http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/Love-Family\/Galleries\/11-Lessons-About-the-Love-Within-Families.aspx<\/a>. (It leaves me waiting for that scene in the movie, “Bridesmaids,” when a giddy bride and her bridesmaids upchuck while trying on dresses in a fancy boutique store.)<\/p>\nThere is also historical precedent within evangelicalism itself for healthier theological approaches to marriage, as Karen Swallow Prior notes in her article, “Marriage: Creating a Partnership, Not Reeling in a Catch,” complements of friend Jake Dell. In the framework of marriage as a vocation, then, which I might add is the primary way in which my own denomination, the PC(USA), construes marriage, marriage is the joining together of two people based on a common calling to serve God.<\/p>\n
The question I would lift up now is how to read Scripture when it comes to a Bible replete with imagery of brides preparing to meet their bridegrooms. Take, for example, the parable of the ten “virgins” awaiting the arrival of their bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13). Or, the imagery of Jerusalem “coming down from heaven like a bride prepared to meet her husband” (Revelation 21:2). Then there is, of course, that whole, Old Testament book, Song of Songs, about the sexual union between a man and a woman (presumably united in marriage, albeit marriage in a different form than the kind we are talking about in the 21st century). When I read these passages, I tend to understand them as describing marriage as a telos<\/em> or end in itself, rather than as a crucible for mutual relationship and the living out of vocation. \u00a0Marriage in these passages seems more like a consummation than a process of transformation. \u00a0So, in other words, we are left to wrestle with Scripture itself in sorting out a healthier, contemporary approach to how women and men are to approach a life-long commitment to one another. \u00a0What do you<\/em> do with this question?<\/p>\nIncidentally, I would also make a plug for FB friend Rachel Held-Evans’ forthcoming book with Thomas Nelson featuring “Biblical Womahood.” Rachel spent a year following all of the Bible’s instructions for women as literally as possible. \u00a0I suspect her insights will at least indirectly provide a window onto marriage as a biblical trope.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Apparently my reflections on Lauren Winner and her latest book have generated interest if not controversy about the nature of marriage as a storybook conclusion to the hopes and dreams of single people. In light of this, a few thoughts, queries and resources to further the discussion. First, while I single out evangelical Christianity for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":461,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,54,65,122,5],"tags":[419,400,398,418,360],"class_list":["post-1149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-humor","category-marriage","category-the-bible","category-theology","category-women","tag-biblical-marriage","tag-evangelicals-and-marriage","tag-lauren-winner","tag-marriage-and-family","tag-rachel-held-evans"],"yoast_head":"\n
Marriage as "Process" or "End" or Both? More Reflections. - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Marriage as "Process" or "End" or Both? More Reflections. - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apparently my reflections on Lauren Winner and her latest book have generated interest if not controversy about the nature of marriage as a storybook conclusion to the hopes and dreams of single people. In light of this, a few thoughts, queries and resources to further the discussion. First, while I single out evangelical Christianity for…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fellowship of Saints and Sinners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kristina.robbdover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-31T12:00:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-20T20:52:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kristina Robb-Dover\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@saintplussinner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@saintplussinner\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Marriage as \"Process\" or \"End\" or Both? More Reflections. - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Marriage as \"Process\" or \"End\" or Both? More Reflections. - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","og_description":"Apparently my reflections on Lauren Winner and her latest book have generated interest if not controversy about the nature of marriage as a storybook conclusion to the hopes and dreams of single people. In light of this, a few thoughts, queries and resources to further the discussion. First, while I single out evangelical Christianity for…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html","og_site_name":"Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/kristina.robbdover","article_published_time":"2012-01-31T12:00:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-20T20:52:55+00:00","author":"Kristina Robb-Dover","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@saintplussinner","twitter_site":"@saintplussinner","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html","name":"Marriage as \"Process\" or \"End\" or Both? More Reflections. - Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-31T12:00:52+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-20T20:52:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/#\/schema\/person\/4c3cdf7104b785db2790c0ea54388e75"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/2012\/01\/marriage-as-process-or-end-or-both-more-reflections.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Marriage as “Process” or “End” or Both? More Reflections."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/","name":"Fellowship of Saints and Sinners","description":"Beliefnet Voices...thoughts at the intersection between life and God for anyone converted, unconverted or under conversion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/#\/schema\/person\/4c3cdf7104b785db2790c0ea54388e75","name":"Kristina Robb-Dover","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/dcf\/dcfc687b5670420584dc52026042422ax96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/dcf\/dcfc687b5670420584dc52026042422ax96.jpg","caption":"Kristina Robb-Dover"},"description":"Thoughts at the intersection of life and God from one saint and sinner for anyone \"converted,\" \"unconverted,\" or \"under conversion.\"","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/author\/krobbdover"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/461"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6606,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149\/revisions\/6606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fellowshipofsaintsandsinners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}