The Religion, Culture, and Family Project

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• Judaism and Christianity, rather than traditionally resisting women's equality, have for the most part made major contributions to the equal dignity of women. Early Christianity functioned to undermine the patriarchies of the Greco-Roman world. See Families in the New Testament World: Households and House Churches and Families in Ancient Israel.

• Although conservatives emphasize "cultural" causes and solutions to the family crisis and liberals push "economic" causes and solutions, a genuinely constructive approach must emphasize both cultural values and economic strategies. See From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate, Covenant and Commitments: Faith, Family, and Economic Life, and Religion and Family: a Practical Theology Handbook.

• Social scientists predicted that modernization would push all faith traditions toward increasing individualism and family disruption. In reality, the different family ideologies of contemporary American denominations make some of them far more successful in dealing with the fragmenting effects of modernity than others. See Faith Traditions and the Family, Models of Congregational Family Ministries, and Religion and Family: a Practical Theology Handbook.

• Feminism is perceived to be at odds with families and religion, but when each is rightly defined, feminism, families and faith traditions are mutually supportive. See Religion, Feminism, and the Family and Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics.

• It is generally thought that "traditional" American views of families are completely shaped by Christianity; however, they are actually complex syntheses of Greek, Jewish, Christian, Roman, and German legal, philosophical, and religious traditions. See From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate, From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition, and Religion and Family: a Practical Theology Handbook.

• Economic views of families (such as Marxism and rational choice theory) are thought to be completely modern. In reality, ancient views spoke about the economic aspects of families but combined economics with religion and philosophy as well. See Covenant and Commitments: Faith, Family and Economic Life, Families in the New Testament World: Households and House Churches, and Families in Ancient Israel.

• Secular family law was significantly shaped by the contributions of medieval Catholic canon law and the legal theories of the Protestant Reformation even as late as the 1960s and 1970s. And they still have important contributions to make to our legal view of families. See From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion, and Law in the Western Tradition.

• Changes in cultural values, welfare, women's entry into the wage economy, and declining time for spouse and children have all affected the strength of families. But the advances of reproductive technology will be more disruptive than any of these. Yet American religions, the law, and politicians are all drastically behind in dealing with these new technologies. See For the Love of Children: Genetic Technology and the Future of the Family.