This is another of recent attempts to develop a theology of childhood. Jensen's book has a strong social justice element to it. There is much here about the violence and exploitation of children. When he addresses the question of Original Sin he is not content to see children as totally depraved (despite his Reformed roots), but neither is he ready to see them as entirely innocent. Children, he argues, are not so simple as to be reduced to one or the other. They are complex. They are a mystery in very real terms. For him they are born into a state of vulnerability and already begin to bear the wounds of the world. But they are not mere victims—they are actors and acted upon—nor does sin have the final word. Children are also graced. They connect us all and model for us the vulnerability that is fundamental to Christian discipleship. He writes, "The point of Christian language about sin is not to explain away the suffering of the world, but to address it in all its complexity and to point to the hope that sin does not utter the final cosmic word. Only by taking sin seriously, in all its facets and from the faces of its victims, does the word of redemption ring as something other than a comforting sop" (95). Throughout it all Jensen seeks to accept and learn from children as they are, as having something to offer now and not merely in the future. "Children grow into adulthood, but adults also learn from children. Each stage of human life is precious and valuable in its own right, not in terms of what it precedes, but as God elects all stages of human life" (123). Whereas Jensen is more non-traditional than I am in ways which occasionally make me uncomfortable, I read this book with benefit. I especially loved his emphasis on vulnerability as fundamental to Christian practice and the Christian liturgy as being made up of practices of vulnerability.