THE MEANING OF SINGLENESS:
Retrieving an Eschatological Vision for
the Contemporary Church
By Danielle Treweek
Inter Varsity Press. 328 pages. £28
ISBN 978 1 514 004 852
The idolisation of marriage and the biological family is a reality the evangelical church is slowly waking up to, and Dani Treweek’s work feels like a seminal point in that awakening – or, I should say, re-awakening.
This impressive work demonstrates that the majority of orthodox church history has viewed singleness as a status with inherent worth and meaning, and it’s largely through our contemporary world that the church has come to define singleness as the absence of marriage, or simply a burden to be endured and thrown off at the first opportunity.
This work draws together Biblical theology, church history, and contemporary cultural analysis to convincingly argue that we have come to adopt romantic myths peddled by our culture and repackage them in Christian clothing. For example, the ‘soulmate’ becomes the ‘godmate’, the one whom God has especially prepared for you. While marriage is an undoubted good – something Treweek upholds – it is not the necessity we have made it out to be, far less is it necessary for Christian flourishing. Wellmeaning directives that pastors and theologians have thrown up for years, such as her excellent treatment of the ‘marriage as sanctification narrative’, have downplayed the good inherent within singleness. This has been damaging for singles, but also for marriages and churches, preventing us all from realising God’s vision for His people to embrace spiritual family and parenthood, something that reflects the community God has drawn us into and is preparing us to enjoy for all eternity.
This book is so thorough; I can’t think of having come across any treatment of singleness that was so well researched and providing such reasoned and convincing conclusions. This would be well worth any pastor or theologian’s time, especially as marriage rates continue to decline and more single people fill our churches, but also to anyone who believes the church should and must be better in how we think about marriage and singleness in a world which obsesses over it.
