CAN MUSSAR BE FAR BEHIND? Today on the Wall Street Journal's editorial page is an article about how Christians are becoming more open to the ideas of psychology. At the same time, Christian psychologists tend to keep their religion and their job in separate compartments.

So, is Mussar making similar inroads? Rabbi Israel Salanter predates and anticipates some of the ideas of Freud, plus as opposed to Freud's ideas vis-a-vis Christianity, Mussar is itself an intimate aspect of Judaism and has been around long before Rabbi Salanter's development of the Mussar Movement. If you do a Google Search for "Mussar", there is clearly a renewed interest--but to what degree and in what direction?

UPDATE: Check out Soccer Dad's post on Dr. Wendy Mogel, a clinical psychologist who wrote "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children"

Technorati Tag: Mussar and Psychology and Judaism.