Mark Lawrence Schrad
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391237
- eISBN:
- 9780199776856
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391237.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This book looks at an oddity of modern history — the broad diffusion of temperance legislation in the early 20th century — to make a broad argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international ...
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This book looks at an oddity of modern history — the broad diffusion of temperance legislation in the early 20th century — to make a broad argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international success. The root question is this: how could a bad policy idea — one that was widely recognized by experts as bad before adoption, and which ultimately failed everywhere — come to be adopted throughout the world? To answer it, the author uses an institutionalist approach, and focuses in particular on the US, Russia/USSR (ironically, one of the only laws the Soviets kept on the books was the Tsarist temperance law), and Sweden. Conventional wisdom, based largely on the US experience, blames evangelical zealots for the success of the temperance movement. Yet as this book shows, prohibition was adopted in ten countries other than the United States, as well as countless colonial possessions; all with similar disastrous consequences, and in every case followed by repeal. This study focuses on the dynamic interaction of ideas and political institutions, tracing the process through which concepts of dubious merit gain momentum and achieve credibility as they wend their way through institutional structures.Less
This book looks at an oddity of modern history — the broad diffusion of temperance legislation in the early 20th century — to make a broad argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international success. The root question is this: how could a bad policy idea — one that was widely recognized by experts as bad before adoption, and which ultimately failed everywhere — come to be adopted throughout the world? To answer it, the author uses an institutionalist approach, and focuses in particular on the US, Russia/USSR (ironically, one of the only laws the Soviets kept on the books was the Tsarist temperance law), and Sweden. Conventional wisdom, based largely on the US experience, blames evangelical zealots for the success of the temperance movement. Yet as this book shows, prohibition was adopted in ten countries other than the United States, as well as countless colonial possessions; all with similar disastrous consequences, and in every case followed by repeal. This study focuses on the dynamic interaction of ideas and political institutions, tracing the process through which concepts of dubious merit gain momentum and achieve credibility as they wend their way through institutional structures.
John Casey
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198240037
- eISBN:
- 9780191680069
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198240037.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter argues that the classical virtues of courage, temperance, practical wisdom, and justice, which are largely ignored in modern moral philosophy, centrally define the good for Man. The ...
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This chapter argues that the classical virtues of courage, temperance, practical wisdom, and justice, which are largely ignored in modern moral philosophy, centrally define the good for Man. The values of success, pride, and worldliness remain an alive, if insufficiently acknowledged, part of our moral thinking. The conflict between these values and our equally important Christian inheritance leads to tensions and contradictions in our understanding of the moral life.Less
This chapter argues that the classical virtues of courage, temperance, practical wisdom, and justice, which are largely ignored in modern moral philosophy, centrally define the good for Man. The values of success, pride, and worldliness remain an alive, if insufficiently acknowledged, part of our moral thinking. The conflict between these values and our equally important Christian inheritance leads to tensions and contradictions in our understanding of the moral life.
Mark Lawrence Schrad
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391237
- eISBN:
- 9780199776856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391237.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter provides a more explicit comparison of the institutional differences in feedback mechanisms, highlighting the features inherent in each institutional arrangement that predisposed ...
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This chapter provides a more explicit comparison of the institutional differences in feedback mechanisms, highlighting the features inherent in each institutional arrangement that predisposed decision makers in each country toward or away from a particular policy, while also enhancing the understanding of how different institutional arrangements respond to crises by accelerating the policy debate, and thereby altering the political discourse to impact the course of policy development. In drawing together such diverse insights, the chapter also poses an explanation for the international alcohol control/prohibition policy “wave” of the early 20th century. In brief, the wave can be explained only with reference to a combination of transnationally diffused temperance ideas, varyingly translated into policy through institutionalized channels of decision making, with a common external stimulus of a world war. War explains the timing of the policy wave, transnational temperance information networks explain the direction of the policy change, and domestic institutional constraints explain the ultimate form of that change.Less
This chapter provides a more explicit comparison of the institutional differences in feedback mechanisms, highlighting the features inherent in each institutional arrangement that predisposed decision makers in each country toward or away from a particular policy, while also enhancing the understanding of how different institutional arrangements respond to crises by accelerating the policy debate, and thereby altering the political discourse to impact the course of policy development. In drawing together such diverse insights, the chapter also poses an explanation for the international alcohol control/prohibition policy “wave” of the early 20th century. In brief, the wave can be explained only with reference to a combination of transnationally diffused temperance ideas, varyingly translated into policy through institutionalized channels of decision making, with a common external stimulus of a world war. War explains the timing of the policy wave, transnational temperance information networks explain the direction of the policy change, and domestic institutional constraints explain the ultimate form of that change.
Mark Lawrence Schrad
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391237
- eISBN:
- 9780199776856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391237.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter examines the cause of temperance as one of the first truly global transnational advocacy networks (TANs), which acted as a multidirectional transmission belt of policy-relevant ideas and ...
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This chapter examines the cause of temperance as one of the first truly global transnational advocacy networks (TANs), which acted as a multidirectional transmission belt of policy-relevant ideas and information from one country to another, to be filtered and reframed by domestic-level actors. By examining the life cycle of the transnational temperance network in terms of four stages — incipient, ascendant, mature, and declining — the chapter provides a template for addressing the evolution of transnational advocacy networks, while also preparing the stage for analyzing alcohol-control policymaking at the national level, which follows in Chapters 3 through 5.Less
This chapter examines the cause of temperance as one of the first truly global transnational advocacy networks (TANs), which acted as a multidirectional transmission belt of policy-relevant ideas and information from one country to another, to be filtered and reframed by domestic-level actors. By examining the life cycle of the transnational temperance network in terms of four stages — incipient, ascendant, mature, and declining — the chapter provides a template for addressing the evolution of transnational advocacy networks, while also preparing the stage for analyzing alcohol-control policymaking at the national level, which follows in Chapters 3 through 5.
Mark Lawrence Schrad
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391237
- eISBN:
- 9780199776856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391237.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter begins with a brief historical overview — from the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 through the Bol'shevik Revolution of 1917 and into the brutal, autocratic reign of Joseph Stalin, who ...
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This chapter begins with a brief historical overview — from the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 through the Bol'shevik Revolution of 1917 and into the brutal, autocratic reign of Joseph Stalin, who ultimately repealed prohibition in the Soviet Union — before it addresses the domestic structure of policy decision-making in both late imperial and early Soviet Russia. While it is difficult to imagine a more stark contrast in the political ideology of the ruling classes, the basic structure of policymaking both before and after 1917 exhibits significantly more similarities than differences. The chapter considers the evolution of temperance and prohibitionist sentiments in imperial Russia, and their surprising resilience through the February and October Revolutions of 1917. These disparate threads are woven together into a new interpretation of the Russian experience with prohibition, which embeds consideration of the enormous weight normally given to Tsar Nicholas II within a deeper understanding of the role of autocratic policymaking institutions.Less
This chapter begins with a brief historical overview — from the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 through the Bol'shevik Revolution of 1917 and into the brutal, autocratic reign of Joseph Stalin, who ultimately repealed prohibition in the Soviet Union — before it addresses the domestic structure of policy decision-making in both late imperial and early Soviet Russia. While it is difficult to imagine a more stark contrast in the political ideology of the ruling classes, the basic structure of policymaking both before and after 1917 exhibits significantly more similarities than differences. The chapter considers the evolution of temperance and prohibitionist sentiments in imperial Russia, and their surprising resilience through the February and October Revolutions of 1917. These disparate threads are woven together into a new interpretation of the Russian experience with prohibition, which embeds consideration of the enormous weight normally given to Tsar Nicholas II within a deeper understanding of the role of autocratic policymaking institutions.
Mark Lawrence Schrad
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195391237
- eISBN:
- 9780199776856
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391237.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter weaves together the transnational temperance movement in Chapter 2 with policymaking at the national level in Chapters 3 through 5, by examining the extent to which alcohol control ...
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This chapter weaves together the transnational temperance movement in Chapter 2 with policymaking at the national level in Chapters 3 through 5, by examining the extent to which alcohol control policy ideas and experiences in one country influence policy developments in another. By focusing on the invocation of foreign ideas — anchored in experience beyond the control of national policymakers and requiring explicit investigation and comparison of foreign conditions — we can trace the influence of ideas within different institutional contexts at different stages in the policy process. While transnational ideational influences are broadly similar with respect to agenda setting in society-dominated, corporatist, and autocratic governance structures, these similarities disappear with the shift to policy debate and adoption that comes with the opening of a window for policy change. Society-dominated structures, such as in the United States, are predisposed toward the influence of normative ideational elements — frames and public sentiments — whereas corporatist structures, as in the Swedish case, are predisposed toward the influence of cognitive ideational elements: policy programs and paradigms. In autocratic structures, as in Russia, the elements at the forefront of the policy debate — policy programs and frames — are more salient.Less
This chapter weaves together the transnational temperance movement in Chapter 2 with policymaking at the national level in Chapters 3 through 5, by examining the extent to which alcohol control policy ideas and experiences in one country influence policy developments in another. By focusing on the invocation of foreign ideas — anchored in experience beyond the control of national policymakers and requiring explicit investigation and comparison of foreign conditions — we can trace the influence of ideas within different institutional contexts at different stages in the policy process. While transnational ideational influences are broadly similar with respect to agenda setting in society-dominated, corporatist, and autocratic governance structures, these similarities disappear with the shift to policy debate and adoption that comes with the opening of a window for policy change. Society-dominated structures, such as in the United States, are predisposed toward the influence of normative ideational elements — frames and public sentiments — whereas corporatist structures, as in the Swedish case, are predisposed toward the influence of cognitive ideational elements: policy programs and paradigms. In autocratic structures, as in Russia, the elements at the forefront of the policy debate — policy programs and frames — are more salient.
Douglas Kerr
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198123705
- eISBN:
- 9780191671609
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198123705.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Susan Owen was active not only for the British and Foreign Bible Society, but also for the Temperance Society which proved to be second to missionary activity in terms of scale of Evangelical good ...
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Susan Owen was active not only for the British and Foreign Bible Society, but also for the Temperance Society which proved to be second to missionary activity in terms of scale of Evangelical good works. Drink was viewed during this time as a grave social problem, especially among the poor. Endeavours made in the 19th century to address this problem were largely taken from Nonconformist notions. This was later followed by developments in the temperance movement that furthered the Church of England's Evangelical aspect. The ‘experience meetings’ which were intended for drunks to proclaim sobriety were replaced by drawing-room meetings. These neglected the personal experiences of the drunkards. This chapter explores the notion of ‘moral suasion’ and how Owen was tasked to organise meetings among the parish's children.Less
Susan Owen was active not only for the British and Foreign Bible Society, but also for the Temperance Society which proved to be second to missionary activity in terms of scale of Evangelical good works. Drink was viewed during this time as a grave social problem, especially among the poor. Endeavours made in the 19th century to address this problem were largely taken from Nonconformist notions. This was later followed by developments in the temperance movement that furthered the Church of England's Evangelical aspect. The ‘experience meetings’ which were intended for drunks to proclaim sobriety were replaced by drawing-room meetings. These neglected the personal experiences of the drunkards. This chapter explores the notion of ‘moral suasion’ and how Owen was tasked to organise meetings among the parish's children.
MICHAEL WHEATLEY
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199273577
- eISBN:
- 9780191706165
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273577.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
How far was the waning of political activity felt in the intermeshed network of clubs, societies, and committees which underpinned local political life? This chapter analyses these bodies: the United ...
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How far was the waning of political activity felt in the intermeshed network of clubs, societies, and committees which underpinned local political life? This chapter analyses these bodies: the United Irish League, the Hibernians, labour leagues, the Gaelic League, Gaelic Athletic Association, temperance movement, the Catholic Church, and Sinn Fein. In particular, the party's relationship to ‘cultural nationalist’ organizations is analysed. On balance, the decline of popular politics did not significantly weaken the life of local organizations. The Irish party's main local vehicle, the UIL, did perceptibly decline, but this was in large part offset by the vigour of the Hibernians, who thrived not only because of their ‘Catholicity’ and aggressive nationalism, but also through their broad range of sporting, social, cultural, and benefits activities. The Irish party maintained its connections to a plethora of other societies and it showed sufficient life to make its subsequent demise far from inevitable.Less
How far was the waning of political activity felt in the intermeshed network of clubs, societies, and committees which underpinned local political life? This chapter analyses these bodies: the United Irish League, the Hibernians, labour leagues, the Gaelic League, Gaelic Athletic Association, temperance movement, the Catholic Church, and Sinn Fein. In particular, the party's relationship to ‘cultural nationalist’ organizations is analysed. On balance, the decline of popular politics did not significantly weaken the life of local organizations. The Irish party's main local vehicle, the UIL, did perceptibly decline, but this was in large part offset by the vigour of the Hibernians, who thrived not only because of their ‘Catholicity’ and aggressive nationalism, but also through their broad range of sporting, social, cultural, and benefits activities. The Irish party maintained its connections to a plethora of other societies and it showed sufficient life to make its subsequent demise far from inevitable.
Joe L. Coker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780813124711
- eISBN:
- 9780813134727
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813124711.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
The temperance movement first appeared in America in the 1820s as an outgrowth of the same evangelical fervor that fostered a wide range of reform campaigns. Like many of these movements, temperance ...
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The temperance movement first appeared in America in the 1820s as an outgrowth of the same evangelical fervor that fostered a wide range of reform campaigns. Like many of these movements, temperance was confined primarily to the northeastern United States during the antebellum period. Viewed with suspicion by Southerners because of its close connection to the antislavery movement, prohibition sentiment remained relatively weak in the antebellum South. After the Civil War, however, southern evangelicals embraced the movement, and by 1915, liquor had been officially banned from the region. This book examines how southern evangelical men and women transformed a Yankee moral reform movement into an ideology that was compatible with southern culture and values.Less
The temperance movement first appeared in America in the 1820s as an outgrowth of the same evangelical fervor that fostered a wide range of reform campaigns. Like many of these movements, temperance was confined primarily to the northeastern United States during the antebellum period. Viewed with suspicion by Southerners because of its close connection to the antislavery movement, prohibition sentiment remained relatively weak in the antebellum South. After the Civil War, however, southern evangelicals embraced the movement, and by 1915, liquor had been officially banned from the region. This book examines how southern evangelical men and women transformed a Yankee moral reform movement into an ideology that was compatible with southern culture and values.
Margaret Lamberts Bendroth
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195173901
- eISBN:
- 9780199835577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195173902.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
The suspicion of Catholics that grew in the wake of the Boston Common arrests soon took on broader dimensions. In the late 1880s it focused on a contest over the city’s public schools, largely led by ...
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The suspicion of Catholics that grew in the wake of the Boston Common arrests soon took on broader dimensions. In the late 1880s it focused on a contest over the city’s public schools, largely led by two women’s groups, the Loyal Women of American Liberty and the Independent Women Voters, both of them strongly anti-Catholic. The contest also raised moralistic tensions around social class, as evangelical Protestant temperance forces found themselves in political conflict with an alliance of convenience between upper-class Protestants and Roman Catholics. Conspiratorial thinking among conservative Protestants was also spurred by anti-Masonic rhetoric, British-American immigrants and their resentment of Irish-Catholics, and a form of premillennial eschatology that encouraged evangelicals to see themselves as an embattled but righteous minority in cosmic struggle with the forces of irreligion.Less
The suspicion of Catholics that grew in the wake of the Boston Common arrests soon took on broader dimensions. In the late 1880s it focused on a contest over the city’s public schools, largely led by two women’s groups, the Loyal Women of American Liberty and the Independent Women Voters, both of them strongly anti-Catholic. The contest also raised moralistic tensions around social class, as evangelical Protestant temperance forces found themselves in political conflict with an alliance of convenience between upper-class Protestants and Roman Catholics. Conspiratorial thinking among conservative Protestants was also spurred by anti-Masonic rhetoric, British-American immigrants and their resentment of Irish-Catholics, and a form of premillennial eschatology that encouraged evangelicals to see themselves as an embattled but righteous minority in cosmic struggle with the forces of irreligion.
Kathleen D. McCarthy
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199769063
- eISBN:
- 9780199896851
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199769063.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Economic Sociology
This chapter traces the democratization and diversification of thrift in the 19th century and explores how American voluntary associations preached the gospel of thrift to men, women, and children of ...
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This chapter traces the democratization and diversification of thrift in the 19th century and explores how American voluntary associations preached the gospel of thrift to men, women, and children of every station and, in the process, helped fortify the foundations for commercial society. In this period, Americans created a variety of charitable organizations, which, in the effort to combat poverty, emphasized the importance of abstemious behavior. Religious groups continued to inculcate moral restraint as well, and the Second Great Awakening gave birth to the “benevolent empire,” through which the new Sunday school movement inculcated thrift as well as the related virtue of temperance. At the same time, Americans were busy creating mutual aid societies and lodges, largely secular, whose purpose was to preach the thrift ethic to the working class.Less
This chapter traces the democratization and diversification of thrift in the 19th century and explores how American voluntary associations preached the gospel of thrift to men, women, and children of every station and, in the process, helped fortify the foundations for commercial society. In this period, Americans created a variety of charitable organizations, which, in the effort to combat poverty, emphasized the importance of abstemious behavior. Religious groups continued to inculcate moral restraint as well, and the Second Great Awakening gave birth to the “benevolent empire,” through which the new Sunday school movement inculcated thrift as well as the related virtue of temperance. At the same time, Americans were busy creating mutual aid societies and lodges, largely secular, whose purpose was to preach the thrift ethic to the working class.
Dan McKanan
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195145328
- eISBN:
- 9780199834471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195145321.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Offers an overview of antebellum social reform movements, with particular emphasis on temperance, abolitionism, and nonresistance. These movements had diverse causes, including Jeffersonian ...
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Offers an overview of antebellum social reform movements, with particular emphasis on temperance, abolitionism, and nonresistance. These movements had diverse causes, including Jeffersonian liberalism, Protestant revivalism, liberal Protestant theology, and direct encounters between privileged reformers and members of oppressed groups. Some key leaders of social reform movements may be classified as “radical Christian liberals” because they linked their liberal faith in human nature to the Christian doctrine of the imago dei, yet were willing to contemplate the overthrow of all social institutions, even ostensibly liberal or Christian ones, that blocked the free expression of the imago dei. Radical Christian liberals may be subdivided into three groups: ultra reformers (William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child) who embraced absolute nonviolence; sentimental reformers (T. S. Arthur, Harriet Beecher Stowe) who were implicitly nonviolent insofar as they stressed literary rather than political action; and revolutionary reformers (Gerrit Smith, Frederick Douglass) who were open to the use of coercion in the pursuit of radical social transformation.Less
Offers an overview of antebellum social reform movements, with particular emphasis on temperance, abolitionism, and nonresistance. These movements had diverse causes, including Jeffersonian liberalism, Protestant revivalism, liberal Protestant theology, and direct encounters between privileged reformers and members of oppressed groups. Some key leaders of social reform movements may be classified as “radical Christian liberals” because they linked their liberal faith in human nature to the Christian doctrine of the imago dei, yet were willing to contemplate the overthrow of all social institutions, even ostensibly liberal or Christian ones, that blocked the free expression of the imago dei. Radical Christian liberals may be subdivided into three groups: ultra reformers (William Lloyd Garrison, Lydia Maria Child) who embraced absolute nonviolence; sentimental reformers (T. S. Arthur, Harriet Beecher Stowe) who were implicitly nonviolent insofar as they stressed literary rather than political action; and revolutionary reformers (Gerrit Smith, Frederick Douglass) who were open to the use of coercion in the pursuit of radical social transformation.
Dan McKanan
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195145328
- eISBN:
- 9780199834471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195145321.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Traces the development of nonviolent theology in the popular literature of the antebellum temperance movement. Though the temperance movement is often portrayed as socially conservative, it had ...
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Traces the development of nonviolent theology in the popular literature of the antebellum temperance movement. Though the temperance movement is often portrayed as socially conservative, it had radical implications both for battered women and for the “drunkards” who organized the popular “Washingtonian” movement. A new genre, the “temperance tale,” grew out of the testimonies of “drunkards” and their wives. Temperance tales used a variety of sentimental techniques to promote identification with the victims of the “alcohol system.” Novels like T. S. Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar‐Room also elaborated a sentimental Christology in which Christ‐like children would usher in a millennium of nonviolence.Less
Traces the development of nonviolent theology in the popular literature of the antebellum temperance movement. Though the temperance movement is often portrayed as socially conservative, it had radical implications both for battered women and for the “drunkards” who organized the popular “Washingtonian” movement. A new genre, the “temperance tale,” grew out of the testimonies of “drunkards” and their wives. Temperance tales used a variety of sentimental techniques to promote identification with the victims of the “alcohol system.” Novels like T. S. Arthur's Ten Nights in a Bar‐Room also elaborated a sentimental Christology in which Christ‐like children would usher in a millennium of nonviolence.
Ivor J. Davidson
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245789
- eISBN:
- 9780191601453
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245789.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Ambrose models his text on the three books of Cicero's De officiis, written by Cicero to his son Marcus in 44 BC, under the influence of the Stoic philosopher Panaetius (with some further debts to ...
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Ambrose models his text on the three books of Cicero's De officiis, written by Cicero to his son Marcus in 44 BC, under the influence of the Stoic philosopher Panaetius (with some further debts to Posidonius and other thinkers). Ambrose highlights the parallels between Cicero's work and his own, retaining a comparable three–book structure and addressing himself to his clerical ‘sons’. He discusses the honourable in Book 1, arranging this around the classical scheme of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, courage, temperance); the beneficial follows in Book 2; and Book 3 addresses the relationship between the honourable and the beneficial. The honourable is defined with reference to knowing and pleasing God, and the beneficial as that which contributes to the attainment of eternal life. The two cannot be in tension since both relate to the purposes of God, though the honourable is depicted as the supreme good.Less
Ambrose models his text on the three books of Cicero's De officiis, written by Cicero to his son Marcus in 44 BC, under the influence of the Stoic philosopher Panaetius (with some further debts to Posidonius and other thinkers). Ambrose highlights the parallels between Cicero's work and his own, retaining a comparable three–book structure and addressing himself to his clerical ‘sons’. He discusses the honourable in Book 1, arranging this around the classical scheme of the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, courage, temperance); the beneficial follows in Book 2; and Book 3 addresses the relationship between the honourable and the beneficial. The honourable is defined with reference to knowing and pleasing God, and the beneficial as that which contributes to the attainment of eternal life. The two cannot be in tension since both relate to the purposes of God, though the honourable is depicted as the supreme good.
Howard J. Curzer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199693726
- eISBN:
- 9780191738890
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199693726.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This chapter describes the sphere of temperance and Aristotle’s distinctions among temperance, intemperance, continence, incontinence, and three varieties of brutishness. A four-target, ...
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This chapter describes the sphere of temperance and Aristotle’s distinctions among temperance, intemperance, continence, incontinence, and three varieties of brutishness. A four-target, twelve-parameter model of temperance is proposed. Aristotle’s account is contrasted with the contemporary understanding of alcohol abuse. This chapter argues that (a) Aristotle’s account is compatible with his doctrine of the mean, (b) both courageous and temperate acts must have counter-goals, (c) neither must have external goals, and (d) temperate people are pained by the absence of appropriate objects. Aristotle’s account contains several minor errors. For example, Aristotle should not have (1) restricted the sphere of temperance to tactile pleasures, (2) defined “excessive amount” as enjoying pleasures “more than most people do,” or (3) maintained that a person who goes wrong with respect to one or two parameters is still temperate. Overall after a bit of tweaking, Aristotle’s account can enhance our understanding of temperance and its associated failure modes.Less
This chapter describes the sphere of temperance and Aristotle’s distinctions among temperance, intemperance, continence, incontinence, and three varieties of brutishness. A four-target, twelve-parameter model of temperance is proposed. Aristotle’s account is contrasted with the contemporary understanding of alcohol abuse. This chapter argues that (a) Aristotle’s account is compatible with his doctrine of the mean, (b) both courageous and temperate acts must have counter-goals, (c) neither must have external goals, and (d) temperate people are pained by the absence of appropriate objects. Aristotle’s account contains several minor errors. For example, Aristotle should not have (1) restricted the sphere of temperance to tactile pleasures, (2) defined “excessive amount” as enjoying pleasures “more than most people do,” or (3) maintained that a person who goes wrong with respect to one or two parameters is still temperate. Overall after a bit of tweaking, Aristotle’s account can enhance our understanding of temperance and its associated failure modes.
Christopher Tilmouth
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199212378
- eISBN:
- 9780191707254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212378.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
This chapter explores the presentation of the passions in The Faerie Queene, arguing that Spenser treats these as hostile, morally disruptive forces within the soul, powers which reason must fight ...
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This chapter explores the presentation of the passions in The Faerie Queene, arguing that Spenser treats these as hostile, morally disruptive forces within the soul, powers which reason must fight against in a perpetual psychomachia. It examines the limits of Spenser's debt to Aristotle: Spenser mirrors Aristotle's idea that men are constantly prone to degenerate from a state of akrasia (weakness of will) into one of outright vice (a love of evil), but he does not match Aristotle's faith that characters can develop the other way too, towards moral perfection and consistently virtuous conduct. Afflicted by shame at their own weakness, Spenser's knights struggle to realize virtues such as temperance, often requiring the help of grace. However, important though that grace is, Spenser repeatedly affirms the primacy of reason in steering men's conduct towards goodness. Grace is an assistant power in the struggle for virtue; rational self-determination remains central.Less
This chapter explores the presentation of the passions in The Faerie Queene, arguing that Spenser treats these as hostile, morally disruptive forces within the soul, powers which reason must fight against in a perpetual psychomachia. It examines the limits of Spenser's debt to Aristotle: Spenser mirrors Aristotle's idea that men are constantly prone to degenerate from a state of akrasia (weakness of will) into one of outright vice (a love of evil), but he does not match Aristotle's faith that characters can develop the other way too, towards moral perfection and consistently virtuous conduct. Afflicted by shame at their own weakness, Spenser's knights struggle to realize virtues such as temperance, often requiring the help of grace. However, important though that grace is, Spenser repeatedly affirms the primacy of reason in steering men's conduct towards goodness. Grace is an assistant power in the struggle for virtue; rational self-determination remains central.
Jonathan Barnes and Anthony Kenny (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158464
- eISBN:
- 9781400852369
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158464.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
In this English translation of Virtues and Vices, the discussion offers definitions of the virtues and the vices, their characteristics and concomitants, and their general effect. The author begins ...
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In this English translation of Virtues and Vices, the discussion offers definitions of the virtues and the vices, their characteristics and concomitants, and their general effect. The author begins with the statement that what is noble is praiseworthy, what is ignoble blameworthy. At the head of what is noble stand the virtues, at the head of what is ignoble the vices. The text also reflects on wisdom, which it calls a virtue of the calculative part which provides what conduces to happiness; good temper, a virtue of the passionate part through which men become difficult to stir to anger; and courage, a virtue of the passionate part through which men are undismayed by fears of death. Other virtues addressed in the text include temperance, continence, justice, and liberality.Less
In this English translation of Virtues and Vices, the discussion offers definitions of the virtues and the vices, their characteristics and concomitants, and their general effect. The author begins with the statement that what is noble is praiseworthy, what is ignoble blameworthy. At the head of what is noble stand the virtues, at the head of what is ignoble the vices. The text also reflects on wisdom, which it calls a virtue of the calculative part which provides what conduces to happiness; good temper, a virtue of the passionate part through which men become difficult to stir to anger; and courage, a virtue of the passionate part through which men are undismayed by fears of death. Other virtues addressed in the text include temperance, continence, justice, and liberality.
Molly Oshatz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199751686
- eISBN:
- 9780199918799
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199751686.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Chapter 5 maintains that the slavery debates led antislavery moderates to historicize the faith. After exploring the various roots of historicism in antebellum religious thought and the failures of ...
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Chapter 5 maintains that the slavery debates led antislavery moderates to historicize the faith. After exploring the various roots of historicism in antebellum religious thought and the failures of the antebellum biblical controversies involving geology and temperance to generate historical reasoning, the fifth chapter examines the antislavery theology of E. P. Barrows, Horace Bushnell, and Samuel Harris. This chapter ends with an account of the impact of the Civil War on the development of American theology.Less
Chapter 5 maintains that the slavery debates led antislavery moderates to historicize the faith. After exploring the various roots of historicism in antebellum religious thought and the failures of the antebellum biblical controversies involving geology and temperance to generate historical reasoning, the fifth chapter examines the antislavery theology of E. P. Barrows, Horace Bushnell, and Samuel Harris. This chapter ends with an account of the impact of the Civil War on the development of American theology.
James L. Heft S.M.
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199796656
- eISBN:
- 9780199919352
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199796656.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter focuses on the moral dimensions of leadership in Catholic schools. The chapter unfolds in two steps. First, it offers a description of four moral virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, ...
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This chapter focuses on the moral dimensions of leadership in Catholic schools. The chapter unfolds in two steps. First, it offers a description of four moral virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—and how important it is for people to acquire all four, especially if they are to be good leaders. Second, it looks at five specific challenges that confront leaders of Catholic high schools. These are the shift to lay leadership; the formation of lay boards; lay spirituality; the hiring and forming of faculty and staff; and the teaching of religion. To meet these challenges adequately, leaders in Catholic schools need to develop the four moral virtues.Less
This chapter focuses on the moral dimensions of leadership in Catholic schools. The chapter unfolds in two steps. First, it offers a description of four moral virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—and how important it is for people to acquire all four, especially if they are to be good leaders. Second, it looks at five specific challenges that confront leaders of Catholic high schools. These are the shift to lay leadership; the formation of lay boards; lay spirituality; the hiring and forming of faculty and staff; and the teaching of religion. To meet these challenges adequately, leaders in Catholic schools need to develop the four moral virtues.
Joan D. Hedrick
- Published in print:
- 1995
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195096392
- eISBN:
- 9780199854288
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195096392.003.0018
- Subject:
- History, American History: 19th Century
Harriet Beecher Stowe, a woman who disliked confrontations, who rode over unpleasantness with optimistic goodwill and turned aside anger with humor, found herself, as public opinion brewed over the ...
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Harriet Beecher Stowe, a woman who disliked confrontations, who rode over unpleasantness with optimistic goodwill and turned aside anger with humor, found herself, as public opinion brewed over the Fugitive Slave Law, consumed with a rage unlike anything she had ever experienced. Her intense feelings were the more oppressive for having no outlet. Men made the laws and shaped the public opinion of the land, and women who found themselves morally repelled by their work had little recourse. Women engaged in rather extraordinary acts of civil disobedience, provoked by laws that they themselves had had no part in making. As the temperance crusade moved from the podium to the ballot box with the passage of the first legal constraint on the liquor trade, the “Maine Law” of 1851, women who had been active in temperance societies keenly felt their disfranchisement.Less
Harriet Beecher Stowe, a woman who disliked confrontations, who rode over unpleasantness with optimistic goodwill and turned aside anger with humor, found herself, as public opinion brewed over the Fugitive Slave Law, consumed with a rage unlike anything she had ever experienced. Her intense feelings were the more oppressive for having no outlet. Men made the laws and shaped the public opinion of the land, and women who found themselves morally repelled by their work had little recourse. Women engaged in rather extraordinary acts of civil disobedience, provoked by laws that they themselves had had no part in making. As the temperance crusade moved from the podium to the ballot box with the passage of the first legal constraint on the liquor trade, the “Maine Law” of 1851, women who had been active in temperance societies keenly felt their disfranchisement.
