Promising Again (Family Living in Pastoral Perspective)

Rating:
Summary: Buy the Whole Series
Review: I own Anderson's entire Family Living in Pastoral Perspective series (Leaving Home, Becoming Married, Regarding Children, Promising Again, and Living Alone), and I refer to them frequently.

Each book focuses on a different transitional event and the family tasks that event brings into focus. Anderson and his co-authors deal sensitively with the pastoral issues involved.

Promising Again views marriage as a "pilgrimage of promising." The authors explore the nature of marital promises and the transformations these promises undergo as marriages transform. Issues of the emptying nest, a floundering marriage, and remarriage receive a full chapter each. Other issues covered include: the impact of natural disasters, death, infertility, serious/chronic illness, social/economic stresses, and personal psychological/spiritual changes.

All of the books are well-written and easy to read--no convoluted prose to parse here. The works have added texture from the many personal examples shared by the authors (both their own and examples others have shared with them).

Every book in the series deserves an honored place on any religious professional's shelf. Except, you may find them so valuable they rarely make it back to your shelf.