Editors’ Note: HistPhil’s forum on the split between philanthropy and charity continues with this post from the Salvation Army’s Jennifer Byrd. On street corners, in front of shopping centers and businesses all across the United States, the yearly Christmas season ritual of The Salvation Army’s red kettles and bell ringers stands as one of society’s … Continue reading
Category Archives: Philanthropy vs. Charity
The Indeterminate Politics of the Charity vs. Philanthropy Divide
Editors’ Note: The following post, from HistPhil co-editor Benjamin Soskis, continues our forum on “charity vs. philanthropy.” It is adapted from a monograph Soskis wrote last year, “Both More and No More: The Historical Split Between Charity and Philanthropy” for the Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. One of the more fascinating elements of … Continue reading
Charles Taylor on the sources of the philanthropic self
Editors’ Note: Jeremy Beer continues the site’s ongoing forum on “philanthropy vs. charity” with a discussion of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age (2007). Leaning on this 2007 work, Beer analyzes whether “the moral sources of modern philanthropy [are] adequate to sustain philanthropy’s ideals of ‘universal human dignity and well-being.’” In various places throughout his immensely important body of work—including … Continue reading
A Review of Peter Brown’s RANSOM OF THE SOUL (2015)
Editors’ Note: Furthering the site’s ongoing discussion on the history of philanthropy and charity, Adam Davis reviews Peter Brown’s new book The Ransom of the Soul: Afterlife and Wealth in Early Western Christianity (HUP, 2015). It may at first seem curious for a blog on the history of philanthropy to review a new book about the relationship between … Continue reading
Charity, Philanthropy, and Trusteeship
Editors’ Note: Emma Saunders-Hastings continues the site’s forum on philanthropy vs. charity. She argues that contemporary charitable programs such as GiveDirectly “represent an important advance, and a useful baseline against which to assess other kinds of philanthropy.” Since 2011, GiveDirectly has offered donors a new way to direct their charitable dollars: they can transfer money to poor … Continue reading
Philanthropy Preceded Charity: the True History
Editors’ Note: Continuing the live forum on philanthropy vs. charity, George McCully challenges common knowledge by explaining how philanthropy has a longer history than charity. Earlier this week, the forum’s first contributor, Jeremy Beer, offered his thoughts on the charity-philanthropy dichotomy and suggested why a traditional charitable ethic still has much to teach us in the 21st century. The distinction … Continue reading
Philanthropy, Charity, & the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
Editors’ Note: This post launches a new HistPhil forum on the history of the split between charity and philanthropy, and on its contemporary relevance. (And don’t worry, we haven’t wrapped up our philanthropy and education forum entirely yet either). To open the forum, Jeremy Beer, author of The Philanthropic Revolution: An Alternative History of American Charity, offers … Continue reading
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