PART I: SOURCES.

1. BEGINNING WITH REAL FAMILIES AND CHILDREN.

Family Forms.

Global Upheavals.

Theological Responses.

Theology and Families: Arguments and Themes.

2. THE BIBLE IN THE SERVICE OF FAMILIES.

Families Then and Now.

The Bible and Critical Familism.

Family-Friendly Readings.

3. THE TEACHING OF JESUS ABOUT FAMILIES AND CHILDREN.

The Teaching of Jesus about Families.

The Teaching of Jesus about Children.

Parents, Children and Priorities.

Loving Neighbours, Loving Children?.

4. RELATIONS, FAMILIES AND THE TRIUNE GOD.

Relations and Families.

Love as a Relation.

Families and the Trinity.

The Gift of a Child.

Our Families and Ourselves in God’s Image.

Families and Structural Sin.

PART II: RELATIONS.

5. SPOUSES AND PARTNERS.

Do Families Need Marriages?.

Disputes about evidence.

‘Marital Values’ and the Problem of Commitment.

6. CHILDREN, PARENTS AND RIGHTS.

Where are the Children?.

The Defence of Children’s Rights.

The Christ Child and the Rights of all Children.

7. GOD, PARENTS AND CHILDREN.

God the Father and Human Parenting.

God the Father: Revisionary Proposals.

Parenting, Divine and Human.

Parents, Children and Sacrificial Love.

8. OPEN FAMILIES: CHOOSING TO BE CHILDLESS.

Extending Families.

Families and Neighbourhoods.

Open Families and the Teaching of Jesus.

Choosing Childlessness.

Chosen Childlessness: an Appraisal.

9. FAMILIES AND THE ‘DOMESTIC CHURCH’.

Families and the ‘Domestic Church’.

Families and the Local Church.

The Churches and Pro-Family Policies.

Bibliography.

Index