The culmination of twenty years of research, this book is a cross-cultural exploration of the ways in which age, gender, and culture affect the development of social behavior in children. The authors and their associates observed children between the ages of two and ten going about their daily lives in communities in Africa, India, the Philippines, Okinawa, Mexico, and the United States. This rich fund of data has enabled them to identify the types of social behavior that are universal and those which differ from one cultural environment to another. Whiting and Edwards shed new light on the nature-nurture question: in analyzing the behavior of young children, they focus on the relative contributions of universal physiological maturation and universal social imperatives. They point out cross-cultural similarities, but also note the differences in experience between children who grow up in simple and in complex societies. They show that knowledge of the company children keep, and of the proportion of time they spend with various categories of people, makes it possible to predict important aspects of their interpersonal behavior. An extension and elaboration of the classic Children of Six Cultures (Harvard, 1975), Children of Different Worlds will appeal to the same audience--developmental psychologists, social psychologists, anthropologists, and educators--and is sure to be equally influential.

The authors: Gwen and Fred are two people from totally different backgrounds who eventually married and suffered amazing trials and tribulations at the hand of, lets say, less-than-honest members of the criminal justice community. Gwen was introduced to booze and was sexually abused from a very early age, then quickly graduated to drugs. She has spent much of her life in prison, and is now serving a life sentence. In spite of these circumstances, she has long had a reputation for helping other people and has blossomed even further recently, obtaining a GED in prison, and will soon have her associates degree. Fred grew up with all possible support from loving and intelligent parents, graduated high in his class from Annapolis, got much further education, like Gwen had a reputation for helping others, made far more money than he ever needed, so gave much of it away, then after retiring with a modest income, had his remaining life savings extorted away by the aforementioned crooks. He and Gwen grow more deeply in love every day.

Challenging the assumption that the biblical text is absolutist, this study renders the wall of division between Christian absolutism and cultural relativism indefensible. Its encouraging argument draws upon sociology, anthropology, and analysis of the biblical text.

Two Different Worlds by Rosemary Hammond released on Oct 25, 1991 is available now for purchase.

Justification, regeneration, unity, even the Gospel - in Same Words, Different Worlds Leonardo de Chirico uncovers how the same words reveal deep differences between Evangelical and Catholic theology.