Engaging studies of children in the Bible: What is going on and why you should care

Abstract

This article strengthens the relationship between childhood studies and biblical studies by introducing the field of childist biblical criticism to other child‐focused disciplines. A brief overview explains why studying children in the Bible is critical for understanding this ancient text and its world. Most of the article focuses on the tools used for gathering evidence and the methodologies used in childist scholarship. Discussion of the terms ‘childist’ and ‘childism’ then urges adoption of both terms as conveying positive meaning. Throughout the discussion and explicitly in the conclusion, this article shows what childist biblical studies contribute to the wider movement of childism and securing children's rights.

Children in the New Testament

“…Nevertheless, it was not until the latter half of the twentieth century that children themselves received sustained attention in New Testament studies; and even later that the study of children in biblical texts, the New Testament included, began to grow at an accelerated rate. Several recent review essays trace the field’s development with attention to this latter growth (Aasgaard 2006, 2019; Gallagher Elkins and Parker 2016; Lindeman Allen 2020c; see also Bunge, Fretheim, and Gaventa 2008: xiv-xxvi; Lindeman Allen 2019a: xiv-xix; Lim 2021: 8-26), linking increased attention to the characterization and metaphorization of children in the New Testament with parallel studies of children in the Hebrew Bible and, in particular, the recent emergence of childist criticism as a distinct methodological and perspectival approach (Gallagher Elkins 2013; Gallagher Elkins and Parker 2016; Betsworth and Parker 2019; Garroway and Martens 2019b; Garroway 2020; Parker 2023).…”