Abstract
This chapter offers a framework for understanding expressions of spiritual development in the behaviours and experiences of young adolescents (aged 10–15). Drawing loosely on the wisdom and models of rites of passage traditions, links are made between the deliberate communal coming of age ceremonial processes and the personal experiences of contemporary adolescents who are often left to accomplish the same developmental tasks in peer groups or in individual processes. Rites of passage included a deliberate acknowledgement of their spiritual significance and specific tasks, activities and means to insure appropriate spiritual education in a coming of age process. The communal absence of these rites now does not diminish adolescent attempts to come of age in spiritual terms.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Blos, P. (1979). The adolescent passage: Developmental issues. New York: International Universities Press Inc.
Berger, K. S. (1988). The developing person through the life span. New York: Worth Publishers.
Coles, R. (1990). The spritual life of children. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Eliade, M. (1958). Rites and symbols of initiation (W.R. Trask, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
Encarta® World English Dictionary. (1999). Microsoft Corporation. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gilligan, C. (2002). The birth of pleasure. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Gutterridge, D. (Ed.). (1979). Rites of passage. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
Hart, T. (2003). The secret spiritual world of children. Maui: Inner Ocean Press.
Hoffman, E. (1992). Visions of innocence: Spiritual and inspirational experiences of childhood. Boston: Shambhala.
Mahdi, L. C., Foster, S., & Little, M. (Eds.). (1987). Betwixt & between: Patterns of masculina and feminine initiation. Las Salle, IL: Open Court.
Mandela, N. (1994). Long walk to freedom: The autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Boston: Little Brown.
Markstrom, C. A., Berman, R., Sabino, V. & Turner, B. (1998). The ego virtue of fidelity as a psychosocial rite of passage in the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Child and Youth Care Forum, 27(5), 337–354.
Maslow, A. (1970). Religion, values, and peak-experiences. New York: Viking.
McPhilips, K. (2007). Shifting shelves: The struggle for identity and spirituality in the work of three young women artists. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 12(3), 233–248.
Raphael, R. (1988). The men from the boys: Rites of passage in male America. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press.
Robinson, E. (1983). The original vision. New York: The Seabury Press.
Sullwold, E. (1987). The ritual maker within at adolescence. In L. Mahdi, S. Foster, & M. Little (Eds.), Betwixt & between: Patterns of masculine and feminine initiation. La Salle, IL: Open Court.
Scott, D.G. (2004). Retrospective spiritual narratives: Exploring recalled childhood and adolescent spiritual experiences. International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 9(1), 67–80.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Scott, D.G. (2009). Coming of Age as a Spiritual Task in Adolescence. In: de Souza, M., Francis, L.J., O’Higgins-Norman, J., Scott, D. (eds) International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 3. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_25
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9018-9_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-9017-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-9018-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)