Children's Spirituality: Christian Perspectives, Spirituality and Applications

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Summary: Editorial Reviews, Summary, and Chapter Titles
Review: 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.
--Dr. Robert Coles, Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Humanities at Harvard Medical School, and the author of The Spiritual life of Children.

This extraordinary book is a must read for all who teach and practice religious education. It gathers, with breadth and depth, the best current research from an exploding renewal in the study of the spirituality and religious development of children. Teachers, students and scholars dedicated to understanding and nurturing our children's growth in faith will find this rich volume indispensable.
--James W. Fowler, author of Stages of Faith and C. H. Candler Professor of Theology and Human Development Director, The Center for Ethics, Emory University.

Written in the best of the Evangelical tradition, Children's Spirituality is a must read for all those interested in children, the spiritual life and Christian formation. Descriptive phrases include well conceived and edited, clearly written and well documented, thorough and all-encompassing, academically sound and popular, combining research and practical application.
--The Rev. Dr. John Westerhoff, formerly Professor of Theology and Christian Nurture at Duke University, he is Theologian-in-Residence at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Atlanta, Georgia

This pace-setting text considers a wide variety of topics related to the spiritual development and spiritual experiences of children. The chapters grew out of presentations at the first major conference to consider these important topics from a distinctly Christian perspective. The first section considers the important question of defining spirituality and summarizes some of the history of the spirituality of children, as reflected in theology and the Bible. Social influences on children's spirituality are considered, as well as how brain activity relates to spiritual experiences. The second major section highlights children's spirituality in the Christian home, both in history and at the current time. Here the development of the concept of God is considered, as well as how parents and children work together to construct understandings of spirituality. A third section reflects upon the spirituality of children in the church, including alternative perspectives of how spiritual growth and experience are best encouraged in that setting. The distinctive aspects of African American and Latino children's spirituality are given careful attention. Schools and other settings are examined in the fourth section of the book, with an emphasis upon moral learning, encouraging faith development with preschoolers, how spirituality helps children cope with serious medical conditions and the stresses related to being children of missionaries, and best practices in reaching inner city children. The book concludes with a chapter that examines how Christian's views of children's spirituality are changing, and anticipates a follow up conference in the near future.

CHAPTER TITLES AND AUTHORS:

1. Identifying Children's Spirituality, Walter Wangerin's Perspectives, and an Overview of this Book by Donald Ratcliff with Scottie May

2. Children and Mature Spirituality by Jerome Berryman

3. Historical Perspectives on Children in the Church: Resources for Spiritual Formation and a Theology of Childhood Today by Marcia Bunge

4. Biblical Perspectives on Developmental Grace for Nurturing Children's Spirituality by Klaus Issler

5. Unless You Become as One of These: Biblical Perspectives on Children's Spirituality by Shelley Campagnola

6. Christian Perspectives on Children's Spirituality: Social Science Contributions? by Rebecca Nye

7. A Sociocultural Perspective on Children's Spiritual Development by Wendy Haight

8. Exploring Scientific and Theological Perspectives on Children's Spirituality by Eugene Roehlkepartain

9. Children in Wesleyan Thought by Catherine Stonehouse

10. Children's Spiritual Experiences and the Brain by Scottie May and Donald Ratcliff

11. How Shall We Study Children's Spirituality? by Chris J. Boyatzis and Babette T. Newman

12. The Co-construction of Spiritual Meaning in Parent-Child Communication by Chris J. Boyatzis

13. The Child's Concept of God by 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 by Timothy Sisemore

15. Six Children Seeking God: Exploring Childhood Spiritual Development in Context by Dana Hood

16. Children in Congregations: Congregations as Contexts for Children's Spiritual Growth by Joyce Ann Mercer, Deborah L. Matthews, and Scott Walz

17. Nurturing Children's Spirituality in Intergenerational Christian Settings by Holly Catterton Allen

18. A Narrative of Children's Spirituality: African American and Latino Theological Perspectives by Karen Crozier and Elizabeth Conde-Frazier

19. Narrative and the Moral Education of the Christian Child by Victoria Ford and Esther Wong

20. The Ecology and Social Dynamics of Childhood Spirituality by James Estep and Lillian Breckenridge

21. Using Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Faith-Based Early Childhood Settings by Joyce Ruppell

22. Spiritual Influences in Helping Children to Cope with Life Stressors by Sara Pendleton, Ethan Benore, Katherine Jonas, Wendy Norwood, and Carol Herrmann

23. Ministering to Unchurched, Urban, At-risk Children by Gary Newton

24. Looking Back, Looking Forward: Reflections on the Conference and Anticipation of the Future by Kevin E. Lawson

Appendix 1: Children's Ministry Models by Scottie May and others

Appendix 2: Theological Life of the California Child by Earl Barnes with Miss Ora Boring (published 1892)