Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #731994 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

A respectable theology of children and poverty
Couture has written a respectable theology of children and poverty. She affirms: "Poverty is a social, economic, and political problem of enormous proportions and complexity, and children are its most vulnerable victims" (2000:11). In Seeing Children, Seeing God Couture develops four important themes. First, "Children's poverty is conditioned by two overlapping categories of poverty- material poverty and the poverty of tenuous connections" (2000:14). This section is well developed and documented. Second, "Children's poverty must be overcome by building relationships with vulnerable children. This work of care is a means of finding God" (2000:14). This sacramental view of ministry is insightful and helpful. Third, "The work of care through the right relationship between mercy and piety is biblically grounded" (2000:15). Couture makes and outstanding case here. Finally, "Through this work of care- by practicing the means of grace and the work of mercy and piety- the church can genuinely transform itself and influence society and culture" (2000:15). Couture develops each of these themes clearly and convincingly. This theology considers material, relational, biblical and even ecological issues but fails to adequately address the issue of the evangelization of children. True poverty is spiritual poverty. There is no greater destitution than living separated from the saving grace of Jesus Christ. This emphasis is sorely missing.

Wanted: Mentors for Children
Church leaders have often referred to children as "the church of tomorrow." Yet, as Pamela Couture so vividly reminds us, children are the church of the present. Moreover, children have not been given the care and attention they rightly deserve. Couple this observation with an additional element of poverty, and the end result is an all but forgotten stratum of society.
Children in general, and specifically children residing in poverty, represent largely neglected target audiences for the average contemporary church. This is an unfortunate oversight, as children are so often a window to the very heart of God. Churches may support local, national, and/or international children's interests financially, and even have a token internal structure for programming, but rarely is there meaningful one-on-one mentoring, community care, and ongoing outreach. Couture is one voice calling the church to acts of mercy for those who are most vulnerable in our several cultures.
Toward this end, relationships are the primary bridge-builders of community care. The author is careful to remind her readers, who perhaps may be guilt-stricken as a result of her stark commentary, "Do not rush to save the world" (61). It is better to offer quality care to even one, than window-dressing to hundreds. The church can help, but it is time to start!
Pastors and church leaders will appreciate Couture's juxtaposition of mercy and piety, and the biblical bases for each. For pastoral care to be practical, though, it must have a means of tangible expression. The author clearly brings this point to bear in several frames of thought. The church's relevancy is not to be found in ideological ivory towers, but in streets and lanes where "the least of these" reside.

Disappointing
Pamela Couture's work was a huge disappointment. The title and subtitle hinted at a worthy topic--"a practical theology of children and poverty." However, the book failed to adequately convey what it promised.

In the first section Couture attemted to place into narrative what would have been better served through charts and graphs. The statistics supporting the supposition of child poverty are alarming, yet, to convey them in laborious prose was conter productive. Further, almost anyone paying attention to life already know that our children suffer great material poverty and "tenuous connections." In my opinion, many wasted pages were committed to portraying something that would already be understood by the reader.

As I moved into her later sections regarding a "practical theology" I was greatly disappointed. I sensed I was being exposed to a theology of poverty, then expected to make the not-so-logical leap that this theology automatically applied to children. Further, her theological argument was weak and not well-informed. And, as to being "practical," I saw little praxis in her development of her theology of children.

While I would not call Couture's work a failure, I would suggest that it was merely an elementary attempt at dealing with the poverty of children. In other words, it read to me like the first of many need revisions that may have resulted in a work worthy of applause.