A Public Charity: Religion and Social Welfare in Indianapolis, 1929-2002

by Mary L. Mapes

Overview

Using Indianapolis as its focus, this book explores the relationship
between religion and social welfare. Arising out of the Indianapolis Polis Center's
Lilly-sponsored study of religion and urban culture, the book looks at three issues:
the role of religious social services within Indianapolis's larger social welfare
support system, both public and private; the evolution of the relationship between
public and private welfare sectors; and how ideas about citizenship mediated the
delivery of social services. Noting that religious nonprofits do not figure
prominently in most studies of welfare, Mapes explores the historical roots of the
relationship between religiously affiliated social welfare and public agencies. Her
approach recognizes that local variation has been a defining feature of American
social welfare. A Public Charity aims to illuminate local trends and to relate the
situation in Indianapolis to national trends and events.

Polis
Center Series on Religion and Urban Culture -- David J. Bodenhamer and Arthur E.
Farnsley II, editors

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253110978
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	10/19/2004
Series:	Polis Center Series on Religion and Urban Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	272 KB

About the Author

Mary L. Mapes is a social historian specializing in the relationship
between public and private social welfare agencies. She is currently Adjunct
Professor of History at Lake Forest College.

Table of Contents

<FMO>Contents<\>
Introduction
1.
Catholic Charities and the Making of the Welfare State
2. A City of
Families: Social Welfare and Prosperity in Postwar Indianapolis
3.
Rediscovering Poverty, Redefining Community: Religion, the Civil Rights Movement,
and the War on Poverty
4. "Beyond Religious Boundaries": Urban Ministry and
Social Order
5. "One Soul at a Time": Welfare Reform and Faith-Based
Organizations