The Kingdom of Children: A Liberation Theology

by R.L. Stollar, Cindy Wang Brandt (Foreword)

Empower the children in your faith community.

 Children are marginalized in our churches, dismissed into Sunday school or silenced for lengthy sermons aimed at adults. R. L. Stollar has spent his career advocating for the rights of children, and he thinks it’s time to stop talking down to children and start listening to them.

In The Kingdom of Children, Stollar proposes a liberation theology of the child. Stollar begins with a theoretical framework that centers children in our theology and ecclesial life. Reframing biblical stories to center children, we can see how the binding of Isaac reflects the spiritual effects of child abuse, or how children like Miriam can serve as leaders in their communities. Using scriptural examples as well as real studies of children’s spiritual lives, Stollar asserts that children can be priests, prophets, and theologians in our communities. Each chapter concludes with activities and discussion points for introducing the book’s concepts to children.

The Kingdom of Children is a must-read for youth ministers, parents, and anyone who works with children. By embracing the liberation of children, we can avoid stunting their spiritual growth and passing on trauma. And when we lift up children—truly value and learn from them—we build up the kingdom of God here in our communities.

Genres: Parenting, Theology, Religion

401 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 14, 2023

About the author

R.L. Stollar is a child liberation theologian and an advocate for children and abuse survivors.

The author of an upcoming book on child liberation theology, The Kingdom of Children (Eerdmans, November 2023), Ryan has an M.H.S. in Child Protection from Nova Southeastern University and an M.A. in Eastern Classics from St. John’s College. His writings on child liberation theology have been featured everywhere from Patheos to Currents Journal to the Centre for the Study of Bible & Violence. He has served on the board of and run numerous social media campaigns for child advocacy organizations.

Homeschooled from kindergarten through high school graduation, Ryan worked over eight years as a public communications educator to high school students in homeschooling communities. Co-founder of the viral website Homeschoolers Anonymous, his advocacy work on behalf of homeschooled children and alumni has been featured in national and international media and academia.

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a real mix of a book. There were some points where Stollar’s critique of evangelical views of children were trenchant and spot on – he is direct in his attack on the right who hold to a controlling and disciplinarian approach to child rearing. Similarly many of his critiques of theologies of childhood made more recently were excellent and really stimulating. To be honest, I surprised myself in how much I cheered along to this book – even though I would be from a much more conservative position. And this is why I’m surprised at myself – the basis of his theology would be very different to mine: his source for theology is in lived experience more than objective revelation, his basis in liberation theology was not a basis I would hold to. Yet, it is very well written, well referenced and much of it striking, albeit in a very strongly worded way.
Here is my main critique – in seeking to avoid an adult theology of the child, I fear Stollar has constructed an adult theology of the child. Whilst what he suggests is better than what was there before, it struck me particularly in the final chapter that the racially and minority aware picture has the problem of being another adult construct that is to inform the child. The whole shape of child liberation theology doesn’t come from the child but from an adult. This appears, to me, to undermine the system.
Secondly, I see the focus on structural sin in response to the overwhelming focus on personal sin. But the removal of structural sin has similar problems – it has the danger of bringing about an identity crisis that means the child cannot make sense of themselves or the world around them.
But overall, this is definitely worth reading by someone who knows his stuff and writes clearly and well.

[Marissa Burt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stollar's The Kingdom of Children offers a liberation theology centered around the interests and perspectives of children. There is much to consider here, from thought-provoking theological positions like a childcentric hermeneutic and exploration of Jesus-as-child to practical applications like child community safeguarding and examples of how to include children in corporate worship and community life.

A few things I particularly liked:

-The definition of terms and organization/structure of the book help make the academic content accessible for lay readers and across progressive/conservative lines. Stollar defines his terms and writerly choices clearly. He explains his intended purpose and credentials, introduces readers to liberation theology as a whole, and places his work within that framework. I also appreciated all the footnotes and citations for further study.

-I particularly enjoyed Stollar's consideration of difficult biblical texts: Lot's daughters, the sacrifice of Isaac, Elijah and the bears, and other often overlooked stories get attention and model for readers how to consider perspectives of children in our reading of Scripture.

-I appreciated how every chapter closed with suggestions for ways to include children. This helped bridge the obvious gap of an adult writing to other adults about a liberation theology of children and offered topics to springboard discussion.

I found this thought-provoking book to be a welcome addition to my bookshelves and look forward to reading more from Stollar.

[Joseph Sverker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is certainly a much needed and important book. Stollar also makes many interesting and valuable points. He writes into a specific context (as many liberation theologians do) and that is the American context with a particular interest towards evangelical, or fundamentalist settings. However, he does acknowledge that the problem in the American context is not exclusive to home schooling.

I really do think that people should read this book because of the importance of the subject. I myself have a slightly different take to theology and I understand liberation theology different from Stollar. He defines it as the aim of self-determination. I find that I bit too narrow a definition, and also, as I find it at other places in the book as well, Stollar has a more individualist anthropology than me. As I see it liberation theology is more about freedom and, well, liberation. With children, as with adults, I would say that it is a liberation into relations, not inte independence (which self-determination can too easily be understood as).

Stollar makes some very interesting interpretations of Bible passages and something really happens when one so actively take a child-perspective. There are some points where I don't follow along though and where I think the reading is stretch a bit too much. Take for example his reading on Lot and his daughters. He interprets the daughters to have been sexually exploited and scarred by abuse and that is why they then have sex with Lot. I think a text should be read in its context even if I also think it has a message for us today. But first of all, yes, Lot offers his daughters, but the angels step in before anything happens. Psychologically we can imagine this being scarring for the daughters - at least in our culture - but most likely the daughters, just as Lot, would think that the sanctity of hospitality is the higher value here and probably think that their father did the right thing, even if it was wrong. Although I wouldn’t really know because I do not think the text bears out on a psychological reading. But if the daughters were never sexually abused in the text, then it kind of falls that they would have been scarred by that later in the text. After all Lot is celebrated as a righteous man. I think Stollar’s points in his Bible readings are very important and much needed, but I do prefer them when he is closer to the text.

The book's strongest points are when Stollar writes about the child in the church to my mind. The chapters on the child as prophet, priest and teacher should be read by every priest and pastor as I see it.

Overall the book could have been helped with a little bit more heavy editing, particularly when it comes to the references.

[Christine V. Hides · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stollar is a child advocate with extensive knowledge of the homeschooling movement and its impacts. He has written what he describes as the second book on child liberation theology. If you have ever struggled to interpret Bible stories about children in ways that value and care for children, I recommend chapters 3-5. My personal favorite chapter was “Seeing Children as Theologians” which dives into the relationship between theology and play.

The book creates a structure on which a child liberation theology might be built. Stollar suggests activities to engage children in this work. As he says, “If the point of liberation theology is to give a group of humans the right and power to learn and speak about God on their own terms, then would not child liberation theology require children to create and lead the theology themselves?” This work challenges practitioners and theologians to put children’s voices first in the emergence of a robust, robust, and liberative child theology.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for caregivers, faith leaders and anyone who wants to make our society a safer place for children. I found Ryan’s book so accessible, practical and intersectional which I appreciated so much. After each chapter, there’s a section to help facilitate your own discussion and action points as you implement liberation in your homes, churches and beyond.
Ryan brings a needed perspective and lived experience to this important topic and I’m so grateful his book is out in the world.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A liberation theology of the child that centers children in our theology and ecclesial life, arguing for their full humanity and their place as participants in the life of the whole church.

What place do children have in your church? Do you send them off to children’s church while adults do real church? Have we ever thought that we might learn from children? How much do children participate in the leadership of the church? Do we seek their input about curriculum and programs? How do we handle passages in scripture where children are featured, particularly where children in some way bring the word of God or act for God (think of Miriam and Samuel as children for example)?

R.L. Stollar raised all these questions for me in The Kingdom of Children. The book is subtitled “A Liberation Theology,” which for some may be off-putting. By this, Stollar centers the child in his theology, particularly the marginalized, suffering child. Like other liberation theologies, Stollar considers them as the image of God, even as marginalized, sometimes because of abuse, and often treated as less than full participants in the life of the Christian community. One of the most fascinating things is his consideration of God as child in the incarnation–the baby Jesus who does cry, pee and poop, who goes through the terrible twos “learning obedience,” who asserts his place to sit with religious teachers at twelve.

Stollar begins by looking at the situation of children both around the world and in the U.S., and how often they are vulnerable to abuse, even more if they are part of another marginalized group, and how they are often stripped of agency. This makes the case that child do need a liberation theology for them. Then he lists thirteen questions he thinks we must ask in developing a child liberation theology.

Several chapters are devoted to how we love children as we read the Bible, beginning with seven elements that need to be present including focusing on how children’s roles are featured, how we exclude children from stories, how stories where children are absent may imply a lot about children, and especially, that we need to read the Bible with children. He discusses how we read both the bad and good stories, the binding of Isaac as an example on one hand, and the stories of Miriam and Samuel on the other..

He turns from hermeneutics to theology, considering first the other gods as children and then Jesus as child. He considers children as God-to-us and particularly how we should not see them, including as vipers(!), subordinates, tools, blessings to collect (think “quiver full”), property, consumers, or as addenda to our lives. This is followed by chapters on children as prophets, priest, and theologians, particularly as theologians of play. One of the important insights here is to recognize that children, while not cognitively mature are capable of asking profound spiritual questions, having a spiritual inner life, and gaining insights that the whole community may benefit from.

To welcome children in this way is not to adultify them but to recognize their gifts to us as children. He argues that we need to see them as children, and understanding child development, at least in a basic way, is important for those who work with children. Stollar also presses us to think about how wide our welcome is: wide enough for the racially diverse? for those with disabilities? the neurodiverse? He contends for robust child protection systems to be in place for all children, but especially these groups, who are more subject to abuse.

Stollar concludes with inviting us to think about what it means for the kingdom to belong to children. One of the delightful features of this book is how Stollar practices this idea throughout, writing the book in accessible and not academic language and by providing an “including children” section in each chapter. I’m intrigued that Stollar even proposes including children in aspects of church leadership, especially in decisions that involve them.

I see the number of youth walking away from the churches they were raised in and can’t help wondering if the subtle ways we treat them as marginal, “junior” members that discounts both their human dignity and the work of God in their lives, contributes to this exodus. This book made me think about my own childhood. I actually think I was fortunate to have teachers and mentors recognized the work of God in me, who empowered me and others of us. It’s also making me think about the children in my own congregation and how we can welcome and learn from and empower them. I think Jesus would smile on this.

____________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

[Jeanne Casteen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kingdom of Children by RL Stollar should be required reading for every faith leader in the country. In this book, Stollar centers children and provides a blueprint for all of us to elevate the voices and the lives of children. He pushes back against the notion that modern-day evangelicals are “pro-child” by pointing out the many ways in which children are oftentimes treated like property who are deemed sinful at birth, and are valued only when they are silent and obedient.

He encourages all of us to lead, in all of our endeavors, with our most vulnerable children in mind. He advocates for children being the architects of their own spiritual journeys, and to actively engage them to share their spiritual beliefs, questions, and concerns whenever they arise. While far too many people who call themselves “Christians” view their own “parental rights” to be the most important aspect of their faith, Stollar asserts that it is the rights of children that should be the North Star to guide us in our faith, our policies, and our communities.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for parents, ministers, teachers -- anyone concerned with the love, care, and elevation of children, especially in a religious context -- this book is trauma-informed, deeply researched, and carefully written. Our world (and our culture within it) is profoundly anti-child. Children's needs and lived experiences are belittled and ignored, often by the very people who profess a belief in Jesus (in Stollar's words, the God-Child), who showed the adults around him that living in His Kingdom means adopting a posture of hospitality, attention, and empowerment toward children. In other words, the Creator of the Universe doesn't see children the way we tend to -- and this is truly Good News for kids!

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really glad for this book, bringing together so many things I've read on Stollar's blog. In a world that devalues children and uses "childish" to belittle, Jesus (God the Child) told us to learn from children and become child-like. The Gospel is good news for everyone, especially for the "least of these."