Marriage in the Bible

Marriage in the Bible meets readers where they are to present them with researched perspectives, thoughtful prompts, and an honest invitation for dialogue on complex matters. And it’s a conversation piece that illustrates why Bird is among the premier public educators of the Bible. -- Richard Newton, University of Alabama, author of Identifying Roots: Alex Haley and the Anthropology of Scriptures With refreshing candor and directness, Dr. Jennifer Bird confronts head-on the patriarchal, heteronormative, and often abusive assumptions undergirding the concept of “biblical marriage.” Bird walks with her readers through a re-reading of key couples and passages in both testaments of Christian Scripture, offering linguistic, literary, and historical insight along the way to uncovering the vast chasm between the biblical world and today. She does not seek to impose her values upon her readers—though it is clear what her values are—but, rather, commends an honest interrogation of what modeling contemporary relationships after biblical precedent would really entail. Her work stands alongside Stephanie Coontz’s Marriage, a History as mandatory reading in understanding and reframing contemporary conversations around love and marriage in light of the cultural influences of the past. -- Amy Lindeman Allen, Indiana Christian Church Associate Professor of New Testament, Christian Theological Seminary