The Meaning of Singleness: Retrieving an Eschatological Vision for the Contemporary Church

2024 Australian Christian Book of the Year

Is Christian singleness a burden to be endured or a God-ordained vocation? Might singleness here and now give the church a glimpse of God's heavenly promises?

Dani Treweek offers biblical, historical, cultural, and theological reflections to retrieve a theology of singleness for the church today. Drawing upon both ancient and contemporary theologians, including Augustine, Ælfric of Eynsham, John Paul II,and Stanley Hauerwas, she contends not only that singleness has served an important role throughout the church's history, but that single Christians present the church with a foretaste of the eschatological reality that awaits all of God's people.

Far from being a burden, then, Christian singleness is among the highest vocations of the faith.

Danielle (Dani) Treweek (PhD, St Mark’s National Theological Centre and Charles Sturt University) is the founding director of the Single Minded Ministry and an adjunct teacher at Moore Theological College, Sydney. She also serves as both the Diocesan Research Officer and a member of the Archbishop's Doctrine Commission within the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia.

Kutter Callaway (PhD, Fuller) is the William K. Brehm Chair of Worship, Theology, and the Arts, associate professor of theology and culture, and associate professor of psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He writes and speaks on the interaction between theology and culture―particularly film, television, and online media―in both academic and popular forums. Callaway holds two PhDs, one in theology and the second in psychological science. He is the host of the Be Afraid podcast,and is author of Deep Focus, The Aesthetics of Atheism, Watching TV Religiously, and Scoring Transcendence. He lives with his wife and three daughters in LA.