Reflections on the Freedman School

This chapter considers Freedman’s contribution to scholarship and the nascent elements of a school of thought relevant to both academic and policy realms, as well as introducing a more skeptical and critical approach to the subject’s scholarship. It considers Freedman’s engagement with the policy world and why this has managed to be both extensive and successful, as well as its outcomes. It also introduces discussion of possible challenges to Freedman’s work, presenting a balancing perspective to positive appreciations of his oeuvre. The chapter concludes by indicating the weaknesses of such challenges and reaffirms the sense of a school of thought informed by a distinctive approach. This is the blend of scripturalism and constructivism, on one side, with realism, on the other, that is the hallmark of the nascent school, and the way in which it is germane in both academic and policy domains.