An Alternative Discourse of Faith

Abstract

Social capital is a pervasive concept but the policy constructions and perceptions of public faith which are explored in this book have been criticized in several important ways. Most notably they could be regarded as instrumentalizing faith communities in such a way as to exploit them, possibly with damaging consequences to the communities themselves. Alongside this they have been questioned on grounds of overstating the resources they perceive in the first place and overemphasizing economic value and diminishing other aspects.