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This chapter focuses on the efforts of nonimmigrant churches to resettle (and evangelize) non-Christian immigrants and refugees from across the globe by partnering with World Relief, the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. As in the previous chapter, “friendship evangelism” plays an important role but crosses both religious and ethnic boundaries here. Friendship evangelists from Wheaton Bible Church, the main case study of the chapter, take their cue from biblical passages on showing kindness to aliens and strangers in the land and attach no strings to their relationships. “I make it clear that my friendship is not based on anything that they need to do or say,” explains a veteran of overseas missions, “that I will be their friend one way or the other.”

If Mother Teresa and other contemporary saints all embody the individualistic ethos prevalent in our culture, they still outshine what any of us are ever likely to accomplish, or even aspire to, in bravery and devotion. In an era of so-called lite heroes, whose small deeds of virtue are overplayed in the media one day and are gone from view the next, these giants of compassion necessarily stand out as the genuine exemplars of high ethics and lasting goodness. Indeed, their example is a clear step removed from the valor we associate with ordinary acts of kindness and charity. It is not just to honor the courage and dedication of those who display exceptional compassion, though, that causes us to set them apart. We feel ambivalent about them, as we do with all heroes and villains. To understand further how ethical role models may serve American culture in the future, this chapter examines the nature of this ambivalence and how thoughtful people actually learn to benefit from the role models they love and hate at the same time.

In this chapter we discuss whether altruism towards genetic strangers may have evolved because of its reputation benefits – altruism as showing off. Traditional explanations for the evolution of altruism towards genetic strangers suggests we help others who will help us back; however, this restricted tit-for-tat scoring is not representative of most human altruism. Recent theories of costly signalling argue that altruism does not need to work directly as a process of 'I'll scratch your back and you scratch mine', but that it may have evolved because it signals underlying qualities about the individual that are important to others. Those who signal altruism may therefore increase their fitness through prestige and mating opportunities. We highlight real examples of how important it is for humans to be seen (and to compete to be seen) as altruistic. We show that there are preferences towards altruistic individuals as mates, especially by females. Finally, we discuss how signaling theory could be applied to promote environmental conservation and charity giving.

This chapter looks at that relationship between a doctor and his patients under the aspect of their emotional link and the limitations of a doctor's care. It describes and discusses the reasons the ayurvedic texts give why a physician should not treat certain patients, and what happens if a patient is hurt or dies under a physician's care.

This chapter contains an essay by D. T. Suzuki in which he discusses the significance of “hands” in a contemplative, poetic manner using parables from Zen literature and ideas from the poet and painter William Blake that oppose the “mechanization” of human minds. Suzuki explains how hands and consciousness function together. He argues that hands communicate the essence of spirit whereas machines are functions of the intellect. Suzuki concludes this essay by focusing on the goddess of mercy, Kannon, who possesses one thousand arms representing loving kindness and helps sentient beings; this emphasizes the loving and creative function of the hands.

This chapter focuses on how amiability and citizenship virtues (justice and humanity) allow global leaders to develop positive human relationships with a wide range of constituencies (e.g. employees, customers, communities, governments, NGOs), and to act as responsible citizens of the world. The chapter starts by explaining the meaning of the virtue and its corresponding character strengths. References to the opposites and the excess of the strength are also made. Then the chapter explains how the strength contributes to the global leaders’ positive performance. Examples are provided to support the arguments. As in in the previous chapter, it shows that virtuosity requires balance: just as a tenor who hits too many high Cs unnecessarily shows off a wonderful attribute just a little too often, so does a leader whose excessive display of a single virtue hides a lack of facility in others.

The dominant behavior observed in social games such as the ultimatum game, the dictator game, and public good games violates the classical assumption in economics of purely selfish preferences. To account for this behavior, economists have proposed social preference models, which introduce nonselfish motives as additional arguments and parameters in the utility function. Like classical utility models, social preference models focus on behavior at the expense of describing underlying cognitive processes, contenting themselves with being “as-if” models. This approach unnecessarily limits the models' psychological realism and forgoes the empirical benefits of describing the processes that produce behavioral outcomes. As an alternative, the chapter proposes fast and frugal classification trees. Designed to describe deliberations and decisions in the mini-ultimatum game, the trees spell out the possible cognitive processes of four distinct types of respondents. The chapter derives response-time predictions from these trees as well as from a process interpretation of an influential social preference model, the Fehr and Schmidt model of inequity aversion, and test the predictions empirically. The observed response times suggest that a substantial proportion of respondents in the mini-ultimatum game take several distinct social considerations into account and process them sequentially, consistent with the proposed classification trees. The chapter discusses the implications of these findings for theories of economic behavior.

A brief introduction describes the centrality of narrative in our lives, and across human history, before foregrounding the key themes of the book and indicating its structure. It covers some basic definitions of humanism before proceeding. One of the key features of humanism is an exploratory vulnerability that seeks to find new ways to describe the complexities of human interaction, both in stories and in scholarship around stories – the introduction explains how this book will provide resources for achieving open listening to human otherness.

A brief postscript covers the current ethical and political implications of narrative humanism; it seeks to situate the theory in present global politics, and show how narrative humanism might guide us through some contemporary problems, in particular our responses the rise of the alt-right. It concludes with some suggestions for further research in these areas.

Human nature is intriguing in such that it can express both negative and positive emotions, as in kindness and cruelty. The question is whether both are a natural part of our nature as human beings, or is one produced to serve as the alternate of the other. Another question that is brought to the table in this chapter is how does one determine what is natural and what is not, being its true definition? The chapter attempts to answer these questions based on evolution theory, whether events earlier in history served as a promoter for the emotions of today. Was the nature of kindness and caring inherent in a human being at the beginning of time, or is it only through the changes and events over time that it has developed? The chapter aims to aid the reader in understanding our human tendencies.

In some situations, conflicts arise between acts of charity and how society views charity. The world has been tainted by political and cultural differences, and it is not uncommon that most of the political campaigns hide behind the curtain of humanitarian acts. This can pose some difficulty for those people who indeed have a pure intent to help and assist, without any other agenda. Yet in spite of the stigma that is placed on such acts of kindness, people are still urged to provide assistance during times of disaster and trouble. This chapter tries to discuss these two conflicting factors: the preservation of self-interest and the selfless acts of kindness driven by compassion. This is one subject on which philosophers and scientists have spent years of research.

Carlos Blacker was Oscar Wilde’s ‘best friend’, according to a long-time friend of both. In contrast to his intimate friendship with Blacker, based on a rare compatibility of intellect and temperament, Wilde came in time to view his ‘unintellectual friendship’ with Alfred Douglas as ‘intellectually degrading’ to him. The never-to-be-reconciled breakup of the idyllic friendship with Blacker in the course of their involvement in the Dreyfus affair was devastating to both of them. For Blacker, the anguish and humiliation suffered in the course of his extraordinary role in the affair prompted a self-imposed silence rigidly maintained to the time of his death regarding the bitter experience as well as the equally painful breakup with Wilde.

This chapter translates the Treatise of Hatim, and discusses the content of the treatise that focuses on Hatim،s life. It particularly discusses Hatim's manifestation of his jamanwardi to the poor and the lowly members of the society; his humility, kindness, and recognition of how to achieve a tranquil life; how his life was remembered in posterity; and how, even after his death, his ethical values resulted in miracles around his grave. The treatise also discusses the ethic of hospitality and generosity offered for both altruistic and self-interested purposes. This form of generosity does not sit well with the Sufi،s ideals of selflessness. The treatise also touches on the positive portrayal of women, even to the extent of getting the better of men.

This chapter discusses how gains in child protection and the protection of older people have also, paradoxically, contributed to a stifling of the impulse of kindness. It also shows that society has become less caring, especially for older people, and that the sense of mutual obligation that once existed in communities has ‘taken a battering’. It sees part of the problem as an increasingly ‘risk-averse’ culture among professionals in the caring services, and an obsessive fear of strangers that has encouraged a focus on personal rather than group welfare. Risk aversion has increased a natural human reluctance to get involved. Combined with an aversion to risk, there has been a growing failure of trust. There is a need to reinvent altruism, and take up the challenge which argues that the state cannot do everything for everybody.

This chapter explores the rise of American animal protectionism during the Second Great Awakening. Evangelical Protestant revivalism promoted a new proactive theology of free moral agency, which helped propel antebellum social reform movements stressing kindness toward “the least among us.” Timothy Dwight, Charles Grandison Finney, and other revivalists stressed biblical animal kindness as a moral imperative for building a civilized society, especially in regard to proper childrearing. Contemporary religious literature, children’s school readers, and popular novels collectively promoted animal mercy. Abolitionists and temperance leaders cultivated a shared movement language of cruelty, suffering bodies, and kindness to “our fellow creatures,” which helped define a nascent gospel of animal kindness. This theological and reformist milieu gave rise to dozens of new antebellum animal welfare laws. Moreover, this formative reformist environment directly influenced the rise of organized societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals (SPCAs) after the Civil War.