
Winner of a honorable mention award in the popular scripture studies category from the Catholic Media Association.
When you begin to see the Bible as a book of love, it will change the way you view love, sex, marriage, family, and your personal relationship with God.
Walk with popular scripture scholar John Bergsma from the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to the wedding between the Lamb and the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation to learn how marriage in the Bible represents the love between God and his people.
Bergsma focuses on what nine biblical marriages tell us about God’s relationship with us. These stories include:
- Adam and Eve—who show us that marriage is the culmination of all creation and that marriage can be an image of the Trinity;
- Ruth and Boaz—who display the tenderness and virtue of a marriage;
- Solomon and his bride in the Song of Songs—who illustrate a positive, healthy view of the body and physical beauty; and
- Jesus as Bridegroom of his people, the Church.
Using his popular, whimsical stick-figure illustrations and engaging style, Bergsma helps us understand scripture and salvation history in a unique, memorable way. He also provides insight into Church teachings on marriage and relationships—such as monogamy, the single life, the Sacrament of Matrimony, and Jesus’s words about divorce—to show how these teachings come from the love God shares with his people through the covenants in scripture.
About the Author
John Bergsma is professor of Theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville and a Senior Fellow at the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. Twice voted Faculty of the Year by graduating classes at Franciscan University, he is a popular teacher whose love of scripture inspires his students.
Bergsma earned Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees and served as a Protestant pastor for four years before converting to Catholicism in 2001 while working on his doctorate in theology at the University of Notre Dame. He specialized in Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls, graduating with high honors in 2004. His articles, some coauthored with Scott Hahn, have appeared in the Journal of Biblical Literature and other academic and popular periodicals. A frequent speaker at conferences and parishes, Dr. Bergsma has appeared as a guest on Franciscan University Presents, EWTN’s The Journey Home, and Relevant Radio’s Drew Mariani Show. He and his wife Dawn live with their eight children in Steubenville, Ohio.