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This book brings together sixteen originally independent articles dealing with various aspects of 1 Corinthians and published between 1976 and 1993. As the series develops there are more frequent cross‐references. The first deals with the issue of co‐authorship, and the last with the question of interpolations in 1 Cor. The rest focus on the most difficult and disputed texts in 1 Corinthians, namely, 1 Cor 5: 3–5 (incest in the name of Christ); 6: 12–20 (Corinthian slogans about the body); 7: 10–11 (divorce and remarriage); 7: 14 (holiness); 8: 6 (baptismal acclamation); 8: 8 (Corinthian slogan regarding food); chs. 8–10 (food offered to idols); 11: 2–16 (3 articles; blurring of the distinction between the sexes in worship); 11: 17–34 (2 articles; house‐churches and the eucharist); 15: 3–7 (creed); 15: 29 (baptism for the dead). Each original article took contemporary scholarship into full account. A ‘Postscript’ appended to each one brings the discussion up to the present by documenting the ensuing debate about the proposed hypotheses.

This book examines whether and how children should be involved in the process of resolving family law disputes. Although there is widespread acceptance in the Western world that the views of children should be taken into account, and that the weight given to those views should depend on their age and maturity, there is much less agreement about how children's voices should be heard and the purposes for which they are to be heard. This book examines these issues, drawing upon empirical data from interviews which explore the views and experiences of children, parents, counsellors, mediators, lawyers, and judges involved in such disputes in Australia. Most parents, children, and professionals were in favour of giving children a say, while not allowing them to make the decision. There were, however, quite different rationales for this. Mediators and family report writers, for example, emphasized the enlightenment that can come from giving children a say, while lawyers were more concerned with assessing the competence of children to make rational choices. There was also a general consensus among parents and professionals that giving children a say in resolving family law disputes also involved dangers. On the basis of this research, the book suggests ways in which children can better be heard without placing them at the centre of their parents' conflicts. Children might be given a say in some kinds of decisions much more than others and they should not be asked to choose between their parents competing positions. A major rationale for listening to children in family law disputes is that it provides a window upon children's worlds.

Interest in the problem of children who resist contact with or become alienated from a parent after separation or divorce is growing, due in part to parents' increasing frustrations with the apparent ineffectiveness of the legal system in handling these unique cases. There is a need for legal and mental health professionals to improve their understanding of, and response to, this polarizing social dynamic. This book is a critical, empirically based review of parental alienation that integrates the best research evidence with clinical insight from interviews with leading scholars and practitioners. The text draws upon the growing body of mental health and legal literature to summarize the historical development and controversies surrounding the concept of “alienation” and explain the causes, dynamics, and differentiation of various types of parent-child relationship issues. The chapters review research on prevalence, risk factors, indicators, assessment, and measurement to form a conceptual integration of multiple factors relevant to the etiology and maintenance of the problem of strained parent-child relationships. A differential approach to assessment and intervention is provided. Children's rights, the role of their wishes and preferences in legal proceedings, and the short- and long-term impact of parental alienation are also discussed.

This book is a comprehensive social history of twentieth-century family law in the United States. The book shows how vast, oceanic changes in society have reshaped and reconstituted the American family. Women and children have gained rights and powers, and novel forms of family life have emerged. The family has more or less dissolved into a collection of independent individuals with their own wants, desires, and goals. Modern family law, as always, reflects the brute social and cultural facts of family life. The story of family law in the twentieth century is complex. This was the century that said goodbye to common-law marriage and breach-of-promise lawsuits. This was the century, too, of the sexual revolution and women's liberation, of gay rights and cohabitation. Marriage lost its powerful monopoly over legitimate sexual behavior. Couples who lived together without marriage now had certain rights. Gay marriage became legal in a handful of jurisdictions. By the end of the century, no state still prohibited same-sex behavior. Children in many states could legally have two mothers or two fathers. No-fault divorce became cheap and easy. And illegitimacy lost most of its social and legal stigma. These changes were not smooth or linear—all met with resistance and provoked a certain amount of backlash. Families took many forms, some of them new and different, and though buffeted by the winds of change, the family persisted as a central institution in society. This book tells the story of that institution, exploring the ways in which law tried to penetrate and control this most mysterious realm of personal life.

Most Americans are insulated from the poor; it is hard to imagine the challenges of poverty, the daily fears of crime and victimization, the frustration of not being able to provide for a child. Instead, we are often exposed to the rhetoric and hyperbole about the excesses of the American welfare system. These messages color our perception of the welfare problem in the United States and they close the American mind to a full understanding of the complexity of family poverty. But who are these poor families? What do we know about how they arrived in such desperate straits? Is poverty their fate for a lifetime or for only a brief period? Faces of Poverty answers these questions as it dispels the misconceptions and myths about welfare and the welfare population that have clouded the true picture of poverty in America. Over the course of a year, the author spent numerous hours as a participant-observer with five women and their families, documenting their daily activities, thoughts, and fears as they managed the strains of poverty. We meet Ana, Sandy, Rebecca, Darlene, and Cora, all of whom, at some point, have turned to welfare for support. Each represents a wider segment of the welfare population, ranging from Ana (who lost a business, injured her back, and temporarily lost her job, all in a short period of time) to Cora (who was raised in poverty, spent ten years in an abusive relationship, and now struggles to raise six children in a drug-infested neighborhood). As the author documents these women's experiences, she also debunks many of the myths about welfare: she reveals that welfare is not generous (welfare families remain below the poverty line, even with government assistance); that the majority of women on welfare are not long-term welfare dependents; that welfare does not run in families; that “welfare mothers” do not keep having children in order to increase their payments (women on welfare have, on average, two children); and that almost half of all women on welfare turned to it after a divorce. At a time when welfare has become a hotly debated political issue, Faces of Poverty gives us the facts. The debate surrounding welfare will continue as each of the 50 states struggles to reform their welfare programs, and this debate will turn on the public's perception of the welfare population. The author offers insight into each of the reforms under consideration, and starkly demonstrates their implications for poor women and children. She provides a window into these women's lives, portraying their hopes and fears, and their struggle to live with dignity.

There is increasing attention among policy makers and the public to the role of shari’a in everyday life for Western Muslims, raising many negative associations and public fear. In fact, the most common way in which North American Muslims relate to shari’a is via observance of Islamic marriage and divorce rituals. Recourse to traditional Islamic marriage—or nikah—and, to a lesser extent, religious divorce, is common among Muslims regardless of their levels of traditional observance. Based on hundreds of personal interviews, this book describes Muslim marriage and divorce processes in the West, and what they mean to North American Muslims. The picture that emerges is of an idiosyncratic and inconsistent private ordering system, dominated by imams and other community leaders, and reflecting a range of attitudes towards contemporary norms, especially changes in gender roles. While there are many criticisms—in particular from women—of pervasive assumptions regarding traditional gender roles, there are also many who attest to the significance of Islamic marriage and divorce for them as believing Muslims and as members of their cultural community. A Western shari’a challenges the intersection between state sanction and private religious and cultural practice, particularly the balance between the state’s commitment to human rights and equality and the protection of religious freedom.

For many years family law was viewed as a study of the regulation of relationships of husband and wife, and parent and child. By the close of the 20th century, basic questions about who should be officially designated a family member and by what procedure were being raised both in the legislature and in litigation. In addition, conventional models that had defined domestic relations such as marriage, divorce, and adoption were being expanded to include contemporary patterns of living arrangements. This book examines the present state of family law in America. Among its themes is the tension between individual autonomy and governmental regulation in all aspects of family law. It examines both conventional and new definitions of formal and informal domestic relationships. It analyses the extent to which relationships established before marriage are being regulated, and how marriage is being redefined to take into account equality of the sexes. It demonstrates how the definition of marriage as a partnership in which the individual spouse's rights are recognized has resulted in protection of the vulnerable spouse. It examines fault and no-fault divorce procedures and the extent to which these procedures reflect social realities. This book describes state intervention into the parent and child relationship and how this is reflected in the re-examination of the privacy of the family unit. It concludes with a discussion of the conventional model of adoption of children and how additional models are being developed to take into account new family forms.