Everyone knows there are differences between the religiosity of children, youth, and adults. We need no reminder that growing older can bring profound and diverse changes in the way individuals pray, talk about God, and worship. Equally obvious is the diversity we find in the public face of adult religion and in the private thoughts and feeling of those from the same religion. But what is the common core in all this diversity? Is there a basic mother structure of religious feeling and thinking that binds the diversity we find across ages and across different expressions of public and private religion? This volume of New Directions for Child Development addresses these questions from the developmental perspectives of different theories. More specifcally, the volume is about the development of private religion and the inner dynamic that pushes children, youth, and adults to construct and reform their views and change their feelings as they mature and adapt to life's new problems. This is the 52nd issue of New Directions for Child Development. For mre information on the series, please see the Journals and Periodicals page.