First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity - Hardcover

Hahn, Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385496613 ISBN 13: 9780385496612

Publisher: Image, 2002

Synopsis

Scott Hahn has the rare ability to explain the essential teachings of Catholicism in a totally accessible manner. Rather than burdening the reader with difficult or arcane references and arguments, he writes of familiar feelings and situations and allows the theology to unfold naturally. In First Comes Love, Hahn turns his attention to the search for a sense of belonging, revealing the intimate connection between the families men and women create on earth and the divine family, the Holy Trinity.

Delving into the Gospels, Hahn shows that family terminology--words like brother, sister, mother, father, and home--dominates Jesus' speech and the writings of His first followers, and that these very words illuminate Christianity's central ideas. As he explores the fatherhood of God, the marriage of the Church to Christ, and the all-enveloping role of the Holy Spirit, Hahn deepens readers' understanding of the sacraments, teaches them how to create a family life in the image of the Trinity, and demonstrates the ways in which the analogy of the family applies to every aspect of Catholicism and its practices--from the role of "father" embodied by the ancient patriarchs and contemporary parish priests, to the comfort and guidance offered by the brothers and sisters who comprise the Communion of Saints, to the nurturing embrace of Mary, the mother of all Christians.

Through real-life examples (both humorous and compassionate) and quotations drawn from the Scriptures, Hahn makes it clear that no matter what sort of family readers come from--no matter what sort of "dysfunction" they have experienced--they can find a family in the Church. Reaching out to newcomers and to lifelong Christians alike, First Comes Love is an invitation to discover a true home in the divine.

About this title

Review

Scott Hahn, in First Comes Love, uses the idea of family to explain Catholic thought about the Trinity. Hahn believes that the relations among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are a model for the relations among every nuclear unit composed of father, mother, and child. And he believes that the family of the Church helps people emulate the Trinitarian family and can heal them when they fall short of such holiness. Hahn moves easily from personal anecdote to Scriptural analysis, making his case that Jesus understood all of humanity as part of one family when he called his followers brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. First Comes Love makes the salutary point that neither romance nor parenthood alone can give us a sufficient sense of belonging. "God built us all to live in a much larger family, to experience a much larger love ... a love that extends infinitely." --Michael Joseph Gross

From the Back Cover

"Hahn reflects simply yet profoundly on the nitty-gritty of life, love, relationships, marriage, and family in the context of the bedrock doctrines of Christian Faith. His retelling of the story of our salvation in Jesus Christ opens up to the truth of our origin and destiny in the one God, a Trinity of divine Persons who abide in a communion of love--a love stronger than sin and death. This book is full of good news and solid answers to life’s tough questions."
--Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Denver

"It is a joy to recommend this most recent accomplishment of Scott Hahn to anyone looking for a faith-filled, Spirit-driven, and completely delightful exposition of the meaning of family in all of its divine and human implications."
--Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, Bishop of Pittsburgh

Edition details

• Publisher: Image
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0385496613
• ISBN 13: 9780385496612
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224