Reviews Divorce and Remarriage by David Instone-Brewer

"He makes his case in a serious manner but at times seems to overwork in making the gospel passages fit his theory."   The Bible Today September/October 2002

Full review:
	The author of this extensive study attempts to place the teaching of Jesus about di-vorce and remarriage—and its pastoral consequences—in the context of the entire Bible and its understanding by Jesus and early Christianity. He argues that this wider context is presupposed by the abbreviated reports of Jesus' teaching in the New Testament and that of Paul. Jesus, in fact, was not rigorously opposed to di-vorce or remarriage under any circumstances. Instead, he opposed divorce without valid grounds and discouraged it even for valid grounds. But based on Old Testa-ment teaching which Jesus presupposed, divorce was possible in cases of adultery or abuse. Remarriage after such a valid divorce was permissible. The author, who is a scholar at Tyndale House in Cambridge, makes his case in a serious manner but at times seems to overwork in making the gospel passages fit his theory. When all is said and done, Jesus' teaching on divorce may have been a radical departure from most Jewish traditions.
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