Formation of the Moral Self (Studies in Practical Theology)

Rating:
Summary: Helpful, Insightful
Review: This book has helped me while preparing for next year. I will be first year theology teacher, and focusing on morality. It has been a great stepping stone!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, comprehensive, thought-provoking and accessible
Review: This book, which is part of the excellent series in Practical Theology edited by Don Browning and James Fowler et al, "aims at contributing to a practical-theological theory of moral education by striving to integrate empirically descriptive insights on the one side and critically constructive insights from philosophical and theological ethics on the other."

After an introductory chapter which lays out the author's framework and approach to understanding moral education (based on an interactionist standpoint - describing, analysing and explaining human functioning by looking at the interaction between the individual and his environment), the book looks at seven major modes of moral education, each in its own chapter:

- Discipline
- Socialization (these two are informal modes)

- Transmission (through formal moral education)
- Development (Fowler, Kohlberg, etc)
- Clarification (the values clarification movement)

- Emotional formation
- Education for character

In each, the author scrupulously lays out an overview of the major approaches first, even if he states that he will be focusing on one only. So in the chapter on Emotional Formation, he spends time briefly reviewing traditional emotion theories, from Aquinas through phenomenological approaches to cognitive behaviorism, before settling on the cognitive interaction theory of emotions as the foundation for the rest of the chapter. As promised, there is a rich mix of empiricial research findings with provocative ideas from philosophers from Plato to Ricouer. The writing is at all times clear and accessible (I am a layman in this area).

The last chapter weaves together a retrieval of classical theories of character with a narrative approach to a dynamic understanding of character, and was worth the price of the book alone. Highly recommended for anyone interested in psychology, theology and philosophy!