Spiritual concepts in children's 1994 contemporary realistic fiction.

摘要

This qualitative inquiry explored two spiritual concepts in children's literature during the year of 1994. These concepts were a belief in a power greater than self and a belief in an existence after death. The study focused on these two spiritual concepts in realistic contemporary fiction for grades three through six. The researcher read recommended children's literature for the year of 1994 and analyzed the nature of these spiritual concepts.; One hundred forty-five recommended books were selected from professional journals as samples of exemplary contemporary realistic fiction. As the books were read 1,179 incidents of the two spiritual concepts were documented. Each incident was categorized as a belief, an act associated with a belief, or a symbol of the spiritual concept. Ninety-four books had at least one incident of a spiritual concept.; The 852 spiritual concepts classified as a belief in a power greater than self occurred in 88 books with the mean number of spiritual concepts of 9.68 incidents per book with a frequency of 6.77 per 100 pages. Incidents of a belief in a power greater than self were categorized as 79 beliefs, 69 acts, and 704 symbols. The 327 spiritual concepts classified as a belief in an existence after death occurred in 61 books with a mean number of spiritual concepts of 5.36 incidents per book with a frequency of 3.54 per 100 pages. The 327 incidents were categorized as 109 beliefs, 20 acts, and 198 symbols.; Analysis of the reading journal revealed that spiritual concepts occurred in contemporary realistic children's fiction. The belief in God is more frequent than beliefs in other powers. The most common incident of a belief in an existence after death involved a belief in ghost. A Christian lifestyle is presented only at a nominal level, and with the exception of prayer, few lifestyle actions are presented. Female characters more often express beliefs and participates in acts involving spiritual concepts than male characters. Jewish and Christian characters were present with the Jewish faith discussed with more detail and passion than the Christian faith.