Like all liberation theologies, child liberation theology places the subjects of liberation—children—at the center of the hermeneutical process. Child liberation theologians must read biblical narratives with an eye towards children: (1) towards childrens’ roles in any given narrative, (2) towards their marginalization from narratives, (3) towards what childless narratives contribute to the general theme of children, and (4) what implications any given narrative has for our praxis here and now with regards to child liberation.  I will look at each of these four categories individually.

I also include the idea of child protection in each of these categories, as I believe child protection is both a fundamental aspect of, as well as a key mechanism for achieving, child liberation. As suggested by Brazilian liberation theologian Hugo Assmann, the social context of marginalized individuals should be a point of departure for exegesis. “The text is our situation,” Assmann writes in Theology for a Nomad Church. This idea…