The Birth of Childhood: Christianity's Revolutionary Impact

It is astonishing the number of values we inherit from Western Christian culture but are oblivious to their origins. Progressive/Leftists decry the mistreatment of women apparently unaware that the equality of women is a western, Christian value, taught in the Bible but originally nowhere else. Or the equality of every member of the human family in Genesis 1.

in his remarkable essay, “How Christianity Invented Children,”

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry reminds us of this.

“We have forgotten just how deep a cultural revolution Christianity wrought. In fact, we forget about it precisely because of how deep it was: There are many ideas that we simply take for granted as natural and obvious, when in fact they didn't exist until the arrival of Christianity changed things completely.” 

Gobry asks us to consider the lives of children in the pre-Christian world. They were “non-persons.” A mother’s love for her children was considered a sign of “weakness and vulgarity.” Children were more like plants than human beings. The power of an adult male was absolute. In Rome a father had the right to kill his child until he came of age. A very, very late term abortion. 

Like a number of Asian countries today ancient Rome had a lopsided gender ration—far more boys than girls. This was due to the practice of expositio—the abandonment of unwanted infants. Girls were far more likely to be abandoned than boys. Today we call this the “ultrasound undertaker;” determining the sex of a child through an ultrasound and terminating it on the basis of its gender.

The pagan world’s acceptance of homosexuality is often viewed as enlightenment but such progressive ideas were of no help to children. Most exposed children died but those who were “rescued” were often sold into slavery. And the best way for a child to generate revenue was in a brothel. Some brothels specialized in child sex, with boys being particularly sought after. 

The Christian commitment to the well being of children is a consequence of a deeper, greater value: “The radical equality, the infinite value of every human being as a beloved child of God.” A stupendous and revolutionary idea says Gobry. 

Christianity is governed by the biblical doctrine of the sanctity of life. I have argued elsewhere that this idea has existed only in cultures influenced by the Bible. It comes originally from Genesis 1:27: Every person on earth is created in the image of God and is of infinite worth and value. It is the most powerful social idea of all time. From it comes most of the ideas we hold dear—that the Progressive/Elite hold dear: human rights, the equality of all human beings, women’s rights, the political, religious, and economic freedom of the individual.

When Christianity arrived on the scene it applied this doctrine to children. Statements by Jesus we simply pass over without much thought were revolutionary. One was, “Permit the little children to come unto me. For of such is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 19:14) We live in an age when Christianity’s teaching on moral issues is increasingly under fire. But it’s critics have no clue as to what they are destroying. They are committing cultural suicide. Just ask the children.

Isaiah 57:4,5: Whom are you mocking?
    Against whom do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
    the offspring of deceit,
you… who slaughter your children in the valleys,
    under the clefts of the rocks?

When cultures begin to paganize the first victims are often children. They start with abortion, but that leads to more child abuse. Then they normalize divorce which hurts children more than anything else. Now there is the current rage of dismembering children in the name of gender transition. And at this point we must mention the general hostility to children throughout Western culture—I am speaking of the birth dirth. The decision of millions of adults simply to not have children. What could be more hostile to a child than to deny him the opportunity to exist. The Christian church stands against these outrages and is determined to protect children—the weakest amongst us.

We thank our God and give Him glory for telling us the value of children.

More: “The Overpopulation Hysteria”; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJgr4wQBss

Pascal Emmanuel-Gobry: How the West invented childhood:

http://theweek.com/articles/551027/how-christianity-invented-children

Anthony Esolen on the Left’s war on children:

https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/turning-on-children?utm_source=Crisis+Magazine&utm_campaign=577f9329e3-Crisis_DAILYRSS_EMAIL&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_a5a13625fd-577f9329e3-28475396&mc_cid=577f9329e3&mc_eid=a40cb5b88c



The Progressive Left and the removal of children from cities: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-urban-family-exodus-is-a-warning-for-progressives/ar-AA1ofLOv

The hostility of modern culture toward children:

https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/04/free-the-children