Marriage, Family and Relationships

Family life has undergone revolutionary changes in Western society in the last sixty years, posing both theological and ethical challenges for the contemporary church. This book responds with wide-ranging essays on sexuality, marriage, family life, singleness, same-sex relationships, violence against women, anthropology, gender and culture. These chapters are essential reading for anyone concerned with Christian teaching on marriage and the family. They balance a clear loyalty to the church’s historic and biblical teaching with a recognition that all doctrine is contextualized. There is a growing gap between the ethics of many Christians and those of wider society. So Christians have to be counter-cultural. But the church also has to be self-critical, differentiating between biblical revelation and cultural development. And it must know how to present unchanging Christian convictions to a constantly changing society. The contributors are Andy Angel, Daniel Block, Rosalind Clarke, Barry Danylak, Andrew Goddard, Stephen Holmes, David Instone Brewer, A. T. B. McGowan, Nicholas Moore, Onesimus Ngundu, Oliver O'Donovan, Ian Paul, Andrew Sloane, Katy Smith, Elaine Storkey and Sarah Whittle. Whittle Are we sexed in heaven? Bodily form, sex identity and the resurrection Ian Paul Deferring to Dad's discipline: family life in Hebrews 12 Nicholas Moore Evidence of non-heterosexual inclinations in first-century Judaism David Instone-Brewer Part 2: Doctrinal and contemporary perspectives Marriage in early, Christian and African perspectives Onesimus Ngundu Human sexuality and Christian anthropology A. T. B. McGowan 'One man and one woman': the Christian doctrine of marriage Oliver O'Donovan Covenant partnerships as a third calling?: A dialogue with Robert Song's Covenant and Calling: Towards A Theology of Same-Sex Relationships Andrew Goddard 'Male and female he created them'? Theological reflections on gender, biology and identity Andrew Sloane Shadows across gender relations Elaine Storkey On not handling snakes: late-modern cultural assumptions about sexuality Stephen Holmes