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Mrs Lewis has written a delightful book. Her subtle and illuminating use of anecdote, her refreshing and direct style of interpretation, always clearly distinguished from her observations, make for easy reading and carry conviction. At the same time she modestly reveals her excellent gift for understanding children and their inner world.
The avowed aim of this volume is to show the importance of taking into account modern discoveries in child psychology, and in particular Jung's theory of types and the inner world, when giving children an appreciation and understanding of Christianity through religious instruction. Her thesis is that children inevitably develop a natural religion of their own caused by the activity of archetypes. Religious instruction needs to be adapted to these developing systems while giving place for the home influence and the child's individual characteristics.
On the whole there is an adequate account of Jung's ideas about archetypes, attitude and function types, though she identifies the archetype with its image, and so lands herself in some theoretical pitfalls; she also assumes that intuition and sensation are the functions which predominate in infancy and that thinking and feeling come later. Nobody has ever established this.
There is a rather marked omission: too little importance is given to the early relationship between mother and infant, though a special chapter is devoted to infancy. It is here that the basic feelings about bodily relationships are established, and no amount of good instruction about sexual and parental instincts and roles in their religious setting will alter them. Because the author has omitted to give sufficient importance to this period, teachers and parents will be deprived of understanding the cause of many disappointments.
Undoubtedly this book will help those who are aware that religious instruction often fails to make children into Christians and will show the way to better understanding of religion. Though writ