Moody has released a beautiful copy of a new book that examines the nature and difference of cohabiting and married relationships. I wrote this book on sabbatical, December 2010 while in Pensacola visiting my brother Todd and his family.
The Ring Makes All the Difference, offers a very readable and informative look at the social science literature over the past 3 decades on what we know about cohabitation and its ability to help build healthy, durable relationships. What we know is that most young people cohabit thinking it will foster strong relationships, either in the present relationship, or in later relationships. There is absolutely no evidence that it does, and loads of evidence of how harmful it is to current and future relationships.
It elevates domestic violence and poverty for women. And it contributes to men being less committed to their live-in partners and their future wives.
There is really no measurable upside to cohabitation, but hundreds to marriage. The mainstream of relational research is clear and consistent on this. They are, qualitatively, very different kinds of relationships and this book tells the story. It is written for couples, counselors, pastors and parents… anyone who wants to understand why choosing one type of relationships over another is a very wise idea.
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Released Jan 18 2011 by WaterbrookMultnomah Press, a Random House imprint.
I am excited about the release of this carefully-researched book, an exploration of what it means for mothers and fathers to cooperate in raising little boys and girls into good, healthy men and women. This is basically the process of becoming truly human.
One of my great concerns is that we are losing the idea of what good man- and woman-hood look like, why they are important and how to usher our young boys and girls in that direction. Anthropologists tell us this is a task that all human cultures have to be intentional about and we are losing this ability, vision and conviction in our culture today.
It’s getting a nice collection of reviews at Amazon!


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