover empowering and transformative modes of citizen participation and civic engagement that are vital for democratic renewal. The actors in this book are not withdrawing, resisting or seeking autonomy from conventional institutions of representative democracy but activelyexperimenting with ways to improve and engage with them. Through their everyday practices of democratic mending they undertake crucial systemic repair work and strengthen the integrity of our democratic fabric in ways that are yet to be fully acknowledged by scholars and practitioners of democraticreform.

Mending Democracy: Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times

Hendriks, Carolyn M.

Ercan, Selen A.

Humphrey Robot

Elder, Will

Brown, Patty

Addison-Wesley Pub Co (T)

Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century

"Truly groundbreaking work. Boswell reveals unexplored phenomena with an unfailing erudition."?Michel Foucault John Boswell's National Book Award-winning study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the early Christian West was a groundbreaking work that challenged preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members?among them priests, bishops, and even saints?when it was first published twenty-five years ago. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, still fiercely relevant today, helped form the disciplines of gay and gender studies, and it continues to illuminate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force. "What makes this work so exciting is not simply its content?fascinating though that is?but its revolutionary challenge to some of Western culture's most familiar moral assumptions."?Jean Strouse, Newsweek

The University of Chicago Press

"Truly groundbreaking work. Boswell reveals unexplored phenomena with an unfailing erudition."—Michel Foucault John Boswell's National Book Award-winning study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the early Christian West was a groundbreaking work that challenged preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members—among them priests, bishops, and even saints—when it was first published twenty-five years ago. The historical breadth of Boswell's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, still fiercely relevant today, helped form the disciplines of gay and gender studies, and it continues to illuminate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force.

Self-Help

University of Chicago Press

The kindness of strangers: The abandonment of children in Western Europe from late antiquity to the Renaissance

In The Kindness of Strangers, John Boswell argues persuasively that child abandonment was a common and morally acceptable practice from antiquity until the Renaissance. Using a wide variety of sources, including drama and mythological-literary texts as well as demographics, Boswell examines the evidence that parents of all classes gave up unwanted children, "exposing" them in public places, donating them to the church, or delivering them in later centuries to foundling hospitals. The Kindness of Strangers presents a startling history of the abandoned child that helps to illustrate the changing meaning of family.

The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance

Americas

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Boswell, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Boswell, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Boswell, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Marriage of Likeness Same Sex Unions In

Marriage of Likeness Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe

The Kindness Of Strangers. The Abandonment Of Children In Western Europe From Late Antiquity To The Renaissance

Five Rings, Six Crises, Seven Dwarfs, and 38 Ways to Win anArgument: Numerical Lists You Never Knew

Magical Thinking in Public Policy: Why Naïve Ideals about Better Policymaking Persist in Cynical Times

Mending Democracy: Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times

Humphrey Robot

Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century

Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century

The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance