Against the Generation Gap: Thinking “Otherwise” about Adolescence

Abstract

Prevailing cultural views of adolescence are the product, this article argues, of a long, multidimensional process of social construc-tion. Employing a double reading of this process, this article analyzes the difficulties religious educators face on account of the reified nature of this social construction. Drawing on philosophical and psychological understandings of human flourishing, this article presents and argues for a different way of thinking about adolescents and the religious congregation's role in religious education.

About the author

David S. Penn is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Theology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. E-mail: [email protected]