INTELLECTUAL AND ETHICAL DEVELOPMENT AS A MEANS FOR EVANGELIZATION
THE ROLE OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS
Keywords:
Cognition, Commitment, Conversion, Education, Lonergan, Perry, Women ReligiousAbstract
This paper examines the role of women religious in transformative education by way of Bernard Lonergan’s account of cognitional structure and conversion. I begin with the experience of women religious in Lithuania during the period of major transitions for the country in the nineties. I then bring Lonergan’s theologicalphilosophical account of the unity of consciousness and of intellectual, moral, and religious self-transcendence into conversation with William G. Perry’s scheme of intellectual and moral development, derived from empirical studies in education. After briefly discussing potential genderrelated differences in personal epistemologies, theory and experience are brought into explicit conversation. One role of women religious is to contribute to an educational style that promotes an intellectual, moral, and religious conversion and therefore facilitates the full actualization of the human capacity for the really true and good.
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