Playing with Pictures of Paradox: Children and Christology in Søren Kierkegaard and Godly Play

This article explores how Jerome Berryman’s Godly Play curriculum offers a corrective to Søren Kierkegaard’s late Christology by holding crucifixion and resurrection together in a dialectical both-and. Whereas Kierkegaard progressively isolates the crucified Christ from Easter and collapses his theological vision into an ascetic either/or, Godly Play presents children with a two-sided picture of Jesus—crucified and eucharistic—that sustains paradox and community. The authors argue that this child-centered pedagogy reveals children’s capacity to bear theological redoubling, uniting suffering with rebirth, story with feast, and individual vulnerability with communal belonging. By juxtaposing Kierkegaard’s neglect of children with Godly Play’s inclusive sacramental practice, the article highlights the theological and ecclesial impoverishment that results from excluding children from the eucharistic table. Ultimately, the authors contend that Kierkegaard’s paradox can still enrich child theology when reframed within practices that embrace interdependence, community, and the transformative mystery of Jesus Christ as both crucified and risen.