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The Mystery of Marriage 20th Anniversary Edition: Meditations on the Miracle
 
 
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The Mystery of Marriage 20th Anniversary Edition: Meditations on the Miracle [Paperback]

Mike Mason (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)

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Book Description

June 2, 2005
Meditate on the Spiritual Significance of Marriage

In the 20th Anniversary Edition of this Gold Medallion Award winner, Mike Mason goes on a poetic search to understand the wondrous dynamics of committed love. In highly readable, first-person style, Mason’s writing stimulates readers’ thoughts and prayers and propels couples to deeper intimacy. “A marriage is not a joining of two worlds,” says the author, “but an abandoning of two worlds in order that one new one might be formed.” Rich chapters on “Otherness,” “Vows,” “Intimacy,” “Sex,” “Submission,” and an all-new chapter on “Oneness” lift readers to view the eternal, spiritual nature of this faith-filled, “impossible,” wild—yet wonderful—frontier.

“The two shall become one flesh.

This is a great mystery.”

Ephesians 5:31–32

Beautifully written and filled with life-transforming insights, the 20th anniversary edition of Mike Mason’s unparalleled Gold Medallion winner explores the mystical and holy nature of marriage with a depth that will forever alter how a couple relates to each other—and to God.

PULL OUT

The Mystery of Marriage stands out from how-to manuals on marriage as a refreshing how-come book—a brilliant celebration of the God-ordained union between man and wife.

“An outstanding achievement. Rarely has a book aroused in me so much enthusiasm as has the combination of wisdom, depth, dignity, and glow that I find in these chapters.”

J.I. Packer

“Absolutely exquisite. It reaches down deep into our innermost being, revealing, revitalizing, rewarding. A real classic.”

Gigi Graham Tchividjian

“A drop everything book. Mason deals with the stunning paradoxes of the mystery, the problems, and the glories of marriage. I don’t need to read any other book on the subject.”

Elisabeth Elliot

Story Behind the Book

“Over the twenty years since its publication, many couples have told me that they’ve read my book aloud to each other. This always amazes me and gives me great joy. I’m also amazed that many single people have read it. Either way, my goal is for hearts to be warmed by the mystery of divine love. I want couples to enter into deeper intimacy by thinking together about the mystery of marriage—about how their love, besides being a gift of God, reflects the very love He has for Himself in the Trinity. For God is not a bachelor, and throughout the Bible marriage is a supreme picture of the nature of God’s love and of His kingdom. I want people who read my book to feel so soaked in these wonderful, divine mysteries that it deepens their reverence for marriage and inspires them to greater love.”

Frequently Bought Together

The Mystery of Marriage 20th Anniversary Edition: Meditations on the Miracle + Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy + The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
Price For All Three: $37.34

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mike Mason is the author of The Mystery of Children, The Gospel According to Job, and Practicing the Presence of People. He and his wife, Karen, an MD in general practice, live in Langley , British Columbia , and have one daughter, Heather .

Product Details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Multnomah Books; 20 Anv edition (June 2, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1590523741
  • ISBN-13: 978-1590523742
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If you go to my website at mikemasonbooks.com, you'll see my tag line: "Purveyor of Fine Sentences." I write sentences, not books. Someone once said that a writer's job is to make good sentences and the rest will take care of itself. So I try to make every sentence true and beautiful. As the sentences accumulate and start heading in a direction, books happen. (Maybe my website should be mikemasonsentences.com?)
This is not just a philosophy of writing but of life. It's moments that count, more than the grand scheme. Live great moments and the rest will sort itself out.
My first great moment happened in 1952 when I came into the world in Peterborough, Canada. By age eleven I wanted to be a writer, and although I got many things wrong in life, one thing I got right was to hang onto the writing dream and pursue it single-mindedly. After earning an M.A. in English from the University of Manitoba, I spent my twenties doing odd jobs to support my writing, from garbage-collecting to journalism to library work.
In 1982 I married Karen, a family doctor. We spent our first year of marriage studying theology at Regent College in Vancouver, and we've lived in British Columbia ever since. We have one daughter, Heather, born in 1987, who is pursuing dance studies in Toronto.
In nearly three decades of writing, I've published five devotional books, two collections of short stories, and now a pair of fantasy novels, The Blue Umbrella and The Violet Flash. I'm currently working on a collection of my Christmas stories, and also on a book of a very different sort, an account of heavenly visions entitled Adventures in Heaven.
Turning to novel-writing at age fifty has meant a radical change. In many ways I had to learn my craft all over again and work through many fears and insecurities. The result, however, is deeply satisfying, and now with more novels on the way I have a renewed sense of challenge and joy in my work.
All in all I enjoy a simple life filled with family and friends, our dog Shelby, books, music, and prayer.


 

Customer Reviews

42 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (42 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars New Perspective on an Ancient Institution!, July 30, 2002
By 
There are thousands of books available on how to prepare for marriage, how to improve upon a marriage, or how to affair-proof a marriage. Mason here departs from the crowd and exults in the institution of marriage itself. His perspective is one of reverent awe rather than analytical examination.

Mason ponders the mystery of marriage from several different angles: otherness, love, intimacy, vows, sex, submission and death. His words are readable, yet profound. His book considers the greatest delights of marriage as well as the greatest demands.

I recommend this volume to anyone wanting to get a better understanding of how God has created marriage, and how He manifests His glory and His grand design through it. I have read many other books on marriage, but none with this unique, awe-inspiring approach. This work is a true classic!

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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Single Best Book on the Meaning Of Marriage Ever Written, March 20, 1998
Mike Mason's "The Mystery of Marriage" is an inspired and inspiring work, a breathtaking work of prose which reveals the transcendency of marriage, from the physical to the spiritual. Without preaching, Mason tells the story of his stepping away at the last moment from life in a monastery to embrace a life-consuming love in marriage. In a work which is profoundly honest and intimate, we glimpse the spiritual nature of marriage so easily lost in our chaotic world. Mason's openness, honesty and vulnerability, give us a work of incredible love which is beyond human ability to share. I am moved to tears by the love of Christ poured out on these pages.

This is a life-changing book, and I gladly give copies to friends considering marriage.
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30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, poetic book on the true MYSTERY of marriage, May 11, 2000
Well, I guess it's about time to write a review for Mystery of Marriage after reading it over and over many times since my husband and I were first dating (8 years ago) and after giving it as a wedding gift to every single bride and groom we know. This book is a masterpiece. It stands alone as the most richly woven piece of literature about the state of being married that I have ever read. Mike Mason puts eloquent, authentic words to the feelings every husband and wife experience in a manner that makes you SO glad that you're married (or about to be) EVEN IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING REAL STRUGGLE. You cannot help but be moved by his riveting description of the marriage union...both the utter agony and the sheer bliss. The book builds as the true MYSTERY of marriage unfolds before you...the very thing we all long to understand and to grasp. Once you're into this book for very long, what will really send deep shivers through your soul is the realization that this unbelievabley 'impossible' union we are trying to have with our mate is only hinting at the extraordinary marriage between our God and us. Yes, this beautiful analogy has been written of numerous times before, but trust me...not like this. I would recommend ordering at least TWO copies of this book... one to give away and one to read simultaneously with your partner.(I suggest alone, because these words are powerful and seering, and to be most effective, perhaps need to be contemplated deeply in solitude.) You will not be sorry to have invested in this book...and don't let the 'gift book' appearance turn you off...I believe it was packaged this way to encourage giving it to couples. Give it to YOURSELF first. And to God be the Glory!
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