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The Great Divorce Controversy by ES Williams Pages 461, hard cover, 22 illustrations, ISBN 0 9529939 3 7 The Great Divorce Controversy deals with one
of the most contentious issues of our time – the growth of mass divorce in
England and America. Family breakdown has reached epidemic proportions in most
While there has been a plethora of books on the subject, this work is unique in that it deals with the issue from the widest possible perspective, searching for the ideas and attitudes that underlay the move to mass divorce. The historical context of the growth in divorce is described through a series of controversial debates in parliament and the Church which started with the Divorce Act of 1857, and have continued to the present day. These debates demonstrated the change of ideas that have led to the growth of mass divorce in England and America. Evidence of the effects of divorce on men, women and children is presented and discussed by an author who understands the principles of assessing the quality of the research. A further strand in the debate is an examination of biblical teaching as it relates to marriage and divorce. From this large body of evidence Dr Williams is able to draw certain conclusions. He argues that a major factor in the move to mass divorce has been the changing view of marriage and divorce that flowed from the Reformation, which emphasised the secular nature of marriage and permitted divorce for adultery and desertion among other things. This new teaching, the Protestant doctrine of divorce, led to a weakening in the Church’s teaching on the lifelong nature of the marriage bond and has contributed to a decline in Christian understanding of the meaning and purpose of marriage. Other influences are an increasing acceptance of the sociological analysis of marriage, the encouragement of psychological theory to view divorce as an opportunity for inner psychological growth, and the exhortation of feminism that women should flee from oppressive marriage relationships. The author points to the grave social and personal problems caused by divorce, and demonstrates the falseness of the once popular view that parents should divorce for the sake of their children. Can the current trend in mass divorce be reversed? Is it possible for England and America to turn away from mass divorce? The Great Divorce Controversy deals with these questions head-on, arguing that the Christian Church needs to re-examine its teaching with regard to marriage and divorce in the light of biblical truth. According to the Solidarity Institute in the USA: Another work on divorce also published in 2000 was The Great Divorce Controversy by Edward S. Williams. Part of the book is dedicated to compiling information from a multiplicity of studies on the consequences of divorce. Williams notes that in the 1960s and 1970s pro-divorce academics produced a number of reports alleging that divorce could have beneficial consequences for some children. Further research has proved that optimism to be false A review by Norman Wells in Family and Youth Concern bulletin comments: Not all readers of the Bulletin will be in agreement with Dr Williams' position on the indissolubility of marriage and its implications for the remarriage of divorcees. However, there can be no argument that the advent of 'no-fault' divorce has led to a situation where marriage has been cheapened and has come to be viewed by many as either an outdated institution or merely as a temporary civil contract rather than as a lifelong covenant. This book is available on line from Amazon or direct from Belmont House Publishing. Please place an order by email, at belmonthouse1@aol.com
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countries of the Western world. The United States of America has the highest
divorce rate in the civilised world, and England the highest rate in Europe. In
the past decade almost 12 million American and 1.5 million English families have
experienced divorce, involving millions of children in the heartbreak of a
broken home.