The hashtag #OverheardAtThanksgivingDinner trended on Twitter recently. Of the first twelve tweets I saw, twenty-five percent mentioned vexatious comments from family members concerning one’s relationship status. It’s a universal phenomenon—you go home for the holidays, you see someone that you haven’t talked to for a few months or more, and they ostensibly voice their surprise that an attractive, young catch like yourself hasn’t made it to the altar yet. My late Grandma Louise was a

In the world of Christendom, marriage is looked upon as a holy sacrament, a demonstration of Christ and the church, the subject of political debate, or worst of all the inevitable conclusion of a heart-connection between two people. The issue with this perspective is not that marriage is bad for relationships, but that for many people it has become a destination to reach, not necessarily a journey to be started. The difference is similar to

As I thought about writing this book review, I realized that I couldn’t write it as only a typical book review. Every so often books are published that represent significant paradigmatic evolution within a culture or discourse. Courtship in Crisis: The Case For Traditional Dating by Thomas Umstattd Jr. is one such book. I feel this post could reasonably be titled “How Courtship in Crisis Has Changed The Christian Matrimonial Discourse as We Know It.”

By Justin Megna “Date to the glory of God.” “We teach our kids to court instead of date.” “I kissed dating goodbye.” “Modern dating is broken.” “Courtship is God’s way for romance.” “Courtship is in crisis.” Such are some of the one-liners that mark the complex social arena of modern American Christians and their pursuit of romance and matrimony. For such a normal and age-old activity, finding a matrimonial partner has become a rather convoluted

God willing, we all recognize that the marriage and the development of relationships are incredibly significant. Social creatures that we are, human beings are drawn toward loving and meaningful companionship, and for many, thoughts about love, marriage, and relationships begin to blossom at a very early age. Among the more conservative and liturgically oriented Christian circles I find myself traveling through, the way young people ought to approach marriage and romantic relationships is probably one