When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity

Format: Paperback Language: English ISBN: 0800637259 ISBN13: 9780800637255 Release Date: April 2005 Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishing Length: 358 Pages Weight: 0.05 lbs. Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.0" Bakke paints a fascinating picture of children's first real emergence as people against a backdrop of the ancient world. Using theological and social history research, Bakke compares Greco-Roman and Christian attitudes toward abortion and child prostitution, pedagogy and moral upbringing, and the involvement of children in liturgy and church life. He also assesses Christian attitudes toward children in the church's developing doctrinal commitments. Today, growing numbers of children are impoverished, exploited, abandoned, orphaned, or killed. Bakke's insightful work begins to untangle the roots of their complex plight.