A "Consultation on Childhood Studies and Religion" has been approved as a new program unit at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The overall aim of the Consultation is to investigate a number of important but relatively unexplored issues in the field of religion regarding children. The Consultation's specific goals are the following: (1) to provide a forum for focused interdisciplinary and interreligious dialogue about children and religion; (2) to heighten academic interest in this topic in all fields represented in the AAR; (3) to prepare scholars in religious studies to contribute to wider academic discussions about children; and (4) to lend the voice of the Academy to current questions of public policy and child advocacy. The focus of the consultation is both timely and significant, given the present concern for children in our culture and the rising interdisciplinary academic interest in childhood. In general, members of the steering committee hope that this consultation will provide a forum at the AAR for sustained and informed reflection on children and childhood and thereby enable a community of scholars to develop a new line of academic inquiry regarding children and religion.

For more information about the Consultation, including its current "Call for Papers," see the web site of the AAR (www.aarweb.org) or contact its co-chairs: Marcia Bunge, Christ College, Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN 46383; Marcia.Bunge@valpo.edu; and Bonnie Miller-McLemore, The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University, Office 209, Nashville, TN 37240; bonnie.miller-mclemore@vanderbilt.edu.