Robert Coles

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Review of The Spiritual Life of Children

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SOURCE: Review of The Spiritual Life of Children, in The New Yorker, Vol. LXVI, No. 47, January 7, 1991, p. 76.

[The following brief review characterizes the method and scope of Coles' work in The Spiritual Life of Children.]

The noted child psychiatrist, social researcher, and writer recalls that in his earlier investigations he found that children often spoke spontaneously of religion, but he didn't pursue the subject until Anna Freud suggested that he review the research he had accumulated over thirty years. Coles didn't just rework his old material. He undertook new interviews; sessions in which children drew; and group discussions on several continents, among children who were Christians, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, and agnostics. Like adults, the children were seeking explanations of such ultimate questions as "Who made the world?" and "Why do we die?" Few accepted religion by rote; most made an intellectual effort to interpret the faith they had been taught and apply it to their own lives. Though far from uncritical, they were generous and tolerant, overflowing with desire for the good as they understood it. Perhaps children interested in religion constitute an exceptionally sensitive group; in any case, the moral attraction of Coles's subjects is irresistible.

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