This groundbreaking volume contains carefully commissioned chapters that examine the presentation and role of children in the ancient world and specifically in ancient Jewish and Christian texts. The volume is structured in four parts. The first offers overviews of the key methodological approaches employed in the study of children in the biblical world, and the texts at hand. Following on from this three further sections examine key texts in which children or discussions of childhood are featured. These are presented along chronological lines, with sections on the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, on the Intertestamental Literature, and on the New Testament and Early Christian Apocrypha.

This chronological and canonical progression enables readers who read the entire volume sequentially to appreciate how understandings of children change over time. The book also provides a valuable resource for those reading selectively and focusing on a specific period or set of texts. It is relevant to scholars and students interested in the biblical world, as well as cross-disciplinary scholars interested in children in antiquity.