I have several times referred to Sara Groves work as a model of Christian art. Today I have in mind her song Twice as Good. In it she contemplates the unique power of the Gospel: with my good news your dancing on the table babies born I am not sure I can say much without … Continue reading Where do Babies come From? Joy!
In the film Moonstruck, Loretta’s mother Rose questions her daughter about her fiance. Their attachment is lukewarm and has an air of convenience and inevitability: Rose: You’re not going to marry him…Do you love him, Loretta? Loretta: No. Rose: Good. When you love them they drive you crazy because they know they can. By the end … Continue reading The Problem and the Promise: Love Hurts
In Menander’s One-line Opinions (Γνῶμαι μονόστιχοι), we find the following aphorism:
A bride without dowry has not freedom of speech (παρρησίαν). Continue reading “The Boldness of a Bride without Dowry”
When a father has a daughter he is profoundly confronted by the reality of female personhood. In her, he is invited to acknowledge human dignity anew. This is because a daughter provokes a non-erotic love for one of the opposite gender. This love directs him to cherish, to protect, and to nurture his daughter, and in … Continue reading Daughters or Double Standards?
Parenthood in A Brave New World is considered obscene. Motherhood, fatherhood, and family-life are looked upon, not only as antiquated, but as shameful. There is a powerful logic at work in the novel, a logic which is at work in our own culture. When sex ceases to be linked with marriage or reproduction, our bodies and our bodily existence can … Continue reading Squeamish About Our Bodies (The Third of Three Meditations on A Brave New World)
In one of the most touching sections of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, the recently married Konstantin Levin is repeatedly mystified by his wife Kitty’s behavior. She bustles about his country estate, rearranging the household, changing table cloths, moving furniture, and establishing dining routines. While he cannot comprehend the meaning of her activity, he sees that it engrosses her, and he tolerates it. … Continue reading The Mystery of Marriage in Anna Karenina
Human reproduction, when considered in its social context, is expressive of beauty and purpose. Though human history and the human family is marred by division, sorrow, and every form of violence, this beauty and purpose yet remains, albeit obscured and deeply marred. Further, in God’s grace, this beauty and purpose is redeemed and directed unto a new and greater perfection. Not every … Continue reading Platted and Woven: On Human Sexuality
This series has been written by a divorcee, by a man whose success in love and loving is limited. My right to give advice is questionable. The act of doing so is not only ironic, but also somewhat humorous. I say all that, not to shame myself, but to assure my reader that if I speak … Continue reading Foolish Wisdom Part IV: On the Folly of Advice
It can be easier to point out problems, rather than solutions. To discover healthy spousal love is to discover something so complete and complex that a list of rules will never do. In fact, rules can be a serious stumbling block, just as emotions. If someone were to ask me about love, I might point … Continue reading Foolish Wisdom, Part III
The last post can be summed up in this: Do you think your spouse is lucky to be getting you? Are you the great catch? Or do you feel gratitude, lucky, glad that your spouse is somehow willing to marry you. That the king knew it was a blessing to him to be with the … Continue reading Foolish Wisdom, Part II
Same & Other 