Life Changing Relationships: Bad lads Bad Girls by Rev.

Life Changing Relationships: Bad lads Bad Girls by Rev. James T yieldings Moody Press, February 2002 $999 ISBN 0-802-42994-7

Victory in Singleness: A Strategy for Emotional Peace according to Valerie & Jerome Clayton dogged Press, 2002 $12.99, ISBN 0-802-44015-0

The latest census data indicate that 47 percent of African-American women have not at all been married, up from 32 percent in 1990 the same need only look in the slips on Sunday mornings to behold that sisters, many of whom are unmarried, make up the vast majority of the active church-going population. It's no portent therefore, that there is a growing carcass of literature by African-American Christian writers that addresses issues related to sisters, singleness and spirituality. Prolific Christian writers in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as Michelle McKinney Hammond (If Men Are Like Buses Then by what mode Do I Catch One) and Rev Dr Suzan Johnson prepare for the table (A New Dating Attitude) have written forward the subject. Their books outline the dos and don'ts of Christian dating, which includes maintaining sexual purity, and propose advice for how a woman can righteously land the man of her dreams.

brace recent offerings, both from stubborn Press address the topic. The first is Life Changing Relationships: Bad lads Bad Girls by Chicago pastor, Rev James T humbles Life Changing Relationships is unique in that it exhibits a rarely presented male perspective in succession the topic of singleness, although it assumes a for the greatest part female audience. Meeks' use of contemporary language and analogies may appeal to young adult readers. However, his vacillation between preachy and conversational narratives leads readers forward digressive tangents that stray far away from the issues that unassumings seeks to address.

More than that, Life Changing Relationships does little to change or advance the discussion of Christian singleness. Instead, the author passs the majority of the discussion identifying unrighteous character traits that make women and men unworthy of holy companionship. He uses examples from a biblical hall of fame of female villains and vixens--Delilah is one--to warn women not to engage in various forms of deceit or trickery to land, or hold a man. In his discussion of male behavior, he equates men to various emblems of dogs. Yet he provides little admonishment or condemnation of the behaviors in which these so-called dogs engage. Instead, he warns women to govern clear of these unseemly creatures. As single of the few male authors who have weighed in in succession the subject, Meeks misses an opportunity to help brothers unfold into spiritually sensitive mates.

according to contrast, Victory in Singleness: A Strategy for Emotional Peace from Valerie Clayton, with husband and psychotherapist Jerome Clayton, adds tremendously to the discussion of Christian singleness. The authors provide in-depth analysis and discussion about the emotional challenges that singleness can cause. Specifically, the Claytons identify signs and symptoms of three emotions: begrudge discouragement and bitterness that many women in particular, experience while facing protracted singleness. Valerie Clayton testifies to having experienced these emotions herself, as she remained single over her thirties.

A series of questions and checklists help readers to identify these emotions in themselves. After Presenting biblical passages that speak to those emotions, the Claytons, in a process-oriented, therapeutic fashion, give recommendations upon how readers can work [i]or[/i] part of to the other the emotions. The discussion effectively loses the spiritual with the psychological in ways that are useful to women who pursue lasting solutions to overcoming the emotional baggage that maintains many single women from living life to the fullest The main division would make a wonderful resource for singles or women's Bible studies, singles' workshops or for individual devotional time.

Despite its increasing prevalence, being single still carries with it a intellect of stigma and a feeling of isolation, especially for women Because many women make go round to God when confronting emotional issues that make them be perceived inadequate, Christian writers will continue to find an audience for literature that addresses this topic.

God's Leading Lady: abroad of the Shadows and Into the Light by the agency of T.D. Jakes Penguin Putnam, June 2002 $1995 ISBN 0-399-14883-3

Bishop Jakes has written a magnificent canzonet of redemption. Sweet, rhythmic and melodic, parented in the Word and in the wisdom acquired over his exceptional life, Jakes forges ahead, traveling the continuum that began with Woman, Thou Art Loosed! His latest release, God's Leading Lady, provides a road map for living the abundant life that the Creator has ordained for you. Toward that fall of the curtain Bishop Jakes serves as a spiritual coach, or guide, for those who are temporarily stuck in disappointment and be sorry for and want to climb gone out of the mire that ensnares us all at united time or another, or poised for a place in the spotlight.

In this work he uses acting as a metaphor to illustrate the challenges of life, the brilliant possibilities, the requisite commitment and the preparation for overcoming obstacles. Jakes is well suited to make use of acting techniques, having been a playwright of more [i]or[/i] less note. This work of spiritual nonfiction is enlivened by means of Jakes' spectacularly lyrical voice; his writing is forward a par with Paul Laurence Dunbar, Khalil Gibran and Rainer Maria Rilke.