The systematic study of children and childhood, which actually started during the 19th century in Europe and North America (Kehily 2013:loc.
93–94), has a lineage that includes ‘ground breaking research on or about children by intellectual giants including Sigmund Freud, Maria Montessori, Jean Piaget, and Margaret Mead’ (Bowman 2007:loc. 244–245). A growing body of research and literature from numerous disciplines such as the fine arts, history, education, economics, psychology, medicine, law, anthropology, sociology, social work, philosophy and religion contributed
to the establishment of childhood studies as a recognised academic and research field during the latter part of the 20th century. James and James (2012) phrased it as follows:
The key conceptual and analytical catalyst … which was largely responsible for pulling together and exploiting the synergy between these different disciplinary perspectives initially, came from within sociology and social anthropology.
(loc. 667–668)
Because of the complexity of this field of study (James and James 2012),
[A] comprehensive understanding of childhood cannot be achieved by applying any single epistemological or disciplinary perspective … so the study of childhood must be understood as a multi- and interdisciplinary activity. (loc. 656–658)
This factor led to the growth of many different multi and interdisciplinary research programmes in childhood studies around the world. Because of its interdisciplinary approach, scholars from religious studies and theology were included in some of these projects. It is impossible to discuss every initiative taken in this regard. Therefore, only research undertaken by three institutions is discussed.
The Norwegian centre for child research
The Norwegian Centre for Child Research (NOSEB) was established at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim in 1982. Since then they undertook various research projects, including the following:
• Effects of civil societies’ activities related to early childhood care and development in Ethiopia and Zambia.
• The integration for improved public health.
• Refugee children as receivers of health care.
• The modern child and the flexible labour market: institutionalisation and individualisation of children in light of changes in the welfare state.
• Children as new citizens and ‘the best interest of the child’: a challenge for modern democracies.
• Consuming children: commercialisation and the changing construction of childhood.
• Children, young people and local knowledge in Ethiopia and Zambia.
• Day-care centres in transition: inclusive practices.2
NOSEB, in cooperation with Sage, has been publishing the quarterly interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed academic journal Childhood: A journal of global child research3 since 1993. Articles from different geographical regions, disciplines and social and cultural contexts related to children’s social relations and culture, with an emphasis on their rights and generational position in society, are published in this journal.
The also formed the Nordic Network of African Childhood and Youth Research (NoNACYR) which
[A]ims to enhance collaboration among scholars in Nordic countries who carry out research and teaching in childhood and youth studies focusing on the African continent. The Network comprises key research groups and PhD students from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Its task includes promoting interdisciplinary dialogue on empirical research findings, collaborative research and publication, and academic and policy debates on research on, about, and/or with children and young people in Africa.4 (n.p.)
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo presented a conference on childhood in 2005. In one of the sessions, the focus was on ‘spirituality and religions in the
2. https://www.ntnu.edu/noseb/research/projects 3. http://intl-chd.sagepub.com
4. https://www.ntnu.edu/noseb/research/projects
context of children’s rights’ (Wyller & Nayar 2007:13). In this session, the central question was: ‘How to develop a religious language where the otherness of the child is respected and given dignity?’ (Wyller & Nayar 2007:13). This discussion led to the publication in 2007 of the book The given child: The religions’ contribution to children’s citizenship in which contributions from four continents were included. One of the sections is titled ‘Reports from the world religions’, and it consists of the following reports (Wyller & Nayar 2007):
• Beyond children as agents or victims: re-examining children’s paradoxical strengths and vulnerabilities with resources from Christian theologies of childhood and child theologies.
• Submission and dissent: some observations of children’s rights within the Islamic edifice.
• Construction of childhood, interactions and inclusions: growing up in a family with Hindu-values orientation. (p. 5)
On the question ‘Can religions contribute to an improvement of children’s rights and citizenship worldwide?’, the answer of all the authors is ‘yes’
(Wyller & Nayar 2007:8). However, they also add a parallel answer:
Religions can contribute only if they focus on situated, social practice and take special notice of the intersubjective relations in their own practice. Religions do not contribute positively to children’s rights if they continue to claim abstract principles regarding children. (p. 8)
Another project by the University of Oslo called ‘Tiny voices project: New perspectives on childhood in early Europe’ is currently underway (2013–
2016). The focus of this research is on the lives of children and the attitudes towards childhood during antiquity and the early/high Middle Ages with an emphasis on the period from the 1st to the 8th centuries.5 According to Aasgaard (2012), the aims of this research are as follows:
5. http://www.hf.uio.no/ifikk/english/research/projects/childhood/
(1) to retrieve central aspects of childhood and children’s life in the interface between the Greco-Roman heritage and nascent Christianity, and, later, Islam; (2) to study the ways in which notions of childhood were utilised for other aims, for example, as a reservoir for metaphor, but still convey important insights into children’s live (3) to reflect on modern perceptions of children and childhood, using the ancient material to throw contemporary ideas of humanity and human values into relief. (p. 2)
Aasgaard (2012) states that the project concentrates especially on three types of sources:
Stories about the childhood of Jesus and his mother Mary from late antiquity and the early medieval period, focussing on the apocryphal infancy gospels of Thomas and James.
Literary sources which originated amongst the cultural and religious elites, for example, philosophers, theologians and politicians, and which played a major role in the development of European culture.
Varied material that give insight into real children’s lives and experiences, for example school exercises, papyri letters from children to parents, graffiti, drawings, toys, clothes, children’s graves, sculpture and paintings. (p. 5–7)
Both the initiatives to enhance childhood studies as academic discipline described above originated in Europe. However, there was also an initiative, originating at Rutgers University in North America, to take cognisance of.
Rutgers University Camden
In 2007, a Department of Childhood Studies was founded at Rutgers University, Camden, USA. The webpage of the department states:
Through a multidisciplinary approach, the Department of Childhood Studies aims both to theorize and historicize the figure of the Child and to situate the study of children and childhoods within contemporary cultural and global contexts.6 (n.p.)
6. http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/
Since the inception of the department, various conferences were organised, for example on ‘Children and war’ (2009), ‘Multiple childhoods/multidisciplinary perspectives: Interrogating normativity in childhood studies’ (2011) and ‘Visions and voices of childhood’ (2012).7 The department also started The Rutgers University Press Book Series, which is the first multidisciplinary book series in childhood studies.8 The series reflect on our past and present understanding of children and childhoods globally. At least two important books for theology and religious studies were published in this series, and they can be seen as companion volumes.
The first one, Children and childhood in world religions: Primary sources and texts under the editorship of Don Browning and Marcia Bunge, was published in 2009. For the first time in history, the theme of children in major religions of the world was explored in a scholarly way. The book contains six chapters, each one focussing on one religious tradition:
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism (eds.
Browning & Bunge 2009:v). Each of these chapters begins with an introduction on the relationship between children and the specific religion.
It is followed by selected primary texts in this religion, ranging from the ancient to the contemporary. Different genres are included: ‘legal, theological, poetic and liturgical’ (eds. Browning & Bunge 2009:6). A range of topics are addressed, guided by the following six themes (eds. Browning
& Bunge 2009):
1. The nature and status of children. … 2. The gender and sexuality of children. …
3. The role of children in central religious practices. …
7. Cf. http://childhood.camden.rutgers.edu/conferences/
8. http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/Catalog/ProductSearch.aspx?ExtendedSearch=false&SearchOn Load=true&rhl=Rutgers%20Series%20in%20Childhood%20Studies&sf=ss=Rutgers%20Series%20 in%20Childhood%20Studies
4. Obligations of parents and children. … 5. Communal obligations to children. …
6. Moral and spiritual formation of children. … (pp. 5–6)
This book is a significant contribution to the understanding of the different religions’ constructions of childhood and the role that the primary sources and texts played in the formation of these constructs. Because of the huge role that religion plays in the formation of culture and society, this work helps to create a better understanding of the position of children in different religious contexts. It also indicates how child-focussed advocacy and programmes can address more effectively the various challenges of the risk factors for children in each religious context.
The second important book in this series, also published in 2009, is Children and childhood in American religions, edited by Don Browning and Bonnie Miller-McLemore. The book contains a collection of ground-breaking essays by leading scholars, investigating 10 different religious traditions in the United States’ understanding of childhood and the ways in which they use their different traditions to guide children amidst the challenges of the American culture (Browning &
Miller-McLemore 2009:1). Amongst other topics, the book devotes a chapter each to both the mainline and conservative Protestants, the Roman Catholic Church, Judaism, the Black church, the Latter-day Saints, Native American religion, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism (eds. Browning & Miller-McLemore 2009:v–vi). In these chapters, questions are addressed around four main themes: ‘formal doctrinal and institutional beliefs and practices, relationship between parents and children, formational and developmental growth, and relationship between religions and the wider culture’ (eds. Browning &
Miller-McLemore 2009:4).
This collection enriches the scholarly discourse on children and childhood, in America and wider, by including the field of religion as a
partner in this conversation (eds. Browning & Miller-McLemore 2009:20). It also ‘provides a partial bridge to help close the gaps in and between pastoral theology and childhood studies’ (Campbell-Reed 2011:10–11). Central themes in this book are parenting and religious education.
A staff member of the Childhood Studies Department at Rutgers University, John Wall (2010a), published a book with the title Ethics in light of childhood. In this book, Wall rethinks ethics in the light of the experiences of children. The book is divided into three parts. In part one, Wall examines the history of Western thought about children that still influences ethical thinking today. In part two, he constructs a new childism moral theory, and in part three, he further explores this moral theory in relationship to three specific areas of life: human rights, family life and ethical thinking. Wall’s contribution with this publication is that he not only applies ethics to childhood in a new way but that he even goes beyond that. In a very convincing way, he also applies childhood to ethics. In the process, he develops a new way of ethical thinking.
He argues that a new form of childism is needed to transform not only our moral thinking and practices but also our societies. He is of the opinion that, if we do not take up this challenge of rethinking ethics in the light of childhood, ‘children themselves will be increasingly marginalized and societies increasingly dehumanized’ (Wall 2010a:loc. 48–49). He, therefore, makes the following plea (Wall 2010a):
[That t]he experiences of children need to become new lenses for interpreting what it means to exist, to live good lives, and to form just communities – for the sake of children and adults both. (pp. 26–27)
According to Wall (2010a:loc. 42–43), such process will create a child-inclusive society in which children and adults are not only equals but in
which the foundations of society are transformed in accordance ‘to what makes children distinct’.
The developments discussed above show that, in different ways,