The Raging Grannies are a group of older women who dress as "grannies" and alter the words of traditional songs to communicate political messages. Based on a review of song lyrics, participant observation, and interviews with 15 Grannies, this study explores Raging Granny activism and the strategic adoption of the grandmother identity. The Grannies challenge stereotypes of older women through the fact and forms of their activism, and they see their aged status as empowering and as something to be embraced. Grannies report that the grandmother identity serves a protective function and enhances movement efficacy. This case study adds to the sparse literature on older women's political activism and demonstrates that identity exploration is not restricted to youth-centered movements.

This essay employs a Gramscian framework to analyze the role of the Catholic Church in the Nicaraguan revolution. The differing positicms of the hierarchy and base in the Church are explained in ternts of the class conflict in Nicaraguan society aTut in terms of the Church's imtitutional necessities. The hierarchy's stance was both a reflection of the positions held by the Nicaraguan bourgeoisie anda result of the bishops' desire to preserve the Church's influeT~e in s~~ety. As those at the ba.~e of the Church began to suffer inoeased oppression aTu.l poverty, they began to participate in the rev.lu. tionary struggle. Liberation theology encouraged and le~timated such action. While the base's support of the FSLN threatened the hierarchy's tx~urgeois politiccd project and interest in self-preservation, its adopti~m of liberation theology threatened the reproduction of the Church's intemal power structure. As such, conflict within the Church also developed.

In this qualitative study the authors examine the Scriptural images that 10 Lutheran pastors employed in describing the ethical challenges in the pastor-congregant relationship. The analysis of Scriptural images is part of a larger study on pastors' experiences of a mandatory workshop, "Crossing the Boundaries (CTB),"which is required of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) seminarians. The pastors' images were analyzed from the four perspectives of depth psychology, theology, social ethics, and sociology. In commenting on tensions in the pastors' Scriptural images the authors note commonalities among the four theoretical perspectives and discuss implications for practice and future research.

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