Religious Socialisation

It is no accident that parents pass on their faith to their children. Will faith be threatened with discontinuation? Reason enough for the Universitair Centrum voor Theologie en Pastoraat (University Center for Theology and Pastoral Studies) in Heerlen, to organise a colloquium on The transgenerational mediation of faith. Attention was mainly focused on the question of what consequences a changing social and cultural situation has on the mediation of faith. The problem was discussed by four speakers. E. Henau looked at the subject from the point of view of the history of culture; R. J. Schreiter addressed the special situation in Western Europe; H.J. Heimbrock put pedagogical and psychological questions to practical theology and J. A. van der Ven examined ecclesiological aspects in the light of results of an inquiry among youngsters into questions concerning death. Three of these lectures have been included in this volume. The colloquium has inspired other theologians to write articles on the church and the mediation of faith (A. de Jong), on moral socialisation (H.-G. Ziebertz) and on the various models of revelation present in the religious consciousness of modern humanity (C. A. M. Hermans).