Educational Psychology, Christian Education - General & Miscellaneous, Ethics, Christian, Psychology of Education, Developmental Psychology, Ethics & Moral Philosophy - Applied - General & Miscellaneous

Formation of the Moral Self

Name: Formation of the Moral Self
Author: J.A.Van Der Ven
ISBN: 9780802844392

by J.A.Van Der Ven

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Overview

Moral concerns about contemporary Western society have been loudly and widely expressed, by experts and ordinary people alike, centering on such basic questions as these: What is good? What is right? What is wise? and What is purposive? The aim of this volume, the first in the Studies in Practical Theology series, is not to make a moral diagnosis per se of what ails Western society. Rather, it seeks to translate the widespread moral concern throughout the West into the quest for moral education. Johannes van der Ven interprets these kinds of moral questions from the point of view of developmental, learning, and teaching processes as they take place in the family, schools, associations, and congregations, and he describes, analyzes, and evaluates these processes as carefully as possible.

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Editorials

Ethics

"A careful examination and evaluation of the purposes, modes, and processes of moral education.... Deeply informed by Habermas's communicative action theory and by Ricoeur's theory of the moral self, van der Ven develops an interactionist paradigm of moral education.... The treatment of hot-button topics such as values clarification, multiculturalism, and relativism is sophisticated and balanced, and always placed within deeper frameworks of analysis.... This is an excellent book which should be in every moral educator's library. It will raise the level of debate considerably."

Religious Studies Review

Van der Ven accomplishes two valuable tasks in his rather dense work. First he presents a fairly seamless, if singular, approach to moral education. Second, he puts forward this new synthesis as a workable approach in the context of a liberal, Westernized, democratic, pluralistic society.... The text should provide a valuable point of departure for all who feel that public moral education is both valuable and possible in the contemporary society.