Customer Reviews

Education and the Soul: Toward a Spiritual Curriculum

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For those of us who are interested in bringing old values and giving new directions to our present day education talk- this is a good book.

The book begins with a brief thought provoking Foreword by Thomas Moore on the meaning of "real education".

The author, John Miller discusses "Education and the Soul" [book's title] in two parts. In the author's words Part-1:Exploring Soul, "explores the nature of the soul" and Part-2:Nurturing Soul, "deals with how we can bring the soul into our schools".

The first part is a dicussion of the relevance of the Soul in Education, different (religious, philosophic, and contemporary) views of the soul, and the love -soul- work relationship. The second part is a discussion of a spiritual curriculum. It offers practical suggestions for the evolution of a soulful- curriculum, teacher and school.

For those of us who believe in the primacy of the heart over the mind kind of education, where words like "loving kindness, mindfulness, ..." are important, this book will confirm our beliefs. It will encourage our endeavours with more ideas to think about and act upon. For skeptics, this book might make you want to pause and re-think your views and practices. It will invite you to "bring soul into our classrooms and schools".

This is good reading especially for teachers, researchers and educators.

For those who would separate faith and reason, they are fooling themselves with a false dichotomy. Miller shows us through rational philosophy and concrete example how spiritual education is a must for our students. This book is inspirational as it illustrates how meditative practice, creative exploration, community building, and enhanced self-awareness make a classroom a place where students are not only stretched and challenged but also honored and nurtured. I recommend purchasing this book along with The Compassionate Classroom: Lessons That Nurture Wisdom and Empathy and Parker Palmer's and Rachael Kessler's works.