Includes bibliographical references (pages [231]-284) and index.
Families in Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds and early Christianity -- Asceticism, sex, and marriage in patristic and medieval Christianities -- Family, work, gender, and church in the Reformation era -- The making of the Victorian family : 1780-1890 -- From the progressive era through the Great Depression: 1890-1940 -- Changing ideologies and realities : 1940-1975 -- The family agenda of the Christian right -- The many faces of American families in the year 2000 -- Reimagining families : home, work, gender, and faith