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Marriage And Other Acts Of Charity: A Memoir (2010)

by Kate Braestrup(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0316031917 (ISBN13: 9780316031912)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Reagan Arthur Books / Little, Brown & Company

review 1: I loved this book. I love her writing. Kate B. is gracious, thoughtful, funny, and oh so smart. This book is less memoir and more essays on the many forms of love as viewed from her vantage point as a Unitarian minister who believes in one thing for sure, "God is love." She includes stories from her first marriage and her less-than charitable view of love at that time in her life. Arguments were more prominent than acceptance. Then she experienced a miracle of sorts that changed her overnight. She became more accepting (charitable) and appreciative and less combative. But her marriage ended in tragedy, which ended up revealing her life's purpose - celebrate and cultivate God's love in its many forms. Kate listened to her calling and she found love again. As a minister, she... more counseled the about-to-be-betrothed, Maine game wardens suffering from lost relationships and work stresses, and the newly divorced. Her abiding faith in love is reassuring and a welcome beacon amid the realities of love on the battlefield of life.I especially liked her exposition on the meaning of eros, philos and agape as aspects of love. This is hilariously outlined in a chapter where she is asked to speak about Sex to her daughter's middle school class. Eros is passion and romance. It is highly enjoyable but also the most likely to be corrupted. Philos is affection, friendship and good-natured loved. It is durable and relatively incorruptible. And there is agape - abiding, unconditional, selfless and offered entirely for the well-being of the other. I suspect this book will remain on my shelf and I will turn to it through the years as my marriage continues to evolve, hit bumps and reach new highs.
review 2: I have a really mixed reaction to this book - while I appreciate the quality of the writing and a good bit of the hard-won wisdom of a woman who was married, widowed, and then remarried, I found myself fighting with the theology (not surprising, considering my background as an evangelical pastor & her background as Unitarian Universalist minister) that underpins her thoughts about marriage. I think it's worth reading with the caveat that she has a decidedly liberal (theological) take on the world and Christianity. less

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