Family matters : the role of Christianity in the formation of the western family / by Anthony J. Guerra. [print]

The Problem: The Contemporary Family -- A Limited Option: Government and the Family -- An Enduring Hope: The Social Sciences on Religion and Family -- The Thousand-Year Campaign: The Church Battles to Reform Marriage -- Augustus: Failed Imperial Family Policy -- Jesus and Paul on the Family -- Jesus: A Unique View of Marriage -- Paul: An Egalitarian View of Marital Relations -- Democratizing Elitist Sexual Ideals: Celibacy and the Power to Change Society -- The Church Begins to Transform Marital Norms and Expectations: The Indissolubility of Marriage -- The Sacralization of Marriage: The New Status Quo of the Family -- The Recovery of Adam's Helpmate: The Rise of Companionate Marriage -- Thomas Aquinas: Marriage as Friendship Between Equals -- Erasmus: Woman as an Intellectual and Spiritual Partner to Man -- The Reformation: Marriage More Pleasing to God than Celibacy -- The Puritans: The Founding View of the American Family -- The English Way -- Puritans and the First American Families -- Affirming the Importance of Marriage as a Spiritual and Carnal Union -- The Bible and the Puritan Family -- Covenant and Family: Marriage as Divinely Ordained -- Husbands and Wives -- The Puritan Legacy -- The Great Awakenings: The Feminization of Religion and Family -- Conclusion: The Shrinking Roles of Husbands and Fathers -- And What of the Children?: Christianity and the Status of the Child in Western Society -- Early Christianity Opposes Infanticide and Child Abandonment -- Medieval Christian Images of the Child: A Trust From God.

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