Why Can't There Be Peace in the World?: Children's Questions for God

Johns Hopkins pediatrician Pat Fosarelli surveyed 9,000 children, adolescents, and teens about their understanding of God, revealing illuminating, profound, curious, and weighty responses that focus on the nature of God, themselves, people around them, suffering, creation, and heaven. She guides readers through childrens stages of development and suggests how parents and teachers can respond most effectively to questions children may ask about God.

Format: Hardback
Length: 158 pages
Publication date: 17 September 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Johns Hopkins pediatrician Pat Fosarelli, MD, a professor at St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute, conducted a survey of approximately 9,000 children, adolescents, and teens about their understanding of God over a period of fifteen years. The candid, unvarnished responses Fosarelli received from this racially and socioeconomically diverse group are illuminating, profound, curious, and weighty, revealing how these children understand themselves and their existence. Some of their responses focus on the nature of God, such as "Who are God's parents?" Others focus on themselves, such as "Why can't friendships last forever?" and people around them, such as "Why are some people poor?" Some responses address suffering, such as "Why do people die?" and creation, such as "Why do some animals hurt people?" and heaven, such as "Will I see my mother?" Fosarelli guides readers through children's stages of development, explaining how these stages correlate with the content and sophistication of their questions, and suggesting how parents and teachers can respond most effectively to questions children may ask about God. In the final chapter, she explores how these children's questions can help parents, teachers, and other child/youth professionals better understand the dreams, concerns, anxieties, wishes, and fears of young people today.

Weight: 299g
Dimension: 224 x 147 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781538195970