The Study of Children in Religions

The Study of Children in Religions
Author: Susan B. Ridgely
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2011-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0814777465

Research in religious studies has traditionally focused on adult subjects since working with children presents significantly more challenges to the researcher, such as getting the research protocol passed by the Internal Review Board, obtaining permission from parents and schools, and figuring out how to make sense of young worldviews. The Study of Children in Religions provides scholars with a comprehensive source to assist them in addressing many of the issues that often stop researchers from pursuing projects involving children. This handbook offers a broad range of methodological and conceptual models for scholars interested in conducting work with children. It not only illuminates some of the legal and ethical issues involved in working with youth and provides guidance in getting IRB approval, but also presents specific case studies from scholars who have engaged in child-centred research and here offer the fruits of their experience.Cases include those that use interviews and drawings to work with children in contemporary settings, as well as more historically focused endeavours to use material cultureosuch as Sunday school projects or religious board gamesoto study children's religious lives in past eras. The Study of Children in Religions offers concrete help to those who wish to conduct research on children and religion but are unsure of how to get started or how to frame their research. Contributors: Priscilla Alderson, Sally Anderson, Jennifer Beste, Chris Boyatzis, Ann Braude, Pia Christensen, Cindy Dell Clark, Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, Moira Hinderer, Zohreh Kermani, Ruqayya Khan, Phillipa Koch, Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Rebecca Sachs Norris, Sarah Pike, Susan B. Ridgely, E. Burke Rochford, Jr., and Diane Wolf Susan B. Ridgely is Assistant Professor at University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and the author of When I Was a Child: Children's Interpretations of First Communion.

The Study of Children in Religions

The Study of Children in Religions
Author: Susan B. Ridgely
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 326
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0814777473

Research in religious studies has traditionally focused on adult subjects since working with children presents significantly more challenges to the researcher, such as getting the research protocol passed by the Internal Review Board, obtaining permission from parents and schools, and figuring out how to make sense of young worldviews. The Study of Children in Religions provides scholars with a comprehensive source to assist them in addressing many of the issues that often stop researchers from pursuing projects involving children. This handbook offers a broad range of methodological and conceptual models for scholars interested in conducting work with children. It not only illuminates some of the legal and ethical issues involved in working with youth and provides guidance in getting IRB approval, but also presents specific case studies from scholars who have engaged in child-centered research and here offer the fruits of their experience. Cases include those that use interviews and drawings to work with children in contemporary settings, as well as more historically focused endeavors to use material culture—such as Sunday school projects or religious board games—to study children’s religious lives in past eras. The Study of Children in Religions offers concrete help to those who wish to conduct research on children and religion but are unsure of how to get started or how to frame their research.

Born Believers

Born Believers
Author: Justin L. Barrett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2012-03-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1439196575

Infants have a lot to make sense of in the world: Why does the sun shine and night fall; why do some objects move in response to words, while others won’t budge; who is it that looks over them and cares for them? How the developing brain grapples with these and other questions leads children, across cultures, to naturally develop a belief in a divine power of remarkably consistent traits––a god that is a powerful creator, knowing, immortal, and good—explains noted developmental psychologist and anthropologist Justin L. Barrett in this enlightening and provocative book. In short, we are all born believers. Belief begins in the brain. Under the sway of powerful internal and external influences, children understand their environments by imagining at least one creative and intelligent agent, a grand creator and controller that brings order and purpose to the world. Further, these beliefs in unseen super beings help organize children’s intuitions about morality and surprising life events, making life meaningful. Summarizing scientific experiments conducted with children across the globe, Professor Barrett illustrates the ways human beings have come to develop complex belief systems about God’s omniscience, the afterlife, and the immortality of deities. He shows how the science of childhood religiosity reveals, across humanity, a “natural religion,” the organization of those beliefs that humans gravitate to organically, and how it underlies all of the world’s major religions, uniting them under one common source. For believers and nonbelievers alike, Barrett offers a compelling argument for the human instinct for religion, as he guides all parents in how to effectively encourage children in developing a healthy constellation of beliefs about the world around them.

The Science of Children's Religious and Spiritual Development

The Science of Children's Religious and Spiritual Development
Author: Annette Mahoney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2021-08-26
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1108858023

This Element provides a comprehensive yet concise account of scientific research on children's religious and spiritual (RS) development. After providing a historical sketch of definitional issues in the science of RS, the first section reviews basic descriptive information on children's RS development as well as wholistic theoretical models and measures of children's RS development. The second section covers evidence about links of child and parental RS to children's psychosocial adjustment, and highlights the need for more research that discriminates specific positive and negative manifestations of RS for children's development. The third section summarizes evidence about the robust influence of parents on their children's RS development and parents' perceptions of their role in this process. The fourth section focuses on cognitive-developmental research on children's cognitions about God/deities and prayer. The Element concludes with a synopsis of key themes and challenges that researchers face to advance the science of children's RS development.

Children and Childhood in World Religions

Children and Childhood in World Religions
Author: Don S. Browning
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2009-08-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 081354842X

While children figure prominently in religious traditions, few books have directly explored the complex relationships between children and religion. This is the first book to examine the theme of children in major religions of the world. Each of six chapters, edited by world-class scholars, focuses on one religious tradition and includes an introduction and a selection of primary texts ranging from legal to liturgical and from the ancient to the contemporary. Through both the scholarly introductions and the primary sources, this comprehensive volume addresses a range of topics, from the sanctity of birth to a child's relationship to evil, showing that issues regarding children are central to understanding world religions and raising significant questions about our own conceptions of children today.

Children in New Religions

Children in New Religions
Author: Susan J. Palmer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 254
Release: 1999
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780813526195

The late 1960s and early 1970s constituted a remarkable period for spiritual experimentation and for the proliferation of new religious groups. Now the children born into these religions have come of age. While their parents made the decision as adults to embrace alternative religious practices, the children have been raised with a very different orientation toward the larger society. While they take their religious communities for granted, many of these children gaze with curiosity at the surrounding secular world which their parents, not they, chose to reject. The contributors to this volume examine children from many different alternative religious movements worldwide, including The Family, Hare Krishna, Wiccans, and Pagans, Messianic Communities, and the Rajneesh (Osho) Movement. The essays explore two general questions: 1) What impact does the presence of children have on a new religion's lifestyle and chance of surviving into the future? 2) Is child abuse more likely to occur in unconventional religions, or are children born into them, the 'new' religions have grown up and have become an important and rapidly changing social force that we cannot reasonably dismiss or wisely ignore

The Children of God

The Children of God
Author: J. Gordon Melton
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2004
Genre: Children of God (Movement)
ISBN: 9781560851806

The Children of God emerged out of the hippie movement of the 1960s, and through the 1980s they came to blend Christianity with sexual freedom, communal living, and a rejection of materialism and "the system." The Children, or "the Family" as they are now called, modified their behavior in the 1990s in the wake of several child sexual abuse charges (all dismissed) and the need for direction among the rising generation of Family members. They continue to live communally, proselytize full-time (none hold traditional jobs) and engage in sexual "sharing." As a byproduct of their evangelism, they have produced a number of accomplished musicians. They receive guidance for their daily lives through periodic revelations passed to them by the Family's current leader, Maria (the founder's widow), and her associates. Despite their variance from traditional Christian beliefs and practices, their recent attempts to conform to some degree with cultural norms in whatever country they work has tempered criticism, and they continue as the most successful communal movement of an almost forgotten hippie world.