Biblical Understandings of Children and Childhood: Resources for the Church and Mission Today

Biblical Understandings of Children and Childhood:
Resources for the Church and Mission Today

Marcia J. Bunge, Ph.D.

Professor of Theology and Humanities

(Christ College, Valparaiso University)

Director of the Child in Religion and Ethics Project

March 2011 (Kenya)

INTRODUCTION:

We have traveled here to Kenya from many countries and contexts. What brings us together for these three days?  First, we all share a commitment to Jesus Christ and to God’s Mission in the world.  Second, we all share a concern for and love of children. Third, we all come to this gathering bearing gifts to share.  We represent diverse agencies, educational institutions, and denominations. We are all active in various kinds of work that aim to serve God’s Mission. We bring wisdom and experience from the diverse settings in which we work and from our various places of responsibility. We are bound to learn much from one another!

As a prelude to my remarks, let me tell you the brief story of my own interest in children and my own places of responsibility that bring me here for the first time to Kenya.  My own academic background is in the area of historical theology.  I have a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in historical theology and spent several years working on 19^th century German theology.  However, a few years ago, my attention turned to the subject of children and childhood for several reasons:

·         I am a professor at a church-related Lutheran university and primarily teach undergraduate students (ages 18-22).  Teaching undergraduates has raised many questions for me about the intellectual, moral, and spiritual formation of children and young people and the challenges they face in contemporary cultures.

·         I am a mother of 2 children:  Isaac, now 17, and Anja, now 10.  Having children has raised many questions for me about my own priorities and the priorities of the Church and our society, especially regarding the health, safety, and education of all children.  

·         I am a scholar, working in the areas of theology and ethics.  When I looked at the work coming out of these fields, I wondered why so much had been written on all kinds of ethical issues (abortion, sexuality, cloning, etc) but so little directly on children and our obligations to them.  It was as if addressing issues regarding children was “beneath” any serious theologian or ethicist.

These kinds of questions led me to start a project called “The Child in Religion and Ethics.” Its central aim is to explore the simple question:  What have the great religions of the world said, if anything, about who children are and about our obligations to them (not only the obligations of parents but also religious communities and the state)?  Since starting this project, I have edited or coedited three books on religious views of children:

1) The Child in Christian Thought (Eerdmans, 2001);

2) The Child in the Bible (Eerdmans, 2008); and

3) Children and Childhood in World Religions (Rutgers, 2009).

I am now involved in a number of interdisciplinary, interfaith, and international projects in the Academy and religious communities regarding children.

My own work is part of a growing academic field of study called “Childhood Studies.”  This field is burgeoning in all areas and disciplines of the academy.  Just as “Gender Studies” and “Women’s Studies” grew once scholars began to reexamine their work in the light of gender, “Childhood Studies” has grown once scholars began to reexamine their work in the light of children and childhood.

In line with the growth of Childhood Studies in many disciplines, scholars in diverse areas of biblical studies, religious studies, and theology are also beginning to focus attention directly on children and childhood.[i]  Over the past fifteen years scholars in a number of areas in religious studies outside religious education (the field most commonly focused on children) are beginning to publish more work on children and childhood.  Furthermore, many interdisciplinary initiatives and international institutes are examining the spiritual development and experiences of children and adolescents in various religions and cultures world-wide, such as the Search Institute [ii] In all areas of theology and religious studies, scholars are also finding many more opportunities to present work on childhood at professional meetings, such as at the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature.[iii]

Given my own academic setting and the kinds of gifts I can bring to this consultation, I would like to share with you tonight some of the insights gained from my project about biblical understandings of children and childhood.  My remarks are divided into three parts. First, I would like to highlight briefly some of the challenges we see children facing today. In the second and main part of my remarks, I want to outline six central biblical perspectives on children that can help us, as members of the Church, to address some of these challenges.  I hope these six perspectives can help prompt our thinking during this consultation and provide a way of strengthening our own work. Finally, I will draw some implications of these six perspectives for the Church, its mission, and our work together. 

The primary thesis of my remarks tonight that we can explore and discuss further over the next three days is: Although Christians today and in the past have often viewed children in narrow and even destructive ways, the Bible expresses six insightful and central perspectives on children; and by holding these six perspectives in tension (rather than in isolation), we can broaden our conception of children and strengthen our commitment to them in all areas of the Church.

PART ONE:  SELECTED CHALLENGES

As all of you at this consultation know, although most people believe we can and should support children, our actions—not only in our societies but even in our churches—often reveal a lack of commitment to and narrow understanding of children.

For example, many countries fail to meet even the basic needs of children. Many children live in poverty and often are malnourished, receive inadequate educations, and lack proper health care. Even children in affluent families or countries often suffer neglect and abuse and struggle with drug and alcohol abuse, suicide and depression, and lack of sexual boundaries or sense of purpose in their lives. Even in my own affluent country, the United States, 16% of children live in poverty[iv] and many children attend inadequate and dangerous schools. Children are one of the last priorities in decisions about budget cuts on the state and federal level; road maintenance and military budgets take precedence over our children, even though politicians pledge to “leave no child behind” in terms of health care or education.

            Although many in the church care for children and have created beneficial programs for them, the church also often lacks a strong commitment to children and treats them as “the least of these.” This was witnessed, for example, in the child sexual abuse cases within the Roman Catholic Church. The abuse of children involved is shocking, as well as the ways in which financial concerns, careers of priests, and reputations of bishops or particular congregations came before the safety and needs of children.

           

            Yet the church as a whole exhibits a lack of commitment to children in other, more subtle ways. Here are just four examples (and we could all share many others).

• Many congregations do not devote time or funding to child, youth, or family programs.  Even religious education programs are often weak and fail to emphasize the importance of parents in faith development.
• As a result, many parents within the church are neglecting to speak with their children about moral and spiritual matters or to integrate practices that nurture faith into their everyday lives.
• In our seminaries and universities, many theologians and ethicists consider reflection on children as “beneath” the work of serious theologians and as a fitting area of inquiry only for pastoral counselors and religious educators. Consequently, systematic theologians and Christian ethicists say little about children and offer few well-developed teachings on the nature of children or why we should care about and for them.
• National churches and agencies have also not been consistent public advocates for children.

Lurking behind the lack of commitment to children in our countries and churches are several simplistic views of children and ethical obligations to them.  In the United States, for example, scholars have argued that in a consumer culture a “market mentality” influences attitudes toward children. Thus, instead of seeing children as having inherent worth, people in a consumer culture tend to view children as being commodities, consumers, or even economic burdens. We spoil our own children and neglect to help children in need. We fail to see the ways our own life-styles and companies exploit children and families in other parts of the world. Other scholars note that, the media in our country tends to depict children as either all good or all bad. For example, popular magazines or newspapers tend to depict infants and young children as pure and innocent beings to be adored and teenagers as hidden and dark creatures to be feared.  One can notice, too, in the church that conservative Christians in the United States tend to speak of children as “sinful” and in need of “discipline” while mainline and more liberal church tend to see them as “cute,” innocent, or insignificant.  In our public and academic discourse, we tend to speak of children as either “victims” or “agents.”

These kinds of simplistic views diminish children’s complexity and intrinsic value, and thereby undermine a commitment and sense of obligation to them.  These are just a few examples, but they reflect common one-dimensional perspectives of children we can find in all of our countries and all of our churches. Over the course of the consultation, perhaps we can all reflect further on the questions:  What particular challenges do children face in our specific contexts? What kinds of simplistic conceptions of children do we hold in our own countries or our own churches and places of responsibility?

PART TWO:  BIBLICAL RESOURCES

Much can be done to overcome these simplistic views of children and thereby strengthen the church’s commitment to them by retrieving a broader, richer, and more complex picture of children from the Bible.

Although Christians today and in the past have often viewed children in narrow and even destructive ways,  the Bible expresses six insightful and central perspectives on children; and by holding these six perspectives in tension (rather than in isolation), we can broaden our conception of children and strengthen our commitment to them in all areas of the Church. Of course, the Bible is teeming with references to children, and no one can summarize “the” biblical understanding of the nature and status of children.  Nevertheless, Christians today and in the past have emphasized some of the following six themes when reflecting on central questions about children and our obligations to them.[v]   These themes are not exhaustive but do help illustrate the complexity of biblical understandings of children.

1)      Gifts of God and Sources of Joy

The Bible and the Christian tradition often depict children as gifts of God and sources of joy who ultimately come from God and belong to God. Many passages in the Bible speak of children as gifts of God or signs of God’s blessing and emphasize the joy that children bring to families and communities. For example, Leah, Jacob’s first wife, speaks of her sixth son as a dowry, or wedding gift, presented by God (Genesis 30:20).  Several biblical passages indicate that parents who receive these precious gifts are being “remembered” by God (Genesis 30:22; 1 Samuel 1:11, 19) and given “good fortune” (Genesis 30:11). To be “fruitful”—have many children—is to receive God’s blessing.   The Psalmist says children are a “heritage” from the Lord and a “reward” (Psalm 127:3). Sarah rejoiced at the birth of her son, Isaac (Genesis 21:6-7). Even in his terror and anguish, Jeremiah recalls the story that news of his own birth once made his father, Hilkiah, “very glad” (Jeremiah 20:15). An angel promises Zechariah and Elizabeth that their child will bring them “joy and gladness” (Luke 1:14). In the gospel of John, Jesus says, “When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world” (John 16:20-21). 

Many Christian theologians have emphasized this biblical theme. For example, the 17^th century Moravian bishop, theologian, and educator, Johannes Amos Comenius, who emphasized a holistic and innovative approach to education, said children are dearer than “gold and silver, than pearls and gems.” [vi]  Martin Luther, the 16^th century reformer, also wrote about the joy and blessing of children.

2)      Sinful Creatures and Moral Agents

Many, but certainly not all, forms of Christianity express the notion that children, in some sense, are sinful creatures and moral agents. The view of children as sinful is based on interpretations of several biblical texts. For example, Genesis states that every inclination of the human heart is “evil from youth” (Genesis 8:21), and Proverbs claim that folly is “bound up in the heart” of children (Proverbs 22:15). The Psalms declare that “the wicked go astray from the womb; they err from their birth” (Psalms 58:3; cf. 51:5). Paul writes that all people are “under the power of sin,” and “there is no one who is righteous, not even one” (Romans 3: 9-10; cf. 5:12).

On the surface, this way of thinking about children can seem negative and destructive, and as some historical studies have shown, viewing children exclusively as sinful has often warped Christian approaches to children and led in some cases to child abuse and even death. However, for many Christians, the notion that children are sinful corrects an equally simplistic and dangerous view of children as primarily pure and innocent beings who automatically love God and their neighbors.  Such a view leaves no room for appreciating a child’s own growing autonomy and accountability.  Those Christian theologians who have viewed children as sinful generally underscore two related points.  On the one hand, they often claim children are “born in a state of sin”; they live in a world that is not what it ought to be. Their parents are not perfectly loving and just; social institutions that support them, such as schools and governments, are not free from corruption; and the communities in which they live, no matter how safe, have elements of injustice and violence.  On the other hand, theologians who speak of children as sinful also claim that as children develop they carry out “actual sins” and are moral agents who bear some degree of responsibility for their actions.  They can act in ways that are self-centered, unjust, and harmful to themselves and others. This view of “actual sins” of children becomes distorted if theologians mistakenly equate a child’s physical and emotional needs or early developmental stages with sin. However, when used cautiously and with attention to psychological insights into child development, it has also strengthened the awareness of a child’s growing moral capacities and levels of accountability.

It is also important to note that Christian theologians who have spoken of children as sinful have often emphasized that infants and young children are not as sinful as adults; they should be treated tenderly. Furthermore, some of the Christian today and in the past who have viewed children as sinful also radically viewed them as equals and thereby shattered barriers of gender, race, and class.  The 18^th century German Lutheran pietist, August Hermann Francke, for example, attended to poor children in his community by building hospitals, schools, and orphanages to serve them and their families.  He emphasized the breaking of a child’s will and religious conversion, yet these notions, set within the context of his broader theological framework, fostered his humane and compassionate treatment of children.  Although he lived in a highly class-conscious period, his theology led him to possess a deeper concern for the education and well being of poor children than many of his “enlightened” contemporaries, including John Locke. [vii]

3)      Developing Beings Who Need Instruction and Guidance

A third central perspective on children that is expressed in the Bible and Christian traditions is that children are developing beings who need instruction and guidance.  Adults are to nurture, teach, and guide children, passing on the faith to them and helping them to love God and their neighbors as themselves. Several biblical passages in the Hebrew scriptures speak about these responsibilities.  For example, Christians, like Jews, refer to the famous lines from Deuteronomy 6:5-7: “You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.  Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.”  Adults are to “train children in the right way” (Proverbs 22:6) and to tell children about God’s faithfulness (Isaiah 38:19) and “the glorious deeds of the Lord” (Psalm 78:4b). They are to teach children the words of the law (Deuteronomy 11:18-19; 31:12-13) and what is right, just, and fair (Genesis 18:19; Proverbs 2:9). Other New Testament texts often cited by Christians regarding the teaching of children use the terms “discipline” and “obedience”:  adults are commanded to bring up children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) and children are commanded to “obey” their parents (Ephesians 6:1 and Colossians 3:20).

There are also many examples in the Christian tradition of theologians who took seriously the spiritual formation and education of children. They encouraged adults to pass on the faith to the next generation and to help children reflect on their faith and to take up particular religious practices that would strengthen their faith and enable them love and serve others. For example, John Chrysostom, the fourth century theologian who is still highly influential in Eastern Orthodox communities of faith today, wrote sermons on parenting and the duties of parents to nurture the faith of their children.[viii]  He viewed the home itself as “a little church” and ranked parental neglect of children’s needs and their spiritual formation among the gravest injustices.[ix] Comenius also pointed out the complex sensibilities and development of infants and young children and the need to nurture them at a very young age.[x]  Luther and John Calvin also wrote catechisms for use in the home to help parents teach their children.

4)      Fully Human and Made in the Image of God

Although Christians have viewed children as developing, at the same time, they have often emphasized that children are also whole and complete human beings made in the image of God.  Thus, they are worthy of human dignity and respect from the start.  The basis of this claim is Genesis 1:27, which states that God made humankind, male and female, in God’s image.  It follows that children, like adults, possess the fullness of humanity. Regardless of race, gender, or class, they have intrinsic value. Although parents nurture them, they are not made in the image of their parents but in the greater image of God. The sense of the integrity of each person, including children, is also grounded in a view of God who intimately knows the number of “even the hairs of your head” (Matthew 10:30), forms your “inward parts,” and “knit” you together in the womb (Psalm 139:13). 

The notion that children are fully human and made in the image of God has sometimes been neglected in Christianity, and some Christians today and in the past have described children as “animals,” “beasts,” “pre-rational,” “pre-adults,” “almost human,” “not quite human,” or “on their way to becoming human.”  However, Christian theologians who have reflected seriously on children, generally recognize the full humanity of children, including infants.  For example, Cyprian in the third century, depicts infants as complete human beings.  All people, regardless of age or character, are “alike and equal since they have been made once by God.”  All share a “divine and spiritual equality” and are able to receive God’s grace and gifts.  “For what is lacking,” he wonders, to one who “has once been formed in the womb by the hands of God?”[xi] The twentieth century Catholic theologian, Karl Rahner, also asserts that children have the value and dignity in their own right and are fully human from the beginning.  Thus, he believes that we are to respect children from the beginning of life.  We need to see them as a “sacred trust” to be nurtured and protected at every stage of their existence.[xii]

5)      Models of Faith and Sources or Vehicles of Revelation

Several biblical passages depict children in striking and even radical ways as moral witnesses, prophets, models of faith for adults, sources or vehicles of revelation, and representatives of Jesus.  The Hebrew Bible includes stories of children and young people, such as Samuel, who are called to be a prophets or messengers of God. Several gospel passages turn upside down common assumptions held in Jesus’ time and our own:  that children are to be seen but not heard and that the primary role of children is to learn from and obey adults.  In contrast, these New Testament passages remind us that children can teach and challenge adults.  They can prophesy and praise God. They can be vehicles of revelation, models of faith, and even paradigms for entering the reign of God. Jesus identifies himself with children and equates welcoming a little child in his name to welcoming himself and the one who sent him. “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus warns. “Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me” (Matthew 18:2-5).  In Mark, the text states:

Then they came to Capernaum; and when [Jesus] was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” … People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; 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.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. (Mark 9:33-37 and 10:13-16)  [See also Luke 9:46-48 and 18:15-17].

Like the notion that children are fully human and made in the image of God, the idea that children can be teachers, bearers of revelation, or models of faith has not been emphasized and has often been neglected in the Christian tradition and among Christians today. However, throughout the tradition and today, we do find theologians who have grappled seriously with these New Testament passages, forcing them to rethink their assumptions about children and “childlike faith” and challenging adults to be receptive to the lessons and wisdom that children offer them, to honor children’s questions and insights, and to recognize that children can positively influence the community and the moral and spiritual lives of adults. For example, German theologian Friederich Schleiermacher (1768-1834) emphasized that adults who want to enter the kingdom of God need to recover a childlike spirit.  For him, this childlike spirit has many components that we can learn from children, such as “living fully in the present moment,” being able to forgive others, or being flexible.[xiii]  Christian theologians have linked many other qualities to a “childlike” faith, such as dependence, purity, humility, trust, acceptance, innocence, openness, wonder, tenderness, an ability to forgive, or playfulness, and reflected on how adults might not only “become as little children” but also learn from children themselves.

6)      Orphans, Neighbors, and Strangers in Need of Justice and Compassion

Finally, there are many biblical passages and examples in the Christian tradition that emphasize that children are also orphans, neighbors, and strangers who need to be treated with justice and compassion.  The Bible depicts many ways that children suffer and are the victims of war, disease, or injustice.  In addition, numerous biblical passages explicitly command us to help widows, orphans, and strangers—among the most vulnerable and voiceless people in society—and show God has compassion for them.  We read in Deuteronomy, for example:

The LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.  You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Deuteronomy 10:17-19; see also Deuteronomy 14:28-29).

In the New Testament, Jesus also healed, embraced, and blessed children. And the author of James claims:

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world… For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? (James 1:27 and 2:2-5).

These and other passages clearly show us that caring for children is part of seeking justice and loving the neighbor.

DANGERS OF NOT INCORPORATING THESE SIX PERSPECTIVES:

Whenever we as Christians retreat from this rich, complex, and almost paradoxical view of children found in the Bible and Christian traditions and focus instead on only one or two biblical themes alone, we risk falling into deficient understandings of children and adult obligations to them, and we risk treating children in inadequate and harmful ways.

We can give many examples from the Church regarding such dangers. For example, on the one hand, if Christians view children primarily as gifts of God and as models of faith, then adults will enjoy children and be open to learning from them; however, these adults might also neglect the important role they should play in a child’s moral and spiritual development, and they might minimize a child’s own growing moral capacities. On the other hand, if Christians perceive children primarily as sinful and in need of instruction, then adults will emphasis the role of adults in guiding and instructing children; however, these adults might neglect to learn from children, delight in them, and be open to what God reveals through them. Furthermore, the understanding of parenting and religious education may be restricted to instruction, discipline, and punishment. Focusing on children solely as sinful and in need of instruction also has real dangers, since it has often been easier for Christians who regard children solely as sinful to brutally punish them or “beat the devil” out of them. Even when Christian parenting manuals today emphasize that children are to be treated kindly but continue to speak of children primarily as sinful, they neglect other important lessons of the Bible and church tradition of enjoying children, treating them as fully human, listening to their questions, and learning from them.

We can find other examples in the context of child advocacy work. One the one hand, if we perceive children as primarily victims, then we might strive to help and protect them yet perhaps neglect hearing their own voice or recognizing their own strengths and moral capacities.  On the other hand, if we perceive children primarily as moral agents, then we might encourage them to use their gifts yet perhaps neglect to protect and guide them.

In order to avoid these and other dangers, any biblically informed approach to children must take into account at least all six perspectives. It must incorporate a complex view of the child that holds together the inherent paradoxes of being a child that are recognized in the Bible, such as:

• Fully human and made in the image of God yet also still developing and in need of instruction and guidance;
• Gifts of God and sources of joy yet also capable of selfish and sinful actions;
• Vulnerable and in need of protection yet also strong and insightful;
• Metaphors for immature faith and childish behavior and yet models of faith and sources of revelation.

PART THREE:  IMPLICATIONS for the Church, its mission, and our work together

If we as Christians can appropriate and hold in tension all six biblical perspectives of children, then we will certainly broaden our conception of children, and we can strengthen our commitment to children in many areas of the Church.

For example, these six ways of speaking about children could strengthen a congregation’s worship life as we as spiritual formation and religious education programs. If children are seen as gifts of God and sources of joy, then they will be included in worship services as true participants and welcomed as full members of the church. As a result, more joy and laughter will be incorporated into worship. Furthermore, when children are perceived as sinful and in need of instruction, then more substantial religious educational materials and programs for children will be developed in the church. Christian education programs that emphasize the importance of the family in spiritual formation and faith development are more likely to be created. The growing moral capacities and responsibilities of children will be more readily cultivated in many other ways, such as by: introducing them to good examples, mentors, and stories of service and compassion; including children in service projects and teaching them financial responsibility; and helping them discern their vocations and explore how they can best use their gifts and talents to contribute to the common good. Finally, if one truly believes, as Jesus did, that children can teach adults and be moral witnesses, models of faith, and sources of revelation, then one will listen more attentively to children and learn from them; structure worship services and religious education programs in ways that honor their questions and insights; and recognize the importance of children in the faith journey and spiritual maturation of parents and other adults.

In these and many other ways, we would also strengthen specific child, youth, and family ministries.  Congregations could help support parents by providing them with tools and ideas for helping to nurture the spiritual lives of children not only at church but also at home.

The six ways of speaking about children could help the church advance its child advocacy efforts nationally and internationally. If children are viewed as having been made in the image of God, as fully human, and as orphans, neighbors, and strangers in need of compassion and justice, then we will treat all children, regardless of age, race, class, nationality, or gender, with more dignity and respect.  We will attend to the needs of poor children in our own communities and around the world, and speak out more forcefully about the needs of children.  Church leaders will also no longer tolerate the abuse or harsh treatment of children, and they will warn against equating “discipline” with physical punishment. Furthermore, churches will support local, federal, and international legislation that addresses the basic needs of all children and families, such proper nutrition, health care, and strong educational programs.  Church leaders will also become more engaged in public discussions and debates about child well-being, and they will speak out in favor implementing important and shared international goals outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

For all of these reasons and more, the six ways of speaking about children could help churches support more fully faith-based organizations that work with children at risk.

The six ways of speaking about children could also strengthen theological education at seminaries and colleges around the world so that they include attention to children.  There are many ways this could happen.  For example, given these biblical perspectives, seminaries at the very least should ensure that all students know that children (not just adults) are fully human, full members of the body of Christ, and gifts to the whole Church.  This simple recognition would do much to enliven and renew theological education.  Furthermore, seminaries should also require and strengthen courses directly addressing children, such as courses on religious education, child and family ministries, child advocacy, and faith-based organizations that serve children in need.  Finally, if church leaders took these six biblical perspectives seriously, then they would deepen theological and ethical reflection to include attention to both theologies of childhood and child theologies. This distinction is just emerging among some Christian theologians and practitioners, many of them here at this conference.  “Theologies of childhood,” on the one hand, primarily provide sophisticated understandings of children and childhood and our obligations to children themselves. On the other hand, “child theologies” reexamine not only conceptions of children and obligations to them but also rethink fundamental doctrines and practices of the Church as a whole, using the “lens” of the child. Drawing on analogies to feminist, black, and liberation theologies, child theologies have as their task not only to strengthen the commitment to and understanding of a group that has often been voiceless, marginalized, or oppressed--children--but also to reinterpret Christian theology and practice as a whole.[xiv]  

Both theologies of childhood and child theologies can help Christian theologians in a number of ways.  They both help Christians understand not only the needs and vulnerabilities of children but also their gifts and strengths.  Furthermore, they help the church express more clearly the roles of parents, the church, and the state in protecting and serving children. Strengthening both theologies of childhood and child theologies also helps theologians contribute to interdisciplinary discussions and Childhood Studies programs in Academia and participate more fully in policy-making debates and decisions about child well-being both nationally and internationally

There are many other implications of complex and biblically-informed theological understandings of children.  Just these few examples show us that by appropriating a view of children that incorporates these six central perspectives on children found in the Bible and Christian thought, we can all take up more whole heartedly and responsibly the Christian call to love and care for all children in our diverse settings, whether in the areas of spiritual formation, religious education, children’s ministries, child protection and advocacy, faith-based organizations that work with children at risk, or theological education.

CONCLUSION:  WORKING TOGETHER AS MEMBERS OF THE BODY OF CHRIST

It is moving and inspiring to note, in conclusion, that all movements, educational institutions, and organization represented here at this consultation honor and respect children. Together our work reflects attention to the six primary biblical perspectives in the Bible regarding children. Together we are able to attend to the complex needs and gifts of children; to work on many levels, locally and globally; and to share our work in many forms and types of discourse. We can certainly honor and respect one another’s efforts and gifts, and we can learn from one another here at this consultation, for although we work in various settings and contexts, we are all working together as members of the Body of Christ.

It is my hope that by appropriating a view of children that incorporates these six central perspectives on children found in the Bible, we can all take up more wholeheartedly and responsibly the Christian call to love and care for all children in our various countries and contexts.

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[i] For an overview of developments in these areas, see Marcia J. Bunge, “The Child, Religion, and the Academy:  Developing Robust Theological and Religious Understandings of Childhood,” in the Journal of Religion 86.4 (October 2006):549-579.

[ii] For example, the Search Institute has opened a “Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence” and recently published two books on child spirituality: one focusing on social scientific research and the other on religious perspectives primarily within Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. See E.C. Roehlkepartain, P.E. King, L. M. Wagener, and P. L. Benson, eds., The Handbook of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence  (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006); and K.-M. Yust, A. N. Johnson, S.E. Sasso, E.C. Roehlkepartain, eds., Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006).  For more information on the project and the Search Institute, see Search-Institute.org.

[iii] In 2002 the Program Committee of the AAR approved a new program unit, the “Childhood Studies and Religion Consultation,” which is now providing a forum for a more focused and sustained interdisciplinary and interreligious dialogue about children and religion. A program unit on “Children in the Biblical World” was also established at the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) in 2008. For information on both the “Childhood Studies and Religion Consultation” and “Children in the Biblical World Section,” see the Web sites of the AAR (aarweb.org) and SBL(sbl-site.org).

[iv] For these and other statistics on child wellbeing, see, for example, the State of America’s Children published annually by the Children’s Defense Fund (www.childrensdefense.org); and the State of the World’s Children published annually by UNICEF (www.unicef.org).

[v] These six central themes built on previously published work in Bunge, “The Child, Religion, and the Academy: Developing Robust Theological and Religious Understandings of Children and Childhood,” 549-578.

[vi] The ideas of J. A. Comenius (1592-1670 C.E.) are influential far beyond the Church, and he is often called the “father of modern education.”  His popular book, The School of Infancy (1633), points out the complex sensibilities and development of infants and young children and the need to nurture them at a very young age.

[vii] Marcia J. Bunge, “Education and the Child in Eighteenth-Century German Pietism:  Perspectives from the Work of A. H. Francke,” in The Child in Christian Thought, ed. Marcia Bunge (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2001), 247-278.

[viii] See, for example, John Chrysostom, On Marriage and Family Life, trans. Catherine P. Roth and David Anderson (New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1986).

[ix] Vigen Guroian, “The Ecclesial Family: John Chrysostom on Parenthood and Children,” in The Child in Christian Thought, pp. 64, 73.

[x] Johannes Amos Comenius, The School of Infancy, ed. and intro. Ernest M. Eller (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1956).

[xi] Cyprian, Letter 64.3; in Letters, trans. by Sister Rose Bernard Donna (Washington, D.C:  Catholic University of America Press, 1964), pp. 217-218.  Although Cyprian is making strong claims for the spiritual and divine equality of children, he does not draw implications for their social equality.

[xii] See Rahner’s “Gedanken zu einer theologie der Kindheit,” in Schriften zur Theologie, 8 (Einsiedeln:  Benziger Verlag, 1966), pp. 313-29; trans. by David Bourke as “Ideas for a Theology of Childhood,” in Theological Investigations, 8 (London:  Darton, Longman & Todd, 1971), pp. 33-50. For an excellent discussion of Rahner’s views on children and childhood see Mary Ann Hinsdale, “‘Infinite Openness to the Infinite’:  Karl Rahner’s Contribution to Modern Catholic Thought on the Child,” in The Child in Christian Thought, pp. 406-445. 

[xiii] For an excellent discussion of Schleiermacher, see Dawn DeVries, “’Be Converted and Become as Little Children’:  Friedrich Schleiermacher on the Religious Significance of Childhood,” in The Child in Christian Thought, 300-328; and Dawn DeVries, “Toward a Theology of Childhood,” 165-166.

[xiv] The term, “Child Theology,” has been coined by Keith J. White, Haddon Willmer, and John Collier, leaders of the Child Theology Movement (see Part III for more information).