Children in the New Testament and its World

Children, whom Jesus declares the possessors of his Kingdom in the synoptic gospel accounts, have famously been called the “nobodies” of the first-century world. While recognizing the validity of both these textual and historical claims, my research seeks to complicate the presumed dichotomy that they present. By examining the narrated lives of first-century children both in the textual and historical worlds of the synoptic gospels, I suggest a more expansive understanding of both the value and vulnerability of children in the New Testament texts and its surrounding contexts.