Wilhelm Mensching

This pamphlet, written by a pacifist German pastor who resisted Nazism through all the Hitler years, is an intelligent, interesting, and useful exploration of conscience. He defines conscience as the inner ear for the voice that guides us, the voice of God, or of truth, reason, or the moral law, to give it other names. He considers why conscience can lead people to different decisions, why we have a conscience, and how it has functioned historically. Asking where conscience is leading us now, his answer is toward the end of war. He finally addresses how we can cultivate and nurture our conscience. and he cites the inspiring examples of Socrates, Jesus, and Gandhi.… (meer)