Recent Additions to the
Children's Spirituality Database:
More Research-Based Books
In addition the the books
listed on the first
page of this database, Jennifer Orona at Fuller
Theological Seminary has contributed a number of annotations of other
research-related books, that are listed here. Jennifer serves as the Children at Risk
Program Coordinator at Fuller Theological Seminary, and has worked with children
in various countries, including
Mexico,
Guatemala,
Costa Rica, and the
Philippines. Her passion is to help children
by providing accessible and practical training materials to caregivers around
the world, and is currently co-editing a book called Understanding God's
Heart for Children, to be released in the summer of 2007. It is with great pleasure that we offer her
additions to the database. Thank you, Jennifer, for your hard work. You may
contact her with suggestions for books that can be added at: jennifervh@cp.fuller.edu
.
Additional Books on Children's Religion and Spirituality Research
[courtesy of Jennifer Orona]
Barna,
George. (2003). Transforming Children
into Spiritual Champions: Why Children Should Be Your Church’s #1 Priority
(Gospel
Light).
Written by renowned Christian researcher George Barna, this book presents a well-researched and well-documented case through statistics, facts, and logical conclusions. It moves from details about the current intellectual, physical, economic, emotional, and spiritual realities that North American children face, then to the importance and necessity of ministry to children. Barna rounds out his case with a call to action on the part of families, pastors, and churches.
CHAPTERS
1. The State of
2. The Spiritual
Health of Our Children
3. Why Kids Matter
4. What Kids Need
5. Taking on
Appropriate Responsibility
6. How Churches
Help to Raise Spiritual Champions
7. Better
Performance through Evaluation
8. It’s Time to Produce Some Spiritual Champions
Balswick,
Jack O., King, Pamela E., & Reimer, Kevin S. (2005).
The Reciprocating Self: A Theological Perspective of Development (InterVarsity
Press). (InterVarsity
Press).
A ground-breaking work on human development from a Christian perspective, this book claims “that human beings are created to live in reciprocating relationships with God and others” (:3) and encourages a positive focus on development by providing a teleological perspective of development in community. The authors understand that relationships in community are central to healthy development, and that true development requires giving back to the community. Based on a Trinitarian framework of relationship, this insightful work integrates theological and psychological perspectives, examining the Triune nature of God and applying biblical principles to human development throughout the lifespan.
CHAPTERS
Part
One: Toward an Integrated Model of Human Development
1.
The Developmental Dilemma
2.
The Reciprocating Self: A
Trinitarian Analogy of Being and Becoming
3.
Reciprocating Relationships
4.
The Reciprocating Self and Developmental Theory
5.
The Reciprocating Self in Social Context
Part
Two: Life-Span Stages
6.
Infancy: The Emergence of
the Reciprocating Self
7.
Childhood: The
Reciprocating Self Goes to School
8.
Adolescence: More
Reciprocity Than You Think
9.
Emerging Adulthood and Young Adulthood: The
Solidifying of the Reciprocating Self
10.
Middle Adulthood: The Generativity
of the Reciprocating Self
11.
Late Adulthood: The
Senescing of the Reciprocating Self
Part
Three: Building the Scaffold: Applications
for Ministry
12.
Special Issues in Human Development: Morality
13.
Differentiated Faith: Spiritual
and Religious Development
14.
Turning Steeples into Scaffolds: The
Reciprocating Religious Community
Brewster, Dan. (2005). Child,
Church and
An excellent work
by a respected practitioner, trainer, and theorist in holistic child
development, Child, Church and
CHAPTERS
Section One: Development in Biblical
Perspectives
1)
Lesson One: Why Children?
2)
Lesson Two: What the Bible Says About Children
3)
Lesson Three: The Ministry of Child Development
4)
Lesson Four: A Spiritual Understanding of Poverty
Section Two: The Child and the Church
5)
Lesson Five: The Role of the Church
6)
Lesson Six: Why Caring for Children Is the Particular
Responsibility of the Church
Section Three: The Child In
the Church
7)
Lesson Seven: Faith Development in Children
8)
Lesson Eight: Characteristics of Child-Friendly Churches
9)
Lesson Nine: Child Protection in Church Environments
Section Four: The Child and
10)
Lesson Ten:
11)
Lesson Eleven: Practical Issues in
Section Five: Avenues for Advocacy
12)
Lesson Twelve: Non-Confrontational Advocacy
13)
Lesson Thirteen: The United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child
14)
Lesson Fourteen: Networking on Behalf of Children
The Consultative Group on Ministry
among Children. (1991). Unfinished
Business: Children and the Churches (CCBI Publications). (CCBI Publications).
This concise and
insightful little book follows up the Consultative Group on Ministry among
Children’s 1976 report, The Child in the
Church. Unfinished Business presents the Church of England’s perspectives
on the socialization, education, spiritual development, and participation of
children in relation to their parents, communities, and local churches. It
describes the biblical metaphors through which we can view children and
churches, and then concludes with a helpful list of good practices,
recommendations, and books for further study.
CHAPTERS
1)
Influences on Children Today
2)
Challenges to the Church
3)
Children, Education and Schools
4)
The Child and the Community of Faith
5)
Ways of Looking at the Church
6)
Good Practice
Couture, Pamela D. (2000). Seeing
Children, Seeing God: A Practical Theology of Children and Poverty (Abingdon
Press). (Abingdon
Press).
A thoughtful and
well-written study, this book examines the biblical foundations of pastoral
theology with regard to children at risk. It traces the theme of orphans and
vulnerable children throughout the Old and New Testaments, discusses the role of
mercy in Christian spiritual life, and applies these concepts to contemporary
circumstances. Couture strongly emphasizes the view that mercy is a means to
grace, a practical outworking of faith, and a requirement for Christ-like
living.
CHAPTERS
1)
A Map of Children’s Poverties
2)
Finding God, Finding Godchildren: Caring and the Means of Grace
3)
Mercy, Piety, and Care in the Christian Bible
4)
A Practical Theology of Children and Poverty
Fowler, James W. (1981). Stages
of Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning
(Harper & Row).
(Harper & Row).
This book arises
from the comprehensive and scientific study of the lifelong development and
stages of faith by James Fowler and his colleagues. It incorporates the theories
of Erikson, Piaget, and Kohlberg for psychosocial, cognitive, and moral
development from infancy through adulthood. Informative and thought-provoking,
this book shows faith development as an upward-traveling spiral of one pre-stage
and six stages with transitions between each of the stages. Although he focuses
mostly on Judeo-Christian values and Western perspectives, Fowler does
acknowledge his bias and seek to adjust his theories to make them more
universally applicable. This work provides the foundation for much later work on
children’s spirituality.
CHAPTERS
Part I: Human Faith
1)
Human Faith
2)
Faith, Religion and Belief
3)
Faith and Relationship
4)
Faith as Imagination
5)
On Seeing Faith Whole
Part II: Windows on Human Development: A
Fictional Conversation
6)
The Fictional Conversation
7)
Infancy
8)
Early Childhood
9)
Childhood
10)
Adolescence
11)
Adulthood
Part III: Dynamics of Faith and Human
Development
12)
The Dynamic Triad of Faith
13)
Structural-Developmental Theories and Faith
14)
Psychosocial Development and Faith
Part IV: Stages of Faith
15)
Infancy and Undifferentiated Faith
16)
Stage 1. Intuitive-Projective Faith
17)
Stage 2. Mythic-Literal Faith
18)
Stage 3. Synthetic-Conventional Faith
19)
Stage 4. Individuative-Reflective Faith
20)
Stage 5. Conjunctive Faith
21)
Stage 6. Universalizing Faith
Part V: Formation and Transformation in
Faith
22)
Mary’s Pilgrimage: The Theory at Work
23)
Form and Content: Stages of Faith and Conversion
24)
Faith on Earth
Miles, Glenn, and Josephine-Joy
Wright. (2003). Celebrating Children! (Paternoster Press). (Paternoster Press).
This invaluable
resource provides timely and accurate facts and reports on a large number of the
issues facing children at risk and their caregivers. Issues discussed include
contextualization, child development, Biblical perspectives about children,
policy development, advocacy, current beliefs and trends in the field, holism,
self-care for caregivers, networking, and many others. It also provides helpful
diagrams, examples, and case studies from a variety of different countries.
CHAPTERS
Part One: Understanding the Child in
Context
1)
What Is a Child?—Kathryn Copsey
2)
How Do Children Describe Themselves?—Glenn Miles
3)
What the Bible Says about Children—Josephine Joy-Wright, Tri
Budiardjo, and Andreas A. Yewangoe and friends
4)
The Development of Children in Their Families and
Communities—Glenn Miles
5)
Factors That Optimize Development—Susan Greener
6)
Key Theoretical Frameworks and Their Application—Keith White
7)
The ‘Rights’ of the Child and the Christian Response—Paul
Stephenson
Part Two: Key Issues in Listening to
Children
8)
Listening to Children and Enabling Their Involvement—Josephine
Joy-Wright
9)
Involving Children in the Process of Assessment and Therapy—Gundelina
Velazco
10)
The ‘Right’ of the Child to Speak and Be Heard—Laurence Gray
11)
Involving Children in Programme and Policy Planning—Steve
Gourley
12)
The Purpose of Advocacy for and with Children—Glenn Miles
13)
The Ethical Issues of Listening to Children—Glenn Miles
Part Three: Risk and Resilience
14)
Strategic Trends Affecting Children—Bryant L. Myers
15)
A Tool for Analysing Why Children Are ‘At Risk’—Glenn Miles
16)
Theoretical Frameworks Defining Risk and Resilience—Keith White
and Josephine-Joy Wright
17)
An Integrated Biblical and Theoretical Typology of Children’s
Needs
18)
The Effects of Failure to Meet Children’s Needs—Susan Greener
19)
Exploring and Releasing Children’s Strengths, Gifts and
Potential—Josephine-Joy Wright
Part Four: Holistic
20)
The Churches’ Ministry to Children and Their Families—Ros
Besford and Paul Stephenson
21)
Practical and Spiritual Lessons for the Church—Patrick McDonald
22)
The Basis for the Design of Child Development Programmes—Andrew
Tomkins
23)
Children ‘at Risk’ Because They Have Not Heard the Good News:
The 4/14 Window—Dan Brewster
24)
Discipleship: Helping Children to Find Their Place in the
Church—Wanda Parker
25)
Rediscovering Children at the Heart of
26)
What the Bible Says about Why Children Suffer—Glenn Miles with
Coleen Houlihan
Part Five: Working with Children:
Practical Issues
27)
Identifying and Assessing the Skills and Qualities of Those Who
Work with Children—Tom Riley and Josephine-Joy Wright and the experience of
Novi Most International
28)
Caring for the Medical Needs of ‘Children at Risk’—Andrew
Tomkins
29)
Key Practical Skills: Discipline, Supporting Parents and Sharing
Your Faith—Steve Bartel, Josephine-Joy Wright and Cheryl Barnes
30)
Child Protection—Heather MacLeod
31)
Selection Criteria, Monitoring and Training of Staff—Rushika
Amarasekera
32)
Information Systems: Data Collection, Protection, Storage and
Usage—Emily McDonald and Sally Clarke
Part Six: Development, Evaluation and
Monitoring of Programmes
33)
Research Methods—Alastair Ager and Josephine-Joy Wright
34)
The Principles of Evaluative Practice—Sue Birchmore
35)
The Principles of Good Practice in Programmes Working with
Children—Glenn Miles and Paul Stephenson
36)
Organizational Assessment and Evaluation of Strengths and
Weaknesses—Gustavo Crocker
37)
Prevention and Rehabilitation Working Together—Andrew Tomkins
Part Seven: Development of Self and Staff
38)
Staff Strengths, Vulnerabilities and Needs—Kelly O’Donnell
39)
Practical Guidelines for Christians Working with
Children—Josephine-Joy Wright and Eileen Taylor
40)
Motivation, Spiritual Refreshment, Encouragement and Rest—Steve
Bartel
41)
Emotional Awareness and Meeting Our Own Needs—Josephine-Joy
Wright
42)
Conflict Resolution with Colleagues and Children—Sharon Prior
and Colin Bennett with Steve Bartel
43)
Group Processes, Socio-Cultural Variables and Team
Dynamics—Cressida Pryor
Part Eight: Case Studies from around the
World: Children and Projects
44)
Children at Risk of Not Receiving the Basic Needs of Food, Health,
Education and Shelter—Andrew Tomkins, Peter Sidebotham, Pamela MacKenzie, and
Don Strongman
45)
Children at Risk Because of Prejudice and Inequity—Raymond
Samuel, Alastair Ager, Wasan and Chariya Saenwian, and Ojoma Edeh
46)
Children at Risk Because of Abuse and Exploitation—Carmen Rivera
and Paul Stephenson, Subhadra Tidball, Patricia Green, Valeria Peres, Belinda
Johnson, and George Hosking
47)
Children at Risk Because of Their Unsafe Environment—Ela Balog,
Steve Bartel, Josephine-Joy Wright, Gill Grant and Heather Mkandawire, Keith
White, Amanda Jones and Trudie Rossouw, David and Pauline Pearson, and Nigel
Williams
Also see David Sim's massive bibliography on the child in American Evangelicalism
If you know of other books that summarize or report research related to children's faith, religion, and spirituality, we would appreciate suggestions for additions to the database. You may contact us at jennifervh@cp.fuller.edu . Thank you.
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