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.

Contents
Introduction
Thomas A. Noble, Sarah K. Whittle and Philip S. Johnston
Part 1: Biblical perspectives

1. The patricentric vision of family in the book of Deuteronomy
   Daniel Block
2. Ordered relationships in Leviticus
   Katy Smith
3. 'Who is this coming up from the wilderness?' Identity and interpretation in the Song of Songs
   Rosalind Clarke
4. The sexuality of God incarnate
   Andy Angel
5. Developing a biblical theology of singleness
   Barry Danylak
6. 'Let even those who have wives be as though they had none': 1 Corinthians 7:29 and the challenge of the 'apocalyptic' Paul
   Sarah K. Whittle
7. Are we sexed in heaven? Bodily form, sex identity and the resurrection
   Ian Paul
8. Deferring to Dad's discipline: family life in Hebrews 12
   Nicholas Moore
9. Evidence of non-heterosexual inclinations in first-century Judaism
   David Instone-Brewer
   Part 2: Doctrinal and contemporary perspectives
10. Marriage in early, Christian and African perspectives
    Onesimus Ngundu
11. Human sexuality and Christian anthropology
    A. T. B. McGowan
12. 'One man and one woman': the Christian doctrine of marriage
    Oliver O'Donovan
13. Covenant partnerships as a third calling?: A dialogue with Robert Song's Covenant and Calling: Towards A Theology of Same-Sex Relationships
    Andrew Goddard
14. 'Male and female he created them'? Theological reflections on gender, biology and identity
    Andrew Sloane
15. Shadows across gender relations
    Elaine Storkey
16. On not handling snakes: late-modern cultural assumptions about sexuality
    Stephen Holmes