Marriage Made in Eden – Book Review
Marriage Made in Eden challenges “Our culture’s version of marriage is not as God designed it to be. With a lot more emphasis on individualism and consumerism, today’s married couples tend to lose sight of God’s original purpose for marriage-a call for his people to take Jesus’ message to the heart of everyday life.” Authors Alice Matthews and M. Gay Hubbard make a strong challenge to our culture’s understanding of marriage. They also challenge the modern Christian view of marriage and show how our modern marriages are warmed over versions of a less than ideal Victorian era. What Matthews and Hubbard do not do is, “Provide a radical alternative to today’s view of marriage, giving a glimpse into the historical and cultural aspects that have shaped marriage in America. With this insightful analysis you’ll learn how marriage has come to be in the state we now find it and about God’s model and purpose for a sacred Christian union”
Matthews and Hubbard don’t fully live up to these two descriptors from the books cover. These two authors are primarily ministry and counseling trained. As such they accurately described the condition of our cultures’ marriages and their historical roots. They brilliantly show the drawbacks of the present marriage arrangements in America and the dangerous developments we have made in the last 200 years. They chronicle marriages as team units during colonial times and the rise of neo-Victorianism. What the authors do not do is develop from scripture a “radical alternative.”
Marriage Made in Eden asks more questions than provides answers. Its exegetical work is lacking and their scriptural model is crammed into the very last portion of the book. The “radical alternative” this book promises never fully forms. As a critique this book provides an excellent critical commentary on non-Christian marriage models, some of which the church has promoted. While these critics provide no better model for our marriages, they certainly challenge us to evaluate our own understandings and force us to provide our own alternatives.
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