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This volume strengthens interest and research in the fields of both
Childhood Studies and Nordic Studies by exploring conceptions of
children and childhood in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). Although some books have been written
about the history of childhood in these countries, few are
multidisciplinary, focus on this region as a whole, or are
available in English. This volume contains essays by scholars from
the fields of literature, history, theology, religious studies,
intellectual history, cultural studies, Scandinavian studies,
education, music, and art history. Contributors study the history
of childhood in a wide variety of sources, such as folk and fairy
tales, legal codes, religious texts, essays on education, letters,
sermons, speeches, hymns, paintings, novels, and school essays
written by children themselves. They also examine texts intended
specifically for children, including text books, catechisms,
newspapers, songbooks, and children's literature. By bringing
together scholars from multiple disciplines who raise distinctive
questions about childhood and take into account a wide range of
sources, the book offers a fresh and substantive contribution to
the history of childhood in the Nordic countries between 1700 and
1960. The volume also helps readers trace the historical roots of
the internationally recognized practices and policies regarding
child welfare within the Nordic countries today and prompts readers
from any country to reflect on their own conceptions of and
commitments to children.
Inquiring into childhood is one of the most appropriate ways to
address the perennial and essential question of what it is that
makes human beings - each of us - human. In Childhood in History:
Perceptions of Children in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds,
Aasgaard, Horn, and Cojocaru bring together the groundbreaking work
of nineteen leading scholars in order to advance interdisciplinary
historical research into ideas about children and childhood in the
premodern history of European civilization. The volume gathers rich
insights from fields as varied as pedagogy and medicine, and
literature and history. Drawing on a range of sources in genres
that extend from philosophical, theological, and educational
treatises to law, art, and poetry, from hagiography and
autobiography to school lessons and sagas, these studies aim to
bring together these diverse fields and source materials, and to
allow the development of new conversations. This book will have
fulfilled its unifying and explicit goal if it provides an impetus
to further research in social and intellectual history, and if it
prompts both researchers and the interested wider public to ask new
questions about the experiences of children, and to listen to their
voices.
The mid-second-century apocryphal infancy gospel, the Gospel of
Thomas, which deals with the childhood of Jesus from age five to
age twelve, has attained only limited interest from scholars. Much
research into the story has also been seriously misguided -
especially study of the story's origin, character, and setting.
This book gives a fresh interpretation of the infancy gospel, not
least by applying a variety of new approaches, including orality
studies, narrative studies, gender studies, and social-scientific
approaches. The book comes to a number of radical new conclusions:
The Gospel of Thomas is dependent on oral storytelling and has far
more narrative qualities than has been previously assumed. The
narrative world depicted in the gospel is that of middle-class
Christianity, with the social and cultural ideas and values
characteristic of such a milieu. The gospel's theology is not
heretical--as has often been claime--but mirrors mainstream
thinking rooted in biblical tradition, particularly in the
Johannine and Lukan traditions. Jesus is portrayed as a divine
figure but also as a true-to-life child of late antiquity. The
audience for the Gospel of Thomas is likely to have come from the
rural population of early Christianity, a milieu that has received
little attention. A main audience for the story was children among
early Christians, making this--at least within Christianity--the
oldest-known children's tale. The book provides a Greek text and a
translation, and several appendixes on the story, along with other
early Christian infancy material.
Inquiring into childhood is one of the most appropriate ways to
address the perennial and essential question of what it is that
makes human beings - each of us - human. In Childhood in History:
Perceptions of Children in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds,
Aasgaard, Horn, and Cojocaru bring together the groundbreaking work
of nineteen leading scholars in order to advance interdisciplinary
historical research into ideas about children and childhood in the
premodern history of European civilization. The volume gathers rich
insights from fields as varied as pedagogy and medicine, and
literature and history. Drawing on a range of sources in genres
that extend from philosophical, theological, and educational
treatises to law, art, and poetry, from hagiography and
autobiography to school lessons and sagas, these studies aim to
bring together these diverse fields and source materials, and to
allow the development of new conversations. This book will have
fulfilled its unifying and explicit goal if it provides an impetus
to further research in social and intellectual history, and if it
prompts both researchers and the interested wider public to ask new
questions about the experiences of children, and to listen to their
voices.
This volume strengthens interest and research in the fields of both
Childhood Studies and Nordic Studies by exploring conceptions of
children and childhood in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland,
Iceland, Norway, and Sweden). Although some books have been written
about the history of childhood in these countries, few are
multidisciplinary, focus on this region as a whole, or are
available in English. This volume contains essays by scholars from
the fields of literature, history, theology, religious studies,
intellectual history, cultural studies, Scandinavian studies,
education, music, and art history. Contributors study the history
of childhood in a wide variety of sources, such as folk and fairy
tales, legal codes, religious texts, essays on education, letters,
sermons, speeches, hymns, paintings, novels, and school essays
written by children themselves. They also examine texts intended
specifically for children, including text books, catechisms,
newspapers, songbooks, and children's literature. By bringing
together scholars from multiple disciplines who raise distinctive
questions about childhood and take into account a wide range of
sources, the book offers a fresh and substantive contribution to
the history of childhood in the Nordic countries between 1700 and
1960. The volume also helps readers trace the historical roots of
the internationally recognized practices and policies regarding
child welfare within the Nordic countries today and prompts readers
from any country to reflect on their own conceptions of and
commitments to children.
Description: The mid-second-century apocryphal infancy gospel, the
Gospel of Thomas, which deals with the childhood of Jesus from age
five to age twelve, has attained only limited interest from
scholars. Much research into the story has also been seriously
misguided--especially study of the story's origin, character, and
setting. This book gives a fresh interpretation of the infancy
gospel, not least by applying a variety of new approaches,
including orality studies, narrative studies, gender studies, and
social-scientific approaches. The book comes to a number of
radically new conclusions: The Gospel of Thomas is dependent on
oral storytelling and has far more narrative qualities than has
been previously assumed. The narrative world depicted in the gospel
is that of middle-class Christianity, with the social and cultural
ideas and values characteristic of such a milieu. The gospel's
theology is not heretical--as has often been claimed--but mirrors
mainstream thinking rooted in biblical tradition, particularly in
the Johannine and Lukan traditions. Jesus is portrayed as a divine
figure but also as a true-to-life child of late antiquity. The
audience for the Gospel of Thomas is likely to have come from the
rural population of early Christianity, a milieu that has received
little attention. A main audience for the story was children among
early Christians, making this--at least within Christianity--the
oldest-known children's tale. The book provides a Greek text and a
translation, and several appendixes on the story, along with other
early Christian infancy material. Endorsements: ""Although the
Infancy Gospel of Thomas has long been enjoyed by readers
interested in the Gospels that did not make it into the New
Testament, there has been a dearth of scholarship on most of the
pressing textual, historical, and theological issues it raises.
Reidar Aasgaard has done the scholarly world a real service by
presenting a full, interesting, and informed discussion of all
these major questions. Scholars will now turn to this study before
any other when they want to explore the Infancy Gospel and its
traditions."" --Bart D. Ehrman James A. Gray Professor of Religious
Studies University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ""This thorough
and outstanding volume addresses a wide-range of historical,
literary, and theological questions about the Infancy Gospel of
Thomas and offers a fresh interpretation of this baffling text. A
highly valuable resource for those interested in biblical studies,
early Christianity, the history of childhood, and religious
understandings of children."" --Marcia J. Bunge Professor of
Humanities and Theology Valparaiso University ""Informed by current
research on orality and narrative structure, Aasgard not only
furthers our understanding of the content of the document itself
including its theology and ethics, but also breaks new ground in
reconstructing its social setting and audience . . . Drawing upon
his extensive expertise, Aasgard also argues that the document was
intended for early Christian children and contributes substantially
to the emergence of the investigation children and childhood as a
key interdisciplinary subfield within early Christian studies.""
--Margaret Y. MacDonald Professor, Religious Studies St. Francis
Xavier University About the Contributor(s): Reidar Aasgaard is
Project Leader in the Norwegian Bible Society and has earned a
doctorate in New Testament/Early Christianity. He is the author of
My Beloved Brothers and Sisters (2004) and has published a study
edition of the New Testament as well as Norwegian translations of
Augustine.
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