The Household of God: Families and Belonging in the World of the New Testament
The related themes of households and families figure prominently in the New Testament. On various occasions Jesus taught about marriage, divorce, and more general familial relations. Paul likewise preached about families, extended families, figurative families, and codes of conduct for those inhabiting the same household. Peter provided direction to the church regarding relations between husbands and wives and parents and children. James counseled church membership to treat one another as “brothers” and “sisters.” Jesus, Peter, and Paul also taught about the important contributions single members and widows make in the kingdom and such household complexities as mixed-faith marriages or relationships between slaves and masters. Thus, the New Testament contains much counsel for household conduct, familial relationships, and belonging to “the household of God” (Ephesians 2:19).
The Sperry Symposium, named in honor of pioneering Latter-day Saint scripture scholar Sidney B. Sperry and held on the campus of Brigham Young University, seeks each year to examine an aspect of the religious and cultural heritage of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since 1973, this symposium has become one of the premier venues for Latter-day Saint religious study. The symposium originated to encourage faith-based religious scholarship on various Latter-day Saint topics.