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Russell Moore book on family receives top CT award
Art Toalston, Baptist Press
December 13, 2018
4 MIN READ TIME

Russell Moore book on family receives top CT award

Russell Moore book on family receives top CT award
Art Toalston, Baptist Press
December 13, 2018

Russell Moore’s “The Storm-Tossed Family” has been named by Christianity Today as its 2019 Book of the Year, the second time in four years Moore has authored the publication’s top honor.

Moore’s book – its full title is “The Storm-Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home” – was published in September by the B&H trade books and Bible publishing division of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Moore, 47, is president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. He and his wife Maria have five sons ranging in age from 7 to 16.

His book “Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel,” also published by B&H, was CT’s 2016 Book of the Year.

CT stated that The Storm-Tossed Family “best embodies our pursuit of Beautiful Orthodoxy.”

Mark Galli, CT’s editor in chief, wrote that Moore “explains persuasively how the church is our first family while giving practical, realistic direction in how to nurture and maintain a healthy, biblical family life, one that reflects the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord. In other words, he tells the truth about what it means to be a biblical family (orthodoxy) and does so in a way that makes the family good news (beautiful).”

The Storm-Tossed Family has tallied a rating of nearly 5 stars in 21 reviews at Amazon since September.

One purchaser identified as “Cam” encouraged readers not to be discouraged by its 300-page length. “It’s so worth your time and effort.”

Cam acknowledged, “I have several books from Dr. Moore on my shelf, but to be honest, this is the first one I’ve read.” It “may be the best book I will read this year.”

In addition to marriage, among the topics Moore addresses in The Storm-Tossed Family are sexuality and fidelity; spiritual warfare, divorce, abuse and broken relationships; parenting, discipline and family bonding; household tensions; trauma, generational sin and healing; and aging.

As phrased by a B&H news release, the book addresses such questions as “Why do our families have so much power over us?” and explores “how family makes us who we are and how understanding this can liberate us to live without fear.”

Moore, in an interview with Baptist Press in September, said every aspect of family life “tends to bring us to the end of our resources where we really need the Spirit, we need the church. And I think that’s intentional … [As] people of the cross we ought to see that God’s glory often shows up in places that seem to be the most difficult and broken.”

Adam Bryant Marshall, a freelance editor and writer quoted in Christianity Today’s announcement of its Book of the Year, noted, “It’s rare and refreshing to see an evangelical leader discussing the family not strictly in terms of how it is threatened but in terms of what it offers, what it makes possible, and – most importantly – what it can become when it is approached not as an object of worship but as a signpost pointing to an even more wondrous reality.”

At Amazon, Moore’s book has two high rankings in the Parenting & Relationships category – #3 in Dysfunctional Families and #6 in Conflict Resolution – and it is #7 in the Self-Help/Relationships category for Conflict Management.

Prior to assuming the ERLC’s presidency in 2013, Moore had been dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration since 2004 at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., where he also was professor of Christian theology and ethics.

In leading the ERLC, Moore has been a prominent advocate on numerous sanctity of life issues, including adoption, having written “Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families,” a Crossway release that was updated and expanded in 2015.

The Storm-Tossed Family currently is available in hardcover; in the Kindle format; and as an audio CD narrated by storyteller/actor George W. Sarris.