Democracy and the education of the heart: Nel Noddings on spirituality andschooling

This article examines the relevance of recent work by Nel Noddings for thos e interested in bringing spiritual education into the public sphere. It is argued that Nodding's Educating for Intelligent Belief or Disbelief, explic itly devoted to education of the spirit, is of limited and piecemeal useful ness. However, I suggest that her later, The Challenge to Care in School, i f read in the right "spirit," provides a powerful blueprint for an educatio n that is both spiritual and publicly viable.