RT Article
T1 Proclaiming and cultivating ‘childlikeness': a subversive thread in Christian anthropology
JF International journal of children's spirituality
VO 23
IS 1
SP 45
OP 52
A1 Wrigley-Carr, Robyn
LA English
PB Taylor & Francis
YR 2018
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1576920674
AB If contemporary public discourse struggles with truncated notions of what it means to be human, nowhere is this more obvious than in our discussion and treatment of children. By and large, in our public discourse, we treat children as ‘little adults' - as consumers, objects of beauty and fashion, career aspirants and sometimes even as sexual beings. By contrast, Jesus put children - as children - at the centre of his project in proclaiming the kingdom of God. He preserved a special place for children in his ministry, and in all three synoptics, he called his followers to ‘childlikeness'. This paper examines a subversive thread in historic theological anthropology. The nature of ‘childlikeness' is explored and possible ways to cultivate childlikeness for adults are discussed. The notion of childlikeness has been rediscovered in recent times by the ‘Child Theology Movement', but, in this paper, I wish to examine three linked authors who wrote on ‘childlikeness' in the 19th and 20th centuries, predating the Child Theology Movement by some decades: George MacDonald, Baron Friedrich von Hügel and Gwendolen Greene.
K1 Childlikeness
K1 Friedrich von Hügel
K1 George MacDonald
K1 Gwendolen Greene
DO 10.1080/1364436X.2017.1416592