Wednesday, January 10, 2007

MBR review of Jesus' Family Values

The Midwest Book Review Library Bookwatch for January 2007 reviewed my book:

Jesus' Family Values
Deirdre Good
Seabury Books
445 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
1596270276 $15.00

Written by Professor of New Testament (The General Theological Seminary, New York City) Deirdre Good, Jesus' Family Values is a rigorously scholarly examination of exactly what "family values" and dimensions of the family were in the days of Jesus Christ and the apostles, and precisely what the New Testament has to say - and what it doesn't say - about such matters. Setting scripture in a firm and well-researched historical context, and meticulously noting the nuances of translation as well as which scriptures are considered apocryphal by which churches other factors influencing their interpretation, Jesus' Family Values makes every effort to analytically answer the questions: What were Jesus Christ's family values, and those of his apostles? What does this mean for modern Christians with abiding faith in both God and the importance of family? Of especial note is the keen observation that today's suburban family household divorced from the workplace perhaps resembles Victorian era households more than those of Jesus' time. A desperately needed antidote to proponents of "family values" who quote or misquote snippets of scripture to support specific narrow views, Jesus' Family Values places the highest value of all on truth - and concerning such thorny and controversial topics such as religion, the best way to reach the truth is to offer as much research, evidence, broad-ranging interpretation, and logical means of analysis as reasonably possible and let the reader come to his or her own informed conclusions, precisely as Deirdre Good has done. Highly recommended.

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