Topics in Christianity: The Child in Christian Thought
Religion 349-0
Spring, 2005
Fisk 114, T/Th 12:30-1:50 p.m.
Cristina Traina
Crowe Hall 4-155
847-491-2938
c-traina@northwestern.edu
Office hours: Mondays, 3-5 p.m.
and by appointment
This course will explore Christian ideas of childhood in Christian thought. We will discuss the
connections among the theology of childhood, the treatment and social standing of children, and
children’s religious instruction. We’ll investigate the image of childhood as an ideal or antitype
for Christian discipleship. Finally, we will look carefully at ways in which basic Christian
doctrines like the doctrine of original sin cause theological and practical problems for both our
concept of childhood generally and sacramental life in particular. Throughout, we’ll ask about
ways in which theologians’ own experience or non-experience of children affects their views and
what theological and practical difficulties arise when children’s religious subjectivity is ignored
or misrepresented.
Texts:
Bunge, The Child in Christian Thought
St. John Chrysostom, On Marriage and Family Life
Course packet, available from Quartet Copies on Clark Street
Recommended: Bible (Hebrew Bible and New Testament); Stephen Mintz, Huck’s Raft
Assignments:
Participation in discussion:
Journals:
Class presentation:
Final paper (due at noon June 3):
25%
30%
15%
30%
Participation: Consistent attendance and thoughtful, consistent oral contribution to analysis and
questioning of the texts and contexts. With the exception of the first few sessions, class time will
be about evenly divided between lecture and discussion. Please come prepared to discuss the
readings. When the assignment is especially long or difficult, I will alert you to the portion to be
stressed in the next class discussion.
Class presentations: Presentations are designed to expand our understanding of the contexts of
our readings and to give us a better sense of their significance to their original audiences. Each
presentation should last at least 20 minutes and should treat one–or at most two--of the following
topics:

Political, economic, and legal context for childhood in the place and period of the author

Works by the same author (but not read for class or heavily analyzed in Bunge) that shed
light on the readings

Work(s) of a different author of roughly the same period, with focus on ideas of
childhood


Treatment of children in art, especially religious art, in the period
Educational philosophy of the period (e.g. Locke or Rousseau, 20th century educational
psychology, or accounts of popular educational methods)

Christian educational materials for children or for parents from the author’s period
(applies mostly to 19th century and later)
Presentations may make use of Bunge but should draw heavily on other sources (Bunge’s
bibliography and notes are fine places to begin). Presenters should provide a bibliography of
their sources to the class and the professor. They should prepare discussion questions and lead
class discussion for at least 20 minutes.
Journals: For each day's readings (beginning with April 7 and ending with May 26), please
write a brief, reflective response (1 1/2-2 pp., double-spaced, typed or printed with normal font
and margins). Journal entries should not be formal essays; they are opportunities for you to
brainstorm about the topic at hand, ask questions, incorporate your own experience, etc.
Although it is generally best to write the reflections after each reading assignment, you may
combine two or more days' readings in a longer essay if you like.
Journals will be collected at only four times during the quarter (see schedule). They will not be
given formal letter grades, but in order to receive full credit you must give a thoughtful response
to claims and arguments made in the reading assigned.
You are encouraged to write journal reflections on up to two substantial religious books, videos,
or events on children or parenting (please clear these with me first). They may be Christian, or
they may come from another religious tradition, to provide some contrast to Christian sources.
You may use these as substitutes for missed journal entries or as extra credit. Extra-credit
journal entries receive the same credit as regular journal entries: up to 2 (percentage) points.
Final paper: The final paper (10-12 pages) is due June 3. It may take one of two forms:
1)
Historical theology: Deep, textual and contextual investigation of a theological question
about childhood in one thinker, either from the syllabus or not. For example, do Calvin’s
different answers to the questions of infant communion and infant baptism reveal an
inconsistency in his theology of childhood or of sacraments? In what way do they
respond to specific pressures, social and theological, of his time?
2)
Inductive theology: Analysis of a text or problem to reveal its assumptions. For
example, what historical theologies and psychologies of childhood lie behind
contemporary ecclesiastical controversies over communing infants? What theologies and
ideologies of childhood are at work in a contemporary religious education series (or Bible
or movie or flash card set or....) for children, or in a mid-nineteenth century Christian
child-rearing manual?
You must use scholarly reference notes (footnotes, endnotes, or in-text references) and provide a
bibliography of works cited. You must have met with the professor to discuss possible topics by
April 22. More information on the paper will be handed out in class.
Note: Many of you will want to use materials that will require interlibrary loan requests or use of
the rare book room, either here or at a seminary. Make sure to get started early!
Late Policy: Journal extensions must be requested at least a day in advance of the due date; final
paper extensions must be requested by 5 p.m. on May 31. Assignments for which no extensions
have been granted will be penalized one-third of a letter grade for every day they are late,
beginning after class on journal due dates or after noon on the June 3, the final paper due date.
Calendar and readings
Note: items listed in brackets are suggested readings that can be found in Bunge.
Mar. 31
Introduction, Hebrew Bible
April 5
New Testament: [Gundry-Volf] NT passages, Colin Heywood, A History of
Childhood, introduction and chapter 3 (packet)
Mark 8-10, 13
Matthew 1-2, 10-11, 18-19, 21
Luke 1-2, 7, 9, 18
John 1
Ephesians 5-6
Colossians 3
April 7
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430): [Stortz] Confessions, books 1 and 2 (packet)
April 12
St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407): [Guroian] Chrysostom, A Comparison between
a King and a Monk (packet) and homilies 19 and 12 (On Marriage and
Family Life)
April 14
St. Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274): [Traina] readings in packet
April 19
Abandonment and the Cult of the Child Jesus: Boswell and Klapisch-Zuber
(packet)
April 21
Martin Luther (1483-1546): [Strohl] readings in packet
April 7-19 journals due
April 22
April 26
April 28
May 3
May 5
May 10
DEADLINE FOR MEETING WITH PROFESSOR
John Calvin (1509-1564): [Pitkin] readings in packet
Menno Simons (1496-1561): [Graber Miller] readings in packet
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and the colonial east: [Brekus, Atkinson] readings
in packet
Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768-1834): [DeVries] readings in packet
April 21-May 3 journals due
Horace Bushnell (1802-1876) and Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896):
[Bendroth] readings in packet
May 12
Published children’s sermons: 1870s-1930s
May 17
Karl Barth (1886-1968): [Werpehowski] readings in packet
May 19
Black Women’s Club movement and contemporary feminism: Riggs, MillerMcLemore (in Bunge)
May 5-17 journals due
May 24
Contemporary theology of children and parenting: Gudorf and Couture (packet)
May 26
Sofia Cavaletti, and Bibles for children (packet)
May 19-26 journals due
June 3, noon FINAL PAPERS DUE
Other helpful books
Ariès, Philippe. Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life. Translated by Robert
Baldick. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962.
Atkinson, Clarissa. The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Middle Ages. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1991.
Boswell, John. The Kindness of Strangers: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe
from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. New York: Pantheon Books, 1988.
Bunge, Marcia J., ed. The Child in Christian Thought. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
Carr, Anne, and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, ed. Religion, Feminism, and the Family.
Louisville, KY : Westminster John Knox Press, 1996.
deMause, Lloyd, ed. The History of Childhood. New York: The Psychohistory Press, 1974.
Goodich, Michael E. From Birth to Old Age: The Human Life Cycle in Medieval Thought,
1250-1350. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1989.
Hawes, Joseph M., and Hiner, N. Ray, eds. Children in Historical and Comparative
Perspective: An International Handbook and Research Guide. New York: Greenwood Press,
1991.
Heywood, Colin. A History of Childhood: Children and Childhood in the West from Medieval to
Modern Times. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2001.
Osiek, Carolyn, and David L. Balch. Families in the New Testament World: Households and
House Churches. Louisville, Ky. : Westminster John Knox Press, 1997.
Ruether, Rosemary. Christianity and the Making of the Modern Family. Boston: Beacon Press,
2000.
Shahar, Shulamith. Childhood in the Middle Ages. London: Routledge, 1990.
Wood, Diana, ed. The Church and Childhood. Studies in Church History 31. Oxford:
Blackwell, 1994.
Course packet contents
Topics in Christianity: The Child in Christian Thought
Religion 349-0
Spring 2005
Cristina Traina
Colin Heywood
New Testament
St. Augustine of Hippo
St John Chrysostom
St. Thomas Aquinas
John Boswell
Christiane Klapisch-Zuber
Martin Luther
John Calvin
Menno Simons
Jonathan Edwards
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Horace Bushnell
Harriet Beecher Stowe
James Vaughan
Edwin Byington
Howard Chidley
Karl Barth
Christine Gudorf
Pamela Couture
Sofia Cavaletti
Children’s Bibles
History of Childhood, introduction and chapter 3
Selections
Confessions, books 1 and 2
A Comparison between a King and a Monk
Selections from the Summa Theologiae
Selections from The Kindness of Strangers
Selection from Women, Family, and Ritual in Renaissance Italy
The Small Catechism
The Estate of Marriage
That Parents Should Neither Compel nor Hinder....
Selections from Institutes of the Christian Religion
Selections from The Register of the Company of Pastors of Geneva
in the Time of Calvin
Selections from the Complete Works:
The Foundation of Christian Doctrine, sections on baptism
Reply to Gellius Faber, questions 1, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19
The Nurture of Children
Selections from Original Sin
Selections from Faithful Narrative
Selections from Christmas Eve: Dialogue on the Incarnation
The Christian Faith, questions 67, 70, 71, 138
Selections from Christian Nurture
Selections from Religious Studies: Sketches and Poems
Selections from Sermons to Children, 1878
Selections from The Children’s Pulpit, 1910
Selections from The Child’s World in Story-Sermons, 1938
Selections from Church Dogmatics
“Parenting, Mutual Love, and Sacrifice”
“Single Parents and Poverty: A Challenge to Pastoral Theological
Method”
Selections from The Religious Potential of the Young Child
Selections from four contemporary versions