The Family Metaphor in Jesus' Teaching, Second Edition

This revised edition of The Family Metaphor in Jesus' Teaching examines the family metaphors for God (Father) and for believers (""children,"" ""brothers"") that Jesus chose to use. Jesus not only held up a child as an example of receptivity, but he defended actual children, warning against despising ""one of these little ones."" Using current discussions of the ""equal-regard family"" and of the importance of ""human fathering,"" Stephen Finlan explores how the gospel entails a changed model of parenting and of marriage and a new approach to spiritual growth. ""In this careful and beautifully written book, Stephen Finlan demonstrates not only the importance of the family metaphor or the message of Jesus, but also that the equal-regard family is not just a construction of abstract theology, but rather has a true basis in the Christian Scriptures."" --Don Browning, author of Equality and the Family Stephan Finlan is pastor of Mathewson Street United Methodist Church, Providence, Rhode Island. He has taught theology at Fordham, Drew, Seton Hall, and Durham Universities. He is coeditor of Theosis: Deification in Christian Theology (Pickwick, 2006), The Apostle Paul and the Pauline Tradition (2008), Options on Atonement (2007), and Problems with Atonement (2005).