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The idea of a demographic revolution comes paired with an idea that surfaces repeatedly throughout Joyce's book: preparation for war. Joyce's interviewees differ on whether this coming war is spiritual, cultural, literal — or all three — but the message remains the same: Quiverfull adherents are planning to win this war by sheer numbers, giving birth to and raising "arrows," their term for children. Joyce references a letter from Cathi Warren, originally written as a response to columnist David Brooks's opinion in The New York Times that mothers of many are too busy with their children to win any sort of culture war: "Raising a large family … was itself her 'battle station,' " observes Joyce about Warren, "as deliberately political an act as canvassing for conservative candidates, not to mention part of a long-term plan to win the culture war demographically."

Although several of the examples Joyce cites smack of the extreme (leaders who condone domestic violence, or blame repeated miscarriages on a woman's "witchcraft" left unrepented), many of the implied questions she raises in her book are insightful.

Writing about the growing trend of larger families on reality TV shows, she observes that the "theological underpinnings are glossed over to make room for the novel details of large family life." This observation seems a particularly important one for Christians: Are we interested in the theology of Quiverfull adherents, or do we just like watching the drama and entertainment that results? Can we look beyond the novelty factor — How many loads of laundry do you do each day? Where do you store all the gallons of milk? — and examine the questions of the soul hidden beneath the gloss of primetime television?

The criticisms against large families can be severe. Shmuley Boteach, father of nine, titled his recent Jerusalem Post article about his family size "The Criminal Act of Having Too Many Kids." But what do we make of Genesis 1:28 — be fruitful and multiply? It goes without saying that the Quiverfull interpretation of being fruitful isn't the only one; Raymond C. Van Leeuwen, writing for CT in 2001, states, "Fertility is not a command but a blessing that God gives to his creatures … to suggest that birth control is evil or perverse because it undermines God's sovereignty is to underestimate God's sovereignty and reject our responsibility to serve him wisely."

So who has the final say? The couple? The medical profession? Friends, family, society, the culture at large? Fertility is a highly personal matter — but one with both public and political ramifications that shouldn't be ignored. Perhaps the real virtue of both Joyce's book and the current media focus on large families is a call to reexamine our own beliefs and the biblical basis for what we practice in the realm of family planning. If the question is bigger than, "How many children should we have?" maybe, to invoke Francis Schaeffer and Charles Colson, a better question would be, "How then, how now, shall we live?" The issues Joyce's book raises are fundamental to our identity as human beings, and as Christians. Perhaps they could stand some reexamination.

Elrena Evans is co-editor of Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life.

Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

More Christianity Today coverage of large families includes:

The Case for Kids | A defense of the large family by a 'six-time breeder.' By Leslie Leyland Fields (August 1, 2006)

Editorial: Fill an Empty Cradle | Falling birthrates demand new priorities for families. (November 1, 2004)

Make Love and Babies | The contraceptive mentality says children are something to be avoided. We're not buying it. By Sam and Bethany Torode (November 9, 2001)

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February (Web-only) 2009, Vol. 53