Marriage Is Like Dancing

By Richard C. Eyer

Book Overview

Marriage Is Like Dancing uses the biblical themes of the image of God and the mystery of the one flesh union of marriage to assert that marriage is not whatever we choose to make of it, but it is what God has made it to be. Readers will identify with the sometimes humorous, sometimes difficult, nature of dancing that parallels the humorous and difficult nature of marriage. This book will support couples who have a good marriage or newlyweds who want to start building a good marriage.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758613024
• ISBN13: 9780758613028
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Concordia Publishing House
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

The Lord Leads Us Forth in His Peace & Victory

Taking parallels from his venture into ballroom dancing lessons with his wife, Eyer equates what they learned there with marriage. And he correctly spends the time defining and protecting God-instituted and led marriage versus what the unbelieving culture would corrupt it to be. Ephesians 5 proclaims that the roles in marriage are not the same for male or female, and they are not to be confused, abused or exchanged. This the author relates so wonderfully to marriage. It is equally hard to lead in dance and marriage as it is to follow in both activities. Submission for the wife is no harder than sacrificially loving for the husband. And the true joy of this book is the relating that is done of all this to the real marriage, that of the Bride of Christ, the Holy Christian Church to its Groom, Jesus Christ. This book continues to make this connection refreshing and creatively and clearly. The parallels between dance and spiritual life are aptly drawn and communicated. I further think this sage advice applies to the church's dance with its leaders, the pastors. Eyer's wife Susan follows his lead at the book's end with a fine chapter on following from her perspective. There is also fine discussion questions recommended not for group discussion, but personal couple use. Everyone who wants to work on their marriage, be it current or dreamed for, this work will be a fine resource. My only mild criticism, I didn't want it to stop, but wanted to read on. But, there is such fine stuff to continue to chew on, and bring to the dance.

Concise and Wise

I've read a few books in my pre-marital counseling before reading "Marriage is like Dancing" and I feel like I'm re-reading a lot of the same information. However, I don't think this is a bad thing at all! This book is relatively short in length and packed full of great advice and wisdom. Using dancing as a metaphor for marriage allows the author to give lots of great physical/visual comparison that often helps the reader understand the point he is trying to make. The only downside to this is that if you haven't done much formal dancing some of the points may be harder to understand than it would be to a person who understand the struggles of leading, maintaining a good frame, etc.

An Excellent metaphor for Marriage

When I was reading this book on the airplane recently, it caught the eye of several people. Author Richard Eyer chooses an intriguing metaphor to illustrate the godly estate of marriage, namely ballroom dancing. While I'm not much of a dancer myself, you don't have to be one to appreciate this book. Eyer illustrates how God has designed marriage, and how the roles of the husband and wife can work together to make marriage into a beautiful picture of love. Relating the dancing metaphor to biblical passages on the submission and love of the husband and wife for each other, he talks about the importance of a husband leading properly, and the wife following. And yet while the husband leads and the wife follows, the dance of marriage presents the wife as the focus and beauty of the relationship. He talks about how many problems in marriage can be traced to the improper leading of the husband, and also how some times in life may require the wife to lead for a few steps until the leadership of her husband can be returned. There is also an excellent chapter on aging gracefully in marriage and dealing with the circumstances that may arise later in life, like responsibility for aging parents. One of the features of the book that made it particularly winsome, was the afterword by Eyer's wife, where she affirms the blessing it has been for their marriage to follow the biblical pattern. Overall, the book is written in a very congenial and positive manner, and with humor and humility on the part of the author. As the author indicates, the book would be ideal for a newly married (or soon to be married) couple, or for those wanting to strengthen a good marriage. It is not designed for repairing a marriage gone badly, though it may provide strength and direction to a marriage that has been repaired. Discussion questions are given for a one-to-one dialogue between husband and wife, to explore some of the issues raised in the book. As a pastor, I could heartily recommend this book to any newlywed couple. It's another book I'd gladly read and re-read.