Family in the Bible: Exploring Customs, Culture, and Context

What does the Bible say about the importance of the family? How can we apply these ancient perspectives to modern Christian life? The essays gathered in this volume provide reflections from leading biblical scholars.
The authors focus on reading the Scriptures from the perspective of the authors in ancient Israelite society and the surrounding cultures. They find there an overarching sense of the central role the family played in the larger social structure. However different our contemporary culture might be, these reflections can form the basis of an evangelical vision of the family informed by a biblical worldview.

Richard S. Hess (PhD, Hebrew Union College) is distinguished professor of Old Testament at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado, and editor of the Denver Journal. He is the author or editor of more than forty books, including Ancient Israel's History, Israelite Religions, Song of Songs in the Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms, and the commentary on Joshua in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries series.

M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas) (PhD, University of Sheffield) is Scripture Press Ministries Professor of Biblical Studies and Pedagogy at Wheaton College and Graduate School in Wheaton, Illinois. He previously taught for many years at El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and then at Denver Seminary, where he founded IDEAL, a Spanish language training program. Carroll is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including The Bible and Borders: Hearing God's Word on Immigration, Wrestling with the Violence of God: Soundings in the Old Testament, and a major commentary on the book of Amos.