Chapter I: Preface

In the work of religious education, with which the present series of books is concerned, the life of the family rightly occupies a central place. The church has always realized its duty to exhort parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, but very little has ever been done to enable parents to study systematically and scientifically the problem of religious education in the family. Today parents' classes are being formed in many churches; Christian Associations, women's clubs, and institutes are studying the subject; individual parents are becoming more and more interested in the rational performance of their high duties. And there is a general desire for guidance. As the full bibliography at the end of this volume and the references in connection with each chapter indicate, there is available a very large literature dealing with the various elements of the problem. But a guidebook to organize all this material and to stimulate independent thought and endeavor is desirable.

To afford this guidance the present volume has been prepared. It is equally adapted for the thoughtful study of the father and mother who are seeking help in the moral and religious development of their own family, and for classes in churches, institutes, and neighborhoods, where the important problems of the family are to be studied and discussed. It would be well to begin the use of the book by reading the suggestions for class work at the end of the volume.

With a confident hope that religion in the family is not to be a wistful memory of the past but a most vital force in the making of the better day that is coming, this volume is offered as a contribution and a summons.

The Editors

New Year's Day, 1915

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. An Interpretation of the Family 1

II. The Present Status of Family Life 10

III. The Permanent Elements in Family Life 27

IV. The Religious Place of the Family 37

V. The Meaning Of Religious Education in the Family 46

VI. The Child's Religious Ideas 60

VII. Directed Activity 75

VIII. The Home as a School 87

IX. The Child's Ideal Life 101

X. Stories and Reading 110

XI. The Use of the Bible in the Home 119

XII. Family Worship 126

XIII. Sunday in the Home 145

XIV. The Ministry of the Table 164

XV. The Boy and Girl in the Family 173

XVI. The Needs of Youth 183

XVII. The Family and the Church 198

XVIII. Children and the School 212

XIX. Dealing with Moral Crises 218

XX. Dealing with Moral Crises (_Continued_) 231

XXI. Dealing with Moral Crises (_Continued_) 240

XXII. Dealing with Moral Crises (_Concluded_) 249

XXIII. The Personal Factors in Religious Education 259

XXIV. Looking to the Future 268

Suggestions for Class Work 281

A Book List 290

Index 297