Genealogy Theology: Exploring Family Lines and Spiritual Legacies
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
A pastor examines how spiritual legacies—both beautiful and terrible—can reverberate across generations.
Bringing together a love of storytelling and decades’ worth of experience in pastoral ministry, Frank G. Honeycutt invites readers to explore the spiritual twists and turns in their family trees. He candidly admits that everyone’s family history—including his own—includes episodes of spiritual darkness and moral failure. At the same time, he celebrates ancestral stories of spiritual growth and moral courage. And he illuminates the meaningful role that ordinary family members play in God’s plan as their life choices and experiences influence subsequent generations.
Genealogy Theology begins with a fascinating discussion of Jesus’s family tree. Honeycutt focuses on four singular characters—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba—and explores the “family resemblances” between their life stories and Jesus’s approach to ministry. Then Honeycutt broadens the discussion, encouraging readers to more closely examine the complex spiritual legacies they’ve inherited. He also shares his own family’s stories—some comfortingly commonplace, some deeply traumatic—unpacking their significance for him personally and vocationally. Throughout the book, Honeycutt asks compelling questions about destiny, free will, and God’s involvement in family dynamics both in the Bible and in the world today. Thought-provoking and engaging, Genealogy Theology will pique the curiosity of readers whose families don’t fit neatly into simplistic narratives of faith.
- Encourages readers to explore the spiritual twists and turns in their own family trees
- Examines Jesus’ family tree, focusing on four specific women and their “family resemblances” to his ministry
- Shares the author’s personal family stories, both commonplace and traumatic, to unpack their significance
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Wonder of the Search|
1. The Genealogy of Jesus
2. Beholding Unformed Substances
3. Genealogy and Inherited Illness
4. Genealogy and Inherited Incident
5. Destiny, Chance, and Free Will
6. Baptism and the New Family Line
7. Our Speck of Life, Our Tick of Time
Notes
Recommended Readings
“The genealogies, like the purity regulations of Leviticus, are parts of the Bible readers are free to skip, right? No longer. In this highly original and profound book, Frank Honeycutt reveals how the biblical genealogies are must-read material, how they are bursting with human experience and holy wisdom, how they resound like tuning forks through the stories of our lives. Those who read this fine book will never skip over a genealogy again!”
—Thomas G. Long, professor emeritus of preaching, Candler School of Theology
“From its startling opening paragraphs to its stunning final two chapters, Genealogy Theology is an arresting read. Frank Honeycutt is besotted with stories—from his own family history, from novels, from the Bible—and he relays them with gorgeous style and grace. Somehow, amid all the dazzling narration, we learn a lot about knotty theological quandaries such as predestination and human freedom. And we will never see a family tree or faded photograph of an almost-forgotten relative the same way again.”
—Rodney Clapp, author of Living Out of Control: Political and Personal Faith in Waning Christendom
“In my years of reading Frank Honeycutt’s work, I’ve learned to sit back and trust the journey. Multiple questions and concepts to mull over will be introduced and just as I’m trying to identify the throughline, Honeycutt skillfully slips in a point that illuminates everything and makes a lasting impression. He is a master at this written sleight of hand. His work in Genealogy Theology is no different. Through sharing scripture and his own deeply personal stories of legacy, Honeycutt invites readers on a journey of question, wonder, and compassion as we consider our own inheritances—both blood and divine. The result is a thoughtful exploration of the beautiful mysteries of life and the faith that shapes it.”
—Megan Brandsrud, former content editor of Living Lutheran
“In Genealogy Theology, Frank Honeycutt offers a deeply engaging exploration of how spiritual legacies—both redemptive and painful—echo across generations. With his characteristic honesty, warmth, and wisdom, he weaves together biblical insight, personal narrative, and pastoral experience to invite readers into a thoughtful reflection on their own family histories. Eloquent, heartfelt, and thoughtful, this book reveals the quiet power of God and the quiet power of everyday lives.”
—Mark Powell, professor of English, Appalachian State University
“I did not expect to ever see a book about ‘genealogy theology’ but I am glad I found this one. Honeycutt has a way of writing as if he were in the room with us, as if he empathizes with all our questions about life. He brings gentle humor to bear on deep questions and does so in a way that puts readers at ease. He shows a modesty toward his subject that rings true; he does not take himself too seriously but does take his theology seriously. I greatly enjoyed this adventure.”
—Edward Davis, professor of geography, Emory & Henry University
“By using his own stories—his own surprising genealogy—Frank Honeycutt helps us recognize how God continues to work in and through each of us by our baptism into Jesus’s genealogy, to make a way where life that really is life becomes possible and real. A must read for pastors and congregations as well as those who seek, or are skeptical of, what God is up to these days!”
—Paul Pingel, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church (ELCA), Waynesboro, Virginia
- Title: Genealogy Theology: Exploring Family Lines and Spiritual Legacies
- Author: Frank G. Honeycutt
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Print Publication Date: 2026
- Logos Release Date: 2025
- Pages: 180
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- ISBNs: 9781467469845, 9780802885289, 0802885284, 146746984X
- Resource ID: LLS:9781467469845
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2025-08-06T15:34:50Z