This book is a collection of essays that contributes to theology that takes seriously the welfare of children: how they grow, mature, and articulate their needs and understanding of religiosity and faith. The volume is both an international and ecumenical endeavor, with the authors coming from various continents and countries and Christian denominations. This volume is a welcome contribution toward theology’s commitment to children and was also made in consultation with a lawyer from Ethiopia, who is also a child advocate.
The readings themselves are helpful for those in graduate studies and would be especially helpful resources for those engaged in any work with children, such as those in education, psychology, theology, and religious studies and education. Although more voices could have been included and heard from Asia and South America, the diversity of voices, concerns, and thoughts do offer fruitful points of discussion, as well as ethical implications and applications.
There are three important contributions that this book makes. First, the essays offer new ways of thinking about theological concepts and narratives, such as creation, redemption, soteriology, virtues, theological anthropology, and ecclesiology, in light of the concerns about children. Understanding theological sources and concepts with an eye toward ensuring care is given to children helps enrich the understanding of these concepts, while also being more liberative for children whose experience of life is filled with neglect, abuse, and trauma.
Second, the collection of essays talks about children and offers many reflections on helping give voice to a very vulnerable population who are still learning to articulate for themselves their own desires, concerns, and ideas, given the experience of positive and negative situations that affect children. I especially want to highlight that the collection is not just focused on being a voice for the children, but also offering ideas and thoughts on how to help children articulate things for themselves. Rather than just speaking for and over vulnerable populations, the contributions also reflect a way of helping children as a vulnerable population find their own voice in articulating their experiences of life. Thus, they also challenges the adults in the room to help process these experiences and understanding of religion and spirituality rather than just talking down to or indoctrinating children. This is a crucial and important contribution toward decolonizing theology because it takes more seriously children’s agency and experiences in helping them understand themselves, including understanding their life, faith, and theology.
Lastly, the volume offers concrete and practical considerations that can and need to be done for children’s flourishing, both at the individual level and structural level. The essays that included some concrete recommendations do offer another point of discussion in helping people and institutions imagine how these new ideas would look like in practice. This is also an important contribution because imagining alternative ways of doing theology can be difficult given how difficult it can be to think that another world is possible and to move away from the status quo and work toward different ways of being that would move society toward flourishing and the common good.
