In regards to the previous post “Between Athens and Jerusalem: Thoughts on Critical Commitment” I made reference to the idea of “critical commitment.” As a faculty we read V. James Mannoia’s book Christian Liberal Arts: An Education that Goes Beyond. One of the main arguments Mannoia makes is that you want to engender critical commitment in your students, not dogmatism nor cynicism. In order to produce this critical commitment you need to introduce just enough dissonance (not too much or they will retreat). This is the toughest part: introducing just the right amount of dissonance so that they will grow and not wither. Mannoia’s work also takes into consideration the different stages students will be at and how you need to treat them diferently. The bibliographic data for this work is:

Mannoia, V. James. Christian Liberal Arts: An Education That Goes Beyond. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000.
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I would highly recommend for any educator in faith-based schools.