Love That Works

Details and Description

Description

This original, highly readable book poses a clear distinction between our customary form of love, which almost guarantees failure, and higher, more generous ways of loving that can succeed and enrich both individuals and society as a whole. Love That Works draws on history, psychology, and the theology and science of love to offer a proposal on how to be successful in love and romance. It starts by showing why love fails to meet expectations, often ending sadly or even tragically. It offers fresh insights on:

How to know what love is and if you’re really in love
Understanding romance (eros), friendship (philia), and altruism (agape)
Love that leads to spiritual health and emotional well-being
Love “problems” related to the general disintegration of our culture

Endorsements and Reviews

Endorsements

I have over thirty books in my personal library that deal with some aspect of love and without any exaggeration this is one of the finest I have read. . . . This book will become required reading for my students. I know that anybody who wants to experience love at deeper, richer, and more meaningful levels will clearly benefit from this wonderful and much-needed book.

Bruce Brander has written an absolutely splendid book which highlights the many problems associated with a culture that primarily thinks of love in the context of fleeting romantic attractions.

Reviews

Christian Science Monitor, The

2/9/2005

Born of decades of research and conversations, Love That Works delivers a succinct assessment of what’s wrong with the way people love today and how they can grow to have better relations with significant others and even strangers in grocery store lines.

Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

6/1/2005

Brander is an international journalist, photographer, teacher, and author. His main interests are travel and social psychology. He has been a staff writer on newspapers in New Zealand and the United States and a writer-editor for National Geographic. Through the years, Brander has continued his studies in the fields of social and cultural trends in the Western world with particular emphasis on sociology, psychology, history, anthropology, and current events.

Brander has studied love, one of his favorite topics, for over thirty years. This book is result of that study. As a testimony to his expertise, he has been married to his wife Mary for nearly twenty years.

Brander has taken an interesting approach to the topic of love and romance. He has divided his subject matter into two equal parts. Part I is Love in the Dark; Part II, Love for Life. Brander draws on theology, philosophy, history, literature, psychology, and sociology to demonstrate why romance alone is a very poor basis for a stable love and a lasting relationship.

Living Church, The—Milwaukee, Wisconsin

5/15/2005

Bruce Brander has presented a treatise on love stemming from his experience as social philosopher, professor, and human being. . . . To love others and to allow ourselves to be loved is worth the risk set before us by Prof. Brander, who has given us a fine book.

Scientific and Medical Network, The—Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

3/20/2005

The discussion is stimulating and erudite, drawing on a number of disciplines, and his conclusions have important implications for the development of a more general understanding of love. A notable contribution to this emerging field.

Translations

Spanish (LA)

Templeton Press

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