Whose child is this?: uncovering a Lasallian anthropology of relational belonging and its implications for educating toward the human flourishing of children in faith

Abstract

In contemporary theological research on childhood, there is considerable interest on the social agency of children. This interest is situated within a global concern for the dignity of children as complex human beings, propelled by the articulation of their participatory rights in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This turn to children and childhood in contemporary theology, I argue, points us to the need for an anthropology of relational belonging that holds out a space for children as agents. I mine the Lasallian tradition to critically retrieve such a communal anthropology that situates the agency of children as learners in a relation of vulnerable belonging to others as God’s children and siblings-in-Christ. An implication that arises from this is the importance for religious educators to consider more intentionally the communal dimension of their work in creating a more just world with and for children, promoting their human flourishing.