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As two recent books demonstrate, the answer is both—together. (And not only for singles.)
Marriage is on the decline, at least in the United States, but whether you see that as a crisis or an opportunity depends on how you frame ideal life and community. As two recent books show, it’s possible for Christians to reach very different conclusions about the current state of relationships. That’s a good thing.
Those who lament declining marriage tend to focus on what it means for families and children—and rightly so. Less-committed relationships produce well-documented challenges for the children born and raised in such pairings.
But declining marriage doesn’t just mean weaker family structures. It also means more entirely uncommitted people: more singles. As theologian Lina Toth argues in Singleness and Marriage after Christendom, “today’s surge in the number of single people is actually an opportunity for the church to reconsider both singleness and marriage as distinctly Christian ways of living.”
Authors John Van Epp and J. P. De Gance take a very different view in their book Endgame: The Church’s Strategic Move to Save Faith and Family in America. “If [churches] want to turn the tide of a declining Christianity,” the authors write, then they “must build intentional communities anchored in championing healthy relationships that lead to and revitalize God-affirming marriages.”
Singleness then and now
Toth anticipates such views. Her largely historical work puts the prevailing Christian view of singleness and marriage in a much-needed and often fascinating context. Whereas Van Epp and De Gance focus mainly on changes in the 20th and 21st centuries, Toth goes back to the start of the church.
What she finds is both predictable and surprising. Not surprising: ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
Umn ministry
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