Thiessen calls for reconstruction of the Enlightenment ideal of liberal education from which the charge of indoctrination typically arises. He argues that liberal education necessarily builds on nurture and therefore needs to be more sensitive to the traditions into which a child is initiated. The ideals of autonomy, rationality, and critical openness - all closely related to the ideal of liberal education - need to be modified if they are to be both realistic and philosophically defensible. Once this is done it can be seen that confessional religious education without indoctrination is possible. Teaching for Commitment is an interdisciplinary study covering the fields of religion, philosophy, epistemology, ethics, and education. The very practical nature of the problem being examined, and Thiessen's straightforward and non-technical presentation, will be of interest to parochial and public school boards, teachers, and parents, as well as religious institutions, educationalists, and philosophers of education.

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"Adds an essential but overlooked dimension to the ongoing discussion of indoctrination through a detailed analysis of the institutional context of indoctrination ... This book will help fill a regrettable gap in both the scholarly and the public discussions of indoctrination and its implications for the practice of religious education in the home and the school ... It will not settle debates; but it can raise the level of the discussion by stimulating reconsideration of entrenched positions on all sides of the debates." Noel Shuell, Faculty of Education, Memorial University.
"Thiessen makes a significant contribution to the debate concerning religious education by systematically answering the accusations of indoctrination through a thorough analysis of the terminology used." Spencer Boudreau, Department of Religion and Philosophy in Education, McGill University.

"Adds an essential but overlooked dimension to the ongoing discussion of indoctrination through a detailed analysis of the institutional context of indoctrination ... This book will help fill a regrettable gap in both the scholarly and the public discussions of indoctrination and its implications for the practice of religious education in the home and the school ... It will not settle debates; but it can raise the level of the discussion by stimulating reconsideration of entrenched positions on all sides of the debates." Noel Shuell, Faculty of Education, Memorial University. "Thiessen makes a significant contribution to the debate concerning religious education by systematically answering the accusations of indoctrination through a thorough analysis of the terminology used." Spencer Boudreau, Department of Religion and Philosophy in Education, McGill University.