Product Description

Children and childhood are among the most neglected subjects of Christian theology. What does it mean to be a child of God if the examples of childhood in Scripture and the Christian tradition are taken seriously and placed in dialogue with twenty-first century science, sociology and morality? This collection of essays draws together a wealth of different perspectives on a much neglected but vital subject of theology and Christian living. It takes into account the ambiguity of childhood and so begins with expectancy and ends with teleology, intending to cover each major stage of childhood in-between in chronological order. Thus from expectancy we move to birth, from birth to babe in arms, and from thence to that most mysterious stage of being educated and more obviously 'related to'. Delinquency and adolescence are not synonymous although they do share some characteristics, they are therefore dealt with as a twinned pair before we move to consider the effect of all of this on the child in adulthood. The volume thus concludes with an exploration of the interdependence of biological and spiritual childhood and asks whether or not the children of God can ever grow up, and what they would become if they did.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #449855 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 205 pages

About the Author
Editor: Angela Shier-Jones is the author of A Work in Progress: Methodists Doing Theology. She is a Methodist minister in the Bromley Circuit, Methodist Tutor at the South East Institute for Theological Education and Editor of the Epworth Review. Contributors include: Natalie K. Watson, Esther Shreeve, Jeremy Worthen, Anthony G. Reddie, David Deeks, Jocelyn Bryan, Sheryl Anderson, Terry Wright and Angela Shier-Jones.