The Question of the Gift is the first collection of new interdisciplinary essays on the gift. Bringing together scholars from a variety of fields, including anthropology, literary criticism, economics, philosophy and classics, it provides new paradigms and poses new questions concerning the theory and practice of gift exchange. In addressing these questions, contributors not only challenge the conventions of their fields, but also combine ideas and methods from both the social sciences and humanities to forge innovative ways of confronting this universal phenomenon.

Gerald Moore shows how the problematic of the gift drives and illuminates the last century of French philosophy. By tracing the creation of the gift as a concept, from its origins in philosophy and the social sciences, right up to the present, Moore shows

Discover the Gift is the companion book to an upcoming film of the same name which introduces the Gift, a compelling concept that contains the wisdom you need to unlock your fullest potential. The insight and the life plan that Discover the Gift presents will definitely appeal to the millions who loved The Secret. This complete programme provides people with the means to find happiness and peace by living the life they were meant to live, resulting in a variety of possible benefits, including a closer family, career fulfilment, material abundance, greater creativity and unconditional love. It is explained by well-known transformational teachers, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Barbara de Angelis, who lay out the steps one needs to take to uncover this life-changing source of strength and wisdom.

At once rigorous, insightful, and accessible.. the most thorough study yet available on the phenomenological treatment of God as gift in Marion and Derrida. Invaluable reading for those concerned with the theological promise of contemporary Continental philosophy.-Thomas A. Carlson, University of California, Santa Barbara

Until recently we have known more about gift giving practices in pre-industrial societies than about those of industrial western society. In this book, first published in 1988, David Cheal shows that the process of present giving and receiving is a vital element in contemporary social life, relevant to some of the most important theoretical traditions in sociology, particularly those of Durkheim and Weber, and to the social constructionism of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann. This volume is the result of a major study of gift rituals carried out by David Cheal and his associates in which general themes are richly illustrated with details from individual case histories gathered during the research. It is highly significant that in western society women are more active gift givers than men and, while their voices explain how emotions and interests are interrelated within the gift economy, the author shows how that in turn is related to current theories about family, gender and religion.

Embracing the Spiritual Lessons of Unbelonging Too often, cultural belonging becomes a battle, and its winners gain the world: access, comfort, safety, community. Yet for those on the margins—set apart from their culture by differences such as ethnicity, class, ability, and faith—God offers something even greater. The Gift of the Outsider celebrates the blessings found in unbelonging—and calls Christians of all backgrounds to love and listen to their community’s outcasts. As a Christian, a Black American, a woman, and an expatriate, author Alicia J. Akins offers heartfelt reflections on her own experiences as an outsider. She illuminates how we can cherish the unique gifts that God bestows on those who endure loneliness and adversity encourage and humbly receive the invaluable insights outsiders of all kinds have to offer delight in how the differences within God’s people reflect his majesty—and how Christ’s reign unifies all believers Compassionate and biblically grounded, The Gift of the Outsider enriches today’s broader conversations surrounding diversity and inclusion, and is sure to encourage and challenge outsiders and insiders alike.

Drawing on French sociologist Marcel Mauss' influential theory of 'the gift', this book shows that trust is the only glue that holds societies together, and people are giving beings and they who can cooperate for the benefit of all when the logic of maximizing utility personal gain in capitalism is broken.

Gifts are always with us: we use them positively to display affection and show gratitude for favours; we suspect that others give and accept them as douceurs and bribes. The gift also performed these roles in early modern English culture: and assumed a more significant role because networks of informal support and patronage were central to social and political behaviour. Favours, and their proper acknowledgement, were preoccupations of the age of Erasmus, Shakespeare, and Hobbes. As in modern society, giving and receiving was complex and full of the potential for social damage. 'Almost nothing', men of the Renaissance learned from that great classical guide to morality, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 'is more disgraceful than the fact that we do not know how either to give or receive benefits'. The Power of Gifts is about those gifts and benefits - what they were, and how they were offered and received in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It shows that the mode of giving, as well as what was given, was crucial to social bonding and political success. The volume moves from a general consideration of the nature of the gift to an exploration of the politics of giving. In the latter chapters some of the well-known rituals of English court life - the New Year ceremony, royal progresses, diplomatic missions - are viewed through the prism of gift-exchange. Gifts to monarchs or their ministers could focus attention on the donor, those from the crown could offer some assurance of favour. These fundamentals remained the same throughout the century and a half before the Civil War, but the attitude of individual monarchs altered specific behaviour. Elizabeth expected to be wooed with gifts and dispensed benefits largely for service rendered, James I modelled giving as the largesse of the Renaissance prince, Charles I's gift-exchanges focused on the art collecting of his coterie. And always in both politics and the law courts there was the danger that gifts would be corroded, morphing from acceptable behaviour into bribes and corruption. The Power of Gifts explores prescriptive literature, pamphlets, correspondence, legal cases and financial records, to illuminate social attitudes and behaviour through a rich series of examples and case-studies.

The secret to getting gifts and making donors feel like winners. Know the best approaches to people-centered fundraising. Understand the role of executive director, fundraisers, program managers, and volunteers in the win-win framework, the importance of listening, the case for a donor-centered approach, and the direct ways these concepts can be applied in a variety of fundraising settings. Includes numerous real-world examples taken from the author's own experience as chief philanthropy officer in nonprofits and as a leader in a well-known national nonprofit consulting company. Thomas D. Wilson is the vice president and western regional manager for Campbell & Company. His career in fundraising spans more than 25 years and includes building successful campaigns from inception, reinvigorating stalled initiatives, and board/staff training.