Introduction: Faith-based Organisations and Urban Social Issues

摘要

In Book One of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 19th century magnum opus, The Brothers Karamazov, a number of the novel's main characters converge at the cell of the revered elder, Father Zossima, in the vain attempt to reconcile a family dispute. In the course of the proceedings, an exchange ensues between Ivan Karamazov, an educated atheist, nihilist of the times and ideological socialist, and the monks of the monastery, concerning an article by the former on the scope of the rights of ecclesiastical courts in the deliberation over social problems (Dostoyevsky, 1982, p. 66). The discussion soon escalates into fundamental questions of church-state relations, the position of the church in society and implications for Christian-anarchist and socialist dilemmas. At the heart of the dispute lay the ambiguity between the hard-nosed, Utopian ideals of Ivan the socialist, with the humanitarian, spiritual and social consciences of the clerics. The discussion defines a major theme of the work as a whole and is curiously prescient of the themes addressed in this Special Issue of Urban Studies. This Special Issue explores the contested role of faith-based organisations (FBOs) in addressing urban social issues, particularly since the 1980s.