Narrative metaphor as a tool for exploring character formation

Abstract

An assessment of character development naturally entails assessing the narrative sources that a person draws upon in that formative process. I argue that narrative metaphor provides a lens to gain insight into this process. This article lays a theoretical groundwork that connects narrative metaphor to character formation and outlines a range of available Biblical narrative metaphors. It closes by sharing a course assessment that implements this concept and offering some analysis of this assessment to demonstrate how a tool like this can help an institution develop a picture of its students’ character formation.