This volume is both a celebration and an evaluation of the work on sex, marriage, and family life by Don S. Browning, the dean of modern family studies in theological ethics and practical theology. Scholars probe a number of Browning?'s contributions, particularly his call for an ethic of ?equal regard? within the household and wider society. This book is a true interdisciplinary effort, with insights from psychology, history, law, theology, biology, ethics, feminist theology, childhood studies, and education theory. The Equal-Regard Family and Its Friendly Critics includes seven honorary forewords, ten original essays, and a concluding essay by Don Browning himself. Contributors: Herbert Anderson Carol Browning Don S. Browning Lisa Sowle Cahill M. Christian Green Timothy P. Jackson Martin E. Marty Rebekah Miles Bonnie J. Miller-McLemore Richard Robert Osmer Garrett E. Paul Stephen J. Pope David Popenoe Stephen M. Tipton Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen Linda J. Waite John Wall Amy Wheeler Barbara Dafoe Whitehead John Witte Jr.

In "Equality and the Family" Don Browning pulls together essays he has published in the past in order to shed light on the path we should take in the future. He contends that practical theology can be envisioned as a practical research program, and he uses the very concrete example of the family to illustrate how this works.Though it may sound unlikely that equality in the family can be based on Christian ideas, Browning insists that it can and that it should. His desire is to be pro-family and pro-marriage in ways that create justice and equality within the family. Based on this goal, he argues for the church's ideal model of the mother-father partnership to be balanced with an understanding and acceptance of the pluralism of family forms as a part of modern life, including church life. A brief introduction of each essay is included to help the reader understand the original context of the piece.

Explores family not as a problem but as a mystery in order to understand its current controversial character.

Psychologist of religion, ethicist, theological psychologist, cultural critic, philosophical anthropologist, marriage and family expert, practical theologian, and religion and law scholar -- these are some of the many labels one could use to describe the history of Don Browning's work. Yet in spite of the multi-faceted nature of Browning's work, abiding themes and central concerns consistently emerge. Perhaps the title which best describes Browning's noteworthy contributions is that of 'horizon analyst.' Browning is always at his best when he is helping us see the world of implicit assumptions and normative images which govern various perspectives. He has an eye for metaphors which, as his mentor Ricoeur famously said, give rise to thought. Perhaps Browning's greatest academic asset has been his ability to explore the philosophical underpinnings of various psychological theories. This book focuses on Browning's rich investigative journey into Freud's dual instinct model, the relationship between human biology and culture, evolutionary psychology, William James' instinctual pluralism, Erik Erickson's notion of generativity, the ethical implications of self-actualization in the humanistic psychologies of Rogers and Maslow, evil and self-realization in Carl Jung, the place of self-injury in the thought of Heinz Kohut, as well as other issues. Beginning with a discussion of Browning's critical hermeneutical approach, heavily influenced by Gadamer, Ricoeur, and David Tracy, this book then systematically explores Browning's critical assessments of the most significant contemporary psychological movements.

Across four decades, John Witte, Jr. has advanced the study of law and religion by retrieving religious sources of law, renewing timeless teachings of religion for today, and reengaging with the difficult issues confronting society. Interdisciplinary, international, and interfaith in scope, Witte’s work has generated an enormous body of scholarship. This collection of essays by leading scholars examines his impact and maps new directions for future exploration.

The Oxford Handbook of Theology, Sexuality, and Gender presents an unrivalled overview of the theological study of sexuality and gender. These topics are not merely contentious and pervasive: they have escalated in importance within theology. Theologians increasingly agree that even the very doctrine of God cannot be contemplated without a prior grappling with each. Featuring 41 newly-commissioned essays, written by some of the foremost scholars in the discipline, this authoritative collection presents and develops the latest thinking in these areas. Divided into eight thematic sections, the Handbook explores: methodological approaches; contributions from neighbouring disciplines; sexuality and gender in the Bible, and in the Christian tradition; controversies within the churches, and within four of the non-Christian faiths; and key concepts and issues. The final, extended section considers theology in relation to married people and families; gay and lesbian people; bisexual people; intersex and transgender people; disabled people; and to friends. This volume is an essential reference for students and scholars, which will also stimulate further research.

Through engagement with theologies of adoption, pro-natalism, marriage, and queer theology, Susannah Cornwall figures developments in models of marriage and family not as distortions of or divergences from the divinely-ordained blueprint, but as developments already of a piece with these institution's being. Much Christian theological discussion of family, sex and marriage seems to claim that they are (or should be) unchanging and immaculate; that to celebrate their shifting and developing natures is to reject them as good gifts of God. However models of marriage, family, parenting and reproduction have changed and are still, in some cases radically, changing. These changes are not all a raging tide to be turned back, but in continuity with goods deeply embedded in the tradition. Alternative forms of marriage and family stand as signs of the hope of the possibility of change. Changed institutions, such as same-sex marriage, are new beginnings with the potential to be fruitful and generative in their own right. In them, humans create new imaginaries which more fully acknowledge the interactive nature of our relationships with the world and the divine.

This revised edition of The Family Metaphor in Jesus' Teaching examines the family metaphors for God (Father) and for believers ("children," "brothers") that Jesus chose to use. Jesus not only held up a child as an example of receptivity, but he defended actual children, warning against despising "one of these little ones." Using current discussions of the "equal-regard family" and of the importance of "human fathering," Stephen Finlan explores how the gospel entails a changed model of parenting and of marriage and a new approach to spiritual growth.

Engaging with contemporary thought on love and the family, Bernard Wong argues that our notion of love has been deeply influenced by modern technological culture and political ideologies, leading to the detriment of familial relationships. Dr Wong demonstrates how Christian doctrines can be used to critique and resist these ideologies. Through a careful analysis of Christ’s love expressed in his life, death, and resurrection, the author presents a notion of Christ’s love bearing the characteristics of fraternal, incarnational, and unfolding love. These aspects of Christ’s love are pertinent to the relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, and families and their neighbours. It is through practicing Christ’s love that Christians strengthen their familial relationships and bear witness to Christ in the world.

At the heart of Christian ethics is the biblical commandment to love God and to love one's neighbor as oneself. But what is the meaning of love? Scholars have wrestled with this question since the recording of the Christian gospels, and in recent decades teachers and students of Christian ethics have engaged in vigorous debates about appropriate interpretations and implications of this critical norm. In Love and Christian Ethics, nearly two dozen leading experts analyze and assess the meaning of love from a wide range of perspectives. Chapters are organized into three areas: influential sources and exponents of Western Christian thought about the ethical significance of love, perennial theoretical questions attending that consideration, and the implications of Christian love for important social realities. Contributors bring a richness of thought and experience to deliver unprecedentedly broad and rigorous analysis of this central tenet of Christian ethics and faith. William Werpehowski provides an afterword on future trajectories for this research. Love and Christian Ethics is sure to become a benchmark resource in the field.