Women and the Future of the Family
by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese (with responses by Stanley J. Grenz, Mardi Keyes, and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen
Center for Public Justice and Baker Books (2000)
Paperback, 108 pages
ISBN 0-8010-6339-6
In the late twentieth century, the status of women underwent a revolutionary change. With increasing economic opportunities and pressures, women and men today struggle to balance the often-competing demands of work and family life.
In this fourth Kuyper Lecture of the Center for Public Justice, Catholic scholar Elizabeth Fox-Genovese explores how the elevation of individual rights to the highest status in society has undermined the essential character of the family as a social unit. Her historical analysis assesses the economic, legal, and social forces contributing to the slow dissolution of marriage and family at an exorbitantly high cost to children. It includes an important argument about how legalized abortion has divested fathers of a strong stake in the family and disconnected children from any social institution.
Three respected evangelicals, Stanley J. Grenz, Mardi Keyes, and Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, offer varied perspectives on how a biblical understanding of family life informs the balance of individual rights and family responsibilities. A concluding essay by editors James Skillen and Michelle Voll lays out a positive Christian affirmation of the equality of women and men as well as policy steps for protecting the family.
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, professor of humanities at Emory University in Atlanta, is the author of Feminism Is Not the Story of My Life. Stanley J. Grenz is professor of theology and ethics at Carey/Regent College. Mardi Keyes is the codirector of the Massachusetts L’Abri. Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen is professor of psychology and philosophy at Eastern College.
