The Mystery of the Child (Religion, Marriage, and Family) [Hardcover]

Martin E. Marty (Author)

Book Description

Series: Religion, Marriage, and Family

Much of todays literature on children treats the child of any age as a problem or a set of problems to be solved, effectively reducing the child to a complex of biological and chemical factors, explainable in scientific terms, or to someone who is the object of control by adults. In contrast, Martin Marty here presents the child as a mystery who invokes wonder and elicits creative responses that affect the care provided him or her. Encourages the thoughtful enjoyment of children instead of the imposition of adult will and control. Treats the impulse to control as a problem and highlights qualities associated with children - responsiveness, receptivity, openness to wonder - that can become sources of renewal for adults. Engages anyone wanting to explore more fully the profound realm of the child.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Breathtakingly ambitious in scope, written with the author's customary sober and reflective erudition, this wide-ranging exploration of the wonders of the child is both inspirational and slightly elegiac in tone. Although it covers topics such as the tension between nature and nurture in child development, this is no ordinary child guidebook. Professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and a prolific writer on religion, culture, history and theology, Marty's deeply personal and sometimes dauntingly scholarly book urges his readers to abandon seeing a child as a problem to be controlled. Instead, he calls adults not only to nurture wonder in children, but to seek their own "childlikeness," or what, near the end of the book, he terms "childness." While the book is written with a general audience in mind, Marty's understanding of mystery and of childhood is unabashedly rooted in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. A random sampling of sources includes writers as diverse as the late Catholic theologian Karl Rahner and evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker. Aimed at all who care for children, this volume is, at least in part, the fruit of Marty's work in Emory University's three-year study of "The Child in Law, Religion and Society." (Apr.)
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About the Author

Martin E. Marty is the Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he taught for thirty-five years. Among his many books are Righteous Empire -- for which he won the National Book Award -- and the three-volume Modern American Religion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 257 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 1ST edition (April 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802817661
• ISBN-13: 978-0802817662
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #465,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery of the Child, December 27, 2008

By 

Charles Onstott - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mystery of the Child (Religion, Marriage, and Family) (Hardcover)

This is an excellent book for people concerned with the development of children, especially those who are Christian. The book does an excellent job of characterizing how viewing children as a 'problem-to-be-solved' can be limiting in how one cares for children. It has helped me look at my own relationship with my children and seeing my children in a more complete context. In addition to opening up the way one cares for children, it also advances a theology of hospitality through the lens of how Jesus saw children. The core ideas of this book are easily extended beyond caring for children to caring for anyone -- after all, we are all children.

I taught an adult Sunday School class from this book. It took about 8 weeks to complete. Most of the adults in the class have young children. The book's ideas stimulated a lot of excellent discussion, but it is a more difficult book to use for a Sunday School class setting because of the density of the material -- expect to spend some extra time distilling the ideas.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery of the Child, September 21, 2007

By 

G. Richard Wheatcroft (Irving TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mystery of the Child (Religion, Marriage, and Family) (Hardcover)

This profound and illuminating book should be the "bible" for anyone who has care for children. The theme of the book, evident on almost every page, is that, instead of seeing a child as a 'problem' faced with problems, she be seen "as a mystery surrounded by myatery." This book is not a hand book for solving problems faced by children, but a guide to seeing and exploring the mystery of the child, focusing on the child for her "distinctive ways of being regarded, experieicng reality, and responding." It will help the reader be open to the mystery of all people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much needed work on children, February 9, 2010

By 

M. Austin (Richmond, KY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mystery of the Child (Religion, Marriage, and Family) (Hardcover)

This book is one of the results of a research project at Emory University School of Law entitled "The Child in Religion, Law, and Society". This book is unlike the vast majority of books that deal with childhood, children, and parents. It is not a how-to book for parents, and is sharply critical of approaches to children which take them primarily as problems to be solved. The author, Martin Marty, is a historian who argues that while there are problems to be solved regarding children, we should see the child as a mystery surrounded by mystery. It is sometimes difficult to cash out what he means by this, but then that is the nature of mystery I suppose. I think he is onto something very important here, insofar as when we reduce children to their biological, chemical, and physical components, Marty rightly points out that we will miss out on other important factors that make up the child and which should inform our approach to children. Children are biological, chemical, and physical beings, but like other persons I would argue they are also something more than this. It is a mistake to believe that scientific language can fully account for human nature, including the nature of the child. One important implication is that when we understand these things, we no longer see the child as something to be controlled or as something that should often be controlled, but rather as something to also be cherished and enjoyed. This sounds like a cliche, but this is one of those instances, I believe, in which what seems like a platitude to many is more than that. It is a significant truth that should guide our personal, social, and political treatment of children.