""Today we recognize that families come in interesting shapes and sizes︣each with their own dynamics. This is certainly true of the many families in the Bible. With keen psychological insight and spiritual reflection Kamila Blessing offers readers new perspectives on families then and what this can mean for how families are viewed now."︣Frederick H. Borsch, Episcopal Bishop of Los Angeles (Ret), Chair of Anglican Studies at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia" ""Has Kamila Blessing used familiography as a vehicle for writing theology? It's a question well worth asking of her provocative and stimulating book.︣D. Moody Smith, Jr., George Washington Ivey Professor Emeritus of New Testament, The Divinity School at Duke University" "The most profoundly alone being in the Bible is God. The second is Jesus. In fact, the single person turns out to be of central importance in the Bible, despite the overwhelming emphasis on extended biological families.^
Since the only consistent way of constituting "family" in the Bible is "covenant," the orphan, the single person, the gay person, and others who are often ion the fringes of the Church are just as much part of the family of God as the husband-wife-child unit." "Paradox: there is no one kind of "biblical" family that we can idealize and recreate in the modern world. Thus, we must think of the principals of faithful family life demonstrated in the Bible and express them in a new way. That is the idea underlying Families of the Bible: A New Perspective.^
Examining themes related to family health, connection, spirituality, and psychology, the author relates stories from the Bible to modern-day experience in an effort to help readers strengthen and heal their own families, whatever their structure." "While the book addresses the family of the patriarchs and other major traditional families in the Bible, it also specifically examines Jesus± new definition of family, showing that his psycho-spiritual family has a different, and more inclusive, shape the "normal family."" "The author, who is an Episcopal priest, demonstrates that the God of the Bible is faithful in providing for his people. The many disadvantaged in our society, as well as those who are alone, and those who have found that wealth does not provide satisfaction, will benefit from this thoughtful reinterpretation."--BOOK JACKET.
