Biblical Understandings of Children and Childhood: Resources for the Church and Mission Today

By Marcia J. Bunge, Ph.D.
Professor of Theology and Humanities
(Christ College, Valparaiso University)
Director of the Child in Religion and Ethics Project
March 2011

Although Christians today and in the past have often viewed children in narrow and even destructive ways, the Bible expresses six insightful and central perspectives on children; and by holding these six perspectives in tension (rather than in isolation), we can broaden our conception of children and strengthen our commitment to them in all areas of the Church.