A partial reformulation of Beutler, Burr, Bahr, and Herrin's (1989a) ''family realm'' proposal is offered, building on that essay and critics' responses to it. We introduce the concept of family transcendence as a unifying theme for family realm characteristics, and we identify several general types of transcendence. We suggest that many apparently unrelated attributes of families are expressions of the essential, limit-stretching threshold-crossing character of human generational groups. The reaching beyond that distinguishes family life applies to physical and psychological limits as well as to metaphysical experience and reflects the meanings family members give to their connections. The transcendence paradigm is positioned within hermeneutic and interpretive family theory and also is relevant to family ecology theory and life course perspectives. Among the methodological implications of the paradigm are the validation of the individual perspective (grounding at the level of individual consciousness), respect for host subcultures manifested in attention to local meanings and values, and recognition of the ubiquity of connection and the often arbitrary nature of limits and boundaries.
