Religious Marriage

In Polygamy: A Very Short Introduction, Sarah M.S. Pearsall explores what plural marriages reveal about the inner workings of marriage and describes the controversies surrounding it. The book emphasizes the diversity of historical polygamist societies, from the Shi'ite Muslims and Wendat men who practiced short-term marriages to the Mixteca, Maori, Inca, Algonquin, and Marta indigenous people of North America and the Pacific Islands. Pearsall also explains the divides within Christianity that led to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Relentless is the fifteenth novella in the ongoing story of the Andersen family. Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. It’s been months since her death and her children and grandchildren she leaves behind continue to grapple with the shifting changes in their lives now that she’s gone. Some look back at what else has been lost to them. Chris Andersen is looking forward with anticipation to the future spread that's out in front of him…one that he didn’t expect. But he is also looking behind him at what was lost and never ...

On November 2, 2006, Gayle Haggard's life changed forever when her husband, Ted Haggard, founder of the 14,000-member New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, was publicly exposed in a scandal. In the days and months ahead, everything in Gayle's life was at stake—her beliefs, her marriage, and her relationship with the church community she had been a part of for more than 20 years.

Join beloved bestselling authors John and Stasi Eldredge as they guide you through Wild About You, 60 days of uplifting devotions that will lead you to a life of passion, freedom, and adventure, all while strengthening your hearts for each other.

A broken-hearted widow in need of a husband. A wealthy man with no plans for a wife. A dreadful plan that goes awry. Can love find a way for two broken people? After the tragic loss of her beloved husband, Carina Tiller is faced with the harsh reality of losing everything she holds dear. Out of desperation and hope for a stable future, she turns to the Chance of Love Marriage Agency and soon her life is set on an unexpected path toward Plains View, Arizona. Grayson Blackmore, a driven business man in Arizona, is determined to wall off his heart after a painful past love. But his well-...

The Hope of Hyde Hills series…stories of mothers and daughters, the family they are surrounded by and all the complications and entanglements those strong relationships sometimes brings with it, second chances in life and romance, enduring life-long friendships, and indescribable courage.This includes: When We Trust How We Love Where We Turn What We Remember When We Trust Two women meet at a time in their lives when they find themselves looking for answers beyond the obvious. As both Catherine and Grace come to quickly realize the status quo is no longer an option. Catherine Holden knew ...

A Hasty Risk. A Dubious Decision. A Heart That Dares To Dream. Can a Chance on Love Conquer A Wild And Lonely Heart?Meredith Yancy's world is thrown into chaos, her freedom threatened by her father's plans to marry her off to a man as old as the hills. Desperate for a way out, Meredith turns to the only escape she knows—The Chance at Love Mail Order Bride Agency. Now she must take her chances at love like the many brides before her, and wed Stephen Munson, a man she has never met. Stephen Munson’s life has been the vast, unyielding expanse of his ranch, but lately he has yearned for a ...

Can an accidental marriage between a rebellious cowgirl and a straitlaced single-dad doctor become true love? After a traumatic divorce, Aurora Moore never wants to get married again. But when her rock-singer boyfriend, Ari, needs married status to clean up his act for a budding new career, she reluctantly agrees to help. What should she do when she realizes the man she just married is her boyfriend’s twin? In Vegas for his brother’s wedding, Carter McFarland wakes up with a throbbing headache after too many painkillers—and a ring on his finger! Apparently, Ari’s drunken friends ...

A penniless but pretty girl...a wealthy young man on his way to war--what could draw them into a marriage of convenience? In April 1898, Sophia Schiffler boards a train and meets Gannon Moore, both on their way to Chicago. Gannon is going to enlist to serve in the Spanish American War. Teddy Roosevelt is gathering his rough riders to invade Cuba. Mourning the recent loss of his sister, Gannon is shocked when Sophia reveals she is going to marry a man she's never met. When this suitor doesn't meet Sophia at Union Station as planned, what they discover there catapults Sophia into a situation ...

1890. Destiny Snow works in the sewing room of the Cleveland orphanage where she lives but longs for a better life. Even though she knows she’ll never be able to bear children and has never celebrated a real Christmas of her own, she is plagued by a recurring dream of sitting in a rocking chair next to a beautifully decorated Christmas tree, singing an infant to sleep. Desperate to escape her dreary and monotonous life, Destiny answers an ad for a mail-order bride out west. But when she meets Stuart “Stormy” Holling, a former logger turned woodworker with a peg leg, is she prepared to...

A handsome Italian film producer. A beautiful Mexican dancer. A match made on a movie set and a lavish Beverly Hills wedding. The beginning of Camille Franzese's story takes on the shade of an exotic fairy tale. But a closer look at her marriage to mafia capo Michael Franzese exposes more than a decade of anguish endured in the shadows of her husband's crimes. The fear of arrest, the prison sentences, the house raids from federal agents - Camille lived through it all. Discover how Camille's devotion to her marriage and her faith in God's larger plan led to deliverance from devastation.

As a senior at West Point, Harold Earls dreamed of summiting Mount Everest after graduation and bringing awareness to the issue of PTSD in soldiers and veterans. But as a novice mountain climber and newlywed, could he really leave his wife, Rachel, on the other side of the world to pursue such a dangerous quest? The husband and wife behind the popular Earls Family Vlogs share their inspiring love story of how an expedition to climb Mount Everest deepened their faith, strengthened their commitment, and sharpened their vision to make a difference in the world.

A Resilient Heiress. A Tormented Man and a Decision That Could Change Everything. Laurel Bryant daughter of a renowned hotel magnate, travels to Utah, with the aim of dissolving a Mail Order Bride arrangement for her maid. Upon arrival in the dusty streets of Red Rock Junction, she discovers the man she sought, Percy, a tormented soul and owner of a crumbling hotel, is oblivious to the arrangement. In the neglected halls of the hotel, Laurel sees a glimmer of hope not only in the structure, but also in Percy's brooding eyes. Offering her expertise to rescue the hotel from decay, she ignites...

Rose feels like an outsider. Even though her family is in Rocky Ridge, she doesn’t belong here. She’d been living her dream running her own art gallery, but that was gone now. She should be thankful she’d been able to find a job, but working as a waitress would never take the place of being immersed in art every day. Mike has been quietly obsessed with the Reese family for as long as he can remember. They keep their distance from him, even though they’d given him a job. He had a bad reputation that he’d earned. The guilt and shame were what had made him leave Rocky Ridge. But now ...

Revenge isn't always sweet. Can her captive heart be freed to dream, to dare, to love? A quest for revenge ends in a marriage of convenience and a feisty Irish lass discovers that not everything is as it seems as family secrets are revealed. An Irish cop, bent on saving the fallen women of Five Points, New York, finds himself thrust into the role of husband with a woman determined to break down a notorious crime boss. Can these two pull together and find a love bigger than they are?

Kate Braestrup has been married and widowed, betrayed and betrothed, her personal spirituality constantly evolving along the way. How do God and love figure in our everyday lives and bonds with others? In Marriage and Other Acts of Charity she tackles these big questions with stories from her own relationships--romantic and familial, platonic and professional--much as Anne Lamott weaves her spirituality through her tales of parenthood.

One marriage ends, as another begins. Or can faith and forgiveness bring a hurting couple back together? When the harvest celebrations and a family wedding bring the eight cousins back to the the villa at summer's end, along with their new beloveds, the final secrets are revealed, along with the solution to the puzzle of the unsigned paintings. But can these secrets be forgiven, healing old wounds and mending broken hearts, or will the mistakes of the past be repeated? The future of a marriage about to crumble depends on the answer! Note to readers: this book uses British English and ...

Though they may seem to be dividing the country irreparably, today's heated cultural and political battles between right and left, progressives and the Tea Party, religious and secular are far from unprecedented. In this engaging and important work, Stephen Prothero reframes the current debate, viewing it as the latest in a number of flashpoints that have shaped our national identity.

Here is a revolutionary perspective on the relationship between religion and science that builds a bridge between people of all beliefs.

An orphan longing for security, a reclusive rancher bound by the stipulations of his inheritance, and a proxy marriage that will meet their needs in ways they never expected. Clementine has nothing to her name but a quilt and some second-hand clothing. She's aged out of the orphanage and can't afford to be choosey. But she is determined to make the best of things. "If it's true that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, surely any minor flaws like my sassiness will fade away with the aroma of fresh bread." Disappointed in love, Caleb Ellis is content to live a reclusive lifestyle...