This unique volume contributes a profound-autism perspective to the ongoing discussion of belonging in the church. By taking readers into two church communities, the author explores the issues of belonging from those least welcomed by the church and consider what the church should do differently. Adopting a “we” approach, she emphasizes the unity of different members in Christ. As one body in Christ, all believers share Christ’s sonship and become children of God. The household concept invites readers to reconceptualize Christian relationships as covenantal kinship. The kinship relationship is established by God’s covenantal commitment fulfilled in Christ. With or without autism, any person who obeys God’s summons is incorporated into Christ’s body by the Spirit to become God’s child. Believers are thus siblings to one another. Viewing each person this way enables us to see beyond human differences and welcome one another as God’s gifts and indispensable members of the community.

While the canonical scriptures were produced over many centuries and represent a diverse library of texts, they are unified by stories of divine covenants and their implications for God's people. In this book, Scott Hahn shows how covenant, as an overarching theme, makes possible a coherent reading of the diverse traditions found within the canonical scriptures. Biblical covenants, though varied in form and content, all serve the purpose of extending sacred bonds of kinship, Hahn explains. Specifically, divine covenants form and shape a father-son bond between God and the chosen people. Biblical narratives turn on that fact, and biblical theology depends upon it. The author demonstrates how divine sonship represents a covenant relationship with God that has been consistent throughout salvation history. --From publisher's description.

David A. deSilva demonstrates in this book how paying attention to the cultural themes of honor, patronage, kinship and purity opens us to new facets of the New Testament documents.

Mark R. Glanville and Luke Glanville offer a new approach to compassion for displaced people: a biblical ethic of kinship. Challenging the fear-based ethic that often motivates Christian approaches, they demonstrate how this ethic is consistently conveyed throughout the Bible and can be practically embodied today.

A team of scholars offers keen insights into family customs and culture in the Bible, providing a vision for family life today.

God as Father in Paul explores Paul's use of the kinship term "Father" to refer to God, along with related familial terms ("children" of God and Christ-followers as "brothers and sisters"), as part of a study of the use of kinship language in the identity formation of early Christianity. Mengestu argues that these kinship terms are shared modes of identity constructions within the wider textual and cultural settings (the Roman Empire, the Roman Stoic philosophers, the Hebrew Bible, and ancient Jewish literature) from which Paul draws on as well as contests. Employing theoretical (kinship and social identity theory) as well as interpretative approaches (imperial critical and narrative approaches to Paul), he contends that Paul uses God as Father consistently, strategically, and purposefully, in both stable and crisis situations, to develop a narrative, orienting framework(s) that images the community of Christ-followers as a family that belongs to God, who, together with the Lord Jesus Christ, bestows on them equal but diverse membership in the family. The narrative so constructed forms the foundation for referring to Christ-followers as "children of God" and "brothers and sisters" of one another. It constructs boundaries and serves as nexus of transformation and negotiation.

Does your knowledge of the Old Testament feel like a grab bag of people, books, events and ideas? Sandra Richter gives an overview of the Old Testament, organizing our disorderly knowledge of the Old Testament people, facts and stories into a memorable and manageable story of redemption that climaxes in the New Testament.

A study of the early Christian church in the Mediterranean region and its emphasis on collective good over individual desire clarifies much about what is wrong with the American church today.

These commentaries part of a set from noted Bible scholar, John MacArthur, take readers on a journey through biblical texts to discover what lies beneath the surface, focusing on meaning and context, and then reflecting on the explored passage or concept. With probing questions that guide the reader toward application, as well as ample space for journaling, The MacArthur New Testament Commentaries are invaluable tools for Bible students of all ages. This work on Galatians is part of a New Testament commentary series which has as its objective explaining and applying Scripture, focusing on the major doctrines and how they relate to the whole of the Bible. This New Testament commentary series reflects the objective of explaining and applying Scripture, focusing on the major doctrines and how they relate to the whole of Scripture. This volume is a study of the Book of Galatians.