When I Was a Child
Children's Interpretations of First Communion
Susan B. Ridgely
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 05/2006
Pages: 272
Subject: Religion, Social Science
| University of North Carolina
Print ISBN: 9.78E+12
eBook ISBN: 9780807876763
DESCRIPTION
Bales followed Faith Formation classes and interviewed communicants, parents, and priests in an African American parish and in a parish containing both white and Latino congregations. By letting the children speak for themselves through their words, drawings, and actions, When I Was a Child stresses the importance of rehearsal, the centrality of sensory experiences, and the impact of expectations in the communicants' interpretations of the Eucharist. In the first sustained ethnographic study of how children interpret and help shape their own faith, Bales finds that children's perspectives give new contours to the traditional understanding of a common religious ritual. Ultimately, she argues that scholars of religion should consider age as distinct a factor as race, class, and gender in their analyses.