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by Cynthia Heald
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2001-10-09)
ISBN: 0785272429
EAN: 9780785272427
Dewy Decimal #: 242
Paperback: 180 pages
SKU: 091308010
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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Product Description
In this new book, Cynthia Heald takes women deep into the Word to explore God's relentless, passionate pursuit of those He Loves. She begins with God's question to Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" and ends with Jesus offer, "I stand at the door and knock." In between she leads her readers into listening and responding to the words with which God earnestly seeks the hearts of His loved ones. With strong Bible teaching, compelling insights, and personal stories, Cynthia helps women understand that these words are evidence of the Lord's great love -- designed to lead them out of the trees into freedom, out of guilt into forgiveness, out of darkness into His light. Whether you are in hiding from God and others or ready to go deeper into your faith and relationships, In the Secret Place of the Most High will help you answer God's loving call, "Where are you?"
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by Jay Edward Adams
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Timeless Texts (2004-07)
ISBN: 1889032298
EAN: 9781889032290
Paperback: 134 pages
SKU: 083008022
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No noticeable Underlining or Highlighting...
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by Ford Lewis Battles (Editor: Robert Benedetto) (Corporate Author: H. H. Meeter Center for Calvin Studies)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Baker Book House (1996-12)
ISBN: 0801020972
EAN: 9780801020971
Dewy Decimal #: 230.42092
Hardcover: 375 pages
SKU: 051008024
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: ...No Underlining or Highlighting...corner of cover is very beat up...big tear out of dustjacket
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Product Description
Foreword by Richard Gamble. A leading Calvin scholar explores the origin, method, and structure of Calvin's theology.
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Customer Reviews
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The Calvinian Legacy of Ford Lewis Battles
Rating  (5)
Date: 2000-03-27
17 out of 18 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a splendid collection of pieces by the late Ford Lewis Battles, one of the 20th century's premier Calvin scholars. Battles was the translator of the Library of Christian Classics edition of Calvin's '1559 Institutes' as well as translator of his '1536 Institutes.' The pieces here have been gathered from Battles' contributions to scholarly literature on Calvin over a number of years. The value of the collection is that it places these hard to find pieces together in one convenient place. The two introductory essays convey the scope of Battles' contributions as a Calvin scholar. Two of the most important essays in the collection should be noted. One is Battles', 'Calculus Fidei' in which he puts forth his view of the structure of Calvin's overall theology. This piece will be one with which Calvin scholars will interact for years to come. The second piece on 'Accommodation' conveys one of the most imporant interpretive aspects of Calvin's thought. It has been an important piece in the years since it was published in drawing attention to the principle of accommodation as an interpretive tool in Calvin's understanding of divine revelation. Editor Benedetto has done a masterful job in assembling these pieces, providing the helpful Battles' diagrams and producing an important resource for Reformation scholars as well as scholars of Calvin. Ford Battles was my teacher and was a Calvin scholar without peer. It is a pleasure to commend this book with the highest commendation.
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by Michelle Goldberg
Product Group: Book
Publisher: W. W. Norton (2006-05-11)
ISBN: 0393060942
EAN: 9780393060942
Dewy Decimal #: 277.3083
Hardcover: 224 pages
Edition: 1
SKU: 091308021
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on dustjacket
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Michelle Goldberg, a senior political reporter for Salon.com, has been covering the intersection of politics and ideology for years. Before the 2004 election, and during the ensuing months when many Americans were trying to understand how an administration marked by cronyism, disregard for the national budget, and poorly disguised self-interest had been reinstated, Goldberg traveled through the heartland of a country in the grips of a fevered religious radicalism: the America of our time. From the classroom to the mega-church to the federal court, she saw how the growing influence of dominionism-the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers-is threatening the foundations of democracy.
In Kingdom Coming, Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military retirees pledging to seize the nation in Christ's name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country's social problems.
With her trenchant interviews and the telling testimonies of the people behind this movement, Goldberg gains access into the hearts and minds of citizens who are striving to remake the secular Republic bequeathed by our founders into a Christian nation run according to their interpretation of scripture. In her examination of the ever-widening divide between believers and nonbelievers, Goldberg illustrates the subversive effect of this conservative stranglehold nationwide. In an age when faith rather than reason is heralded and the values of the Enlightenment are threatened by a mystical nationalism claiming divine sanction, Kingdom Coming brings us face to face with the irrational forces that are remaking much of America.
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Customer Reviews
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Do you want a Christian Taliban on our hands?
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-10-31
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I don't. It's counter to freedom and democracy-- it's a theocracy of one nation under Jesus Christ.
Apparently, a lot of people in the U.S. want just that.
Canada: looking better and better every day.
Thanks to Goldberg for writing about this. Other writers need to draw our attention to this menace.
Come the rapture, there'll be more room for us.
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The Christo-Fascists Want To Take Over The World - Yikes!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-06-22
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Another great book documenting the malignant and rapidly-spreading tumor that threatens to destroy not only our great SECULAR nation but the entire modern ( read ADVANCED ) world and all the painstaking progress we humans have made over the past 500 years. Make no mistake: these so-called Christian nutjobs want to turn back the clock to a romanticized vision they have of something called "Biblical Times", when everyone - especially women and slaves - knew their place, and all was right with the world. Of course these modern-day religious freaks are enjoying the fruits of the Enlightenment and scientific progress by living much longer and healthier lives; they fly in airplanes and go to medical doctors, neither of which existed in the good old days. Many of these people live in the deep south, where the heat and humidity are legendary but, thanks to SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS they are comfortable in their air conditioned cars and houses and HUGE Mega-churches - again, none of that in Biblical times. I say let these people live ouit their visions and dreams: send them back to where they think they came from, the roaring-hot Middle East, with no technologies invented after the year 1. See how much they like that, and then they can get back to the rest of us with an update - presumably written on parchment. But - wait! Most people there and then were illiterate. They'll have to make it an Oral Tradition for a few generations before somebody - the world's first used car dealer? - figures out "writing" and "paper". But then that would be "progress", and progress ( and of course Progressives ) is Bad, very Bad.
This book is a great clarion call for all rational and reasonable and patriotic citizens to wake up and turn back the tide of these idiots, before it's too late.
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Scary Look at the Fringe Becoming Mainstream
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-26
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Christian fundamentalism has been a national problem at least since the Scopes Monkey trial; it is more or less a development of the past quarter-century, however, that such fundamentalism has gained political clout. Michelle Goldberg, a secular liberal Jewish feminist (one wonders if her being a lesbian would significantly increase the right-wing paranoia these labels provoke) has assembled a terrifying factbook of the history, agenda, and methods of the religious right, all with considerable humanity, felicitous writing, and minimal elitism.
All of her subjects, from Focus on the Family to the wretchedly misnamed Discovery Institute (the main thinktank behind "intelligent design") are easy to oppose. Goldberg's feat is to show how such groups, so naturally objectionable to secularists and the mainstream religious, have ascended to heights previously unthinkable within the Republican party. Her analysis is well-documented and journalistically sound (though plenty of outside sources are used, she also spent much time with primary material, including conference calls with important religious right figures).
I must admit to find it a depressing read. I am, however, cautiously optimistic that the type of lunacy described in the book is at a high water mark; this was written before the 2006 congressional elections, and John McCain (to say nothing of Obama or Hillary) doesn't have near the influence in religious right circles as Bush does. Still, as Goldberg points out, some of their most important advances were made during the Clinton years.
Though an unabashed secularist, Goldberg refreshingly does not withhold support for sensible religious leaders. Most prominent among them is Jim Wallis, the evangelical progressive who has become something of a go-to man for churches that are tired of their right wing captivity.
Topical and urgent, it will also stand as a fine history of a peculiarly American political movement. Read it, wake up, and turn your faith, whether in humanity or the divine, into action.
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Incredible Compilation of Facts
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-05-11
24 out of 25 customers found this reveiw helpful
The organized push from Evangelicals to dissolve the separation between church and state is currently one of the most potent threats to individual rights in the United States. With 'Kingdom Coming', Michelle Goldberg presents a detailed intellectual history of Christian Nationalism as well as documents how Evangelicals have permeated American culture.
This book is rich in intellectual history. In the first chapter, Goldberg explains Dominionism, which holds that Christians have the god-given right and duty to be sovereign over one's country, if not the entire world. This idea derives from Christian Reconstructionism, which argues that American law should be replaced by Biblical law.
You will learn about many important figures in the intellectual origins of Christian Nationalism. This includes the following thinkers and writers:
* R. J. Rushdoony, the profoundly influential prolific writer who wrote that homosexuals, blasphemers and unchaste women should be sentenced to death as well as insisted that Jesus Christ would not return until Christians establish a thousand-year reign on Earth. Rushdoony is the father of Christian Reconstructionism.
* Francis Schaeffer, whose 'Christian Manifesto' argued that history is a contest between two antipodal forces: the Christian worldview and a materialist (secular) worldview, that the U.S. was founded on a Christian Consensus and that any public official who "commands what is contrary to God's Law [abrogates his authority]." Unfortunately, Goldberg only speaks of Schaeffer for a little over two pages.
* David Barton, a Christian revisionist historian who writes extensively on how the separation between church and state is a myth and that the founding fathers intended for basic biblical principles to permeate public life.
* Marvin Olasky, a prolific writer who is considered the founder of Compassionate Conservatism. One of Olasky's major works, 'The Tragedy of American Compassion', argues that there was a golden age of social services provided by churches until the secular government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt made social welfare the government's responsibility. President George W. Bush cites Olasky as his leading influence for funding faith-based initiatives.
This book also thoroughly documents how Evangelicals are changing American culture. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:
* Many widely-read revisionist history books such as Barton's 'Original Intent'.
* Textbooks designed to bring Christian science and morality into classrooms such as the intelligent design championing text 'Of Pandas and People'.
* Television shows that promote Christian ideology such as Pat Robertson's '700 Club'.
* Rock concerts and campus clubs intended to convert and recruit the younger generation.
* Highly influential political activists such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Ralph Reed and their respective non-profit political organizations.
* Active Christian think-tanks such as Answers in Genesis, Discovery Institute and the Family Research Council.
* Media moguls such as the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
* Many recent/current legislators with openly pro-Evangelical agendas such as Sam Brownback, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Rick Santorum, Jesse Helms and former House Majority Leader Tom Delay.
After the first, each chapter is organized around a specific political campaigns that the Religious Right has embraced: against gays, for intelligent design, for faith-based initiatives, for abstinence-only education and against "activist" judges. The ongoing war on abortion rights is also thoroughly treated.
My only complaint is that, like a waitress who seasons your food without asking, the author rudely inserts her socialist views throughout the book. She even explicitly celebrates FDR's New Deal for "[bringing] socialism to America." As if everyone who is anti-religion is also pro-socialism! Irritating as this is, it does not ruin an otherwise informative book.
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Terrifying and enlightening
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-04-28
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
In this excellent, fascinating, and frightening book, Michelle Goldberg brings up the well-known fact that abstinence-only sex education programs for teenagers don't work. But an abstinence-only educator emphatically insisted that it doesn't matter that these programs don't work. What matters, she said, is that these programs tell "the TRUTH" that sex outside of marriage is "a SIN." Apparently, most abstinence-only programs are less concerned with preventing pregnancy and disease than with pushing a religious ideology.
I can't tell you how many times I raised my eyebrows over what I read in this book, nor how many times I had to put the book down in order to digest what I'd just read. Some of what Goldberg writes seems incomprehensible, yet she thoroughly documents all of it.
The Reverend Moon's tremendous clout with the D.C. establishment and the religious right came as quite a surprise to me. I always dismissed him as a crackpot, but no more.
Goldberg's book is about a parallel reality that is alive, well, and growing in the U.S. today--thanks to generous subsidies from the Bush administration and an unquestioning, incurious press. Goldberg is to be commended for providing much-needed insight into this subculture, which is making alarming progress towards the mainstream. This book is also a whole lot scarier than anything by Steven King--because it's true. With all due respect to King, even he couldn't make this stuff up.
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by Concordia Publishing House, Concordia House
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House (1995-06)
ISBN: 0570094607
EAN: 9780570094609
Paperback
SKU: 082308040
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...slight shelf wear
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by Megan McKenna
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Orbis Books (1998-10)
ISBN: 1570751021
EAN: 9781570751028
Dewy Decimal #: 291
Paperback: 176 pages
SKU: 112608015
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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Product Description
Megan McKenna walks with us through the forty days of Lent and Holy Week.
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Customer Reviews
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Full of stimulating and thought provoking ideas
Rating (5)
Date: 2001-03-10
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
I met Dr Megan McKenna for the first time last summer in Scotland, we spent a week working together in the house of a mutual friend. She was preaching on Sunday and giving a workshop on one of the evenings during the week. There were three services on the Sunday an for once in my life I actually returned to hear the same sermon preached twice. What was even more impressive was she kept the congregation spellbound while she was preaching - they hung on her every word. This is another of her works, which lets us reproduce some of her tremendous insights - if alas not her style! This work deals with the reading for Lent it is a splendid book packed full of stimulating and thought provoking ideas for sermons. However it goes beyond that. I should also recommend it a tool for personal reflection and meditation for everyone. If you would like to take time to meditate over the scriptures and do not know where to start this book is an excellent point of departure.
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Full of stimulating and thought provoking ideas
Rating (5)
Date: 2001-03-10
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I met Dr Megan McKenna for the first time last summer in Scotland, we spent a week working together in the house of a mutual friend. She was preaching on Sunday and giving a workshop on one of the evenings during the week. There were three services on the Sunday an for once in my life I actually returned to hear the same sermon preached twice. What was even more impressive was she kept the congregation spellbound while she was preaching - they hung on her every word. This is another of her works, which lets us reproduce some of her tremendous insights - if alas not her style! This work deals with the reading for Lent it is a splendid book packed full of stimulating and thought provoking ideas for sermons. However it goes beyond that. I should also recommend it a tool for personal reflection and meditation for everyone. If you would like to take time to meditate over the scriptures and do not know where to start this book is an excellent point of departure.
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by Margaret McMillan Persky
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Upper Room Books (1999-08)
ISBN: 0835808750
EAN: 9780835808750
Dewy Decimal #: 248.845
Paperback: 142 pages
SKU: 041208025
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...No Underlining or Highlighting...minor curled edges and shelf wear on cover
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by Stormie Omartian
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (2003-03-05)
ISBN: 0785264418
EAN: 9780785264415
UPC: 020049024409
Dewy Decimal #: 248.86
Paperback: 256 pages
Edition: Workbook
SKU: 071608079
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comments: writing in the book
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Product Description
Stormie's abusive mother often told her, You are worthless, and you'll never amount to anything. That little girl grew up to be a young woman who still felt she was always wrong, and always bad, which led to chronic, clinical depression. In this interactive workbook, the reader will advance through five steps to better emotional health. A prayer journal will help the reader pray for herself and her own healing.This stand-alone workbook will be a welcome support for women who know their everyday experiences are clouded by past problems or abuse.
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Customer Reviews
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Excellent Book
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-06-19
While I have not finished this book, what I've read has been very good. This book is great for women who did not have a very happy upbringing, mostly due to emotional abuse or a general lack of understanding from perhaps an older parent. The author is a Christian and it shines through in her writing. I'm enjoying it as far as I've gotten through it.
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This Book (Literally) Delivered Me
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-04-18
I have been searching for a way to come clean with myself for the last year. I found this book and the title said what I'd been praying for, "Lord, I Want to Be Whole". In Ms. OMartian's book I found the tools and the strenghth to begin the journey and to stay with it. (Its never-ending by the way)! It pulled me out of anxiety, depression and gave me hope and faith. God bless you Ms. OMartian. Your childhood experiences were not in vain.
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Wonderful advice and help
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-10-17
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
I am at a point in my life where I am facing many changes. At the tender
age of 60, I recently lost my husband of nearly 40 years. Also there are
personal issues of the past and present that have come to light. These must be dealt with in order to face the future with hope and joy.
The thoughts and Bible verses and prayers in this book have been extremely helpful. I just pray that someone else will be helped by this
review.
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by John Ortberg
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Zondervan (2001-02-01)
ISBN: 0310234492
EAN: 9780310234494
UPC: 025986234492
Dewy Decimal #: 248
Paperback: 224 pages
SKU: 100308028
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...minor wear on cover
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Reveals the God you've longed to encounter: a Father head-over-heals in love with you and committed to your highest joy.
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Customer Reviews
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Five Stars are not Enough!
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-07-16
John Ortberg is my Pastor...he is insightful, deep with a great sense of humor when presenting God's messsage to us.
"Love Beyond Reason" falls in line with how I've come to understand Jesus.
I would give it 10 Stars if it were an option.
I have been struggling with letting go of a loved one who is in the throws of alcoholism.
With the help of this writing, I have been brought deeper into my own healing as well as grown in faith & trust.
When we come to Jesus in answering His call to repentance, he accepts us the way we are, but loves us so completely that he won't let us remain that way!
I have read two other of John's books so far.
"If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat"
"The Life You've Always Wanted"
Each are equally insightful and encouraging!
I plan on making this a staple in my personal library and will give this book as a gift whenever possible.
Many thanks to you, John, for your faithfulness to the Lord and sharing your gift.
God Bless You!
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a brillian book
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-08-31
Great book, a MUST read if you're trying to discover more of how much God loves you. This book explains an in depth explanation of God's love for you. Brilliant book.
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Love Beyond Reason
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-03-28
This is a wonderful book that really depicts God's love for every individual. A must read by John Ortberg!
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Amazing
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-08-01
This book is amazing. I've read it slowly because I want to savor every word. I've been a Christian for a long time and usually I don't like sugar-coated Christianity, but the way this book talks about God's love really humbled me and made me realize the vastness of God's grace. This book discusses God's tremendous unconditional love and encourages us to have that same kind of love for others. One thing Ortberg said that stood out is, as I grow closer to God, am I becoming more approachable (more loving) or less approachable (legalistic and judgemental)? Really made me think about how gracious I am (or not) toward others. I've recommended this book to all my friends.
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Awesome!
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-27
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
After having read several of Ortberg's books, I would have to say this is the one that really touched me.
John's gift for storytelling is simply wonderful. He starts the book by discussing our raggedness - but that is hardly the end of the story. He goes on to tell us how the greatness of God heals and redeems us - again and again. He uses biblical depictions that are rich in detail and apply to our lives today.
My favorite chapters were "The Lord of the Second Chance" and "The Roundabout Way."
In "The Lord of the Second Chance," Ortberg gives a detailed account of Peter's great failure and how Jesus restored him. It is a very touching depiction, rich in detail and emotionality.
In "The Roundabout Way," he explains that God is not as concerned with the journey as he is "who" we will be when we arrive at our destination. He discusses the possible reasons for the roundabout way, suffering and how this journey can bring us into a closer relationship with God. From my own experience in the "roundabout way," I can honestly say that I see things much more clearly now.
Another chapter that I found very provoking was the chapter on Grace and how even we, as Christians, sometimes forget that we need to extend grace to others as freely as God has extended it to us.
I have read this book over and over and plan to give it as a gift to several of my friends and family. I highly recommend it!!!
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by Jay E. Adams
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Zondervan (1986-06-02)
ISBN: 0310511119
EAN: 9780310511113
UPC: 025986511111
Dewy Decimal #: 234.165
Paperback: 128 pages
SKU: 090408007
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: ...no markings or highlighting...light shelf wear on cover
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Many pastors, counselors, and theologians consider this book the most helpful on the issue of marriage and divorce.
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Customer Reviews
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Divorce and Remarriage
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-08-16
This is the best book on divorce and remarriage from a Biblical perspective that I have ever read.
It is neither to legalistic or to liberal. It gives good balance to encourage marriage for a lifetime and to give hope to those who have experienced divorce.
This is a good read for pastors trying to form an opinion for themselves and also wanting to be the most helpful to the hurting.
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Unsound Doctrine
Rating  (1)
Date: 2006-03-27
26 out of 41 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have read Jay Adams book and will make a full review later (I want to read John Murray's book first), but came across a review that I agree with. I will have more to critique than this reviewer does, but it is a good start.
Book Title: Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage In the Bible
Book Author: Dr. Jay E. Adams
Our Rating: Poor
Book Theme
Taking a concept-by-concept approach, Dr. Adams examines the fundamentals of marriage, then divorce, and ultimately, remarriage. Relying heavily on the Scriptures, Dr. Adams avoids using traditions as a basis for establishing the doctrines of matrimony and marriage dissolution.
Analysis of the Book
Reading this book and writing this review was a personal disappointment. Dr. Adams is one of my personal spiritual role models whom I hold in the highest regard. Sadly, this book fails to achieve a proper understanding of the nature of divorce and remarriage based upon a faulty interpretation of Scripture.
Dr. Adams does a genuinely thorough biblical evaluation of the question, "what is a marriage?" The principles of marriage as outlined by God in His Word are well documented. Additionally, the concept of engaged men and women in both the Old and New Testament being called "husbands" and "wives" is convincingly extracted and described from the Bible by Dr. Adams.
Even the bulk of Dr. Adams' treatment of the subject of divorce is keenly derived from the Scriptures. God certainly hates divorce and has established considerable warnings to men from initiating such proceedings. While controversial, this reviewer found that much of the chapter dealing with the "exception clauses" was consistently and properly handled.
With so much of the book being biblically acceptable, why is such a harsh disapproval applied to this book by the reviewer? Primarily because of a simple misinterpretation of one passage: 1Corinthians 7:25-28. Dr. Adams commits a fundamental exegetical fallacy (to borrow a term from D.A. Carson) by taking verses 27 and 28 out of context, interpreting them as stand alone verses, and then issuing sweeping doctrinal statements that contradict uncounted passages of scripture that state the opposite.
Simply stated, 1Corinthians 7:25-28 refers to virgins who are engaged to be married. Engaged virgins are properly referred to as "husbands and wives" in the New and Old Testaments. Verses 25-28 state that virgins may end their engagements and remain single, may marry each other as planned, or may end their engagements and marry other people--and all without sinning or without their actions being labeled "adultery".
If one were to remove verses 27 and 28 from their context of verses 25-28 and then interpret them, one might be tempted to believe that this was a blanket permission for all married people to get a divorce, then remarry other people, and be free of having committed any sins, including adultery. Such an outcome would directly contradict many Bible passages, but none so blatantly as Jesus' own words, "whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery" (Matthew 5:32b).
Having made a doctrinal left turn, the good work done earlier in the book is systematically dismantled by the author. Since the out-of-context interpretation of 1Corinthians 7:27,28 seemingly permits everyone who gets a divorce for any reason at all to be remarried without it being called a sin: all people can be divorced (without sin), all divorced people can be remarried to others (without sin), divorce loses all stigma, and Jesus was mistaken to teach that one who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. The outcome then, is that a divorce ends a marriage, all obligations of the marriage, and the person can claim to be free to remarry whomever they wish just as if they were a virgin.
Scripturally this is not appropriate. Jesus' words still stand, divorced people who remarry others are committing adultery, and it is engaged virgins who may break their commitments to marry without it being considered a sin. Proper biblical interpretation is critical to the development of sound doctrine, and regrettably this book does not meet that standard.
As a result of this error, the book becomes all but incomprehensible, lost in a maze of discussion about legitimate divorces and illegitimate divorces, all divorces ending a marriage thereby releasing all parties from all obligations of marriage-but maybe not all, reconciliation being preferred albeit optional as is remarriage, and so on. It becomes nearly impossible to determine who would ever be guilty of committing adultery by the act of remarriage, if in fact, anyone would be using this text. Such a conclusion to this study makes a complex subject even more difficult.
Conclusion
In spite of his track record of writing truly outstanding biblical treatises, this book is not up to the typical quality of Dr. Adams' other works. Though much of the book is indeed well developed from the Scriptures, a poor interpretation of one key passage causes Dr. Adams to draw numerous incorrect conclusions about the permanence of marriage and the permissibility of divorced persons to be remarried without incurring a label of adultery.
As a definitive work on divorce and remarriage, this book is best left on the shelf. If one were to read only for the sections on marriage there would be some benefit. Using this book as a basis for marital counseling would not be wise.
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Biblical is Foundational
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-03-22
5 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
In this book Jay Adams addresses a topic that could not be more practical in the Church. Marriage, divorce, and remarriage are topics that have been debated and quarreled over since the inception of the Church, but especially so in the last 50 years with Feminism becoming what it has and postmodernity influencing the moral framework by which people examine what is right and true.
Dr. Adams does a faithful job of presenting a Biblical perspective on these issues; mind that Biblical does not always line up with what is stereotypical of Christianity in some conservative circles, it means the view is drawn directly from scripture as best as Adams knows how with the presupposition that it is scripture itself which contains the truth by which we are to live and pursue godliness.
Essentially it is Biblical, but it might be surprising for some. It surprised me, but upon examining the text, it true to a biblical worldview.
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Biblically the best answers
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-02-20
7 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
You already respect Jay Adams. This little book should be a brief but required course of study for any Bible-believing church leader or pastor. Too much damage is being caused in Christ's church by well-meaning but misinformed leaders. Read, study and even repent where necessary. Go after those branded second-class Christians who have been turned off and shelved. Reflect the Glory of a just and merciful Savior.
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excellent summary; with one flaw
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-09-25
5 out of 14 customers found this reveiw helpful
Competent to Counsel was epoch making for kicking off the Biblical Counseling movement, and his manual on church discipline is very good. But otherwise I find his writings sometimes a tad narrow. And I think he seems to fail to see the irony in the ways his own Biblical readings are shaped by psychology (esp. Behavorialism). The contemporary CCEF authors are better, I think.
But this book on marriage is about the best short summary of the key texts and applications I've found. The only major flaw: in chapter 1 (pp.8-20) he wisely asks what the most foundational purpose of marriage is. He rightly refutes certain cultural answers -- procreation, happiness, sex, etc. These are important but secondary. But then in the end he chooses an equally problematic answer -- marriage is primarily a 'covenant of companionship.' Doesn't Gen. 1-2 say that?
But, I wonder, if companionship is the foundation of marriage, then what if one partner is not being a loving companion? Can the other partner freely leave? Adams would say no, but he's being inconsistent. I think the Bible teaches in Gen. 1-2, read in light of Eph. 5, COl. 3, Rev. 21 etc., that marriage's primary purpose is to make us image bearers of God. Then Gen. 1-2 ('not good to be alone') is saying that a male-female couple together bear the image of God better than one person can alone.
Anyway, if you cut that section out, this is an excellent book.
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