Children and Childhood in American Religions

Abstract

Teachers of pastoral care in a seminary setting face a host of challenges. Two pressing challenges lie at the intersection of religion and childhood. First, teaching pastoral care assumes developmental, historical, and religious understandings of all ages and stages of life. Yet courses often focus on adults, excluding children and youth as persons who need, give, and receive care. Senior pastoral theologians have contributed to the scholarship of childhood and religion in the last two decades. Still, teaching and research are under-resourced when it comes to subject matter touched by the intersection of children and religion. This book provides a partial bridge to help close the gaps in and between pastoral theology and childhood studies.