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Family Vocation: God's Calling in Marriage, Parenting, and Childhood

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What does it mean to be called as a husband, a wife, a parent, a child?

How does the grace of the gospel impact how we carry out these particular callings?

How does God's presence address the struggles that our own family faces?

Gene Veith joins forces with his daughter Mary Moerbe to explore these kinds of questions in light of Christian vocation and its applications for family life. They show how the Christian faith is lived out precisely in our ordinary relationships, and how a biblical understanding can equip us to move away from common confusions and dysfunctions to persevere in love.

Written with sensitivity and wisdom, Family Vocation addresses the perennial problems and joys of family life and provides a compelling paradigm for creating loving families in the face of cultural pressure.

253 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2012

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About the author

Gene Edward Veith Jr.

45 books185 followers
Gene Edward Veith Jr., is the Culture Editor of WORLD MAGAZINE. He was formerly Professor of English at Concordia University Wisconsin, where he has also served as Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture, The Spirituality of the Cross: The Way of the First Evangelicals, and God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life.

Postmodern Times received a Christianity Today Book Award as one of the top 25 religious books of 1994. He was named Concordia's Adult Learning Teacher of the Year in 1993 and received the Faculty Laureate Award as outstanding faculty member in 1994. He was a Salvatori Fellow with the Heritage Foundation in 1994-1995 and is a Senior Fellow with the Capital Research Center. He was given the layman’s 2002 Robert D. Preus Award by the Association of Confessional Lutherans as “Confessional Lutheran of the Year.”

Dr. Veith was born in Oklahoma in 1951. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1973 and received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Kansas in 1979. He has taught at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College and was a Visiting Professor at Wheaton College in Illinois. He was also a Visiting Lecturer at the Estonian Institute of Humanities in Tallinn, Estonia. He and his wife Jackquelyn have three grown children and live in Cedarburg, Wisconsin.

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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Heidi Goehmann.
Author 14 books68 followers
January 27, 2017
A truly good read. Non-fiction tends to take me a while. I like to sit and let the info simmer. This one is certainly full of thought to simmer. A well- written explanation of the doctrine of Vocation in our lives and particularly in our homes. It was well designed with sections for husbands, wives, children, extended family, and an exceptional overview. Lots of great gems that had me underlining and dog earring left and right. I have used parts of this in presentations on marriage and family. There are a few things that I'd like to contemplate further and dig deeper into as well- isn't that the definition of a truly great read?
Profile Image for Chris Papillon.
6 reviews
February 14, 2026
“The Gospel, Christ crucified for sinners, applies to every moment of the believer’s life.”

“God is hidden in vocation, and Christ is hidden in our neighbors.”


Excellent book that pertains to every stage in life. It gives a good explanation about what vocation is, and what it isn’t.
Vocation IS NOT about what WE do or what WE are supposed to do.
Mainly, it’s about what GOD does THROUGH us, or through our neighbors.
According to the doctrine of vocation, God is still involved in everything He has created, and He stays close to us through means of human love, working through us.

This book has a section for everybody, in every stage. Naturally I found the chapters on being a husband and father very impactful.
Considering the current stage in my life, the section on Parenthood in general contains my favorite quote from the whole book:
“Luther said that changing a baby's diaper is a holy work, holier than what all the monks in all the monasteries do. How can that be? Babies have to be changed, but changing them is a vile and repellant task. There is nothing more grossly physical. What could possibly be spiritual about a dirty diaper? But in doing this for the baby, the parent is loving and serving the child. God is loving and serving the child, even changing and cleaning the child, through the parent's love and service. And so the parent is fulfilling a holy vocation.”


I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a Husband, Wife, Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Grandparent, Grandchild, or Sibling.

“The message is simple, though the task can only be carried out through the cross of Christ: Love and serve your wife. Love and serve your husband. Love and serve your children. Love and serve your parents. Love and serve.”
967 reviews42 followers
January 4, 2024
Far and away the best book I’ve read on Christian marriage and family.

In the introductory chapter, the authors observe, “Many Christian books on the family offer psychological advice, practical tips, moral judgments, and pious exhortations. Much Christian discourse on the subject is preoccupied with the overriding concerns of obedience, whether of the wife or of the child, or self-fulfillment, whether through one’s marriage or through one’s children. Such books risk unintentionally emulating the culture in reducing marriage and parenting to the exercise of power and the pursuit of personal subjective satisfaction, both of which can be poisonous to marriage, as well as to parenting and even to being a child.” (My italics)

I practically applauded. I have not been reading books on the subject much the last decade or so, but before that I read a ton of them, and I got so very tired of marriage and parenting books that are all about who gets to boss around who, and books that encourage fathers and husbands to be dominant over mindlessly submissive servants, and books that basically encourage both husbands and wives to abandon the “one another” verses in order to apply all manner of peculiar power rules to marriage and parenting.

I did read two pretty good books on sex and marriage this past year, but while they were an enormous improvement on stuff I’d read before, neither one of them was suitable to an abusive marriage (which at least one of them specifically acknowledged), meaning, I feel, that they weren’t presenting a fully rounded picture of what the Bible teaches on the topic. This book, however, grapples with that, first defining the marriage vocation, and then pointing out that, “There can be no divine approval of a marriage that renders the wife unclean and unholy, or that wrenches her from her baptism and from God’s words. In such cases, in our opinion, she would be right to leave the marriage. This might even be an act of sacrificial, loving service on her part: removing from the husband the occasion and the temptation to continue in sin. And perhaps such radical surgery might wake him up to his bondage to Satan and to his need for a Savior.”

I have long puzzled how an abused wife is not enabling her husband’s sin -- and thus multiplying it – by refusing to leave. When it comes to fellow Christians, the Bible tells us straight out “not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”” (1 Corinthians 5:11-13, ESV).

I come from a more legalistic perspective than these authors, so I’m keenly aware that men who do such things and believe themselves to be Christian and saved are literally in danger of hellfire. Matthew 5:22 says exactly that when it comes to revilers – a sin that modern Christians ignore when it’s a husband berating a wife. When anyone continues abusing a spouse or child, year after year, with no rebuke, they are hardening their hearts and endangering their salvation. But while these authors are coming from a more graceful perspective, while I am coming at it through law, we’re both getting to the same place. And unfortunately it is not the place many Christians and churches are at, which the authors recognize with sorrow.

The one theological disagreement I had with them was when they said King David committed adultery, not rape, in kidnapping Bathsheba, which was one line and I would have let it slide, however they later discuss the story of Absolom, saying, at one point that, “in a grotesque replay of Amnon’s sexual depravity, he forced himself on David’s ten concubines.” But when Nathan confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba, he tells a story about an innocent ewe lamb who is slaughtered, making it clear that David’s sin was as much against Bathsheba as it was Uriah, and he tells David that God says, “I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.” (2 Samuel 12:11-12).

What Absalom did was not just “a grotesque replay of Amnon’s sexual depravity” – it was a grotesque replay of what David had done, David’s private sin made public. Not sure how the authors missed that.

But that’s a minor issue. The authors also offer some Biblical support for things I already understood, for instance pointing out how the story of Mary and Joseph finding their lost son in the Temple is evidence that some characteristically childlike behavior is not the same as sinning. And they answer a question I’ve long puzzled over, namely how the medieval version of romantic love (sometimes platonic, but adulterous in terms of direction), shifted to the version we’re familiar with now. I’ve read a couple of books on how romantic love became a thing in medieval culture, but either they just explored the original concept, or their explanation of how a totally adulterous love changed to a love that’s supposed to lead to marriage was woefully nebulous at best. Veith and Moerbe offer a logical chain of events and new understandings of reality behind this change that make sense to me.

I have some issues with the chapter on “The Crosses of Childhood”, which may boil down to their aiming it at a different audience than I expected, but on the whole I really have nothing serious to complain about in this book. An excellent overview of Christian vocation in family relationships, which is its stated purpose, with the bonus of some interesting history and a bit of support and encouragement for the suffering. Very pleased.
Profile Image for Katie Papillon.
18 reviews
November 11, 2025
Wow, so good! This is probably the best book I’ve read on marriage and family. Made me think deeper about vocation. Thankful I read it and I have a feeling I’ll be rereading it in the future!
Profile Image for Jeremy Lee.
105 reviews3 followers
July 20, 2012
In this book, Veith and Moerbe apply the Lutheran doctrine of vocation to marriage, parenting, and childhood. They define the doctrine of vocation as "God calls us to different roles that he asks us to play and in which he is active...[it] has to do, above all, with the way God works through human beings." They also make clear that vocation is more than simply our career; it includes whatever role God to which has called us: brother, father, neighbor, employee, etc. The doctrine of vocation is valuable because it delivers us from the sacred/secular divide. According to the Lutheran (biblical) view of vocation, all the work that God calls us to do is sacred, in that, "Christ is loving and serving [our] neighbor through us."

The body of the book expounds each vocation biblically: marriage, parenting, and childhood. It also explores the roles of husband, wife, father, mother, and child. In addition, the crosses of each vocation are discussed, that is, "the occasions for Christians to deny themselves and to offer themselves as living sacrifices [for their neighbor]." Readers will appreciate the authors' biblical expositions of pertinent texts and will benefit from the emphasis on the gospel and grace. For example, "The doctrine of vocation shifts the burden away from the individual's work and merit, which always fall short, to the work and merit of God, who accomplishes his will regardless of the imperfection of his instruments." I highly recommend this book.

Profile Image for Luke.
478 reviews16 followers
April 29, 2012
An outstanding book and one that will need to be re-read. Applies the doctrine of vocation to family life; vocations or positions God has called us to so that we can love and serve our neighbor. Our neighbor might be our spouse, our child, or someone else. It is so enjoyable to see our powerful and solid Lutheran theology applied to real life with real implications. It would help so many things go so much more smoothly if we would apply these teachings! Read this book!
Profile Image for Jim B.
885 reviews44 followers
January 4, 2020
Gene Edward Veith Jr has become this generation's writer on the doctrine of vocation. In this book he and his daughter explore the concept within the framework of the family. I thought about creating a new "shelf" for books I read: "Very Important Book." I think this book contains information that Christian families would benefit from reading repeatedly. I've made my Kindle Highlights visible for others - I haven't learned how to add them as quotes on Goodreads

Most "Christian" books about marriage fall into one of two categories (or both):
1) A psychological treatment of the relationship of husband and wife, usually taking a few passages and pasting them on top of a book merely reflects Twentieth Century American Protestant assumptions about marriage
2) A book of principles or rules to having a happy family

This book is about serving God with your life, within the relationships you have. It is about love and service, not about rules and authority.

The only weakness I encountered was when the author strayed from the topic, such as speculating on the causes of homosexuality. Otherwise the book expands our thinking and has appropriate flexibility in describing how family members relate to each other.
Profile Image for Alyssa Bohon.
609 reviews6 followers
February 6, 2018
Excellent book - concise (so many books, even good ones, about family issues are full of anecdotal fillers but Veith says a great deal with wonderful brevity), distinctly Lutheran (different denominations offer perspectives that can benefit all of us and this is definitely true in this case) and thoroughly Biblical. The last chapter provides a valuable overview of the evolution of family forms with their issues throughout history A.D. and ends with an exhortation to Christians to love and serve their families faithfully, trusting God to work through their vocations. Very encouraging.
64 reviews
July 26, 2024
A powerful book to frame marriage, parenting, and family! This book feels like its doing its best to convince the reader of the importance and divine nature of family, service, submission, sacrifice, and so forth. I didn't need convincing, but I still felt reassured and emboldened.

A good book that's written well. Not outstanding in any vein, but important for all to read.
Profile Image for Dakotah Gumm.
Author 7 books39 followers
November 15, 2017
Absolutely changed my life. This book helped me understand what it is to be a wife, mother, and Christian. I can't recommend it enough.
Profile Image for Seth Kasten.
55 reviews4 followers
June 27, 2023
Generally, a great treatment. Could have been more conservative on a few points, but more conservative than most treatments.
Profile Image for Jen.
1,902 reviews7 followers
April 9, 2012
Even if you don't agree that the idea of family is one that is falling apart in our culture today, most of us are able to identify some aspect of our own family that is less than perfect. Many books out there will offer you a bunch of steps to take to fix the problems, or (if they are from the Christian bookstore) rules to follow. This book is different. Veith and Moerbe, a father/daughter team, look at the Biblical definition of family and the doctrine of vocation. Instead of prescribing a specific style of parenting, or a specific way of communicating with your spouse, they describe the relationships as they are echoes of Christ, and give general guidance as to how we can fulfill our vocation in those relationships by loving and serving our neighbors. Time is taken to explore the family in a historical context as well as some of the more pressing issues of the current day.

Instead of feeling like a judged mom with a few new tricks in her belt, this book has left me feeling restored. I am refreshed in my vocation as wife and mother, with the assurance that God has given me these roles and will sustain me in filling them. As His forgiveness covers the mistakes I will make, He will also protect my daughter (I am probably not screwing her up as much as I sometimes feel like I am.)

This book is well worth reading, not just for married couples or parents (though it will probably become our go-to wedding/baby shower gift), but for all of us, as we are all members of some family, however dysfunctional it may be.
Profile Image for Cindy.
443 reviews17 followers
February 22, 2013
I purchased this book because I erroneously thought it was about families serving together, having a shared missoin in loving and serving the lost. Instead, I found a book based on Martin Luther's writings concerning vocation. For me, thinking of marriage, being a wife, and becoming a parent, as vocation was a new concept. It has transformed the way I view these God-given roles and responsilbilities. If the point of any vocation is to love and serve yourneighbor, then that first begins with your neigbors in the home - your spouse and children.
Profile Image for Becky Filipek.
578 reviews9 followers
May 28, 2016
This book was a good explanation of vocation in relationships. As a Christian, I have thought of many of the things written in this book before, but it still had good reminders for me in my vocations as wife and mother, and good thoughts for passing on my values to my children. Having a strong family is difficult as a sinner and in the society we inhabit, but through forgiveness and remembering to love and serve our neighbors we can find comfort in the cross of Jesus, that He has redeemed our failings and that He will help us along the way.
Profile Image for Kristin.
73 reviews
December 11, 2014
My husband and I read this book for our small group over the last several months and we loved it. Veith is brilliant and gently guides & equips his readers through their vocations.
"If Christians can live our their faith in love and service to their spouses, children and parents, then the institutions of marriage, parenthood and the family itself will be transfigured. Restored Christian families could become a catalyst for the restoration of families throughout the culture." ~ Veith
Author 7 books44 followers
November 27, 2017
This is a must read! Veith and Moerbe have delivered the standard work on vocation in the family. Readers will gain a solid understanding of family vocation, and how each office works together in support of the others. As a pastor, I'm privileged to have the opportunity to give this book to those preparing for marriage. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to strengthen his understanding of God's design for marriage and parenthood.
Profile Image for Elizabeth Ahlman.
19 reviews1 follower
July 26, 2016
Mary J. Moerbe and Gene Edward Veith speak clearly, compassionately, and intelligently to the vocations we have within the family. Reading this has given me comfort, clarity, and help in dealing with my own sins, struggles and desires within my vocations of wife and mother. I am so thankful to them for this work, and I would highly highly recommend it to all husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, grandparents, etc.
Profile Image for Krystle.
15 reviews1 follower
February 26, 2013
No better book on the topic! I read this for church (lcms) and we all discussed each chapter for Sunday school. If it wasn't for my pastor I wouldn't have picked it up because I just dont read books as this. Every week I learned ever so much, I was quite surprised. This is a recommend for everyone, Lutherans or not! Grand!
Profile Image for Sarah.
286 reviews2 followers
Want to Read
June 23, 2011
Co-authored by my LJ friend leoetiquette.
Profile Image for Michael Plewniak.
17 reviews9 followers
June 9, 2012
outstanding book! Luther's doctrine of vocation and calling applied to marriage, parenting, etc... much needed teaching for today.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews