SHAPING YOUR FAMILY’S FUTURE


APPENDIX B


take of family life, you can model for the community a better way to relate to one another.


4.


Seeing your family as part of a broader community involves you in making choices about the values and character you wish to form in your child. Whose values and what character traits do you want to reinforce or teach your child to avoid?


Resources


Bellah, Robert et al. The Good Society. New York: Vintage, 1992. This book, a follow-up to Habits of the Heart, explores the civic institutions that define a society—schools, churches, governments, and so on. While it is a bit academic in tone, this book is an essential resource for understanding the connections between individuals, institutions, and the culture.


———. Habits of the Heart. New York: Perennial Library, 1986. If you’re not convinced we are creatures of our culture, this book will convince you. Through an extensive survey of Americans across the economic, religious, and political spectrum, the authors have created an overview of American life and the assumptions, values, and ideologies it promotes. Again, the book is a bit academic, but you won’t find a better explanation of the ways we are shaped by the society we live in.


Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: A Discussion of Christian Fellowship. Harper & Row, 1954. Originally published, 1938.


Hauerwas, Stanley. A Community of Character. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981.


Another dense theological book, Hauerwas emphasizes the role of character in Christian ethics and the ways in which our Christian communities can shape us into people of conviction and compassion. If you enjoy theology, philosophy, ethics, or just a good argument for faith, this book is a winner.


Myers, Joseph R. The Search to Belong. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Myers explores the human need for connection and points to ways we can connect to our neighbors, our coworkers, and our families. A quick read, Myers’s book is aimed at church leaders, but his ideas can easily be applied to family life.


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