Dr. Eugene Sherman’s “The Christian Family”

ALBANY — Minister and educator Dr. Eugene G. Sherman Jr. has set about the job of writing books with a fervor. His newest release and fourth publication, “The Christian Family, A Biblical Perspective” made it to print just before the end of 2015.

With that done, Sherman has reached his goal of producing one book per year, something he started in 2012.

Sherman’s newest study looks solely at the family unit from a biblical standpoint. The model of a Christian family began in the book of Genesis and is followed throughout the New Testament. Sherman emphasizes the roles each family member plays, again using the Christian values as found in his study of the Bible.

When asked about the traditional American family today, Sherman stated that the breakdown of the Christian family as God intended can be traced to the stresses and strains on parents.

“The strain of providing the basic needs such as food, housing, clothing and transportation are consuming many families, especially those with a single parent,” he said. “Add to those the stress of educational delivery, social media, too much unsupervised technology and lack of discipline and the family unit suffers.”

Sherman also stated that what he calls “the wayward daughter” has a great effect on the family often leaving the task of child-rearing and support to a grandparent, usually a grandmother.

Historically speaking, he said, the closest model of a traditional Christian family in America was found in early years of colonial settlements. When slavery arrived and thrived in the colonies and later the states until 1865, there was an increased instability of family. The marriages of slaves were conducted by jumping over the broomstick.

Slave husband-and-wife unity was extremely fragile. Their owners “could separate any family member at will for financial gains,” Sherman noted.

Other parts of the world have histories ranging from the elimination of families in Russia to strengthen the military to China’s law limiting the number of children per family. While those issues are touched upon, Sherman said he based this book on the family unit as created under God’s law.

For the family unit to work, Sherman says, “Each member must fulfill his or her role.”

At just over 100 pages, Sherman has taken the roles of the father, the mother, the child or children, and the grandparents and given the references in scripture to guide each along the path to returning to the Christian family.

Asked if he has another project, Sherman said that he is hard at work on a biblical study and publication on caregiving of the elderly.

“There are people within my own congregation that are struggling with caring for aging and ailing family members. I am working, along with church members, on developing a support group,” he said. “Caregiving has taken priority as the topic of my next book.”

Sherman, who has a Ph.D., is professor emeritus of sociology, history and philosophy at Albany State University, former vice president of Academic Affairs at Bethany Divinity and Seminary at Dothan, Ala., and founding pastor of Institutional First Baptist Church in Albany, where he continues to bring a message every Sunday.

His earlier books include “The Abundant Life” (2012), “Black Religiosity: A Biblical and Historical Perspective” (2013) and “Children: Biblical and Ethical Teaching” (2014). All are available at Amazon.com.