Divorce, separation, and remarriage have become a normative part of family life. These changes have led to a diversification of the behaviors, attitudes, and norms concerning marriage and family. To better comprehend these issues, this volume addresses topics including: marital instability step-parenting and extra-marital affairs, among others.
Seventy now-adult children of divorce give their candid and often heart-wrenching answers to eight questions (arranged in eight chapters, by question), including: What were the main effects of your parents' divorce on your life? What do you say to those who claim that "children are resilient" and "children are happy when their parents are happy"? What would you like to tell your parents then and now? What do you want adults in our culture to know about divorce? What role has your faith played in your healing? Their simple and poignant responses are difficult to read and yet not without hope. Most of the contributors--women and men, young and old, single and married--have never spoken of the pain and consequences of their parents' divorce until now. They have often never been asked, and they believe that no one really wants to know. Despite vastly different circumstances and details, the similarities in their testimonies are striking; as the reader will discover, the death of a child's family impacts the human heart in universal ways.
Through a careful exploration of the background literature of the Old Testament, the ancient Near East and ancient Judaism, Instone-Brewer constructs a biblical picture of divorce and remarriage that is directly relevant to modern relationships.
Divorce and Remarriage brings together for the first time a unique collection of international studies focusing on many aspects of divorce particular to individual cultures. It looks at the implications of divorce on the personal level, as well as on the broader social level, in several different countries. On the personal level, it discusses smoking and alcohol use as stress factors in marriage and the effects of divorce on children, and, on the social level, it discusses a country’s level of development and urbanization and its impact on marriage patterns and divorce rates. With divorce rates soaring, it is more important than ever to understand why people worldwide are failing to adopt sounder mate selection and marriage timing practices. To give readers a glimpse of the divorce experience from a global perspective, the authors of Divorce and Remarriage contrast divorce processes and issues in their countries with other experiences worldwide. The book explores consensual partnering and its relation to patterns of marriage and divorce, the differences between fathers without custody and mothers with custody, and fathers’and children’s ethical and legal rights and the importance of their emotional and social relationships. It also discusses the importance of determining the connection between maternal attitudes and the development of children, as well as the relationship between parental separation/divorce and adolescent values. Other topics discussed at length in this important book are: the possible stress prevention role of social support in the post-separation period nontraditional stepfamily lifestyles and the well-being of adolescents in different cultures maternal stress and its impact on children widowhood and remarriage in different countries long-standing marital problems and their effect on each gender predictors of national marriage rates single parents’distress Divorce and Remarriage provides educators, researchers, mental health clinicians, and policymakers with information that can help alleviate the stress divorce causes for both individuals and society as a whole. The book’s model for evaluating the readiness of a couple for separation or divorce, its recommendations for mediation, and innovative ideas for providing single parents with better social networking and services are sure to improve the way divorces, parental rights, and children’s interests are handled around the world.
Approximately fifty percent of the couples who sign a marriage license will also sign on the dotted line of a divorce document. In order to turn the tide of this stark statistic, couples who have considered or experienced separation or divorce must be given real tools to reconcile, restore, and rebuild their relationships. Marriage on the Mend provides these tools for couples in crisis. Clint and Penny Bragg know what it means to be that couple. After being divorced for eleven years and living 3,000 miles from each other, they were remarried—but the difficult work of restoration continued long after that second ceremony. The Braggs know that couples who reconcile face a unique set of challenges, including unresolved arguments, poor communication habits, unforgiveness, and betrayed trust. Biblically based materials are required to walk through this treacherous territory toward full healing and restoration. This practical, realistic book identifies roadblocks that may stall relationship progress, recommends ideas to deepen intimacy, offers solutions to effectively handle past hurts and conflicts, and applies Scripture to every aspect of the process in order to proactively stabilize and safeguard the marriage. At the end of each chapter, the Braggs include a prayer for couples to share to help facilitate healing. The one thing all broken relationships have in common is that true healing takes time. Using the framework of Nehemiah’s effort to restore Jerusalem’s walls following the Israelite’s exile and captivity, Marriage on the Mend provides a clear framework for the restoration of relationships.
This book, written for scholars and practitioners alike, describes theoretical and research advances in the myriad complicated images of life for children and parents in families affected by divorce, remarriage, and single parenting.
Consecutive polygamy (as many husbands or wives as you like but only one at a time) is now an accepted norm in contemporary society. Hardly surprising, since the social, legal, moral and financial restraints holding marriages together for a lifetime have been steadily eroded in a relativist age where anything goes. What is surprising is that divorce and remarriage are becoming as common inside the church as outside, even among Christian leaders and especially in the Evangelical stream. Believers have been outspoken about such issues as abortion and homosexuality though their Lord Jesus said nothing about either. He did say quite a lot about the subject of this book but there is either a reluctance to take his teaching at face value or an eagerness to enlarge his ‘exception’ until it becomes the rule. This volume primarily appeals to those for whom the Bible is the final authority in all matters of belief and behaviour, especially those who preach to, teach and counsel others. The author believes that the church should be leading the world uphill rather than following the world downhill. David Pawson has a worldwide teaching ministry, particularly for church leaders. He is known to many through Christian broadcasting and is the author of numerous books.
In Recycling the Family the authors examine the social, psychological and economic aspects of the divorce-remarriage transition. They demonstrate how and why the process of remarriage is fundamentally different from that of a first marriage, and identify the factors that redefine family life, including: keeping a distance from one's former spouse; inheriting stepchildren; the convolution of traditional blood and legal relationships; and built-in expectations of marital instability.
Editor H. Wayne House introduces a lively debate on varying Christian views of divorce and remarriage. Contributors include J. Carl Laney, William Heth, Thomas Edgar and Larry Richards.
