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Where Does God Live? Questions and Answers for Parents and Children
Takes an ecumenical look at the mysteries surrounding God and answers the simple yet profound questions children often have about the deity.
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 20, 2014
Highly recommend this, found it helpful in career as well as personal life
January 6, 2021
2.5/3 stars
I absolutely loved a collection of Rabbi Marc Gellman's midrashim for children that I picked up somewhere, so I wanted to check out this Q&A style book that he wrote with his friend Thomas Hartman, a Catholic priest. There was a lot to like, but a few things I didn't love or just didn't make it a great fit for me. Mostly, I don't think this is a great independent read for kids (unless they are Jewish or Catholic), but would do better as a sort of discussion read or comparative religions text? Since we already do scripture study (with plenty of commentary) with our kids, I don't really want to give them another religious discussion text right now (they are very young). But if we were raising our kids without religion then this might be a really good read as an introduction to general beliefs about Jehovah (the God of the Old Testament).
- The book is organized according to questions children have. I liked this a lot. Religion, philosophy, public policy, all of these things start with questions: questions are important. If a child and parent read this together then you could discuss how your answers to these questions are different (or if you're doing a comparative religions study, you could compare how other religions or atheism/humanism answer these questions differently).
- The book is an interfaith effort: it focuses on commonalities between religion (not just Judaism and Catholic Christianity, though predominately those two). This was not always successful, in my opinion, but I loved that the focus is on what is shared. I wish that was more commonly done.
- There's a light, humorous tone, and yet the importance and value of religion and spirituality is not undermined. Sometimes too much is sacrificed in making something kid-friendly, but Gellman and Hartman do a nice job (no surprise since this is what they do!)
- There's a tolerance for questions, "things we don't know," anger at God, etc. Really liked that.
- The God described in their book is very compatible with science. They explain that the value of scriptures and miracles is in what they teach us about our relation to God, not necessarily in whether the events are literally true. In adult-speak: Don't get too hung up on archaeology, appreciate the scriptures for what they teach us about God's love and dealings with us. Amen!
The only reason I didn't give it 4 stars is because sometimes the language felt a little too elementary to me and because a few points of doctrine don't really work with my theology so it wasn't as useful as I hoped it would be--though it was a good reminder of some theological differences I always seem to forget about... ha!
I absolutely loved a collection of Rabbi Marc Gellman's midrashim for children that I picked up somewhere, so I wanted to check out this Q&A style book that he wrote with his friend Thomas Hartman, a Catholic priest. There was a lot to like, but a few things I didn't love or just didn't make it a great fit for me. Mostly, I don't think this is a great independent read for kids (unless they are Jewish or Catholic), but would do better as a sort of discussion read or comparative religions text? Since we already do scripture study (with plenty of commentary) with our kids, I don't really want to give them another religious discussion text right now (they are very young). But if we were raising our kids without religion then this might be a really good read as an introduction to general beliefs about Jehovah (the God of the Old Testament).
- The book is organized according to questions children have. I liked this a lot. Religion, philosophy, public policy, all of these things start with questions: questions are important. If a child and parent read this together then you could discuss how your answers to these questions are different (or if you're doing a comparative religions study, you could compare how other religions or atheism/humanism answer these questions differently).
- The book is an interfaith effort: it focuses on commonalities between religion (not just Judaism and Catholic Christianity, though predominately those two). This was not always successful, in my opinion, but I loved that the focus is on what is shared. I wish that was more commonly done.
- There's a light, humorous tone, and yet the importance and value of religion and spirituality is not undermined. Sometimes too much is sacrificed in making something kid-friendly, but Gellman and Hartman do a nice job (no surprise since this is what they do!)
- There's a tolerance for questions, "things we don't know," anger at God, etc. Really liked that.
- The God described in their book is very compatible with science. They explain that the value of scriptures and miracles is in what they teach us about our relation to God, not necessarily in whether the events are literally true. In adult-speak: Don't get too hung up on archaeology, appreciate the scriptures for what they teach us about God's love and dealings with us. Amen!
The only reason I didn't give it 4 stars is because sometimes the language felt a little too elementary to me and because a few points of doctrine don't really work with my theology so it wasn't as useful as I hoped it would be--though it was a good reminder of some theological differences I always seem to forget about... ha!
March 3, 2024
Nice book of open-minded thoughts about God for kids.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews