Name: The Storm-tossed Family
ISBN: 9781462794805

Russell Moore

Bestselling author Russell Moore teaches readers--every one of whom is in a family in one way or another--that family is an echo of the gospel. Moore teaches us why family is so important, and so difficult at times.

How the Cross Reshapes the Home

The Storm-tossed Family

Matthew Hayward

While I don't question Moore's doctrinal, theological, and philosophical credentials or the soundness of his positions, if the point was to bring restoration, hope, healing, encouragement, and life to the fundamental human experience of family, he has failed. What he and many conservative American Christian leaders (who I respect profoundly) often fail to realize is that life is not some grand theological puzzle to be solved one doctrine at a time. When Jesus tells us he came to give us "life to its fullest" (John 10:10), I'm pretty sure he wasn't describing a cerebral existence where fullness is measured by how many correct doctrines you believe. Jesus doesn't demand study, he pursues relationship. We are not Christ's students, we are his brothers. 
This book feels like it was designed first by setting a page count target (300, like all good Christian hardcover; otherwise what you have to say isn't important, right?), then by setting the sections to be covered, and finally by filling each section with a repeating pattern of problem + theological "solution" to said problem. 
The end product makes the reader feel like he's been handed a tract and a tap on the back about a topic where most people are desperately craving Christ's flowing rivers of life, healing and grace.

The Storm-tossed Family How the Cross Reshapes the Home