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Christian Adoption?
Author(s) -
Waters Brent
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
dialog
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.114
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1540-6385
pISSN - 0012-2033
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6385.2012.00704.x
Subject(s) - intrusion , childlessness , order (exchange) , christian right , social psychology , sociology , psychology , christian ethics , gender studies , political science , law , business , demography , fertility , population , geochemistry , finance , politics , geology
Abstract : Adoption is not a uniquely Christian practice, but it is a distinctly Christian act when grounded in the traditions of neighbor love and familial belonging. An orphaned child is a neighbor in need, and adoption is a fitting response to meeting this need. Caritas is the initial motive prompting this response but is not a disinterested provisional of parental care. Rather it is oriented toward parental love and familial belonging. Consequently, this Christian understanding of adoption should be preserved as a uniquely moral act in order to prevent orphaned children from being reduced to a means of remedying childlessness, or the using of adopted children as a wedge for justifying unwarranted governmental intrusion into the family.