Kenneth Bailey, with his celebrated insights into Middle Eastern culture, traces the theme of the good shepherd from its origins in Psalm 23 through the prophets and into the New Testament, observing how it changed, developed and was applied by the biblical writers over a thousand-year span.

The story of Jesus keeping watch over his sheep. John 10:1-18 for children.

Anyone familiar with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd has probably encountered the early description of this approach to the religious formation of the child in The Good Shepherd and the Child: A Joyful Journey. With major contributions by Sofia Cavalletti, Gianna Gobbi, Silvana Montanaro, and Patricia Coulter, this book has long been a “core text’ for catechists and also for parents of children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Now there is a new edition, which reflects the changes in the presentations and the materials that Sofia Cavalletti made in the years before her death in August 2011. The original contributions of the authors are retained in Part I. In Part II, long time catechist and one of the first US catechists to study with Sofia Cavalletti, Rebekah Rojcewicz, has carefully outlined the current methods and developments in the work. This includes a selection of the key parables and scripture texts that are presented to the children. She also offers a new Introduction in which she describes the process by which the original authors and founders of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd came to recognize the child’s potential for a relationship with God and learned what nurtures that experience. The original art work by Julie Coulter-English is retained in this new edition.

The Good Shepherd is a visual retelling of the biblical lesson as taken from The Complete Guide to Godly Play. The book recreates the experience of hearing this core and possibly best-loved, best-known Bible story as a supplement to Godly Play or as a stand-alone bedside reader. For Christian educators, parents, grandparents, godparents—anyone who desires to engage in sharing faith and biblical stories in any setting, especially all those in the Godly Play community: trainers, storytellers, teachers, parents, and children.

A companion to the author's A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23, written around John 10.