far from clear. They have to do, in any case, not with some recent emergence of “permissiveness,” or the “breakdown of the family,” or any of the easy targets of blame. Rather we are heirs of a long intellectual process that is in deep conflict with the biblical vision, and that continues to offer a powerful and attractive alternative vision of reality. It will be valuable for our teaching and preaching to recognize that we articulate a vision of reality that is at deep odds with the dominant intellectual