Review: The Intimate Mystery

Intimate Mystery by Dan B. Allender
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The two authors are a dynamic duo - Allender provides the engaging narrative while Longman III oversees the content to be shaped by sound theology. The pacing of the book was fantastic, allowing for quick absorption and thoughtful reflection/application (with reference to the reader's own marriage life). The content and illustrations are highly relatable for the married couple, every one of which is bound to have marriage issues/problems.

No excess ink was spilt; the brevity of the material keeps it accessible to novice readers. In reading the opening chapter, I however was worried that this book appeared to deviate from Allender’s and Longman III’s popular-level pitching to the layman (the vocabulary used was more suited to intermediate to advanced readers). Thankfully, the usually easy-to-follow content soon resumed in the subsequent chapters.

It is a pity that the title did not provide a clue on how useful the opening chapters would be for a pre-marriage couple (though the closing chapters on sex are more appropriate after the wedding). How I wished that we had read this book to get some insight on how to deal with the intense stress, anger and quarrels of managing the demands of the in-laws from both sides of the family (who all wanted to insist on this and that for the wedding). And woefully this book sat on my bookshelf until a year and a half after the nightmarish battles; if I could turn back time, I'd have definitely tried to read this title together with my wife-to-be, to provide us with a theological and practical approach to the challenges ahead.

This is an excellent book and I heartily recommend it! I bought a handful of copies to give as wedding gifts to my newly-wedded friends whose weddings I would attend shortly! Perhaps this personal endorsement would make up for my desire not to spoil any of the content in this review!

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