Customer Reviews

Family, The,: A Christian Perspective on the Contemporary Home

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I was delightfully surprised at the complex view of family that this book takes. If the reader is holding a rigid American -conservative "Christian" view of family, then this book will be utter torture. It challenges how Christians of today look back a view generations and idolize the "family" of that time as the ideal biblical family. However, with Jack Balswick's keen sociological perspective, he is able to create in the reader an awareness that each believing generation struggles with the issue of what if means to be a biblical, Christ-honoring family. The Balswicks finish the book with a hard look, sociologically and theologically, at the current state of the family in our culture. They clarify exacltly what is happening to families inside and outside of the church, and consider some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Church's response to these current cultural and familial trends. If you're looking for a book that is going to exegete texts to prove a formula for the biblical family, well, pass this one up. However, if you're looking for a work that considers the greater themes of Scripture, the overriding character of God as Father, and how you can navigate the insanity of our current cultural state without moving to the vacant spaces of Idaho, then delve into this one and expect to be challenged, encouraged, and equipped.

The biblical model for family relationships proposed by the authors provides an easy to understand framework to explore family problems of today. The basic concepts of covenant love, forgiving grace, empowering service and intimate knowledge, which comprise this model, constitute a major advance in the formulation of a theology of family relationships.

Jack and Judith Balswick present a comprehensive theological and sociological framework for healthy marriage and family living. They interact with traditional and non-traditional models while proposing their own alternative view. Against their proposed theological framework a discussion of a wide array of marital and family issues is provided.

The Balswicks contend that the best theological basis for understanding how families are to function is found in God's relationship as parent to Israel and groom to the church as bride. While allowing that there are many individual texts in scripture relating to family life they argue that those passages are often interpreted without regard for the cultural context within which they were written, or the wider context of biblical revelation, and often with a modern western traditional family overlay. Citing a number of authors who share similar views the Balswicks present a four-stage sequential but non-linear model of family relationships: covenant, grace, empowering, and intimacy.

Covenant is characterized by unconditional love and commitment. Grace grows out of the security provided in covenant commitment. Empowering occurs in an atmosphere of grace. Intimacy flourishes against the backdrop of empowerment. All of this results in deeper and deeper levels of commitment and issues forth more grace, empowering, and intimacy. It is a dynamic process. With this model in place various family life concerns are filtered through this framework.

Topics examined in this book are:

Marital issues (mate selection, strengthening marriages, models of Christian marriage)

Parenting issues (goals of parenting, child development, adolescence, midlife, later life)

Sexuality (gender roles, authentic sexuality)

Communication (expressing love, expressing anger,, achieving intimacy, resolving conflict)

Social dynamics of family life (power and empowering, stress and strain, divorce and remarriage)

Family life in modern society

Healthy shaping of the family in today's culture

There are numerous illustrative figures and tables that reinforce the Balswicks' presentation. They cover a wide range of topics including: types of commitment, types of love relationships, styles of parenting, styles of conflict management, various developmental theories, and rules for fair fighting among many other concerns.

The Balswicks have provided the reader with a valuable distillation of their considerable theological, sociological, and family systems knowledge. While I have not found myself in total agreement with them on all points I have found their arguments to be well-reasoned and challenging. I will recommend this book to any instructor who is teaching a course on family life or to any student who is struggling to develop an overarching theological framework for family. Their discussion of gender roles and power is especially relevant in a modern society and church.

In my opinion this is one of the best researched and clear resources on marriage and family. I would recommend it to anyone almost without thought.

I found this book to be relevant, practical and very profound. It is an excellent view of the examination of the Christian family in today's culture. I would highly recommend it!

The Balswick provide an excellent basis for understanding the family from a Christain context. They deal with theological and psychological issues in a language that is easy to understand and informative to people with various levels of training. They deal with a broad range of topics in a sensative, yet intelligent manner. This book is a must for every church library!

I was hoping this book would be a thorough study of all the Bible passages related to family (marriage, parenting, fathers, mothers, discipline, etc.). The authors use a few passages to establish the general "Christian" themes of grace, forgiveness, respect, etc. They do not look at the many passages that specifically address how children should be taught, the role of the father, etc. They then analyze various cultural trends, sociological studies, perspectives, etc, from the viewpoint of these limited "Christian" themes. Their analysis is helpful, particularly in understanding the various social and cultural forces at work in modern America. However, their analysis is insufficient since many pertinent biblical texts are never addressed.

So yes, this is a valid "Christian" perspective since the authors are Christian and are able to assess from their personal view. But it's not really "Christ's" perspective on the family since they have omitted studying much of what God has already said about the family.