Divorce and Remarriage in the Church | David Instone-Brewer

David Instone-Brewer. Divorce and Remarriage in the Church: Biblical Solutions for Pastoral Realities. IVP, 2006. 212 pp.

“Most of society thinks that the Bible has nothing sensible to say about divorce and remarriage, and even many Christians think that they can ignore the Scriptures on this particular subject. The laws of Western nations, which are based largely on biblical principles, have deliberately avoided the issue of grounds for divorce by allowing no-fault divorce. This has resulted in a huge increase in divorces, as well as a feeling that marriage can be ended for just about any reason, and this in turn has resulted in disillusionment with the whole institution of marriage.”

In Divorce and Remarriage in the Church: Biblical Solutions for Pastoral Realities David Instone-Brewer brings clarity to an unclear subject for many pastors. For instance, some say divorce and remarriage is never allowed while others say both are permitted under certain circumstances. Who’s right?

After three years of research into the background literature of the Bible, Instone-Brewer shows that the Bible isn’t as unclear on the subject of divorce as many think. He answers the tough questions about divorce and remarriage by breaking down his discoveries into four sections:

1. He points out that God himself is a divorcee (chapters 2-4)
2. He describes Jesus’ and Paul’s teaching on divorce and remarriage (chapters 5-7)
3. He explains how this teaching should work and takes a look at marriage vows (chapters 8-10)
4. He then turns to church policy on divorce and remarriage, explains what churches should do now, and shares some e-mails about real-life problems (chapters 11-15).

Instone-Brewer writes: “My prayer for readers of this book is that we will use Scripture, the help of the Holy Spirit and our
intelligence to judge where the truth lies and then live by our conscience.”

Author: IVP | Tyndale House

Overview: Amazon | CBD | IVP | Google Books

Excerpts: TOC | pp. 11-15

Reviews: Amazon | Tyndale House | IVP

Pastors/Church Leaders

• Bob Rogers at Brother Bob’s Blog (02/07) Review

Laymen/Unknown

• Kristine at Child of Divorce/Child of God (06/07) Review
• Jason Ingalls at Jason’s GFM Blog (01/07) Review

Extras:

• Marriage/Divorce interview with Instone-Brewer: Part 1 | Part 2

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