Despite the fact that almost half of all Americans are single, singleness remains an often overlooked oddity in American culture and in Christian communities. Christians ought to be the people who most support singleness, given what scripture and tradition suggest, but this does not seem to be the case. In this exciting new work, Jana Marguerite Bennett examines a variety of usually forgotten models of singleness: the never-married, the casually uncommitted, the committed but unmarried, the same-sex attracted, the widowed, the divorced, and the single parent. Each chapter in Singleness and the Church takes one of these models and considers the cultural commentary, Christian debate, and a holy guide, a person who lived that way of being single, in order to offer a new perspective on singleness, the church, and what it means to be a single Christian disciple. In Singleness and the Church, Bennett provides a fresh new theology of single life, a starting point for restoring singleness, in all its amazing varieties, to its rightful place in Christian tradition.

About the Author
Jana Marguerite Bennett is Associate Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Dayton. She is also the author of Water is Thicker than Blood: An Augustinian Theology of Marriage and Singleness and blogs at catholicmoraltheology.com.

Reviews
Readers seeking to engage with Christian ethics on the subject of marriage and singleness will find this an important resource, as will those desiring a study of singleness that interprets it broadly...Recommended. * CHOICE *
Singleness and the Church...is a valuable partner in the conversation that, hopefully, will continue to challenge and enrich contemporary theological discussion and church practice. * Lina Toth, University of the West of Scotland, Studies in Christian Ethics *
Singleness and the Church constructs a strong argument that the church's idolization of the family is hurting single people in all stages of life. As she attests, there is little written about singleness, but hopefully feminist theologians will take up her call to engage with the topic of singleness... Perhaps one day the church will be a place where singles in all stages of life will be celebrated, both literally and liturgically. Singleness and the Church is an important beginning step towards that goal. * Stephanie Townes, Reading Religion *
Singleness and the Church will be a valuable resource for pastoral ministry training. It will provoke ministers to notice occasions when they perpetuate unhelpful assumptions about single people or ignore their needs, untapped insights, and heroes. * Horizons: The Journal of the College Theology Society *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190462628
Author Jana Marguerite Bennett
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 499g
Dimensions(mm) 160mm * 239mm * 25mm