From September 26th to 28th, 2019, Dr. Johannes Bohnen and Lutz-Peter Hennies participated in the conference "Humanism Plus: Personal Development in Times of Digitalization" in Ludwigshafen. The event that was conceived as a family reunion of Jesuit educational actors in the German-speaking world was organised by the Center for Ignatian Pedagogy (ZIP). In addition to teachers from Ignatian schools, international speakers in the field of personality and virtue development followed the invitation. Among them were the renowned professors Marvin Berkowitz from the University of Missouri / St. Louis (USA) and James Arthur from the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham (UK). Prof. Arthur received this year's Ferdinande Boxberger Prize from the German Provincial of the Jesuits, Johannes Siebner SJ, for his program of neo-Aristotelian virtue and character education, which sets standards for the German educational landscape. From a secular perspective, the Jubilee Centre exemplifies the values of Ignatian pedagogy - namely, a humanistic approach to education that places the individual at the center and seeks to bridge the gap between the knowledge of what is good and good action. Character counts, the laureate affirmed in an interview with Dr. Bohnen, and at the same time build the bridge to the Christian-based personality formation of the Ignatian tradition. The ZIP publicly advocates this under the campaign title "Humanism Plus".
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