Marriage, family and relationships: Biblical, doctrinal and contemporary perspectives

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.ContentsIntroductionThomas A.

Noble, Sarah K. Whittle and Philip S. JohnstonPart 1: Biblical perspectives 1. The patricentric vision of family in the book of Deuteronomy Daniel Block2. Ordered relationships in Leviticus Katy Smith3. ‘Who is this coming up from the wilderness?’ Identity and interpretation in the Song of SongsRosalind Clarke4.

The sexuality of God incarnateAndy Angel5. Developing a biblical theology of singlenessBarry Danylak 6. ‘Let even those who have wives be as though they had none’: 1 Corinthians 7:29 and the challenge of the ‘apocalyptic’ PaulSarah K.

Whittle7. Are we sexed in heaven? Bodily form, sex identity and the resurrectionIan Paul8.

Deferring to Dad’s discipline: family life in Hebrews 12Nicholas Moore9.

Evidence of non-heterosexual inclinations in first-century JudaismDavid Instone-BrewerPart 2: Doctrinal and contemporary perspectives10.

Marriage in early, Christian and African perspectivesOnesimus Ngundu11.

Human sexuality and Christian anthropologyA. T. B. McGowan 12. ‘One man and one woman’: the Christian doctrine of marriageOliver O’Donovan13.

Covenant partnerships as a third calling?: A dialogue with Robert Song’s Covenant and Calling: Towards A Theology of Same-Sex RelationshipsAndrew Goddard14. ‘Male and female he created them’?

Theological reflections on gender, biology and identityAndrew Sloane15.

Shadows across gender relationsElaine Storkey16. On not handling snakes: late-modern cultural assumptions about sexualityStephen Holmes