Children, adults, and shared responsibilities: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives

Abstract

Children, Adults, and Shared Responsibilities: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives. Edited by Marcia J. Bunge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. xv + 326 pp. $95.00 (cloth).This book is most recent in a series of edited volumes by Marcia Bunge that advance discussion in childhood studies. In twentieth century, under influence of moral theorists like Lawrence Kohlberg, childhood was a stage of development on way to adulthood and studies focused on ways had little agency. The thinkers in Bunge's book instead turn to childrens voices, capacities, agency, and participation (p. 3) and invite a serious change in focus. One of book's authors, John Wall, describes his viewpoint as childism: the examination of how of childhood should transform fundamental social norms (p. 136). In general, view is that are distinctive participants in society, having different needs and obligations yet needing an equal voice in cultural discussions.The book is divided in two parts; first part offers a survey of three religious traditions' approaches to children, and second part addresses specific moral questions about responsibilities and rights. Part one is further divided into eight chapters. The first six chapters feature essays, two from each tradition, describing each tradition's scripture and law alongside particular characteristics in that tradition affecting children. For example, one of chapters on Judaism, by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, discusses and religious persecution Jews have encountered (pp. 55-57), while William Werpehowski discusses Catholic teaching about educating alongside clergy sexual abuse crisis (p. 97), and Islamic scholar Marcia Hermansen discusses Islamic debate about adolescent marriages (pp. 126-130).The other two chapters in part one explore how approaches in childhood studies and interreligious dialogue further deepen discussion among Jews, Christians, and Muslims about and children's agency. One of most interesting essays in book, in fact, is John Wall's Imagining Childism: How Childhood Should Transform Religious Ethics. This chapter provides further academic context for other contributors' insistence on a child-centered focus. He suggests that childhood studies function in waves, similar to feminisms first and second waves. Wall advocates a thirdwave childist view that transformfs] basic scholarly and societal structures around children's distinctive and diverse experiences (p. 138). For Wall this means that children and adults are equally called upon to grow over time by creating their own increasingly expanded moral horizons (p. …