cover image Walking Tall in Babylon: Raising Children to Be Godly and Wise in a Perilous World

Walking Tall in Babylon: Raising Children to Be Godly and Wise in a Perilous World

Connie Neal, C. W. Neal. Waterbrook Press, $13.99 (240pp) ISBN 978-1-57856-580-1

What can youth today learn from the biblical hero Daniel and his buddies Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? Plenty, writes Connie Neal in Walking Tall in Babylon: Raising Children to Be Godly and Wise in a Perilous World. Neal argues that in contrast to the sons of the reformer-king Josiah, who were given every advantage and protection in Jerusalem but did not internalize their father's example, Daniel and friends were raised in the blazingly secular world of Babylon but grew up to be courageous moral exemplars. In this guidebook for Christian parents, Neal emphasizes the need to teach children an inner moral code, rather than blind adherence to external controls, and to be fully involved in nurturing children's spirituality.