The Children's Spirituality
Database:
Major Research-Based
Books
Listed below are important
books that describe social science, historical, and biblical/theological
research conducted on the topic of children's religion and spirituality.
There are summaries that help locate each book in the general literature
on the topic, as well as all of the chapter titles of each book. A few
other books are included at the end that have only one or two relevant
chapters. You may click on any title in which you have an interest to see
if it is currently available (any purchase made helps finance the
continuation of this page, as does the use of the search boxes at the
bottom of the page). If you know of additional resources that are
research-based and relate to children's faith, religion, and/or
spirituality, please send all relevant information to jennifervh@cp.fuller.edu, as we
hope to update this web page occasionally. At present we are not including
dissertations in this listing.
Many thanks for the
research grants received from the North
American Professors of Christian Education
(NAPCE) and Biola
University that helped make this page
and those linked to it possible. Thanks for visiting!
--Don Ratcliff
|
New Additions to the
Database
Jennifer Orona, the Children at Risk Program Coordinator at Fuller Theological Seminary,
is now adding to this database. We are deeply grateful to her for
taking up this important task!
Check the latest
additions at this page: www.childspirituality.org/don/newbooks.htm
|
Books on Children's Religion
and Spirituality Research
Bakke, O. M. (2005).
When
Children Became People
(Fortress).
The author of this book
makes a strong case that children were first defined as people because
of the influence of early Christianity. He makes use of original
documents and social histories in this first-rate addition to the
history of childhood.
Chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Children in the
Greco-Roman world
3. Patristic teaching
about the nature of children and their characteristics
4. Abortion, infanticide
and expositio, and sexual relations
5. Making "Athletes
of Christ"
6. Children's
participation in worship
7. Children and a life
of religious perfection
8. Early Christians and
the humanity of children
Balla, Peter. (2006).
The
Child-Parent Relationship in the New Testament and its Environment
(Hendrickson).
Drawing from a wide
variety of sources, including archaeology, extra-biblical sources, as well
as the Scripture, the author portrays First Century Christian families and
their expectations of children, in contrast with the cultures surrounding
them. Much of the book relates to grown children and their parents, rather
than youngsters.
Chapters:
1. From Homer to the end
of the Greek classical period
2. Greek and Latin sources
from the Hellenistic period to the Third Century A.D.
3. Jewish sources in the
centuries around the turn of the era
4. The Gospel tradition
5. Traditions in the
Pauline corpus
6. The rest of the New
Testament
Berryman, Jerome
(1991). Godly
Play (Harper
Collins).
Berryman's work is a
philosophical and methodologically-centered presentation of a model of
encouraging children to reflect upon and experience spiritual reality.
While at best the "research" reflected in this book can be considered
informal in nature, the Godly Play method has been studied more formally
by Catherine Stonehouse (see below) and by others. He adapted this
approach from the work of Sofia Cavalleti, under whom he studied, and
who is also listed below as an informal researcher.
Chapters:
1. Playing and
reality
2. An adult at play
3. Children at play
4. The spoken lesson
5. The unspoken
lesson
6. The imagination and godly
play
7. The theology of
childhood
Blazer, Doris (1989).
Faith Development in Early
Childhood (Sheed and
Ward).
This book is a compilation of
plenary sessions from The 1987 Kanuga National Symposium on Faith
Development in Early Childhood, held at the Kanuga Conference Center in
Hendersonville, North Carolina. A wide variety of researchers and
practitioners from across the United States attended this conference.
The theories of Fowler, Erickson, and Skinner are predominant in these
chapters.
Chapters
1. Strength for the journey:
Early childhood development in selfhood and faith--James
Fowler
2. The roots of faith: The
crucial role of infant/toddler caregivers--Alice Honig
3. A faltering trust--Bettye
Caldwell
4. Attitude education in early
childhood faith development--Lucie Barber
5. Strengthening families for
the task--Kevin Swick
6. Inviting children into the
faith community--Patricia and Robert Boone
7. The public church: Ecology
for faith education and advocate for children--James Fowler
Brusselmans, Christine
(1980). Toward Moral and Religious
Maturity (Silver
Burdett).
This compilation was the
outcome of a conference at the Abbey of Senanque located in the southern
area of France during the summer of 1979. Twenty scholars from the
United States, Canada, and Europe discussed their research and
considered the implications for education, the results of which are
reflected in this book. Many of the contributors were or later became
leading scholars in education and religious education.
Chapters
1. Interdisciplinary approaches
to moral and religious development--William Rogers
2. Faith and the structuring of
meaning--James Fowler
3. The dynamics of the family
and its social significance for moral and religious education--Antione
Vergote
4. The psychological
foundations of belief in God--Ana-Maria Rizzuto
5. The relation to God and the
moral development of the young child--Jean-Marie Jaspard
6. Negation and transformation:
A study in theology and human development--James Loder
7. Reference figures in moral
development--Dirk Hutsebaut
8. Justice and responsibility:
Thinking about real dilemmas of moral conflict and choice--Carol
Gilligan
9. Reciprocal relationships
between moral commitment and faith profession in worship--Herman
Lombaerts
10. Stages of religious
judgment--Fritz Oser
11. Moral theology and moral
development--Enda McDonagh
12. Religion, morality, and ego
development--F. Clark Power and Lawrence Kohlberg
13. Moral and faith development
theory--James O'Donohoe
14. There the dance is:
Religious dimensions of a developmental framework--Robert
Kegan
15. Character, narrative, and
growth in the Christian life--Stanley Hauerwas
16. Democracy, cooperation, and
moral education--Thomas Lickona
17. Moral education in private
schools: A Christian perspective--Jef Bulckens
18. The scandalized child:
Children, media, and commodity culture--Edmund Sullivan
Bunge, Marcia (2001).
The Child in Christian
Thought
(Eerdmans).
An outcome of a research
initiative associated with the University of Chicago and funded by
the Lilly Endowment, "The Child in Christian Thought" was a project
directed by Marcia Bunge between 1998 and 2000. The writings that came
out of this project addressed the marginalization of children in
contemporary theology by encouraging scholars to investigate the
theology of children throughout church history.
Chapters
1. The least and the greatest:
Children in the New Testament--Judith Gundry-Volf
2. The ecclesial family: John
Chrysostom on parenthood and children--Vigen Guroian
3. "Where or when was your
servant innocent?": Augustine on childhood--Martha Stortz
4. A person in the making:
Thomas Aquinas on children and childhood--Cristina Traina
5. The child in Luther's
theology: "For what purpose do we older folks exist, other than to care
for . . . the young?"--Jane Strohl
6. "The heritage of the Lord":
Children in the theology of John Calvin--Barbara Pitkin
7. Complex innocence,
Obligatory Nurturance, and Parental Vigilance: "The Child"
in the Work
of Menno Simons--Keith Miller
8.
"Wonderful Affection": Seventeenth-Century Missionaries to New France on
Children and Childhood--Clarissa Atkinson
9. Education and the Child in
Eighteenth-Century German Pietism: Perspectives from the Work of A. H.
Francke--Marcia J. Bunge
10. John Wesley and Children--Richard
Heitzenrater
11. Children of Wrath, children of grace:
Jonathan Edwards and the Puritan culture of child rearing--Catherine
Brekus
12. "Be Converted and Become as Little
Children": Friedrich Schleiermacher on the Religious Significance of
Childhood--Dawn DeVries
13, Horace Bushnell's Christian
Nurture--Margaret Bendroth
14. African American Children, "The Hope
of the Race": Mary Church Terrell, the Social Gospel, and the Work of
the Black Women's Club Movement--Marcia Riggs
15. Reading Karl Barth on
Children--William Werpehowski
16. "Infinite Openness to the Infinite":
Karl Rahner's Contribution to Modern Catholic Thought on the Child--Mary
Hinsdale
17. "Let the Children Come" Revisited:
Contemporary Feminist Theologians on Children--Bonnie
Miller-McLemore
Cavalletti, Sofia
(1992). The Religious Potential of
the Child: Experiencing Scripture and Liturgy with Young Children, 2nd
edition (Liturgy
Training Publications).
Cavalletti's
"research"--reflected in the subtitle phrase "description of an
experience"--is informal in nature, yet it has impacted later more
formal research, as well as a variety of approaches to religious
education. These include Jerome Berryman's "Godly Play," Gerard
Pottebaum's "The Liturgy of the Word," and the curriculum most directly
identified with Cavalletti, "Catechesis of the Good Shepherd."
Cavalleti's approach is compared with more traditional approaches to the
religious education of children in Tim Gibson's study, "Implications of
two approaches to childhood education in the church" in the Christian
Education Journal, Volume 5NS, No. 2, Fall, 2001. This
ground-breaking book is a slightly revised version of the original
The Religious Potential of the Child Published by Paulist Press
in 1979/1982.
Chapters
1. God and the child
2. The child and the
adult
3. Christ the Good
Shepherd
4. Christ the Good Shepherd and
the eucharist
5. Christ the light and
baptism
6. The historical events in the
life of Jesus Christ
7. Prayer
8. Education to wonder and the
Kingdom of God
9. Moral formation
10. The method of
signs
11. Anthropological
catechesis
Cavalletti, Sofia
(2002). The Religious Potential of
the Child: 6 to 12 Years Old (Liturgy Training Publications).
This book extends Cavelletti's
approach to school-aged children, based upon the methods of religious
education suggested by Maria Montesorri. This version of the book was
edited by Margaret Brennan and the director of Catechesis of the Good
Shepherd, Tina Lillig. An update on the research related to this
approach was presented by Kathleen Garness in June, 2003 at the
Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian
Perspectives.
Chapters
1. The questions of the
child
2. Time and the
Bible
3. The globality of biblical
history
4. A history of the covenant,
part I
5. A history of the covenant,
part II
6. Historical events and the
typological reading of scripture
7. The covenant in the
parables
8. Why liturgy?
9. Our living of history, part
I
10. Our living of history, part
II
11. Our living of history, part
III
12. Moral life and the liturgy,
part I
13. Moral life and the liturgy,
part II
14. The continuum of the
catechesis
Coles, Robert (1990).
The Spiritual Life of
Children (Houghton
Mifflin).
Robert Coles is famous for his
excellent work with children, and is perhaps the best-known current
American researcher in the area of children's moral development. In his
prior research he noticed that children had significant and deep
religious experiences and views, and thus he eventually initiated his
own research that included children from a number of countries and
several religions, including youngsters who had no religious faith.
Across nationalities and ethnic groups, as well as across children of
various religious faiths--or no faith at all--he found a common
spiritual nature that he describes in detail.
Chapters
1. Psychoanalysis and
religion
2. Method
3. The face of God
4. The voice of God
5. Young spirituality:
Psychological themes
6. Young spirituality:
Philosophical themes
7. Young spirituality:
Visionary moments
8. Representations
9. Christian
salvation
10. Islamic
surrender
11. Jewish
righteousness
12. Secular
soul-searching
13. The child as
pilgrim
Erricker, Jane; Cathy Ota;
Clive Erricker (2001). Spiritual Education:
Cultural, Religious, and Social Differences (Sussex Academic).
This book, the first in a
series, presents many of the papers presented at the First International
Conference on Children's Spirituality, held in Chichester, England. The
conference was a landmark event in the study of children's spirituality,
and has continued to be held each summer, alternating between a location
in the United Kingdom and other countries. Thus the second conference
(summer, 2001) was held in Haifa, Israel, and the third in Winchester,
U.K. (summer, 2002). The conference emphasizes spirituality across a
wide variety of religions, as well as secular spirituality. This is a
rich resource of materials from which one can draw ideas and methods
that fit one's specific context of spiritual education.
Chapters
1. The nonverbal nature of
spirituality and religious language--Jerome Berryman
2. When your children ask--A
Jewish theology of childhood--Sandy Sasso
3. Toward a pedagogy of the
sacred: Transcendence, ethics, and the curriculum--Hanan Alexander and
Miriam Ben-Peretz
4. Who nurtured the child?
Without attachment there can be no intimacy--Cynthia Dixon
5. Children, doorposts, and
hearts: How can and should the religious traditions respond to
spirituality in a postmodern setting?--Mark Chater
6. Listening to . . . listening
for . . .: A theological reflection on spirituality in early
childhood--Elaine Champagne
7. Youth spirituality as a
response to cultural crisis--David Tacey
8. Spirituality versus
individualism--The challenge of relational consciousness--David
Hay
9. Storytelling, voice and
qualitative research: Spirituality as a site of ambiguity and
difficulty--Daniel Scott
10. Religious nurture and young
people's spirituality: Reflections on research at the University of
Warwick--Eleanor Nesbitt
11. The corruption of innocence
and the spirituality of dissent: Postcolonial perspectives on
spirituality in a world of violence--Liam Gearon
12. "Theory of mind" or "Theory
of the Soul"? The role of spirituality in children's understanding of
minds and emotions--Sandra Bosacki
13. The prospects of
spirituality in a globalized, technologized world--Wong Ho
14. The experience of religious
varieties: William James and the postmodern age--Jack
Priestly
15. Spirituality and the notion
of citizenship in education--Jane Erricker
16. Postmodernism, spirituality
and education in late modernity--Paul Yates
17. Searching for the
spirit--Tony Eaude
18. Autism and childhood
spirituality--Laura Morris
19. Youth and adulthood in
children's and adults' perspectives--Wim Westerman
20. The conflict between
pedagogical effectiveness and spiritual development in Catholic
schools--Cathy Ota
21. The spiritual education of
Khoja Shi'a Ithnasheeri (KSI) youth: The challenges of diaspora--Clive
Erricker
Fowler, James; Karl Nipkow;
Friedrich Schweitzer (Eds.)(1991). Stages of Faith and
Religious Development: Implications for Church, Education, and
Society
(Crossroad).
This valuable resource was
originally written in German and published in 1988, then later
translated into English with the help of several of the authors and
students at Emory University. It includes a cross-section of
international authors, yet is not as tied to the broad spectrum of
religious development research as some other books listed here. Instead,
the focus is on several major theories, critiques of those theories,
alternatives to those theories, and applications of theories.
Chapters
1. The vocation of faith
development theory--James Fowler
2. Toward a logic of religious
development--Fritz Oser
3. Developmental views of the
religion of the child: Historical antecedents--Friedrich
Schweitzer
4. Stage theories of faith
development as a challenge to religious education and practical
theology--Karl Nipkow
5. The North American critique
of James Fowler's theory of faith development--Sharon Parks
6. Hard versus soft stages of
faith and religious development: A Piagetian critique--F. Clark
Power
7. Cognitive developmental
studies of religious thinking--Nicola Slee
8. Alternative developmental
images--Gabriel Moran
9. Oser and Gmunder's stage 3
of religoius development and its social context: A vicious
circle--Reiner Dobert
10. Against religious
headbirths: A psychoanalytic critique--Gunther Bittner
11. Religious development and
the ritual dimension--Hans-Gunther Heimbrock
12. Human development and
capitalist society--John Hull
13. The influence of societal
and political factors on religious development and education in the
United States--Gloria Durka
Francis, Leslie; William Kay;
William Campbell (Eds.)(1996). Research in Religious
Education (Smyth
& Helwys).
This is an impressive survey of
topics related to the religious education of children and teenagers.
Some of the finest researchers available wrote these chapters, which
include surveys of the literature as well as summaries of their own
work. The large majority of writers are British (22), five are from
Europe, and the others are from Israel, Finland, and Ireland. Several
chapters consider methodological issues.
Chapters
1. John E. Greer: Research
pioneer in religious education--Leslie Francis
2. Historical context: Loukes,
Goldman, Hyde, Cox and Alves--William Kay
3. Thinking about childhood
spirituality: Review of research and current directions--David Hay,
Rebecca Nye, and Roger Murphy
4. Further on from Fowler:
Post-Fowler faith development research--Nicola Slee
5. Measuring religious thinking
using Piagetian operational paradigms--Andrew McGrady
6. Developmental research in
the classroom: An empirical study of teaching-learning processes--Karl
Nipkos, and Friedrich Schweiter
7. Relational and contextual
reasoning in religious education: A theory-based empirical study--K.
Helmut Reich
8. Ethnographic research and
curriculum development--Robert Jackson
9. Gender differences in
religiosity in children and adolescents--Kalevi Tamminen
10. Religiosity and self-esteem
during childhood and adolescence--Susan Jones and Leslie
Francis
11. Are religious people
happier? A study among undergraduates--Mandy Robbins and Leslie
Francis
12. Religiosity and
obsessionality--Christopher Lewis
13. Personality and attitude
toward religious education among adolescents--John Lewis and Leslie
Francis
14. A level gospel study and
adolescents' images of Jesus--Jeff Astley and Leslie Francis
15. Measuring Christian
fundamentalist belief among adolescents in Scotland--Harry Gibson and
Leslie Francis
16. Science, creation and
Christianity: A further look--Peter Fulljames
17. Religious education and
assemblies: Pupils' changing views--William Kay
18. Measuring attitude toward
Christianity through the medium of Welsh--Thomas Evans and Leslie
Francis
19. Christian children at
school: Their religious beliefs and practices--Bernadette
O'Keeffe
20. Church of England schools
and teacher attitudes: Personal commitment or professional
judgement?--Carolyn Wilcox and Leslie Francis
21. 'Catechesis' and 'religious
education' in Catholic theory and practice--James Arthur and Simon
Gaine
22. Growing up Catholic today:
The teenage experience--Linda Burton and Leslie Francis
23. Measuring 'Catholic
identity' among pupils in Catholic secondary schools--Michael Curran and
Leslie Francis
24. Attitudes toward assembly
and religious education among Roman Catholic girls--Alice Montgomery and
William Kay
25. Religiosity, personality
and tertiary educational choice--Yaacov Katz
26. Religious schooling and
secularisation in Israel--Mordechai Bar-Lev and Avraham
Leslau
Goldman, Ronald
(1964/1984). Religious Thinking from
Childhood to Adolescence (Harper San Francisco).
A classic study of children's
religion, this controversial book concentrates upon children's cognitive
understandings of religion. While the research is heavily colored by
Piagetian theory, and encouraged many religious educators--particularly
those in the United Kingdom, but also in many other countries--to take
seriously the need to conduct research on children's faith and
religion.
Chapters:
1. The problems of religious
thinking
2. Thinking and its application
to religion
3. A research approach to the
problems of religious thinking
4. Operational thinking about
religious stories
5. Concepts of the
Bible
6. The identity and nature of
the divine
7. God's activity in the
natural world
8. The holiness of
God
9. God's concern for
men
10. God's concern for men
(continued)
11. Jesus and the problem of
evil
12. Concepts of
prayer
13. Concepts of the
church
14. The influence of the
church, home, and other factors upon religious thinking
15. Some implications for
religious education
Haight, Wendy (2002).
African-American Children
at Church (Cambridge
University Press).
This is a
ethnographic/developmental study of children's socialization and
participation in a predominantly African-American church. The work
provides strong evidence against the negatively biased assumptions of
African-American teachers, and contributes to the understanding of
children's experiences and development within a religious
community.
Chapters:
1. Introduction
2. The African-American church
and the socialization of children's resiliency
3. Research strategy
4. African-Americans in Salt
Lake City: A historical and social overview
5. The teachers
6. Adults' perspectives on
spiritual socialization
7. Narratives related during
Sunday school
8. Socialization and
participation in storytelling
9. Adult-child verbal
conflicts
10. Other contexts for
socialization and participation
11. The computer club:
Implications of research for practice
12. Enhancing university
students' understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity:
Implications of practice for research
Hay, David; with Rebecca Nye
(1998/2006). The Spirit of the
Child, revised edition
(Jessica Kingsley Publisher).
For many people, this was a
ground-breaking research study, conducted by Rebecca Nye as part of her
doctoral study, and given a theoretical and philosophical context by
David Hay. Rebecca Nye now heads a research program in children's
spirituality at Cambridge University, and at the time of the writing
David Hay chaired a research group at Oxford University. Many, perhaps
most, subsequent research studies made use of their definitions of
"spirituality" and the broad perspective of spirituality that
encompasses all children everywhere. The revised edition has an added
chapter.
Chapters
1. What is spirituality and why
is it important
2. The social destruction of
spirituality
3. Children's
spirituality--What we know already
4. A geography of the
spirit
5. How do you talk with
children about spirituality?
6. Listening to children
talking
7. Identifying the core of
children's spirituality
8. The naturalness of
relational consciousness
9. Nurturing the spirit of the
child
10. Developments since
1998
Heller, David (1986).
The Children's
God (University of
Chicago Press).
The author of this book
analyzed children's drawings, letters to God, interviews, and play to
form conclusions about their understandings of God. He included an equal
number of Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, and Baptist children, 40 total, all
Americans from the Ann Arbor, Michigan area. Psychology Today
made Heller's research their cover story and he went on to author
several additional books on children's religion that were less research
oriented. However, some have noted that Heller focused on the family's
contribution to children's religious concepts, minimizing the influence
of the church and synagogue, as well as the importance of ritual,
language, and tradition.
Chapters
1. Introduction: Children's
conceptions
2. The method: In search of the
children's God
3. Religious themes
4. Age themes
5. Gender themes
6. Personality
themes
7. The family: A socialization
scenario
8. Common themes
9. Conclusion: Implications for
childhood religion
10. Epilogue: For children
only?
Hyde, Kenneth (1990).
Religion in Childhood and
Adolescence
(Religious Education Press).
This resource includes more
than 500 pages succinctly summarizing approximately 1800 research
studies related to children's and adolescents' religious thinking and
behavior. Sixty pages of appendices provide extensive detail on
methodological and conceptual aspects of the research: "The definition
of religion in psychology," "Problems in the measurement of religion,"
"Dimensions of religion," "Religious orientations," "Religious knowledge
and religious understanding," "A new analysis of Goldman's findings,"
"The cognitive basis of religion," "Metaphor comprehension in
childhood," and "Attitude to religion--theoretical
considerations."
Chapters
1. Religious thinking--before
and after Goldman
2. Religious
thinking--criticisms and new approaches
3. Children's ideas of
God
4. Parental images and the idea
of God
5. Religious beliefs and their
development
6. Understanding parables,
allegories, and myths
7. Related studies and teaching
styles
8. Studies of religious
attitudes
9. Religious
experience
10. Personality and
religion
11. The development of
religiousness
12. Surveys of religious
beliefs and practices
13. Religion and morality in
adolescence
14. The religious influence of
schools
Jenson,
David (2005). Graced Vulnerability: A Theology of
Childhood (The Pilgrim
Press).
This book is a major
contribution to the theology of children, emphasizing what children
are, rather than holding the traditional emphasis in theology
of what they will become. The author speaks "as an adult claimed by
children, changed by them, and constantly in relation with them" (p.
xiv). The vulnerability of children, and need for advocacy is a major
theme throughout.
Chapters
1. Consider the
children
2. Fragments of vulnerability
and difference
3. The vulnerable child of
God
4. Vulnerability and
violence
5. Practices of
vulnerability
6. To change and become like
children
May, Scottie; Posterski, Beth;
Stonehouse, Catherine; and Cannell,
Linda. (2005). Children Matter: Celebrating Their Place in the
Church, Family, and Community (Eerdmans).
An immensely valuable new
resource--perhaps the finest book on children's ministry available.
Provides not only biblical, theological, and developmental referents for
ministry, but also outlines how ministry varies by context and describes
the most important models of ministry available today. All four
authors are leading experts in the field of children's
ministry who are very familiar with the best research in this
area.
Chapters
1. Metaphors shape
ministry
2. Children in the
Bible
3. Theology and
children
4. The child's
development
5. Historical roots of ministry
with children
6. Children in
context
7. Children in the faith
community
8. Children in the
family
9. Children and
story
10. Children and
curriculum
11. In worship
12. In learning and
teaching
13. In specialized
ministries
14. All children
matter
15. In leadership
Mercer, Joyce. (2005). Welcoming
Children: A Practical Theology of Childhood. (Chalice Press).
Much
of Western society is driven by a consumer mentality, and that view of
humanity extends significantly to children. While the church might be
expected to resist this trend, considerable evidence is provided to
indicate that the church also perceives children as consumers. Mercer
makes the case that churches should resist the consumer mentality, and
emphasize the inherent value of children. The church must work to
include children.
Miller-McLemore,
Bonnie. (2003). Let the Children Come: Reimagining Childhood from a
Christian Perspective. (Jossey-Bass).
An important book on nuture of
children in home and church, highlighting a variety of perspectives on
children. The author is a prominent feminist theologian, and this book
constitutes a "bridge between historical and contemporary theological
understanding" [from the slipcover of the book].
Chapters
1. Depraved, innocent, or
knowing: History reinvents childhood
2. Popular psychology: Children
as victims
3. Christian faith: Children as
sinful
4. Christian faith: Children as
gift
5. Feminism and faith: Children
as the labors of love
6. Feminism and faith: Children
as agents
7. Care of children as a
religious discipline and community practice
Morgenthaler, Shirley (Ed.)
(1999). Exploring Children's
Spiritual Formation (Pillars Press).
This volume edited by
Morgenthaler is marked by clarity and precision. Strongly Lutheran in
its perspective, most of the conceptual and methodological issues raised
are important regardless of denomination or religious orientation of
children. Specialists from a wide variety of disciplines participated in
two conferences, which produced this book of readings, as well as
commentary following each major section provided by Morgenthaler.
Available from Concordia University Bookstore, River Forest, IL.
Chapters
1. Examining paradigms: A
review of the literature--Shirley Morgenthaler
2. Right relationships
research: A review of the literature--Gertrude Gobbel
3. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
4. Things that matter in
the lives of children: Looking at children's spiritual development from
a developmentalist perspective--Stanley Graven
5. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
6. The philosophic roots of
research into children's spirituality--William Lehmann
7. Christians make better
researchers--John Isch
8. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
9. Lutheran perspectives on
research in children's spirituality--Gary Bertels
10. Communicating about faith:
A response--Paul Andrews
11. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
12. Sociological perspectives
on children's ethical development--Peter Becker
13. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
14. Cultural dynamics in
perspective--Dwayne Mau
15. The perpetual pursuit of
the impossible--Emily Moore
16. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
17. Discovering congregational
culture--James Wind
18. Clarifying congregational
culture--Kenneth Heintz
19. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
20. Children's spirituality and
family relationships--David Anderson
21. Issues for families and
spirituality--Bonnie Bondavalli
22. Discussion--Shirley
Morgenthaler
23. Research possibilities and
interests--Shirley Morgenthaler, Peter Becker, and Constance
Seraphine
24. Conceptual and
methodological issues in research on children's spiritual
development--John O'Hara and Kenneth Inskeep
25. Refining
perspectives--Shirley Morgenthaler
Morgenthaler, Shirley; Peter
Becker; Gary Bertels (1999). Children in Worship:
Lessons from Research (Pillars Press).
The Center for the Study of
Children's Ethical Development at Concordia University (River Forest,
Illinois) initiated a multi-phase study of children's spiritual
formation and congregational life in the three largest Lutheran
denominations in the United States. Phase one of this research study is
represented in the present volume in which one hundred local
congregations were studied by a team of researchers. The chapters by
Peter Becker were some of his last writings before his untimely
death.
Chapters
1. Studying children in
worship--Peter Becker
2. Analyzing the
environment--Shirley Morgenthaler
3. Analyzing the communal
rites--Gary Bertels
4. Planning from a child's
perspective--Peter Becker
5. Lessons from
research--Shirley Morgenthaler
Oser, Fritz; Paul Gmunder
(1991). Religious Judgement: A
Developmental Approach (Religious Education Press).
Fritz Oser is at the University
of Fribourg in Switzerland, and is well-known for his theory of
religious judgement [the British spelling is used]. One of the most distinctive aspects of Oser's
theory is that it suggests that religious development, and thus
children's spirituality, is different from other areas of development in
that there is a distinctive mental structure that accounts for spiritual
experience. Many prior researchers assumed--explicitly or
implicitly--that religious thinking and experience is exactly like all
other thought and experience. Note that the British spelling of judgment
is used in the title and chapters.
Chapters
1. On the development of the
religious personality
2. The structure of religious
reasoning as mother-structure
3. Stages of religious
judgement
4. Measuring religious
judgement
5. On the range of structures
of religious cognition
6. Educational implications and
applications of the theory of religious judgement (with Anton
Bucher)
7. Validation of the
stage-concept of religious judgement
Oser, Fritz; George Scarlett
(Eds.)(1991). Religious Development in
Childhood and Adolescence (Jossey-Bass).
This volume is part of the
Jossey-Bass Education Series titled "New Directions for Child
Development," which involves quarterly publication of a book on selected
topics (this is the Summer, 1991 issue, number 52 in the series).
Several major researchers contributed to this volume, coedited by W.
George Scarlett who teaches child study at Tufts University in
Massachusettes.
Chapters
1. The development of religious
judgment--Fritz Oser
2. Stages in faith
consciousness--James Fowler
3. Religious development: A
psychoanalytic point of view--Ana-Maria Rizzuto
4. The development of prayer in
adolescence--W. George Scarlett, Lucy Perriello
5. The role of complementarity
reasoning in religious development--K. Helmut Reich
6. Adolescents' justifications
for faith or doubt in God: A study of fulfilled and unfulfilled
expectations--Karl Nipkow, Friedrich Schweitzer
7. Understanding parables: A
developmental analysis--Anton Bucher
8. Annotated bibliography on
religious development--Anton Bucher, K. Helmut Reich
Pottebaum, Gerard
(Ed.)(1998). Exploring the Spirituality
of Childhood (The
Spiritual Life of Children Institute).
The First National Conference
on the Spiritual Life of Children was a conference sponsored by the
Human Foundations Institute. This collection of papers from the
conference includes several notable scholars in education and religion,
as well as discussions that took place during the
conference.
Chapters
1. When I was a child:
Exploring our childhood experiences--Interfaith Dialogue Focus Group and
Gerard Pottebaum
2. Our search for spirituality:
What is your experience of God?--Clark Roof Wade
3. Changing family systems: The
roots of spirituality--Jane P. Ward
4. Myth and ritual: The
language of spirituality--Vivian G. Paley
5. Who do you say I
am?--Interfaith Dialogue Focus Group and Gerard Pottebaum
Ratcliff, Donald (2005).
Experiencing God and Spiritual Growth with Your Children
(unpublished
manuscript).
A book for parents,
available as a download without charge, that describes children's spiritual
experiences, development, and nurture from birth to the teen years. A
wide variety of innovative approaches are outlined. Many research
studies, including those of the author, are cited in the
manuscript.
Chapters
1. What is Spiritual Growth in
a Child?
2. Awe, Wonder, and God:
Spiritual Experiences of Children
3. Baby Faith: Forming Strong
Roots of Faith in Infancy
4. Crawling, Walking, and
Running Toward God: Toddlers and Preschoolers
5. Salvation: Moment and
Memory
6. Co-creating Life in God:
You, Your School-Aged Children, and God
7. Telling, Acting, and
Applying Bible Stories
8. Daily and Weekly Rhythms of
Faith: Children's Rituals
9. Touching, Smelling, and
Eating: The Biblical Holidays
10. Communion or Commotion:
Children, Parents, and Church
11. Handel's Messiah and
Visiting a Sheep Farm: Family Field Trips
12. Potential Faith Partners:
Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Grandparents, and
Schools
Ratcliff, Donald
(Ed.)(1988). Handbook of Preschool
Religious Education (Religious Education Press).
[From the back cover]
Handbook of Preschool Religious Education is an exhaustive
and comprehensive treatment of the entire field of early childhood
religious education.
Chapters
1. The cognitive development of
preschoolers--Donald Ratcliff
2. Physical, language, and
social-emotional development--Charlotte Wallinga and Patsy
Skeen
3. The Religious Concepts of
Preschoolers--Kalevi Tamminen, Renzo Vianello, Jean-Marie Jaspard, and
Donald Ratcliff
4. Preschooler Moral
Development--Claity P. Massey
5. Faith Development in the
Preschool Years--Romney M. Moseley and Ken Brockenbrough
6. Religion and
Socialization--Mary Anne Fowlkes
7. How to Teach: Foundations,
Processes, Procedures--James Michael Lee
8. Creativity and Teaching
Concepts of God--E. Paul Torrance and J. Pansy Torrance Lee
9. Stories, Enactment, and
Play--Donald Ratcliff
10. Planning, Evaluation, and
Research--David Starks and Donald Ratcliff
Ratcliff, Donald
(Ed.)(1992). Handbook of Children's
Religious Education (Religious Education Press).
[From the back cover]
Handbook of Children's Religious Education is a thorough and
comprehensive treatment of the religious education of children ages six
to twelve.
Chapters
1. Characteristics of
School-Aged Children--Cary A. Buzzelli
2. Faith Development and the
Language of Faith--Jerome W. Berryman
3. The Religious Concepts of
Children--Renzo Vianello, Kalevi Tamminen, and Donald
Ratcliff
4. Moral and Affective
Dimensions of Childhood--Jerry Aldridge and Jean Box
5. Lifestyle Content and the
Family--Blake J. Neff and Judith W. Seaver
6. Social Contexts of
Children's Ministry--Donald Ratcliff
7. Discipline, Development, and
Spiritual Growth--Cary A. Buzzelli and Kevin Walsh
8. General Procedures of
Teaching Religion--James Michael Lee
9. Specific Procedures of
Teaching Religion--Jolene Pearl
10. Assessment, Placement, and
Evaluation--Kalevi Tamminen and Donald Ratcliff
Ratcliff, Donald (Senior
Ed.) (2004). Children's
Spirituality: Christian Perspectives, Research, and
Applications (Cascade/Wipf and Stock).
Robert Coles comments on this
book: "Here are essays on young people that tell of their various ways
of seeking God's presence in their ongoing lives--an aspect of faith
observed and discussed with intelligence and sensitivity. Here is a book
many of us will greatly value--its wisdom an important presence in our
effort to understand children."
Chapters
1. Identifying Children's Spirituality,
Walter Wangerin's Perspectives, and an Overview of this Book--Donald
Ratcliff with Scottie May
2. Children and Mature
Spirituality--Jerome Berryman
3. Historical Perspectives on Children in
the Church: Resources for Spiritual Formation and a Theology of
Childhood Today--Marcia Bunge
4. Biblical Perspectives on Developmental
Grace for Nurturing Children's Spirituality--Klaus Issler
5. Unless You Become as One of These:
Biblical Perspectives on Children's Spirituality--Shelley
Campagnola
6. Christian Perspectives on Children's
Spirituality: Social Science Contributions?--Rebecca Nye
7. A Sociocultural Perspective on
Children's Spiritual Development--Wendy Haight
8. Exploring Scientific and Theological
Perspectives on Children's Spirituality--Eugene
Roehlkepartain
9. Children in Wesleyan Thought--Catherine
Stonehouse
10. Children's Spiritual Experiences and
the Brain--Scottie May and Donald Ratcliff
11. How Shall We Study Children's
Spirituality?--Chris J. Boyatzis and Babette T. Newman
12. The Co-construction of Spiritual
Meaning in Parent-Child Communication--Chris J. Boyatzis
13. The Child's Concept of God--Joyce E.
Bellous, Simone de Roos, and William Summey
14. From Doctrine to Practice: The
Influence of the Doctrine of Original Sin on Puritan
Child-Rearing--Timothy Sisemore
15. Six Children Seeking God: Exploring
Childhood Spiritual Development in Context--Dana Hood
16. Children in Congregations:
Congregations as Contexts for Children's Spiritual Growth--Joyce Ann
Mercer, Deborah L. Matthews, and Scott Walz
17. Nurturing Children's Spirituality in
Intergenerational Christian Settings--Holly Catterton Allen
18. A Narrative of Children's
Spirituality: African American and Latino Theological
Perspectives--Karen Crozier and Elizabeth Conde-Frazier
19. Narrative and the Moral Education of
the Christian Child--Victoria Ford and Esther Wong
20. The Ecology and Social Dynamics of
Childhood Spirituality--James Estep and Lillian Breckenridge
21. Using Developmentally Appropriate
Practice in Faith-Based Early Childhood Settings--Joyce
Ruppell
22. Spiritual Influences in Helping
Children to Cope with Life Stressors--Sara Pendleton, Ethan Benore,
Katherine Jonas, Wendy Norwood, and Carol Herrmann
23. Ministering to Unchurched, Urban,
At-risk Children--Gary Newton
24. Looking Back, Looking Forward:
Reflections on the Conference and Anticipation of the Future--Kevin E.
Lawson
Appendix 1: Children's Ministry
Models--Scottie May and others
Appendix 2: Theological Life of the
California Child--Earl Barnes with Miss Ora Boring (published 1892)
Reich, K. Helmut; Fritz Oser; W. George Scarlett (Eds.) (1999). Psychological Studies on Spiritual
and Religious Development: Being Human, the Case of
Religion, Volume 2 (Pabst).
This book is one of a
series published by Pabst Science Publishers in Lengerich, Germany, and
is published in English but rather difficult to locate, even though a
Scottsdale, Arizona outlet is mentioned (the company web page is located
at http://www.pabst-publishers.de). Particularly noteworthy are contributions by Scarlett,
Nye, Smoliak, and Oser's recent work on wisdom.
Chapters
1. Spiritual and religious
development: Transcendence and transformations of the self--K. Helmut
Reich, Fritz Oser, and W. George Scarlett
2. Spiritual development:
Lessons from Lincoln--W. George Scarlett
3. The existential human
situation: Spirituality as the way of coping--Pawel Socha
4. Relational consciousness and
the spiritual lives of children: Convergence with children's theory of
mind?--Rebecca Nye
5. What children's narratives
tell us about their developing thoughts of God--Wendy Smoliak
6. Meaning-making and miracles:
The creative inconsistency--Ingrid Josephs and Jaan Valsiner
7. Religious emotions and
religious development--Hartmut Beile
8. Post-modern religiousness: A
prerogative of the "New Religions?"--Brigitta Rollett and Anita
Kager
9. Wisdom: An action-oriented
approach--Fritz Oser, Dominik Schenker, and Maria Spychiger
Rizzuto, Ana-Maria
(1979). The Birth of the Living
God (University of
Chicago Press).
This is a classic study cited
by many researchers, involving psychoanalytic perspectives of how the
concept of God develops in childhood. Heavily influenced by Freudian
theory and object relations theory, the research involved a pilot study
at Boston State Hospital and clinical research with twenty psychiatric
residents at a private hospital.
Chapters
1. Introduction
2. Freud
3. Beyond Freud
4. The representation of
objects and human psychic functioning
5. Introduction to the clinical
research
6. A God without
whiskers
7. A God in the
mirror
8. God, the enigma
9. God, my enemy
10. Conclusions
Robinson, Edward
(1977/1983). The Original Vision: A
Study of the Religious Experience of
Childhood (Harper San
Francisco).
In the 1960's and 1970's Sir
Alister Hardy, the director of the Religious Experience Research Unit at
(Manchester College, Oxford) began collecting accounts of religious
experience, and he eventually published The Spiritual Nature of
Man which summarized major themes he found in those accounts.
His successor was Edward Robinson, who concentrated his attention on the
religious experiences of childhood as recalled by adults. The
methodology employed is related to cultural anthropology, and suggests a
significant alternative to cognitively oriented developmental approaches
to religion and faith.
Chapters
1. What is
childhood?
2. Vision and
reality
3. "Nature
mysticism"
4. The child that I used to
be
5. The web of home
6. "Let 'x' equal the
unknown"
7. Church God
8. "My own special
reality"
9. Death
10. Morality and
significance
11. Something more
Roehlkepartain, Eugene;
King, Pamela; Wagener, Linda; Benson, Peter
(editors). (2005). The Handbook of Spiritual
Development in Childhood and Adolescence (Sage).
A landmark volume that
summarizes most of the key research work to date on children's
spirituality, with chapters written primarily by the researchers
involved. The Forward is written by Robert Coles, and the board of
review is essentially a Who's Who of Children's Spirituality.
Chapters
1. Spiritual Development in
Childhood and Adolescence: Moving to the Scientific Mainstream--Eugene
C. Roehlkepartain, Peter L. Benson, Pamela Ebstyne King, and Linda M.
Wagener
2. Toward a Developmental Analysis of Religious and
Spiritual Development--W. George Scarlett
3. Stages of Faith From
Infancy Through Adolescence: Reflections on Three Decades of Faith
Development Theory--James W. Fowler and Mary Lynn Dell
4.
Spiritual Development: Intersections and Divergence With Religious
Development--David Hay, K. Helmut Reich, and Michael Utsch
5. On
Making Humans Human: Spirituality and the Promotion of Positive Youth
Development--Richard M. Lerner, Amy E. Alberts, Pamela M. Anderson, and
Elizabeth M. Dowling
6. Philosophical Issues in Spiritual
Education and Development--Hanan A. Alexander and David Carr
7.
Measurement and Research Design in Studying Spiritual
Development--Richard L. Gorsuch and Donald Walker
8. The
Demographics of Spirituality Among Youth: International
Perspectives--Laura H. Lippman and Julie Dombrowski Keith
9. The
Changing Global Context of Adolescent Spirituality--Suman Verma and
Madelene Sta. Maria
10. Spiritual and Religious Pathology in
Childhood and Adolescence--Linda M. Wagener and H. Newton
Malony
11. Non-Western Approaches to Spiritual Development Among
Infants and Young Children: A Case Study From West Africa--Alma
Gottlieb
12. Spiritual Experiences and Capacities of Children and
Youth--Tobin Hart
13. A Neuropsychological Perspective of
Spiritual Development--Andrew B. Newberg and Stephanie K.
Newberg
14. Attachment and Spiritual Development in Childhood and
Adolescence--Pehr Granqvist and Jane R. Dickie
15.
Cognitive-Cultural Foundations of Spiritual Development--Carl N. Johnson
and Chris J. Boyatzis
16. The Relationship Between Moral and
Spiritual Development--Lawrence J. Walker and Kevin S. Reimer
17.
The Relationship Between Spiritual Development and Civic
Development--Thomas M. Donnelly, M. Kyle Matsuba, Daniel Hart, and
Robert Atkins
18. The Relation Between Spiritual Development and
Identity Processes--Janice L. Templeton and Jacquelynne S.
Eccles
19. Personality and Spiritual Development--Teresa T.
Kneezel and Robert A. Emmons
20. Ethnicity, Culture, and
Spiritual Development--Jacqueline S. Mattis, Muninder K. Ahluwalia,
Sheri-Ann E. Cowie, and Aria M. Kirkland-Harris
21. The Family as
a Context for Religious and Spiritual Development in Children and
Youth--Chris J. Boyatzis, David C. Dollahite, and Loren D.
Marks
22. Mentors, Friends, and Gurus: Peer and Nonparent
Influences on Spiritual Development--Kelly Dean Schwartz, William M.
Bukowski, and Wayne T. Aoki
23. Congregations: Unexamined
Crucibles for Spiritual Development--Eugene C. Roehlkepartain and Eboo
Patel
24. Religious Coping by Children and Adolescents:
Unexplored Territory in the Realm of Spiritual Development--Annette
Mahoney, Sara Pendleton, and Heidi Ihrke
25. Resilience and
Spirituality in Youth --Emily Crawford, Margaret O'Dougherty
Wright, and Ann S. Masten
26. Delinquency: A Quest for Moral and
Spiritual Integrity?--Ronnie Frankel Blakeney and Charles David
Blakeney
27. Spiritual Development and Adolescent Well-Being and
Thriving--Pamela Ebstyne King and Peter L. Benson
28. Religion,
Spirituality, and Children's Physical Health--Doug Oman and Carl E.
Thoresen
29. Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy With Youth: A
Child-Centered Approach--Lisa Miller and Brien Kelley
30.
Bridging the Gap: From Social Science to Congregations, Researchers to
Practitioners--Dean Borgman
31. Integrating Spiritual Development
Into Child and Youth Care Programs and Institutions--Daniel G. Scott and
Douglas Magnuson
32. Bridging to Public Policy and Civil
Society--Steve Hornberger, Roberta Furtick Jones, and Robert L. Miller
Jr.
33. Childhood Spirituality: Strengthening the Research
Foundation--Donald Ratcliff and Rebecca Nye
34. The Science of
Child and Adolescent Spiritual Development: Definitional, Theoretical,
and Field-Building Challenges--Peter L. Benson
Roehlkepartain, Eugene
(1993). The Teaching
Church (Abingdon).
While this fine book relates to
church-based Christian education in general, many sections summarize
research conducted by the Search Institute on children's ministry and
church ministry that significantly influences children's lives. During
the summer of 2003 the Search Institute received a major research grant
to conduct additional research of the spiritual lives of children, a
long-term project to be coordinated by Eugene Roehlkepartain.
Chapters
1. Moving Christian education
to center stage
2. In search of faith
maturity
3. Nurturing congregational and
denominational loyalty
4. Promoting faith through
congregational life
5. How churches shape their
educational ministries
6. Managing an effective
Christian education program
7. Leaders who make a
difference
8. What should we
study?
9. How do we study?
10. Faith in action: Educating
for service and justice
11. Nurturing faith in
families
12. Where have all the people
gone?
Sisemore, Timothy (1998).
A Theology of Children (unpublished).
Dr. Sisemore's
manuscript constitutes a conservative Reformed theology of
children. Sisemore concludes that children have both positive qualities
reflecting the image of God as well as a bent towards misbehavior and
breaking rules. Some of Sisemore's theology is included in his book
Of Such is the
Kingdom (2000, Christian Focus
Publishers), although simplified and shortened for lay
readers.
Chapters (from
Of Such is the Kingdom)
1. Christian parenting in a
hostile world
2. Blessings, not
burdens
3. Innocents or
devils?
4. How and when can children be
saved?
5. Cultivating godly children:
What's a parent to do?
6. The school of life: Parents
are teachers
7. Disciplining
disciples
8. Teaching children to honour
their parents
9. Where do children fit in the
church?
10. Children and the
sacraments
11. From the mouths of
babes
12. The spiritual nurture of
children in the church
13. Practical steps towards
change
Stonehouse, Catherine
(1998). Joining Children on the
Spiritual Journey (Baker).
Catherine Stonehouse has
summarized many different areas of research related to children's
spirituality. She includes an introduction to Jerome Berryman's Godly
Play approach, on which she has conducted research for several years
with both rural Kentucky and urban Toronto children--see her "Knowing
God in Childhood" in the Christian Education Journal, Vol. 5NS,
No. 2, Fall, 2001.
Chapters
1. Preparing for the
journey
2. Children in the
Bible
3. Foundations for
faith
4. Young learners in
action
5. The child's view on right
and wrong
6. Knowing God in
childhood
7. Growing in faith
8. Setting the stage for
knowing God
9. Pilgrims together on the
journey
Strommen, Merton (Ed.)(1971).
Research on Religious Development: A Comprehensive
Handbook (Hawthorn).
This classic, now more than
thirty years old, includes notable contributions from many scholars who
have become well-known in education, religion, sociology and other
disciplines. More than 900 pages in length, it remains without question
the most complete summary of the literature prior to 1970, the only
serious rival in more recent years being the summary of the literature
by Kenneth Hyde (see above).
Chapters
1. Psychological
interpretations of religious experience--Peter
Bertocci</font>
2. Religious development in
historical, social, and cultural context--Martin Marty
3. Two issues in measuring
religion--James Dittes
4. Some developmental tasks in
Christian education--Andre Godin
5. Delayed gratification: A
psychological and religious analysis
6. Development of internal
moral standards in children--Martin Hoffman
7. The religious effects of
parochial education--Andrew Greeley and Galen Gockel
8. The role of religion in
public education--Lawrence Little
9. Religion, prejudice, and
personality--James Dittes
10. Religion and psychological
health--Russell Becker
11. Psychological
characteristics of religious professionals--James Dittes
12. Religion and mental
disorder: A research perspective--Bernard Spilka and Paul
Werme
13. Research on religious
beliefs: A critical review--Bernard Spilka
14. Intense religious
experience--Walter Clark
15. Religious practices--David
Moberg
16. Motivation and religious
behavior--Annette Walters and Ritamary Bradley
17. The development of
religious understanding in children and adolescents--David
Elkind
18. The religion of
youth--Robert Havighurst and Barry Keating
19. Changes in religious
beliefs of college students--Clyde Parker
20. Religious development in
adulthood--Paul Maves
21. Research in program
development--Leonard Sibley
22. Selected problems in the
study of religious development--Allen Barton
Tamminen, Kalevi (1991).
Religious Development in Childhood and Youth: An Empirical
Study (Finnish Academy of Science).
Kalevi Tamminen has spent
much of his professional life studying the religious experiences,
beliefs, concepts, and activities of Finnish children. Now in
retirement, he preserved his legacy in one of the few English
translations of his work. Published by the Finnish Academy of Science,
this is a volume that includes Tamminen's methodological insights as
well as what he discovered about children's religious development and
spirituality. This book is not distributed through normal outlets, but
can be obtained from the distributor (email address: tiedustelut@akateeminen.com)
or from the publisher (web page: http://www.akateeminen.com).
Chapters
1. The starting points of the
study
2. Religious
experiences
3. Religious beliefs
4. Religious
thinking
5. How does the concept of the
Bible change?
6. The concept of
God
7. The concept of Jesus' person
and mission
8. The concept of
prayer
9. The concept of death and
life after death
10. The "effects" of religion:
Religiousness and the day-to-day life of children and young
people
11. The main results of the
study
Weber, Hans-Ruedi
(1979/1994). Jesus and the Children (Treehaus).
A
key study of children and the ministry of Jesus.
Wuthnow, Robert
(1999). Growing Up
Religious (Beacon).
A significant retrospective
study of American Christians and Jews, documenting important memories
and experiences during childhood that continue to shape adults in their
daily lives. The emphasis is upon family life and significant
relationships during childhood and their influence on faith and
understandings of God.
Chapters
1. Family rituals
2. Home for the
holidays
3. Generations in the
Spirit
4. Houses of worship
5. The ties that
bind
6. Learning to be a
leader
7. Points of
departure
8. Remembering the
past
9. The move to spiritual
practice
10. Bridging
diversity
11. Seeing with four
eyes
Yust,
Karen-Marie. (2004). Real Kids, Real Faith: Practices for Nurturing
Children's Spiritual Lives . (Jossey-Bass).
Youst summarizes a three-year
research study of children's spirituality, combining those results with
insights from theology, to provide parents with informed suggestions on
nurturing their children's spirituality.
Chapters
1. What's faith got to do with
childhood?
2. Creating a spiritual world
for children to inhabit
3. Telling stories that draw
children into a life of faith
4. Helping children name God's
presence in their lives
5. Praying with
children
6. Supporting children as they
grow in spiritual awareness
7. Acting out our spirituality
with children
8. Finding a faith community to
call your own
Yust, Karen-Marie; Johnson, Aostre;
Sasso, Sandy; Roehlkepartain, Eugene (Eds.). (2006). Nurturing
Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious
Traditions (Rowman &
Littlefield).
An
overview of how the five major religious traditions (Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism) view children and adolescents,
as well as the spiritual changes perceived by those traditions, rituals
and practices intended to nurture spirituality, and how ethical actions
are related to the inner life. The book also considers who should bear
the responsibility for spiritual nurture and the social/cultural
influences upon spiritual development.
1. Traditional wisdom
2. Awakening latent spirituality
3. The child as compassionate
bodhisattva and as human sufferer/spiritual seeker
4. Learning to be righteous
5. The dignity and complexity
of children
6. Filling the heart with the
love of God
7. Saintly children
8. After a child's first dance
with God
9. In right relationship with
God
10. From naming to initiation
11. The child on loan
12. Entering the world,
entering Torah
13. Educating the warrior
14. Young minds, youthful
Buddhas
15. Narrative and imagination
16. Sanctifying time
17. Schooling the heart
18. Sacred celebrations
19. Reformed spirits
20. A way of mind and life
21. Singing hope and practicing
justice
22. Repairing the world
23. Nurturing young people's
spirituality as a force for social change
24. Children and the five
pillars of Islam
25. Value-creating education
26. At home with faith and
family
27. Sunday school for
Buddhists?
28. Personal responsibility
with communal support
29. Understanding dharma,
performing karma
30. Transforming bar/bat
mitzvah
31. Teaching correct principles
32. Scarce discourse
33. Identity jihads
34. Countering a malforming
culture
35. Resistance and resilience
36. Spiritual economies of
childhood
37. Born with a knife in their
hearts
Zuck, Roy
(1996). Precious in His Sight:
Childhood and Children in the Bible (Baker).
Roy Zuck, Senior Professor
Emeritus of Bible Exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary, provides
perhaps the most extensive summary of biblical content related to
children. Virtually every verse in scripture that mentions or alludes to
children is included in this volume. While Bible scholars and
theologians have been criticized for ignoring children in their work,
Zuck corrects this oversight with detailed consideration of what the
Bible says about youngsters.
Chapters
1. "Let the Children Come to
Me": The Challenge of Children
2. "Children Doomed to
Misfortune": Children Are in Trouble!
3. "To Whom Should We Go?": Is
There No Answer?
4. "The Children the Lord Has
Given Me": Childbirth in Bible Times
5. "You Shall Not Murder":
America's National Crime Against the Unborn
6. "A Full Quiver": Size and
Membership of Bible Families
7. "Bringing Up Children":
Parental Responsibilities in Bible Families
8. "In the Way He Should Go":
Educating Children in Bible Times
9. "And the Child Grew": Growth
Stages of Children in the Bible
10. "Honor Your Father and Your
Mother": The Role of Children in Bible Families
11. "Unto Us a Child is Born":
Jesus' Birth and Boyhood
12. "He Took the Children in
His Arms": Jesus and Children
13. "Of Such Is the Kingdom of
God": Children, Baptism, and Salvation
Book Chapters on Children's Spirituality and Religion
Research
Barrett,
Justin (2001). Do children experience God as adults do? In Religion in
Mind, ed. Jensine Andresen
(Cambridge).
An interesting chapter from a
book that emphasizes research on the cognitive dimensions of
religion.
Elkind,
David (1977). The origins of religion in the child. In Current Perspectives in
the Psychology of Religion, ed. H.
N. Malony (Eerdmans).
A summary of the literature,
similar to what he did in the Merton Strommen text (above).
Elkind,
David (1978). Religious development. In The Child's Reality: Three
Developmental Themes (Erlbaum).
A summary of his own research
on religious development, including children's concepts of God, their
concepts of denomination, and their views of prayer. Elkind is best
known for his later work on "Growing Up Too Soon," and in academic
circles he is known for his introducing Piaget's theory to American
educators in the late 1960's and 1970's, but prior to these
accomplishments he studied children's concepts of religion.
Francis,
Leslie (2000). Research methodology. In Religion in
Education, Volume 3, Distance
Learning, ed. William Kay, Leslie Francis (Gracewing).
This chapter, consisting of
three sections related to the research methods involved in researching
religious education and church schools, is written by Leslie Francis
with the help of William Kay on the third section that deals with
statistical considerations. Leslie Francis is one of the foremost
researchers of children's religion and spirituality in England, with a
long list of publications, many of which can be considered classics in
the field. While this chapter emphasizes methods of research, a fine
summary of her substantive research results is available in the book she
edited with Kay and Campbell (see above).
Hood,
Ralph; Bernard Spilka; Bruce Hunsberger; Richard Gorsuch (2004).
Childhood: Stages in Religious Development. In The Psychology of
Religion, 3rd ed.,
(Guilford).
Religious development has often
been considered a subcategory of the psychology of religion, although it
is somewhat unusual that an entire chapter is given to children.
Children's spirituality has also been associated with the disciplines of
education, religion, anthropology, and the sociology of
religion.
Peshkin,
Alan (1986). Schooling for spirituality. In God's
Choice (University of Chicago
Press).
Peshkin is a first-rate
researcher who studied a fundamentalist school in the Chicago
area.
Rosengren,
Karl; Carl Johnson; Paul Harris (Eds.)(2000). Imagining the
Impossible (Cambridge).
This volume brings together a
wide variety of scholars who consider the thinking and experience of
children that is related to the supernatural, magic, and imagination.
While much of the developmental literature emphasizes the increased
scientific rationality of children as they get older, this volume
documents the ability of children to go beyond the rational even as they
acknowledge the constraints that come with rationality. Perhaps these
chapters may be helpful in forming new and robust theories
of spiritual experience by children.
Recommended
Chapters
4. The development of beliefs
about direct mental-physical causality in imagination, magic, and
religion--Jacqueline Woolley
5. Intuitive ontology and
cultural input in the acquisition of religious concepts--Pascal Boyer
and Sheila Walker
12. Knowledge change in
response to data in science, religion, and magic--Clark Chinn and
William Brewer
13. Theology and
physical science: A story of developmental influence at the
boundaries--David Schrader
Tamminen,
Kalevi; Kari Nurmi (1995). Developmental theory and religious experience.
In Handbook of Religious
Experience, ed Ralph Hood
(Religious Education Press).
While Tamminen's book (listed
previously) is difficult to locate, his work is included in several of
the other volumes described above as well as in this text.
Vergote, Antoine (1969). Religion during childhood. In The
Religious Man (Pflaum).
Vergote is a researcher who has
not published a great deal in English, but has done some excellent
research with children in Belgium.
Washburn,
Michael (2000). Transpersonal cognition in developmental perspective.
In Transpersonal
Knowing, ed. Tobin Hart, Peter
Nelson, Kaisa Puhakka (SUNY).
As a whole, this book is more
oriented towards adult Eastern religious perspectives. In contrast, this
chapter is somewhat more oriented towards consideration of children and
Judeo-Christian perspectives, although the author often emphasizes the
commonalities between Christian experience and that of Eastern
religions.
Watts,
Fraser; Rebecca Nye; Sara Savage (2002). Children and adolescence (chapter
5) and Religious development (chapter 6). In Psychology for Christian
Ministry (Routledge).
All of the authors of this
volume are members of the Psychology and Religion Research Programme at
the Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies at the
University of Cambridge in England. Rebecca Nye's work has been
noted earlier in several other books.
Also see David Sim's
massive bibliography on the child in American
Evangelicalism
If you know of other books
that summarize or report research related to children's faith, religion,
and spirituality, we would appreciate suggestions for additions to the
database. You may contact us at jennifervh@cp.fuller.edu
Thank
you.
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