A Little Child Shall Lead us the Theology of the Child

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022

The child is seen as a smaller and less powerful version of an adult-more dependent, less knowledgeable, less competent, less socially adapted and less capable of emotional control. The weak point of this description is that it is based only on negative terms, drawing attention to children' s weaknesses, without mentioning the vast potential it has for its future development. With all these characteristics, adults have the task of providing support for the child' s difficulties and helping him to acquire everything he lacks and turn them into personal characteristics. It is quite difficult to define childhood without being subjective because one who tries to draw a characterization cannot define it without inevitably expressing something of himself. On a personal level, childhood is built: it is seen in the light of personal experiences and is interpreted so as to fit the vision that has been developed about the world. The constructed nature of childhood becomes even more evident when comparing conceptions of childhood that were prevalent in different historical periods or in different cultures. The way children are perceived varies depending on the many social, economic, political and religious influences that exist at that time and place. When trying to define a child, it cannot be given only in terms of inherent characteristics that necessarily constitute the ingredients from which children are built; it also depends on the nature of society, the beliefs and customs on which that child is raised.

Church History, 2011

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

Children and childhood studies Since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted in 1989, awareness, interest and concern for children have grown globally, stimulated by the work of children's rights organisations and other child-focused organisations like the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF). Over the past 30 years, the CRC has introduced and enhanced a broadening understanding of childhood (cf. https://www.unicef.org/child-rights-convention/ frequently-asked-questions). In addition to regarding children as objects to be protected by society, children have also come to be valued as subjects of their own lives with full rights. Children are agents, befitting their age and development. This child-oriented movement has also contributed to a growing focus on studies about children in the academic world, leading to research projects in numerous disciplines that culminated in several child-focussed publications (cf. Grobbelaar 2016a). In these research projects, children have been increasingly involved as co-producers of knowledge. Eventually, Childhood Studies was recognised as a new academic discipline. The complexity of understanding childhood requires a multi-and interdisciplinary research approach (James & James 2012:19), in which theology has begun to participate. Children and theology Until theologians became involved in Childhood Studies, children and childhood apparently did not get much attention in theological research and thinking. As a result, theologians did not contribute much to this field (cf.

The Journal of religion, 2006

The purpose of this essay is to ask how, both methodologically and substantively, theological ethics should engage today in childhood studies. 1 More specifically, since there is now emerging an international interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, primarily in ...

People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."-Luke 18:15-17

Journal of Christian Education, 2010

In this chapter, the spiritual, experimental consciousness of children, identified to as 'relational consciousness' by Hay, is outlined and contrasted with the developmental theory of Fowler who suggests children's spirituality must advance through literalist and conventional stages that necessitate identifying with one belief system. These different theories posit radically different views; in Hay's, experience is the most important way of supporting spiritual growth, whereas Fowler suggests it is belief that advances it. By referring to the literal translation from the Greek of the text of Matthew, it seems Jesus supports Hay's view. Preliterate cultures, like little children, probably experience a relational consciousness, which has been undermined by dominating literate cultures who have belittled their spiritual perspective. It is probable this way of perceiving the world is compromised relatively early in our lives, as reflected by changes in the ventromedial areas of the prefrontal cortex. The control of emotional and instinctual behaviours linked with this area might be influenced by the disapproval of certain comportments by others. Tailoring our behaviour towards the achievement of Nature, and other forms of Life, can also provide Corporates with a new way of looking at themselves, their role in society, and encourage a paradigm shift in their business model to include a relational, spiritual perspective where the interconnectedness of all living beings is acknowledged and respected.

The Journal of religion, 2006

The United Nations declared 1979 to be the International Year of the Child. Over twenty-five years later the field of childhood studies are just coming into its own in scholarship and research in a number of disciplines. Religion is one discipline that has come recently to consideration of childhood, as manifest in a newly-formed Childhood Studies and Religion interest group at the American Academy of Religion and a bumper crop of recent books on childhood reflecting the textual, historical, and normative dimensions that combine to make up the interdisciplinary field of religious studies. The interdisciplinary interest in childhood is increasingly found not only within religious studies, but beyond it—including the disciplines of literature, history, psychology, and the social sciences, as well as the professions of law, medicine, and business. The new scholarly attention to children comes at a time of considerable flux in our understanding of childhood.