First Things RSS Feed - James W. Fowler https://www.firstthings.com/author/james-w-fowler en-us Copyright 2025 First Things. All Rights Reserved. ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) ft@firstthings.com (The Editors) Mon, 20 Jan 2025 16:56:56 -0500 https://d2201k5v4hmrsv.cloudfront.net/img/favicon-196.png First Things RSS Feed Image https://www.firstthings.com/rss/author/james-w-fowler 60 The Psychology of Altruism https://www.firstthings.com/article/1990/06/the-psychology-of-altruism https://www.firstthings.com/article/1990/06/the-psychology-of-altruism Fri, 01 Jun 1990 00:00:00 -0400 In his 1987 book Hope Within History, Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann argues that when people are in situations like that of the ancient Hebrews under Babylonian captivity, where an overwhelmingly powerful majority holds seemingly complete and brutal sway over an oppressed minority, the latter must have recourse to the “public processing of pain.” This strategy involves refusal to collude with the oppressor by hiding the consequences of oppression out of shame or “identification with the aggressor.” It means public lament; it means public display of those who have been wounded by the regime; it means mirroring, in every way possible, the features of oppression, so as to undermine the veneer of religious and civil legitimation masking the regime’s systemic brutality.

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