August 15 1994

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"Families At The Crossroads: Beyond Traditional And Modern Options," by Rodney Clapp (InterVarsity, 240 pp.; $10.99, paper). Reviewed by Tim Stafford.

"Family values" are the subject of intense debate in contemporary American society. Many commentators believe that if we hope to make any headway against some of our most acute social problems, families must be strengthened. Others, however, dismiss the call for family values as rhetoric that masks a narrowly conservative agenda.

Evangelicals have played a significant part in bringing this issue to national attention, having been the forerunners of family promotion. Nevertheless, author Rodney Clapp says in "Families at the Crossroads," evangelicals need to rethink their concept of family. To assist the process, he presents readable, thought-provoking challenges to current widely accepted views.

Clapp claims that evangelicals often defend a nineteenth-century concept of family rather than a biblical one. The idea of "home" as a mother-made preserve of intimacy in a cruel world of economic competition bears little resemblance to the extended households of the Bible, he argues.

Instead, a Christian's "first family," according to Scripture, is meant to be the church, taking priority even over the biological family. This "runs counter to the interpretation of many evangelical traditionalists" who regard the family as the main building block of the kingdom of God. Clapp's perspective is that families were meant to be "launching pads for mission" through outward-focused attitudes of hospitality.

Even though this is a book about families, Clapp includes a chapter on singleness. He reminds readers that the Bible honors singleness as much as marriage: "A defective interpretation of Christian ...