This coming autumn I am planning on leading a short series (four weeks) on aspects of human relationships, with each week having its provisional title posed as a question e.g. "A Christian marriage?" In four weeks I cannot possbily do justice to any of the topics I've chosen and of course there are 'places' Baptist ministers aren't permitted to go from the pulpit, though I hope to insert a few hints and glimspes to prompt people to do some thinking for themselves.
A quick Amazon search indicates any number of writings I might pick up, ranging from the 'Banner of Truth' via the 'Kingsway paperback' to the 'Theological Treatise.' What I am looking for is not the 'this is the answer' stuff, but some decent theological writing and wondering what others might have read on:
'Christian' marriage
'Christian' family
'Christian' work ethic
'Christian' responses to complex human situations e.g. multi-parent families, long term unemployment, family breakdown etc.
Anyone who points at the 'sixty minute' anything or 'power of the praying x' will be thumped (in love of course). I am happy to read across the theological spectrum so that I can then help others to think in a more sophisticated way about their own attitudes and lifestyles.
The experiences of the last year have changed me from feeling diffident about tackling such topics in worship to realising that it's the only way some people will ever engage with them. Omission of some topics from the list may say more about a mix of cowardice, pastoral sensitivity and the disicipline of the BUs than suggesting what I might think (waiiting eagerly for the BUGB publications here!).
Comments
A couple of thoughts:
Steve Holmes has done some work on this: http://shoredfragments.wordpress.com/tag/marriage/ though I don't know if he's written anything more formal. Some of his posts are deliberately quite provocative though
Stanley Hauerwas does some stuff on marriage - "Sex in the Public Sphere" is one essay I can think of, but there's some more - I'll try and remember to look them up when I get home tonight and let you know.
Also there was a book floating around called "Sex, Dirt and Greed" which was from a conservatively Liberal spectrum
There's always some feminist theology you could read - some of Lisa Isherwood's stuff comes to mind.
I'll let you know if I think of anything else - this is just the top of my head!
on marriage see John Colwell's chapter in promise and presence
on family see Rodney Clapp's Family at the Crossroads and stuff by Stephen Barton
on work there are books on a theology of work by Miroslav Volf and also darrell codson
On marriage and the family, I think Adrian Thatcher has written a fair bit.
On marriage and the family, I think Adrian Thatcher has written a fair bit.