Barrett, Justin (2001). Do children experience God as adults do? In Religion in Mind, ed. Jensine Andresen (Cambridge).
An interesting chapter from a book that emphasizes research on the cognitive dimensions of religion.

Broadbent, L. (1995). Making sense of the spiritual and moral. In S. Inman, & M. Buck (Eds.), Adding value? schools responsibility for pupils’ personal Development. Stoke on Trent: Trentham.

Broadbent, L. (1998). The problems and persistence of the spiritual. In G. Edwards, & A. Kelly (Eds.), Experience and education: Towards an alternative national curriculum. London: Paul Chapman.


Elkind, David (1977). The origins of religion in the child. In Current Perspectives in the Psychology of Religion, ed. H. N. Malony (Eerdmans).
A summary of the literature, similar to what he did in the Merton Strommen text (above).


Elkind, David (1978). Religious development. In The Child's Reality: Three Developmental Themes (Erlbaum).
A summary of his own research on religious development, including children's concepts of God, their concepts of denomination, and their views of prayer. Elkind is best known for his later work on "Growing Up Too Soon," and in academic circles he is known for his introducing Piaget's theory to American educators in the late 1960's and 1970's, but prior to these accomplishments he studied children's concepts of religion.

Francis, Leslie (2000). Research methodology. In Religion in Education, Volume 3, Distance Learning, ed. William Kay, Leslie Francis (Gracewing).
This chapter, consisting of three sections related to the research methods involved in researching religious education and church schools, is written by Leslie Francis with the help of William Kay on the third section that deals with statistical considerations. Leslie Francis is one of the foremost researchers of children's religion and spirituality in England, with a long list of publications, many of which can be considered classics in the field. While this chapter emphasizes methods of research, a fine summary of her substantive research results is available in the book she edited with Kay and Campbell (see above).


Hood, Ralph; Bernard Spilka; Bruce Hunsberger; Richard Gorsuch (2004). Childhood: Stages in Religious Development. In The Psychology of Religion, 3rd ed., (Guilford).
Religious development has often been considered a subcategory of the psychology of religion, although it is somewhat unusual that an entire chapter is given to children. Children's spirituality has also been associated with the disciplines of education, religion, anthropology, and the sociology of religion.


Peshkin, Alan (1986). Schooling for spirituality. In God's Choice (University of Chicago Press).
Peshkin is a first-rate researcher who studied a fundamentalist school in the Chicago area.

Priestley, J. (2000). Moral and spiritual growth. In J. Mills, & R. Mills (Eds.), Childhood studies: A reader in perspectives of childhood (pp. 113-128). London: Routledge.


Rosengren, Karl; Carl Johnson; Paul Harris (Eds.)(2000). Imagining the Impossible (Cambridge).
This volume brings together a wide variety of scholars who consider the thinking and experience of children that is related to the supernatural, magic, and imagination. While much of the developmental literature emphasizes the increased scientific rationality of children as they get older, this volume documents the ability of children to go beyond the rational even as they acknowledge the constraints that come with rationality. Perhaps these chapters may be helpful in forming new and robust theories of spiritual experience by children.
Recommended Chapters
4. The development of beliefs about direct mental-physical causality in imagination, magic, and religion--Jacqueline Woolley
5. Intuitive ontology and cultural input in the acquisition of religious concepts--Pascal Boyer and Sheila Walker
12. Knowledge change in response to data in science, religion, and magic--Clark Chinn and William Brewer
13. Theology and physical science: A story of developmental influence at the boundaries--David Schrader 


Tamminen, Kalevi; Kari Nurmi (1995). Developmental theory and religious experience. In Handbook of Religious Experience, ed Ralph Hood (Religious Education Press).
While Tamminen's book (listed previously) is difficult to locate, his work is included in several of the other volumes described above as well as in this text.


Vergote, Antoine (1969). Religion during childhood. In The Religious Man (Pflaum).
Vergote is a researcher who has not published a great deal in English, but has done some excellent research with children in Belgium.

Washburn, Michael (2000). Transpersonal cognition in developmental perspective. In Transpersonal Knowing, ed. Tobin Hart, Peter Nelson, Kaisa Puhakka (SUNY).
As a whole, this book is more oriented towards adult Eastern religious perspectives. In contrast, this chapter is somewhat more oriented towards consideration of children and Judeo-Christian perspectives, although the author often emphasizes the commonalities between Christian experience and that of Eastern religions.


Watts, Fraser; Rebecca Nye; Sara Savage (2002). Children and adolescence (chapter 5) and Religious development (chapter 6). In Psychology for Christian Ministry (Routledge).
All of the authors of this volume are members of the Psychology and Religion Research Programme at the Centre for Advanced Religious and Theological Studies at the University of Cambridge in England. Rebecca Nye's work has been noted earlier in several other books.

Winterskill, B. (2000). The contribution of schools to pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. In J. Cairns, R. Gardner & D. Lawton (Eds.), Values and curriculum. London: Woburn Press.

If you know of other book chapters that summarize or report research related to children's faith, religion, and spirituality, we would appreciate suggestions for additions to the database. You may contact us here . Thank you.