Friends,
I was asked by Gary to forward to the lists his book announcement.
Doug W. Jantz
dwjantz@juno.com
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DATE: November 3, 1996
SUBJECT: New Book Announcement
FROM: Gary D. Collier
BOOK:
Gary D. Collier, _Divorce and the Christ-Community: A New
Portrait_ (November 1996). 347 pages, size: 6x9 margins
on 8.5 x 11 page.
(Available in both hardcopy and e-text: see end of this
document for details)
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS:
This book has been in the works for the last 15 years and has
gone through approximately 18 major drafts -- the most recent
thorough revision was September/October 1996. This book attempts
to make a serious contribution to the discussion of divorce and
remarriage in current communities of faith. As a summary of the
book's contents, here are two sections (quoted exactly) from the
Introduction of the book:
___________________________________________________
DEFINING THE PROBLEM
I am not a psychiatrist and will not try to psychoanalyze
anyone. But in this book I will suggest three ways in which
individual Christians and even entire churches may be in denial
on divorce:
First, in helping people, many individual Christians and
churches either reject the divorced (not living under grace), or
they neglect the divorced (not living up to grace). This is a
problem not only among the more "traditionally-minded," but even
among the "less traditionally-minded" people who sometimes
proudly claim, "We don't have a problem with divorce!"
Secondly, in remembering history, Christians and churches
often either pay no attention to history or they say to
themselves, "The church has always taught what we now believe
about divorce!" In this way they isolate themselves from currents
of history which could be helpful and which may ever challenge
contemporary views.
And thirdly, in interpreting Scripture, texts on divorce are
often either ignored altogether or read from stifling points of
view in which old interpretations get indistinguishably mixed up
with biblical texts themselves.
These three areas of denial -- in which many Christians and
churches do not believe they have problems, and for which they
often refuse to accept counsel -- have kept our perceptions about
the brokenness of divorce not only on the fringes of discussion,
but on the periphery of practice. We may have argued fiercely
about divorce, but the substantive issues of brokenness have
often been pushed out of consideration altogether. In the end,
in our Christian community, the fundamental issue of divorce --
the issue of brokenness -- does not even get addressed.
The three areas of denial mentioned above function as hedges
around us to protect us from seeing and feeling the real pain
caused by our lack of response to the issue of brokenness.
Inside the hedges we engage in a tug-of-war between law and
mercy, as if the fundamental problem is simply "objective
obedience" against "subjective feelings." But just outside these
hedges is a mounting mass of broken and injured people. The harm
is very real and the ruination is far reaching, affecting
individuals, churches, and parachurch organizations, including
Christian schools, colleges, and universities, and Christian
publishing houses. The result is that even among those who do
not accept more traditional approaches, the community becomes a
closed group, hiding from the issues which beg for treatment.
Again, it must be emphasized that not everyone or every group is
insensitive to the importance of the issues. But we are all
affected by this spirit of denial which does seem to hover over
us like a low lying fog.
A NEW PORTRAIT
Books on this topic tend to be either so popular that they do
not deal with some of the deeper issues of Scripture, or so
technical that only scholars can read them. Other books tend to
be so concerned with "in house" issues of a particular religious
tradition that they do not adequately deal with specific divorce
texts in the larger theological context of Scripture. Certainly,
we need both pastoral and technical books on the subject, as well
as books which are sensitive to particular issues within
religious traditions.
But we also need to address the deeper concerns of Scripture
in readable ways without becoming so focused on "in house" issues
that we lose sight of the larger issues of Scripture. This is my
attempt in this book. I write specifically to those Christian
people who are searching for practical, biblical answers on how
to understand and respond to divorce. Along the way, I deal with
issues relevant especially to those who are associated with
churches of the American Restoration Movement, but I do so always
in light of the larger theological issues of Scripture.
To accomplish my task, I assume the role of a painter who
seeks to offer a new and fresh portrait of what G. H. P.
Showalter called, in 1939, "the ever new and ever important topic
of Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage." Now, precisely because
this is an attempt to paint a new portrait (and not merely to
touch up an old one), I am forced, along the way, to deal with
some issues in detail which may not at first appear to be related
directly to "divorce" per se. For example, chapters 3 and 4 give
close attention to hermeneutical and historical matters. But
these are extremely important in the long run and are not
ancillary matters. Like a painter who must take many steps
before applying the finishing touches, the few "side trails" I
may appear to take are actually important preparatory steps in an
overall effort to provide a new portrait.
To that end, then, chapters 1-3 will prepare the canvas by
discussing each of the three areas of denial mentioned above:
helping people, remembering history, and interpreting Scripture.
Chapters 4-10 will begin to sketch-in the main features by
offering an entirely fresh reexamination of major Biblical texts
relevant for our discussion. These chapters will focus heavily
on the historical, cultural, and sociological backgrounds of
divorce in the ancient world. Chapters 11-15 will add the
finishing colors and touches by broaching the practical questions
of how to relate the biblical texts to the realities of sinful
people through the larger context of the central and healing
message of atonement. Here the Christian community will be
defined as the "sinful saved" who see themselves and their
mission in the shadow of the healing cross of Christ. Finally,
chapter 16 will be an attempt to step back and look at the new
portrait in its entirety.
In a nutshell, the portrait which this book attempts to paint
is a new vision for dealing with an old and troublesome topic.
The book attempts to chart a course for a truly textually-and-
theologically-based and yet reality-sensitive understanding of
divorce, an understanding which takes seriously both the specific
texts related to divorce and the larger theological message of
the atoning cross of Christ.
[end of quote]
_____________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prelude: Divorce, Abuse, and the Christ-Community..............i
Preface.....................................................xxiii
Acknowledgments..............................................xxix
Introduction: Brokenness.......................................1
PART I: DENIAL
Chapter:
1 Helping People ...........................................15
2 Remembering History.......................................25
3 Interpreting Scripture....................................49
PART II: REPAINTING THE PORTRAIT
4 Joseph's World............................................71
5 What to Do with Mary?.....................................97
6 "But I Say"..............................................109
7 A Matter of Focus........................................125
8 The Heart of the Story...................................139
9 New Horizons.............................................160
10 Looking Back.............................................190
PART III: LIFE TOGETHER
11 Life Together............................................199
12 Two Models...............................................215
13 Signposts................................................235
14 Reaching Out.............................................249
15 Acceptable Sacrifices....................................265
CONCLUSION
16 A New Portrait...........................................285
_____________________________________________________
SOFTWARE:
This book was type-set in Microsoft Word 6.0a
using Windows 3.1 and is divided into 6 separate documents.
_______________________________________________________
BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN TWO FORMATS:
$12.00 -- (+ $2.00 postage) 3.5" floppy disk (Microsoft Word
6.0a/Windows 3.1) [total of 808 KB]
$30.00 -- (+ $5.00 postage) Xerox copy double sided spiral
binding
_______________________________________________________
ORDERING INFORMATION:
Send either check or money order for $14.00 or $35.00 to:
Tribunal Publications
2295 E. Iliff Ave. Suite 205
Denver, CO. 80210
(303) 733-8957
gcollier@du.edu
Credit cards cannot be accepted.
Unless otherwise requested, all copies will be on 3.5" floppies.
The only e-format available is MS Word 6.0a.
Copyright c November 1996 by Gary D. Collier
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