ABSTRACT
Whatever the case, childhood was a dangerous time and death, disease and malnutrition frequent visitors, so that, even with large families, the reality was that many a child had to face the likelihood of an early grave. Consequently much religious teaching focused on obedience and the need for early redemption. Living with the likelihood of death is not an historical phenomenon, either. Even to this day it is estimated by UNICEF that some eight million children a year die ‘unnecessarily’ throughout the world, because of the exigencies of poor diet, inadequate housing and medicine, inappropriate labour and conditions of cruelty; a serious indictment of the world of adults in the new millennium!
