The experiment in moral religion called Ethical Culture was begun in America in the turbulent years following the Civil War. In 1876 its guiding impetus came from Felix Adler, whose quest for idealism drew to a "common ground" men and women from different walks of life, different faiths, even with different interpretations of moral religion. This diversity vitalized the movement that held as its "credo" the need to dissociate religion from myth, to evaluate changing values, and to incorporate what was worthwhile in contemporary values into the daily lives of men and women. This is an official history of Ethical Culture from its founding in 1876 up to its 75th Anniversary. Prof. Radest spent years compiling an archive of the movement's history from interviews with members who recalled the glowing early years of social reform and philosophic controversy, from letters and personal memoirs by Leaders, and from scrupulous research into the programs and policies initiated and evolved over the years. It is never dry history: a history of Ethical Culture is a history of its times. So many programs of social reform received impetus or were aided by the society - schools, settlement houses, home visits by nurses, legal aid, child-care, civil rights. Reading "Toward Common Ground" accesses persuasive evidence that the vitality of Ethical Culture is retained in its commitment to idealism as a challenge for the present and future. And the reading will be rewarding for all who are interested in American history - religious or social.

Toward Common Ground - The Story of the Ethical Societies in the United States

Literature & Fiction

Radest, Howard B.

Literary

American Ethical Union

Fire, flood, earthquake, famine, pestilence, and warfare are no strangers to our experience. Once, we sought to placate the gods who brought these evils upon us. Today, clinicians, engineers, and politicians replace priests, prophets, seers, and shamans, and we―Americans in particular―think to impose our will upon the world. In times of catastrophe, issues of good and evil surrender to rapid, nearly automatic, operational response. Yet the catastrophic event poses unavoidable moral choices, ones that are more politically and emotionally complex since 9/11 and our "War on Terrorism." This book benefits from the emergence of bioethics as it has evolved from its clinical roots to address policy, politics, and social practice far removed from that origin. At the same time, the clinical focus on narratives and cases provides a tangible center for ethical reflection. It reminds us that ethics is about persons and their choices, a perspective often lost to abstraction when ethics is left to the ministrations of academe. By treating the catastrophic event as both a category and a genre, Bioethics connects to aesthetics and so enables us to enrich ethical inquiry by ranging from pandemic, hurricane, and flood to terrorist attack.

Bioethics: Catastrophic Events in a Time of Terror

Business & Money

Business Culture

Lexington Books

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Books by Radest, Howard B.