Singleness and the Church

A New Theology of the Single Life

Jana Marguerite Bennett

Calls for a celebration of the single life in Christian communities
Offers a new position in the conversation about LGBTQ Christians
Renews Christian consideration of single mothers and the widowed

Singleness and the Church

A New Theology of the Single Life

Jana Marguerite Bennett

Description

Despite the fact that almost half of all Americans are single, singleness remains an often overlooked oddity in American culture and in Christian communities. Christians ought to be the people who most support singleness, given what scripture and tradition suggest, but this does not seem to be the case. In this exciting new book, Jana Marguerite Bennett examines a variety of usually forgotten models of singleness: the never-married, the casually uncommitted, the committed but unmarried, the same-sex attracted, the widowed, the divorced, and the single parent. Each chapter in Singleness and the Church takes one of these models and considers the cultural commentary, Christian debate, and a holy guide-figures like Paul, Augustine, Aelred of Rievaulx, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Dorothy Day -in order to offer a new perspective on singleness, the church, and what it means to be a single Christian disciple.
In Singleness and the Church, Bennett provides a fresh new theology of single life, a starting point for restoring singleness, in all its amazing varieties, to its rightful place in Christian tradition.

Singleness and the Church

A New Theology of the Single Life

Jana Marguerite Bennett

Chapter 1 - Loneliness: The Character of a Single Life?
Chapter 2 - Choice: Never Married and Paul
Chapter 3 - Desire: Uncommitted Relationships and Augustine
Chapter 4 - Perfection: Committed Relationships and John Wesley
Chapter 5 - Friendship: Same-Sex Attracted, Single, and Aelred of Rievaulx
Chapter 6 - Proclamation: Widowhood and Elizabeth Ann Seton
Chapter 7 - Grace: Divorce and Stanley Hauerwas
Chapter 8 - Sufficiency: Single Parenting and Dorothy Day

Conclusions

Singleness and the Church

A New Theology of the Single Life

Jana Marguerite Bennett

Author Information

Jana Marguerite Bennett is Associate Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of Dayton. She is also the author of Water is Thicker than Blood: An Augustinian Theology of Marriage and Singleness (Oxford University Press) and blogs for Catholic Moral Theology.

Singleness and the Church

A New Theology of the Single Life

Jana Marguerite Bennett

Reviews and Awards

"Dr. Bennett's Singleness and the Church is a remarkable achievement. With an inclusive and diverse understanding of singleness-one that does not mean isolation but different ways of relating to those around us-Dr. Bennett shows the good in singleness and, in doing so, the vital elements of all relationships. The result is a truly enriching understanding of how human relationships can strengthen one's relationship with God."--Jason King, author of Faith with Benefits: Hookup Culture on Catholic Campuses

"Bennett reorients Christian conversation on singleness by highlighting some of the tradition's most intriguing figures and setting their stories in the context of current debates about sex and marriage. She is an astute reader of culture and a compelling advocate for a counter-cultural and theologically rich Christian understanding of single life in all its many varied forms."--Julie Hanlon Rubio, author of Family Ethics