Nurturing Children's Spirituality

Children's spiritual development is currently a hot topic in Christian circles as well as in other fields and disciplines such as educational psychology medicine developmental psychology education and sociology. The key question for Christian scholars and educators is How do Christian beliefs and practices uniquely interrelate with children's spirituality In 2003 and again in 2006 a national conference entitled Children's Spirituality Conference: Christian Perspectives examined children's spirituality from a distinctly Christian standpoint. This book is a collection of the best materials from the 2006 conference. The first half of the book addresses definitional historical and theological concerns related to spiritual development in children. The second half explores best practices for fostering spiritual growth among our children-in our homes families churches Christian schools and among special populations of children-from a wide spectrum of Christian scholars and practitioners. The volume closes with John Westerhoff's moving keynote address and Catherine Stonehouse and Scottie May's eloquent culminating plenary address. Nurturing Children's Spirituality provides a rich cross section of the current research and writing by Christian scholars on children's spirituality. Contributors: Holly Catterton Allen Michael J. Anthony Stacy Berg Chris J. Boyatzis MaLesa Breeding Marilyn Brownlee Linda V. Callahan Jane Carr Mara Lief Crabtree Karen Crozier James Riley Estep Jr Jeffrey E. Feinberg Stephanie Goins Judy Harris Helm Dana Kennamer Hood Sungwon Kim Kevin Lawson Scottie May Marcia McQuitty Heidi Schultz Oschwald Donald Ratcliff Pam Scranton Timothy A. Sisemore Catherine Stonehouse La Verne Tolbert T. Wyatt Watkins John H. Westerhoff III