Storytelling and conversion in children

This thesis explores storytelling and its use in conversion in children. Bernard Lonergan identifies a three-fold conversion: intellectual, religious and moral. Intellectual conversion allows us to distinguish between the world of immediacy and the world mediated by meaning. Religious conversion points us towards God, and moral conversion acknowledges a distinction between satisfactions and values, and it is committed to values even when they oppose satisfactions. It begins with an overview of storytelling, storytellers, and stories and how they are used in communities to facilitate intellectual awakening to our world constituted by meaning. It then moves to the stories of Jesus, where children discover God and begin to develop a relationship with him. It is helpful for parents and other caregivers to have some understanding of how children grow and develop. Developmentalists will help in the understanding of psycho-social, cognitive, moral and faith development in children. Finally, anthropologist Robert Coles reflects on the mystery involved in the development of moral persons. The development of a religious sense in children begins at birth. Stories, and in particular, the Jesus stories, are used to help children develop a relationship with God, and to ultimately make choices based on values rather than rules. Our desire is to help children choose actions that are true and good; to choose long-term value over short-term satisfaction. Storytelling can be used as an introduction to God, and is important in the development of religious imagination, for stories can evoke a more powerful faith than doctrine.