Literature Page

Author: Elisabeth Elliot

Age: Aimed primarily at young unmarried women.

Genre: Christian Non-fiction.

Topics for Discussion: love, relationships, calling

Summary: It has been a very long time since I read this book, so my memory of it is a bit sketchy at best. Elliot frames the book with stories from when she first met and dated her first husband Jim. Interspersed throughout the narrative of her own experiences, she adds the experiences of young women she has talked and councelled with over the years. Elliot focuses on the need for young Christian men and women to seek God first in their relationships and to remain pure both in thought and deed.

Book Review: Like I said, it's been along time, but this book certainly left a memorable impression on me. I was delighted both with Elliot's narrative style and what she had to say. Often, these "how to be single" books come across as a bit condescending, or overly didactic (at least to me), but in relating her own struggles with being a young single Christian, Elliot maintains an honest and easy tone that belies the distance through which see looks at those events. Her suggestions for Christian singles also avoid tending towards the formulaeic, where other books I have read suggest that if you do this, this, and this, God will bring you your marriage partner. Maybe that's just the slant I put on things as I read them, but for some reason, this book did not make me feel that way at all, rather that I must simply live purely in all my relationships.

Multimedia:

Christian Perspectives: Obviously, this book is written from an entirely Christian worldview. It contains nothing objectionable, and nothing that I think would be inflamitory towards any particular denomination. While Elliot's intended audience is probably upper high school and college age young women, it might be a good book for younger girls as well, especially since girls are developing "serious" relationships at a younger and younger age.