Cognitive and socio-cultural development of religious belief in children / Emily Rachel Reed Burdett

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burdett, Emily Reed, 1981- author.

Series:

Cambridge elements. Elements in the psychology of religion

Cambridge elements. Elements in the psychology of religion, 2753-6866

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Children--Religious life.

Children.

God--Knowableness.

God.

Psychology, Religious.

psychology of religion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026

Summary:

"Our knowledge of how children come to understand God and engage in religion has changed dramatically in the past century. This Element describes research from the past few decades of how children use both cognitive tools and socio-cultural experience to understand supernatural concepts and will argue that future work needs to examine the complexity and diversity of religious cognition. It begins with a historical overview (Section 1), followed by four different approaches that propose how children develop a concept of God (Section 2). Early studies on the development of God concepts are examined (Section 3), along with children's views of other divine attributes (Section 4), and other key aspects of children's understanding of religion (Section 5). Then, Section 6 examines how the content and context of religious concepts impact religious cognition. The Element concludes with recent work on socio-cultural input (Section 7) and recommendations for future directions (Section 8)"-- Cambridge Core

Contents:

Introduction, definitions and early approaches

An introduction to four theoretical approaches for understanding the development of God concepts

A cognitive developmental approach to understanding the God concept of omniscience

Children’s conceptualisation of other divine supernatural agent attributes

Children’s understanding of supernatural agency, origins and the afterlife

The content and context of children’s cultural learning

Social-cultural influences on religious cognition

Future directions and conclusion

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references

Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed May 19, 2026)

Other Format:

Print version: Burdett, Emily Reed, 1981- Cognitive and socio-cultural development of religious belief in children

ISBN:

9781009461924

1009461923

OCLC:

1585481266

Publisher Number:

CIPO000377139

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license