Habits in Mind

The language of habit plays a central role in traditional accounts of the virtues, yet it has received only modest attention among contemporary scholars of philosophy, psychology, and religion. This volume explores the role of both “mere habits” and sophisticated habitus in the moral life. Beginning with an essay by Stanley Hauerwas and edited by Gregory R. Peterson, James A. Van Slyke, Michael L. Spezio, and Kevin S. Reimer, the volume explores the history of the virtues and habit in Christian thought, the contributions that psychology and neuroscience make to our understanding of habitus, freedom, and character formation, and the relation of habit and habitus to contemporary philosophical and theological accounts of character formation and the moral life.Contributors are: Joseph Bankard, Dennis Bielfeldt, Craig Boyd, Charlene Burns, Mark Graves, Brian Green, Stanley Hauerwas, Todd Junkins, Adam Martin, Darcia Narvaez, Gregory R. Peterson, Kevin S. Reimer, Lynn C. Reimer, Michael L. Spezio, Kevin Timpe, and George Tsakiridis.

"This edited volume advances understanding of the topic of character formation significantly through sustained attention to virtue and the process of becoming virtuous. The fifteen essays found in the volume are engaging interdisciplinary explorations of the role of habit and habitus in moral formation and ethical living. The effort throughout is to bridge a divide which exists at times between the theoretical and the concrete by bringing into fruitful dialogue theology and philosophy on the subject of habit and virtue, on the one hand, and with moral psychology, on the other hand. The result is a multi-faceted study that touches on the foundations of virtue ethics in Aristotle and Aquinas but engages the evolving contributions of neuroscience in understanding dispositions and their role in early moral development." Raymond Studzinski, Catholic University of America, in: Reading Religion, Vol. 24 (2017).

Gregory R. Peterson, Ph.D. (1996), University of Denver/Iliff School of Theology, is Professor of Philosophy and Religion at South Dakota State University. He is the author of numerous publications on philosophy, religion, and behavioural and cognitive science.James A. Van Slyke, Ph.D. (2008), School of Theology and Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Fresno Pacific University. His research primarily focuses on psychology of religion, moral psychology, and religion & science.Michael L. Spezio, Ph.D. (2002), University of Oregon, Ph.D. (1988), Case Western Reserve University, is Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience at Scripps College and Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University of Hamburg Medical Center.Kevin S. Reimer, Ph.D. (2001), Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, is Director of Undergraduate Programs in the UC Irvine School of Education. A development psychologist and former academic dean, his research has been profiled on NPR.