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Loveology: God. Love. Marriage. Sex. And The Never-ending Story Of Male And Female. (2014)

by John Mark Comer(Favorite Author)

4.55 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1491500980 (ISBN13: 9781491500989)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Zondervan on Brilliance Audio

review 1: I absolutely loved this book! It is a very blatant, open look at all things relational. I loved that there was even a chapter on homosexuality, and it begins with an APOLOGY. I think this book is all that is good about the Christian faith. It is firm, yet loving and honest, yet tender and kind. It is Christian focused, so I'm not sure how much a non-believer would get out of it, but anyone who has even a slight inclination to believe in Jesus, I think this will speak to you. It brought me so much hope and joy that this Christian life that I have chosen is good - it is incredibly difficult and contrary to the world, but it is worthwhile. I HIGHLY recommend this book to any Christian, no matter what stage of life you are in relationally.
review 2: Love. “Maybe ... moreyou’re not finding it because you’re not defining it right.” That is one of my favorite lyrics from the rap group Beautiful Eulogy’s song Take It Easy. And I think it’s a true story for so many people today. It is safe to say that today’s culture is struggling with what love really is and what that means practically for us. Today, love is a junk-drawer term that is overused – there are no less that 28 entries in dictionary dot-com to define love. In order to find something you’re looking for, a good definition of that you are seeking is a good place to start. This is what John Mark Comer has set out to do in his book Loveology. Using a play on words, Comer creates this loveology term to establish the premise of the book—a theology on love. Not shying away from difficult topics such as marriage, sex, romance, gender roles, and homosexuality, Comer uses the original language of the Bible to yield a definition of love from the Creator of all things, including love. In short, Comer’s definition of love is “Love = Jesus on the cross.” From a mid-twenties, never married, single dude, there are a lot of aspects I appreciate about this book. He spends the majority of the book around the concept of marriage. I gained a lot of perspective and understanding of what I ought to expect in marriage, how I should practically view marriage and insights for my pursuit of a spouse. Comer writes in a way that is casual and easy to read as he builds on each chapter to target his desired audience of young singles. Comer stumbles through many tough issues (e.g. men’s role in leading in marriage) in attempt to not offend anyone, and does do his best to stick to an orthodox Christian position. The books credibility was elevated when I discovered that he attends Western Seminary and Gerry Breshears was included in the Q&A section at the end of the book. The books credibility is diminished by some of the following qualities I feel would make this book a “must read” if present…A lack of an invitation to the Gospel: Many times throughout this book I was reading and thought, “Here it comes, he’s going to present the gospel here,” and it just never came. As I said earlier, he sticks to an orthodox position and does talk about Jesus, but he fails to invite the reader to turn from their sin and trust in Jesus, in clarity as Scripture teaches. This can lend to many readers turning a gospel sanctification moment into self-help inspiration and gives off the persona of an “everybody wins” and goes to heaven belief, which is outside of Christian doctrine. The physical design is horrid: I appreciate that it’s hardcover without a jacket, however, the pink and white pages and pink poke-a-dot pages and pink lettering on the cover make the design poorly done. Why would this matter? It changes the demographic of consumers. Personally, I didn’t read this book in public, intentionally. And while this is probably more on the publisher (Zondervan) than on Comer, it limits the audience to primarily young, single girls. While this audience needs this teaching, so does the young single guy who has a terrible theology on love and marriage and is enforcing this understanding in his pursuit of relationships and marriage. A note on the chapter on homosexuality: Read this chapter with a grain of salt. Yes, he says some very helpful and crucial things regarding homosexuality. I applaud him for being so bold to do so. However, he said some things that simply made me cringe (which tie to what I mention above); none more fatal than inputting the speculation that Jesus may have “lusted” after another man. Don’t let this keep you from reading the book though, this is only one chapter and there are a lot of good things said in it, but read. Overall, there is enough 5-star material in this book that overshadows its weaknesses and makes it still work recommending. Any Christian who is in the season preparing for marriage would benefit from adding this book to their pre-marital reading. less

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