For Theirs Is the Kingdom: Inclusion and Participation of Children in the Gospel according to Luke

Images of Jesus blessing children adorn Sunday schools across the globe. Nevertheless, interpreters typically flatten Jesus’ interaction with children into a handful of scenes, suggesting that children were the exception rather than the rule in Jesus’ ministry. In contrast, historical evidence suggests that Jesus’ first-century world was teeming with children.

Re-reading Luke’s gospel in this light, For Theirs Is the Kingdom interrogates the role and presence of children among Jesus’ early f...