Stuart Burgess responds to Trevor Baker’s Evangelical Times Personal View of his book, God’s way for romance: getting back to biblical courtship, published by Day One (112 pages, £6.00; ISBN: 978-1-84625-497-0).
Trevor Baker
I am not surprised that Trevor Baker disagrees with my book God’s way for romance, because he takes a very different approach from me towards courtship. It is helpful to clarify our contrasting positions because the review misrepresents my book.
I take the position that courtship should be a means to an end (to investigate marriage) and not an end in itself (to have a relationship with physical intimacy). In contrast, Mr Baker takes the position that people can seek romantic pleasures such as intimate kissing outside of marriage and can draw their own boundaries of physical intimacy.
The case against partnerships
Mr Baker claims that my book equates marriage with a church ceremony, but this is a serious misrepresentation. Throughout my book I continually define marriage in biblical terms. I explain that God has designed marriage as the only place for two people to be ‘joined together’ and to be ‘one flesh’ (Genesis 2:24). I then argue that it is unbiblical for two unmarried people to say they are ‘joined together’ in a partnership or are now ‘an item’.
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