This is a book intended to help people think two or three times before getting married. The book challenges the separation of societal romanticism from love and sex. The basic question is, Are you in it for sex or are you in love? Is it commitment or is it lust? The heart of the matter is one’s expectations. What we can bring into the marriage and what we are willing to commit to it are always in central focus. Crosby treats many of the usual and unusual challenges that we encounter whenever we join forces with a partner. This second edition includes a new chapter on traditional defense mechanisms. Passive-aggressiveness, dependence, obsessive-compulsiveness, and paranoia are reviewed as barriers to solid marital communication.

Godfoolery: Beyond Belief and Unbelief is for religious skeptics who, like the author, have trouble accepting canned answers and confessions and creeds. As such, this volume of essays can be read independently of each other. Questions dealing with creation ex nihilo, biblical criticism, the higher and lower criticism, tests of truth, tribalism and its relation to white supremacy, as well as death and its impact on the meaning of life.

Laurie and Matt Krieg are in a mixed-orientation marriage: Laurie is primarily attracted to women—and so is Matt. With vulnerability and wisdom, they tell the story of how they met and got married, the challenges and breakthroughs of their journey, and what they've learned about how marriage is meant to point us to the love and grace of Jesus.

Andrews has written The Biblical Guide to Avoid the Pitfalls of Sexual Immorality. This tool is for both man and woman, husband and wife, all Christians who will marry one day and those who have been married for some time. The fallen world that we live in is fertile ground for immorality. The grass always seems greener somewhere away from one's own spouse. Adultery is something everyone should avoid. It destroys more than just marriages, it destroys a person's life, family and most importantly their relationship with God. Such is the danger of adultery that the Bible strongly warns every man and woman against it. The world that we currently live in is very vile, and sexual morality is no longer a quality that is valued. What can Christians do to stay safe in such an influential world that caters to the fallen flesh? What can help the husband and wife relationship to flourish as they cultivate a love that will survive the immoral world that surrounds them? We might have thought that a book, like God's Word that is 2,000-3,500 years old would be out of date on such modern issues, but the Bible is ever applicable. The Biblical Guide to Avoid the Pitfalls of Sexual Immorality will give us the biblical answers that we need.

From the bestselling author of Home Comforts comes the story of our wedding vows—what they mean and why they still matter. In the West, marrying is so thoroughly identified with ceremonial promises that “taking vows” is a synonym for getting married. So, it’s a surprise to realize that this custom is actually a historical and anthropological oddity. Most of the world, for most of history, married without making promises. And there’s a reason for that. Marriage by vow presupposes free choice, and free choice makes a love-match possible. It is a very modern arrangement. Vows is both a moving memoir of two marriages and a thoughtful meditation on marriage itself. Cheryl Mendelson tackles the sociology of commitment through our most traditional promises and shows why they endure. In considering the kind of marriage these vows entail, she helps answer some of life’s most urgent and personal of questions: Could I, would I, or should I make these promises to someone? Using history and literature, the book describes the parameters of the behavior that traditional vows promise and, in doing so, answers a whole series of other questions: Why did wedding-by-vow arise only in the West? Why are they recited in weddings around the world today? Why have these vows lasted for nearly a thousand years? Why does the kind of marriage promised in the vows survive?

The “CPH Old Testament Commentary: Book of Proverbs” is a comprehensive volume that offers a detailed verse-by-verse apologetic and background exposition of the ancient book of Proverbs. Readers will gain an in-depth understanding of the wisdom literature found in Proverbs, which includes practical guidance for living a godly and righteous life. The commentary also explores the role of Proverbs in the broader canon of Scripture, providing insights into how this book relates to other biblical texts and themes. Written by an experienced scholar and theologian, the “CPH Old Testament Commentary: Book of Proverbs” is a valuable resource for pastors, teachers, and anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of this rich and complex text. Whether you are a seasoned Bible scholar or a curious seeker of wisdom, this commentary offers fresh insights and perspectives that will enrich your study of the book of Proverbs.

Sex is beyond reason, and yet we constantly reason about it. So, too, did the peoples of ancient Greece and Rome. But until recently there has been little discussion of their views on erotic experience and sexual ethics. The Sleep of Reason brings together an international group of philosophers, philologists, literary critics, and historians to consider two questions normally kept separate: how is erotic experience understood in classical texts of various kinds, and what ethical judgments and philosophical arguments are made about sex? From same-sex desire to conjugal love, and from Plato and Aristotle to the Roman Stoic Musonius Rufus, the contributors demonstrate the complexity and diversity of classical sexuality. They also show that the ethics of eros, in both Greece and Rome, shared a number of commonalities: a focus not only on self-mastery, but also on reciprocity; a concern among men not just for penetration and display of their power, but also for being gentle and kind, and for being loved for themselves; and that women and even younger men felt not only gratitude and acceptance, but also joy and sexual desire. Contributors: * Eva Cantarella * Kenneth Dover * Chris Faraone * Simon Goldhill * Stephen Halliwell * David M. Halperin * J. Samuel Houser * Maarit Kaimio * David Konstan * David Leitao * Martha C. Nussbaum * A. W. Price * Juha Sihvola