Cultural Models of Religious Parenting

This chapter describes and illustrates the “cultural models” that inform what the vast majority of American religious parents assume and believe about the value and means of passing on religion to their children. It sketches out the cognitive maps that religious parents use to make sense of the task of religious transmission to children. Drawing upon the theory of cultural models developed by cognitive anthropologists, such as Naomi Quinn and Claudia Strauss, it reconstructs the operative cultural models that American religious parents presuppose or believe about the purpose of life, the job of parenting, and the positive role that religion can play in providing children greater resources of happy and successful lives. Emphasis is placed on the pragmatic and functional approach to religion that most parents assume.