Analysis of Relationship Between Children and Theology: A Study

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between children and theology, drawing upon the works of Jerome W. Berryman and Maria Montessori. The paper explores how theology influences children's character development and cognitive growth, examining concepts such as theodicy and the role of laughter in religious education. Berryman's research on theodicy and its impact on children's theological thinking, as well as his analysis of laughter and motivation in religious education, are discussed in detail. Furthermore, the essay highlights Montessori's contributions to religious education, emphasizing her belief in the child's innate spiritual nature and the importance of moral training through life experiences. The essay concludes by summarizing the key findings and emphasizing the significance of understanding the child-theology connection for effective religious education.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEOLOGY
Analysis of relationship between children and theology
Name of the student
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1ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEOLOGY
Introduction
Children and theology are correlated. Theology plays an integral role in a child’s life and
undoubtedly has a great impact on children in building their character (Conroy et al. 2013).
Often children want explanations of religious incidents, which in turn encourage children to
know more. To be very specific, as per Stern (2018), they develop a quest of knowledge within
themselves. According to (Davis and Miroshnikova 2013), theology helps a child to understand
what a child wants to know and according it helps in structuring the curriculum of learning so
that he or she can get the answers regarding theology. However, it has been observed that
mostly, children do not remember theological stories and tend to avoid reading them as they find
it boring.
Discussion
Jerome W. Berryman in his essay (Berryman) discussed that children often ask for
explanation of religious events or incidents, which means that children think deeply about
theology more deeply than adults do. However, teachers as well their elders find difficult to
answer these questions. The author points out that in order to address the issue, parents, or
teachers can talk about theodicy in an appropriate manner. Therefore, a brief overview of
theodicy is given in the essay. In addition to that, some tools were discussed in order to limit the
cognitive development of children. While briefly discussing about theodicy and the mechanism
to control the cognitive development, primary dangers were also discussed. The issues and
dangers of early childhood, middle childhood and late childhood were identified and examined.
The author says in the conclusion that answering and explanation of the existence of evil spirits

2ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEOLOGY
do not only enable children to understand the concept of evil but it also helps in the growth of
cognitive thinking (Hull 2017). Rather theodicy, which is the explanation of why god has created
evil, makes children able to think theologically. According to the author, children must be
allowed to think independently and develop their understanding of theology accordingly. Parents
or teachers therefore need to interact with children regarding presence of God and Evil so that
child can be able to understand what is evil and deal with it while moving towards early
adulthood.
Berryman’s next article discussed about the power of laughter in religious education
(Berryman 1998). In this study, the author had analyzed the history regarding laughter and its
connection with freedom. For further discussion onto the topic, four models of laughter have
been defined and then examined. In the next part of the discussion, the author elaborated the
feeling while emerging out of the chaos that exists in human being. In addition to that, it also
describes the type of laughter that emerges out the experience. In the final part of the discussion,
intrinsic motivation and its re-exploration have been described along with the implication that
may help in teaching as well as learning religious education. The article mainly highlights the
role of laughter in religious education for children and the author suggested that teachers of
religious education must be aware of the role of laughter in order to make their teaching
effective. In order to examine the connection between laughter and motivation for the purpose of
religious education four models of laughter have been briefly described. The models that are
discussed are the philosophical models of laughter: Superiority model, Incongruity model, Relief
model and Pleasant Psychological Shift model. After analyzing the history of laughter and four
models, the author makes two observations. The author sates that extrinsic behavior has both the
positive as well as negative impact on the shaping of behavior of child. According to the author’s

3ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEOLOGY
observation, it is often noticed children being stubborn or with a behavioral issue as they seek to
be free from the turmoil of life. In his second observation, the author says that intrinsic
motivation helps children to understand about the paths through which they can realize the
complexity of the relationship between them and God and the nature. The strategies of religious
education must contain the tools like power along with serious laughter. The author concludes by
saying that the teaching religious education shows children the right path to reach to God.
In his third research (Berryman, 1980); Berryman sheds light on Montessori and her
contribution to religious education. Montessori believed in the purity of a child soul. She was of
the opinion that the children have the ability to respect their life. According to her thought,
religion cannot be taught to a child. The aim of religious education should be helping children to
understand the bond between them and God. Therefore, children develop a moral within them.
They become able distinguish between right and wrong. The religious education for children
must start at a very early age as per Montessori (Rymarz 2013). She believed that moral training
could be provided to children through the life experience or through the religious stories. The
other way to teach them about religious education can be answering those questions that often
arise in children’s mind. The author had discussed about the framework of religious education as
suggested by Montessori. The Montessori method of teaching religious education reaps the seeds
of urge to know about the religious truth instead of a method teach children religious education.
Montessori’s research revealed that children possess an elevated nature. Religious knowledge
therefore have can have a great impact on them. Montessori practiced Catholic and her thought
and beliefs are therefore can be seen in the approach of teaching religious education to children.

4ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEOLOGY
Conclusion
To conclude, it can be said the idea of child and its relation with theology is evident in
the above discussed research papers of Jerome W. Berryman. While one of his article focused on
the famous educator Maria Montessori in relation with religious education, other articles
elaborates the idea theodicy and its role in the growth of cognitive development of children. The
other article of Jerome W Berryman discussed on the role of laughter in religious education and
the relationship between laughter and motivation as far as religious education is concerned.

5ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILDREN AND THEOLOGY
References
Berryman, J., 1980. Montessori and religious education. Religious Education, 75(3), pp.294-307.
Berryman, J.W., 1998. Laughter, power, and motivation in religious education. Religious
Education, 93(3), pp.358-378.
Berryman, J.W., Talking Theodicy with Children without Arresting their Theological Thinking.
Conroy, J.C., Lundie, D., Davis, R.A., Baumfield, V., Barnes, L.P., Gallagher, T., Lowden, K.,
Bourque, N. and Wenell, K.J., 2013. Does religious education work?: A multi-dimensional
investigation. A&C Black.
Davis, D. and Miroshnikova, E. eds., 2013. The Routledge international handbook of religious
education. Routledge.
Hull, J., 2017. God Talk with Young Children. The Bloomsbury Reader in Religion and
Childhood, p.117.
Rymarz, R.M., 2013. Direct instruction as a pedagogical tool in religious education. British
Journal of Religious Education, 35(3), pp.326-341.
Stern, J., 2018. Teaching religious education: Researchers in the classroom. Bloomsbury
Publishing.