Includes bibliographical references (p. 138-160) and index.

TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Families, Christian ethics, and civil society -- Family bonds and Christian community: New Testament sources -- Family as church: three historical representations -- Domestic church: families and the common good -- Lessons from African American families -- A Christian family vision.

Cahill asserts that the usual religious agenda of restoring the traditional nuclear family is actually misinformed and misguided. Her study of the early church, John Chrysostum, Martin Luther, the Puritans, and recent Church teachings reveals an alternative Christian vision of the altruistic family, animated by Christian discipleship to stand for compassion, generosity, and justice.