How to Talk about Hot Topics on Campus: From Polarization to Moral Conversation

by Robert J. Nash, Arthur W. Chickering, DeMethra LaSha Bradley

Book Overview

How to Talk About Hot Topics on Campus fills a gap in the student services and teaching and learning literature by providing a resource that shows how to construct and carry out difficult conversations from various vantage points in the academy. It offers a theory-to-practice model of conversation for the entire college campus that will enable all constituencies to engage in productive and civil dialogue on the most difficult and controversial social,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787994367
• ISBN13: 9780787994365
• Release Date: February 2008
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

No Hiding Here: Three Talented Educators Hit a Home Run with How to Talk About Hot Topics on Campus

In the true spirit of the moral conversation at the heart of this book, I respectfully disagree with the reviewer accusing Nash of hiding behind his own spiritual and metaphysical beliefs in Hot Topics. He is a fine scholar of religion, ethics, spirituality and a Philosopher of Education. With more then 40 years of teaching experience he is also the most ethical teacher I've had the pleasure of taking classes with. Anyone wanting to learn more about how he is a true pluralist would benefit from reading his many books in his areas of scholarship. All one needs to do is read the latest he co-wrote with Penny Bishop, Teaching Adolescents Religious Literacy in a Post-9/11 World published by Information Age Publishing, 2010. to see the reviewers claim isn't accurate. Reviewers have the right to their own opinions but reading it prompted me to share a review I wrote of the book and to share my thinking on the topic of the review. Don't miss this book. Here is my review which first appeared in the Journal of Education Book Reviews. Education Book Reviews Nash, Robert, J.; Bradley, LaSha DeMethra & Chickering, Arthur W. (2008). How to Talk About Hot Topics on Campus: From Polarization to Moral Conversation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Pages: 268 Price: $38.00 ISBN: 978-0-7879-9436-5 Hot Topics is a call for, a how to, and the seminal text on what the Moral Conversation is and how to carry it out. The authors describe moral conversation on page 8 as: The Latin etymology of the word conversation is to live with, to keep company, to turn around, to shift perspective. Thus a moral conversation is literally a manner of living whereby people keep company with each other and talk in good faith, in order to exchange sometimes agreeable, sometimes opposing ideas. Above all, however, moral conversation is a mutual sharing of all those wonderful stories that give meaning to people's lives. In most cases, these stories are rich in religious, political, social class, ethic and cultural context. Moral conversation obligates each of the participants to listen actively and respectfully to the stories of others, both to understand and affirm them as well as to discover whatever "narrative overlap" might exist among them. In moral conversation, how we talk about something is as important as what we talk about. Dr. Nash, the creator of moral conversation, has written and presented on the topic for the past 12 years. This collaborative effort is the latest version of this work. I use the moral conversation in my interdisciplinary teaching across content areas at two distinctly different colleges. I use it with faculty, staff and student affairs practitioners. As an ethics scholar, I believe it is my ethical and moral responsibility to help spread the idea of moral conversation and the word on this groundbreaking book. The Preface is a cogent and convincing call to action supported by three major arguments for moral conversation. First, there is a n

Excellent quality / timely

I found this item to be of excellent quality, pricing and timing. Definitely recommended for all graduate students!!!