Virtue and Voice: Habits of Mind for a Return to Civil Discourse

by Gregg Ten Elshof (Contributor)

Civil society is losing its civility.

Many Americans think public manners and behavior have deteriorated, especially in public discourse about polarized political, moral, and cultural issues. But democracy and cultural progress require a robust civility in public discourse if they are to be successful endeavors. Our sharply divided world is in great need of a civility that facilitates respect, honor, and kindness toward ideological opponents.

The contributors to this edited volume represent philosophical, theological, psychological, historical, and sociological perspectives, providing analysis of intellectual virtue and vice as well as explorations of their application to specific problems in contemporary society. In acknowledging the current climate of contentious and ineffective civil discourse, Virtue & Voice highlights how the cultivation of intellectual virtue can renew our voices and heal the broken state of our public discourse.

288 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2019

Reviews

[Jafon Snoth · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all—wow. That was by far the most technical book I’ve read, purely because most of what I consume is for laymen. However, I was able to understand most of it. Each chapter is by another person, and it feels like a compilation of complementary, in-depth articles on intellectual virtues—something I actually came to appreciate quite fondly. The content and views expressed are an exceedingly deep breath of fresh air concerning Christian narratives on political matters, though that was a side dish compared to the main theme, which was a dissection of intellectual virtues and its relation to civil discourse. I would give it 4 stars due to its overwhelming complexity at times, but the content is so enormous in its wisdom that I now believe its sentiments and the concepts spoken about in it should be read more often among the masses. Intellectual humility, open-mindedness, respect, empathy, understanding—we have lost much of that in this era. Or, perhaps, we never Truly had it to begin with. Whatever the case may be, our disposition should favor these virtues above their opposites. And this book is the beginning of how to.