Drawing on examples from British world expressions of Christianity, this collection further greater understanding of religion as a critical element of modern childrenâs and young peopleâs history. It builds on emerging scholarship that challenges the view that religion had a solely negative impact on nineteenth- and twentieth-century children, or that âsecularizationâ is the only lens to apply to childhood and religion. Putting forth the argument that religion was an abiding influence among British world children throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, this volume places âreligionâ at the center of analysis and discussion. At the same time, it positions the religious factor within a broader social and cultural framework. The essays focus on the historical contexts in which religion was formative for children in various âBritishâ settings denoted as âAngloâ or âcolonialâ during the nineteenth and early- to mid-twentieth centuries. These contexts include mission fields, churches, families, Sunday schools, camps, schools and youth movements. Together they are treated as âsitesâ in which religion contributed to identity formation, albeit in different ways relating to such factors as gender, race, disability and denomination. The contributors develop this subject for childhoods that were experienced largely, but not exclusively, outside the âmetropoleâ, in a diversity of geographical settings. By extending the geographic range, even within the British world, it provides a more rounded perspective on childrenâs global engagement with religion.
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