Regarding Children: A New Respect for Childhood and Families (Family Living in Pastoral Perspective)

Rating:
Summary: Buy the Whole Series
Review: I own Anderson's entire Family Living in Pastoral Perspective series (Leaving Home, Becoming Married, Regarding Children, Promising Again, and Living Alone), and I refer to them frequently.

Each book focuses on a different transitional event and the family tasks that event brings into focus. Anderson and his co-authors deal sensitively with the pastoral issues involved.

Regarding Children begins with an examination of society's indifference toward childhood and the proposal of a new theology of childhood. The authors then examine the changes children evoke in families, the ways families can effectively care for children, and the problems families can have. Finally, they examine the roles that society and churches can play in helping or hindering the care of children.

All of the books are well-written and easy to read--no convoluted prose to parse here. The works have added texture from the many personal examples shared by the authors (both their own and examples others have shared with them).

Every book in the series deserves an honored place on any religious professional's shelf. Except, you may find them so valuable they rarely make it back to your shelf.