The Bloomsbury reader in religion and childhood, edited by Anna Strhan, Stephen G. Parker and Susan Ridgely

In recent years the sociological study of education has shown an increasing awareness of the historical and cultural conditions underpinning the construction of ‘childhood’ as a concept. Such, at least, is one of the claims of Anna Strhan, Stephen G. Parker and Susan Ridgely in their new and extremely interesting collection of texts, The Bloomsbury Reader in Religion and Childhood. Divided into five sections, the Reader provides a balance between classic texts and specially commissioned essays that are designed to explore how children’s lives and the meanings of the term ‘childhood’ are shaped by religious expectations and practices.