The Christian Family in Changing Times: The Myths, Models, and Mystery of Family Life

by Robert M. Hicks

For the last thirty years Christians have focused an enormous amount of effort on the health of the Christian family. We've been inundated with seminars, books, videos, audio tapes, web sites, Christian television, and Christian radio. So why is it that instead of growing stronger and healthier and having a deeper impact on culture, the family is worse off than ever? Author Robert Hicks proposes that we have created a family mythology that doesn't...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801063655
• ISBN13: 9780801063657
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Baker Books
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great book if you are uncomfortable with Focus on the Family

et al. It provides a REALISTIC view of what the family looks like today, does a brief history of how families have changed over time and the reality of brokenness in families. Those within the church judge harshly those who do not have the perfect facade of what "christianity" is suppose to be about. Single people, divorced people, and single mothers do not fit nicely into the mold of what "church" is suppose to be about. That my friends, is idoltry, when something becomes more important than God. This book helped me critique just WHY I didn't like FOTF and couldn't put my finger on it because it all sounds so good and right when you hear it. But he is much more gentle than I in this lovely review of mine. I think its time we deal with the reality of the society in which we live and start living in community supporting each other, not judging each other.

Thought provoking!

I would strongly recommend this book. It's short, concise, but packs plenty of punch. As a history and theology major, it's always bothered me that Christians tend to think of the "traditional family" (mom at home, dad works) as something that the Bible dictates. (They need to read Proverbs 31 again!) As Hicks points out, our current notion of the traditional family has a lot more to do with the Christian sub-culture and urban industrialization than it does with the Bible. I'd encourage all of those readers who feel like their marriage and family just don't seem to fit comfortably within the "traditional family" model to spend a couple hours with this book.

Exposing the pink elephant in the "christian family" room

This unassuming little book, with its generic cover and title, blends nonchalantly in with the miriad of similarly packaged products claiming to offer insight into the "Christian family". Don't let these trapping discourage you - this is a gutsy bit of writing, and one not to be missed! Dr. Hick's warm conversational style is the perfect foil for this long over-due questioning of the all pervasive American cultural Christianity spin on the definition and mission of family. His treatise is thoughtful, wise and pointed, yet without a trace of malice for those whose sacred cow he seeks to lead to new pastures.Especially instructive are his chapters entitled "How Hollywood taught me to think about Family" and "Common Myths about the Christian Family". The first includes a gentle correction for "Focus on the Family" dogma and a careful historical deconstruction of the revisionist history that an adherence to "traditional values" requires (along with its subtle elitist social underpinnings). The second involves a sound, biblical, entry-level guide to the gender/role debate.This book belongs in the library of every Christian (single, married, divorced, whatever) who is wrestling with a desire to honor God in the context of their family.