Christendom College theology professor Mary Stanford’s latest book, The Obedience Paradox: Finding True Freedom in Marriage, is receiving critical acclaim from readers and organizations across the nation, including the popular religious journal Adoremus. In a recent review, Adoremus praised the book — which probes the meaning and power of receptivity in a relationship — for bringing “clarity to a topic that has befuddled many skeptics both inside and outside of the Church.”
Stanford, who received her master’s degree in theological studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, released her book this past fall. The book is Stanford’s latest contribution to the ongoing debate over marriage in the twenty-first century, following on numerous articles, talks, and classes given on Pope Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
Illuminating the subject by examining the relationship between husband and wife in marriage as an image of Christ’s relationship to the Church, Stanford’s The Obedience Paradox presents the sexual complementarity of husband and wife as an expression of gift, probing the meaning and power of receptivity in a relationship over the course of the book.
Since its release, The Obedience Paradox has been garnering acclaim, with numerous scholars and religious saying the book offers a “new path forward” in the ongoing conversation on marriage and the traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity.
In his review for Adoremus, author Peter Martin echoes these sentiments, noting again and again how Stanford brings clarity to a subject which “has been misunderstood since Adam met Eve,” noting how “it takes a very thorough and scholarly path through many erroneous understandings that are flippantly thrown about these days concerning what the Catholic Church means by obedience.”
“This book, however, does not read as your average self-help guide for a married or engaged couple who want to know tips for a successful marriage,” writes Martin. “No, Stanford’s book is for the spiritually and emotionally mature couple who recognize that their life is not about them. This book will draw all its readers into the mystery of a deeper union that can only be drawn from the Gospel paradox of the grain of wheat that truly lives when it has died. This book is written for spouses who recognize that their life is a gift and that what they have been given as a gift is meant to be given away.
Stanford is a speaker, teacher, and writer on Catholic marriage and family life. She is an adjunct professor at Christendom and has a master’s degree in theological studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. She and her husband, fellow Christendom professor Dr. Trey Stanford, have seven children.