Adultery and Grace: The Ultimate Scandal - Softcover

Gaddy, C. Welton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802842690 ISBN 13: 9780802842695

Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co, 1996

Synopsis

Two out of every three married men in our society commit adultery. So do half of all wives. In the face of such shocking sociological data concerning marital infidelity, this book's bent toward grace explodes popular myths about adultery and takes on society's most detrimental reactions to adulterers.
In this frank yet sensitive book, C. Welton Gaddy takes a harsh view of traditional religious thought that treats adultery as the unpardonable sin, and he makes a plea for viewing adultery - like any other sin - as an occasion for the healing grace of God to flow. At a time when adultery is viewed as the ultimate scandal, Gaddy points out the real scandal - that God's forgiving, healing grace covers all.

About this title

About the Author:

C. Welton Gaddy is pastor of Northminster Church in Monroe, Louisiana.

From Publishers Weekly:

Not for the faint of heart, the newly married or for those wearing kid gloves, this book takes a cold look at the hot reality of adultery in America. Pastor, writer and television commentator Gaddy details the adulterous impulse and its reverberating fractures in family and social relations, with a determined desire to bring grace through forgiveness and healing to those scarred by guilt and rejection in the aftermath of an adulterous affair. The A-word, claims Gaddy, is the sacred cow of sin: it outranks all others in its ability to fuel gossip and inspire draconian judgment from otherwise sympathetic employers, friends, family and pastors. It's time, says the author, to square with adultery as sin and allow the sinner to enter the slow process of reconciliation with God, family and self. Without ever diminishing the wrongful nature of adulterous acts (under which rubric he includes not just consummation but also thoughts, words and emotional attachments), Gaddy develops a pastoral response to adultery based on the compassionate ministry of Jesus: one that emphasizes forgiveness and hope rather than law and order. Those who would condemn and judge adulterers and exclude them do the worse sin, according to Gaddy, for they deny the workings of God's justice and scandalize grace.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Eerdmans Pub Co
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0802842690
• ISBN 13: 9780802842695
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 191