David Clarke (2) (1959–)

The 10 most 'outrageous' couples in the Bible is a great marketing sound byte, obviously selling better than 'dysfunctional and problematic'. Christian pyschologist, counseler and promiscuous David Clarke's latest book The Top 10 Most Outrageous Couples of the Bible is meant as a collection of illustrations to provide Christian teachings on relationship building, unity, dealing with sins hindering a marriage, sexuality in and outside marriage.
While the perfect biblical marriage illustration show more comes from Jesus Christ and His bride, the Church, that one example isn't used at all. So, expect a lot of mistakes, rudeness, abuse, bullying, etc. from the 10 chosen couples, reaching from Adam & Eve, Abraham & Sarah, Isaac & Rebecca, Jacob & Rachel & Leah up to Joseph & Mariah. Others could have beend included with ease, e.g. Job & his wife, Elkana & Penina & Hannah. Human characters you can relate to and learn from. A great deal is spent on the Song of Songs, in which Clarke assumes King Solomon & his first wife, Shulamite to be the nearly perfect couple, having good conversations, foreplay and intercourses, plus a few misses and distractions as well. The 999 other women in the King's Castle are kept out of this book.
Clarke writes with lots of humor and personal illustrations as well, carefully carving out the real intimate details. He's radical on divorce, sin and forgiveness. Be prepared. If you didn't get any pre-marriage education in your church, this is a great book to dive into. And if you have been married for some time, it's a good set of biblical marriage lessons as well to treasure your threefold convenant. show less

A good book advising couples of the necessity of spiritual bonding within marriage. The author provides many good ideas about how a couple can spiritually bond (prayer, open communication, Bible reading/study, joint participation in service, etc.), and writes it in a conversational way.The author speaks from his own experience, and does so perhaps a bit too much. Much fault can be found with his expressly Evangelical theology: salvation, work of the church, conceptualization of worship, etc. show more General principles in the book, however, are quite sound. show less

A more lighthearted, humorous, casual, yet helpful discussion of parenting and how to become a more effective parent. Topics include the marriage relationship, handling children through the various phases of their lives, and so on and so forth. The author is Evangelical and believes in original sin, but most of the material is quite good.

Good sound advice in a light-hearted vein. Tries to look at both men's need for control and women's need for verbalization. Techniques for working around these two nearly mutually exclusive mindsets seem to be workable. Christian slant to the advice is a given, since the author is a pastor. This may be a turnoff for some readers, but Christianity only gets a real workout in the last couple of chapters. PS: Lee was a clam, and I was a very ineffectual crowbar!