IGR is proud to announce an upcoming major book publication, co-edited by IGR's Dr. Adrienne Dessel. Dr. Dessel's book, titled Conservative Christian Beliefs and Sexual Orientation in Social Work: Privilege, Oppression and the Pursuit of Human Rights, is slated for publication in Spring 2014 and includes four chapters on intergroup dialogue. It is co-edited by Rebecca M. Bolen at the University of Tennessee.
From the book description:
This important new work addresses the tensions and divisions in social work between conservative Christian and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) students, practitioners, faculty, and clients. Authors representing a diverse range of sexual orientation, religious, and professional identities explore the different facets of the debate regarding freedom of religious expression and full sexual orientation affirmation to provide a deeper understanding of the complexity of topics such as social identity, oppression,power and privilege, human rights and social justice, attitudes and prejudice,and ethics and the law. Offering insight into the struggles within Christian communities regarding the conflicts between perceived religious mandates and human sexuality, the book also highlights mediators of the relationship between conservative Christianity and sexual orientation bias. Further, this book addresses a significant gap in the literature by discussing multiple approaches to addressing some of the conflicts between conservative Christian and LGB social workers at individual and institutional levels. Models of Christian LGB affirmation and advocacy are presented, and recommendations for teaching, research, and practice are provided to move the field forward.
To pre-order the book from CSWE Press, visit: www.cswe.org/publications, ISBN# 978-0-87293-149-7.