The Pedagogy of the Christian Home: Motherhood, Domestic Practice, and Religious Futures

Within many conservative Christian communities, motherhood is framed not only as a familial role but as a vocation tied to the transmission of religious identity and moral order across generations. This paper examines how maternal labor functions as a form of domestic pedagogy by focusing on everyday practices through which religious enculturation occurs within the home. Drawing on scholarship in lived religion and material religion, the study analyzes how domestic practices—including homeschooling, food preparation, household discipline, clothing norms, and family prayer routines—organize the home as a pedagogical environment in which children learn religious identity and moral authority. Homemaking discourse and social media maternal networks further circulate models of Christian domestic life across digital spaces. By examining the material and pedagogical dimensions of these practices, the paper argues that maternal labor within the Christian home plays a central role in shaping the religious futures cultivated within conservative Christian communities.