Putting Asunder: Divorce and remarriage in biblical and pastoral perspective
By Stephen Clark
Brynterion Press. 312 pages. £39.99
ISBN 1 85049 155 0
There have been many attempts by evangelicals to solve the seemingly contradictory NT teaching about divorce and remarriage. Jesus appeared to allow divorce only in cases of adultery and Paul allowed divorce only if one was deserted by an unbelieving spouse.
Perhaps the most logical and thorough attempt was by Heth and Wenham, Jesus and Divorce, Hodder, 1984, who concluded that neither exception applies today. Jesus allowed divorce for adultery because this was compulsory in a Jewish society, and in the Graeco-Roman world of Paul's readers desertion was regarded as a legal divorce. In other words, there are no allowable grounds for divorce, and even if one is divorced against one's will, remarriage is not allowed till the death of one's former partner. Divorce and Remarriage, Hodder, 1993, tried to make this conclusion slightly more acceptable by allowing separation (though not divorce) if one was suffering so much abuse that one's life was in danger. But even with this concession, one is left with a pastorally impossible teaching.
