Towards a Theology of Childhood: Children’s Agency and the Reign of God

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 673-691
Author(s):  
James Gerard McEvoy
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Kingdom Of God ◽  
Social Agency ◽  
Clergy Sexual Abuse ◽  
Children’S Agency ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reign Of God ◽  
Interpretative Approach

This article contributes to a theology of childhood in the context of recent research in the social sciences on children’s lives and the nature of childhood. The clergy sexual abuse crisis heightens the need for such a theology. First, the author offers an account of children’s social agency, with particular attention to cognition and sociality, arguing that an interpretative approach affords the best account. Second, the argument takes a christological turn, examining Jesus’s welcoming of children and the statement “it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14), to consider what can be learnt about Jesus’s appreciation of children’s agency.

scholarly journals An examinationof fear of crime and perception of risk by genderSuç korkusu ve risk algısının toplumsal cinsiyet açısından incelenmesi

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meral Öztürk ◽  
Faruk Kocacık ◽  
Miraç Burak Gönültaş
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Fear Of Crime ◽  
Sociological Perspective ◽  
The Past ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
The Social ◽  
Questionnaire Form ◽  
Turkish Language ◽  
The City

Fear of crime has become one of the most popular subjects in social sciences in the past fifty years. Primarily an area of interest in criminology, the fear of crime has lately been analysed from a sociological perspective, and personal and environmental factors that generate the fear of victimisation have been examined. Researches conducted so far suggest that the fear of crime has become one of the social problems that modern societies confront and women are more fearful of victimisation when compared to men. This study aims at understanding whether there are any differences on the fear of crime based on gender and what types of precautions females take in order to avoid crime. The survey has been carried out in the city of Mersin. A questionnaire form developed by Ferraro (1995) and adapted to Turkish language by Kul (2009) has been used. The findings obtained from the survey have confirmed the literature. Accordingly, women’s fear of crime has been found to be significantly higher than that of men. Women are most afraid of being exposed to sexual abuse and rape. Additionally, women exhibit more avoidance behaviours in order not to be a victim of crime.  ÖzetSuç korkusu son 50 yılda sosyal bilimlerde popüler olan konulardandır. Öncelikle kriminolojinin ilgi alanına girdiği görülen suç korkusu daha sonraları sosyolojik perspektiften de incelenmeye başlanmış, mağduriyet korkusuna neden olan bireysel ve çevresel faktörler incelenmiştir. Yapılan araştırmalar suç korkusunun artık modern toplumların karşılaştığı sosyal sorunlardan birisi olduğunu, kadınların erkeklere kıyasla daha çok mağduriyet korkusu yaşadıklarını göstermektedir. Bu çalışma suç korkusunun cinsiyet açısından farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığını, kadınların suçtan korunma amacıyla ne tür önlemler aldığını ortaya koymak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Çalışma Mersin’de gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmada Ferraro (1995) tarafından geliştirilen ve Kul (2009) tarafından Türkçeye uyarlanan anket formu kullanılmıştır. Çalışmada elde edilen veriler literatürü desteklemektedir. Buna göre kadınların suç korkuları erkeklerden anlamlı düzeyde yüksektir. Kadınlar en çok cinsel taciz ve tecavüze uğramaktan korkmaktadır. Bunun yanında suç mağduriyeti yaşamamak için daha çok kaçınma davranışı sergilemektedirler.

scholarly journals Poisoning children: A reflection on the social constraints of children’s agency and narratives of sexual abuse

Childhood ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-168
Author(s):  
Claudio Baraldi
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
Children's Narratives ◽  
Children’S Agency ◽  
The Social ◽  
Children’S Participation ◽  
Children's Participation ◽  
Children’S Accounts

Drawing inspiration from a story of abuses, involving 16 children in 1997–1998, this article deals with the social constraints on children’s participation in institutional interactions, in particular for what concerns their accounts of abuse. The article explores the problem of the truthfulness of children’s accounts through the lenses of an approach combining a theory of narratives, the concept of children’s agency and the analysis of interactions. It analyses the institutional context in which the children’s narratives were constructed and validated, drawing some conclusions about the ways in which institutions may deal with children’s agency.

Theology of Childhood: An Essential Element of Christian Anthropology

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-136
Author(s):  
James Gerard McEvoy
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Theological Anthropology ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Clergy Sexual Abuse ◽  
Christian Anthropology ◽  
Children’S Agency ◽  
Church Life ◽  
Children And Childhood ◽  
Strong Commitment ◽  
Catholic Schooling

This article argues that a consideration of children and childhood should be an essential element of theological anthropology. The argument is situated against the background of recent sociology of childhood, which emphasizes children’s agency; the author offers an interpretative view of this agency. In that context, Rahner’s approach to childhood in the prescient article ‘Ideas for a Theology of Childhood’ is examined. Finally, the author proposes a modest development of Rahner’s approach by focusing on two fundamental themes of theological anthropology: children as created, and their lives as graced. A more explicit theology of childhood is indispensable for contemporary church life, especially in light of both the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and the Catholic Church’s strong commitment to Catholic schooling.

What Can We Learn From Factorial Surveys About Human Behavior?

Methodology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Knut Petzold ◽  
Tobias Wolbring
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Actual Behavior ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Factorial Survey ◽  
Survey Experiment ◽  
Intended Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
Survey Experiments ◽  
High Level

Abstract. Factorial survey experiments are increasingly used in the social sciences to investigate behavioral intentions. The measurement of self-reported behavioral intentions with factorial survey experiments frequently assumes that the determinants of intended behavior affect actual behavior in a similar way. We critically investigate this fundamental assumption using the misdirected email technique. Student participants of a survey were randomly assigned to a field experiment or a survey experiment. The email informs the recipient about the reception of a scholarship with varying stakes (full-time vs. book) and recipient’s names (German vs. Arabic). In the survey experiment, respondents saw an image of the same email. This validation design ensured a high level of correspondence between units, settings, and treatments across both studies. Results reveal that while the frequencies of self-reported intentions and actual behavior deviate, treatments show similar relative effects. Hence, although further research on this topic is needed, this study suggests that determinants of behavior might be inferred from behavioral intentions measured with survey experiments.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document