AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE
Review in Library Journal

Rarely has spiritual guidance been so richly integrated with personal sharing as in award-winning author Wangerin's newest work. Beginning with the story of his and his wife's courtship and moving into a remarkably honest disclosure of some struggles that nearly did them in, he reflects on the initial accommodations required in marriage and, in deeper relational waters, on ways our sinfulness would surely shatter all unions were it not for Jesus's love and forgiveness that husband and wife can impart to each other. Closing with a look at assorted" marriage tasks" needed to assure "faithfulness unto death," this is wise, eloquent, and highly recommended.

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE: CRAFTING A MARRIAGE TO LAST
Reviewed in Library Journal

Second is Walter Wangerin Jr., the liberally educated, theologically conservative inner-city Lutheran pastor who now devotes full time to writing. Already on many library shelves are Ragman and Other Cries of Faith and his allegories The Book of the Dun Cow and The Book of Sorrows.

As for Me and My House: Crafting Your Marriage to Last is his latest. Most books on this parlous subject have half-lives shorter than most American marriages. But this is something different. He has woven the story of his own marriage, now 18 years old and still ticking, with his theory of "marry-ology"; hence, it's both a romantic tale and an instructional tome.

In the last part of the book he describes six tasks, which may seem, in the light of American marital mores, Herculean: truthfulness and dependability, sharing the work of survival, talking and listening, making love, healing, and gifting and volunteering. Also published this year is a slender volume of his playful poetry, A Miniature Cathedral.