The modern world is well aware of the multiple problems posed by the death or the mental or physical absence of one of the parents of children.

INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF FATHERLESSNESS Trefwoorde: Weeskind, Kinderhuis, Aanneming, Voogġ. Keywords: Orphan, Orphanage, Adoption, Guardian Part 5 offers a brief conclusion that notes both personal and institutional responses by Christians to the plight of orphans. Part 4 discusses the treatment of orphans in early Christianity, focusing on the pre-Constantinian period. Part 3 surveys the recognition of orphans' vulnerability in ancient Babylon, ancient Israel and early Judaism, ancient Greece, and imperial Rome. Part 2 identifies five factors (inadequate public health care, low life expectancy, war deaths, death during childbirth, and differences in age at first marriage for men and women) that contributed to the high incidence of orphans in antiquity.

Part 1 gives the ancient definition of 'orphan' as a 'fatherless child' and statistical estimates for the percentage of children who had lost their father. E-mail: article provides an overview of the problem of orphans in the ancient Mediterranean world and identifies ways in which various societies acknowledged orphans' plight and sought to address it.

Orphans in Mediterranean antiquity and Early Christianityĭepartment of Theology, University of Notre Dame (USA), and Faculty of Theology, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

Widows and orphans in word 2010