To Love and Cherish. Hannelore Hushbeck

There are few topics where good advice is more needed than that of Christian marriage. At the same time there are few topics about which the answers given are as scattered and unclear. In this short but comprehensive volume, Elgin Hushbeck, Jr., tackles one of the most disputed passages in the New Testament, Ephesians 5, and its discussion on Marriage. On the one hand, this passage tends to scandalize some liberals, and, on the other, gets interpreted in a very patriarchal way by some conservatives. Hushbeck puts this passage into its literary and historical context to see what Paul was saying to his immediate audience, and how that message can apply to modern Christians. His clear exposition of structural and rhetorical factors is especially helpful. His analysis will open the eyes of many as to how this verse presents a challenge to both the conventions of Paul's time and of ours, as it goes to the heart of Christian Marriage. This book is suitable for individual reading, but could also be valuable for a small group study or as the basis for a sermon series.