SINGLES AT THE CROSS-ROADS

A Fresh Perspective on Christian Singleness

Albert Y. Hsu

InterVarsity Press

Downers Grove, Illinois

©1997 by Albert Y. Hsu

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515. www.ivpress.com

InterVarsity Press® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship®, a student movement active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges and schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, write Public Relations Dept., InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, 6400 Schroeder Rd., P.O. Box 7895, Madison, WI 53707-7895.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Cover photograph: Bill Aron/Tony Stone Images

ISBN 0-8308-1353-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hsu, Albert Y., 1972-

Singles at the crossroads: a fresh perspective on Christian singleness/by Albert Y. Hsu.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-8308-1353-5 (alk. paper)

1. Single people—Religious life. I. Title.

BV4596.S5H78 1997

248.8’4—dc21

97-26147

CIP

Dedicated to

Kairos,

the single adult community

of Blanchard Road Alliance Church,

Wheaton, Illinois

May we make the most of every opportunity God gives us.

Why This Book?

1 Where Singles Are Today

2 A Brief History of Singleness

3 The Myth of the Gift

4 The Issue of God’s Will

5 Freedom and Opportunity

6 From Loneliness to Solitude

7 From Aloneness to Community

8 Rethinking Romance

9 Temptations Singles Face

Epilogue: A Vision for the Future

Appendix: John Stott on Singleness

Why This Book?

The average Christian bookstore has more than a hundred titles on marriage and another hundred about parenting, children and family issues. In contrast, these stores stock only about a dozen books about singleness. Half of these are geared for “single-again” divorcees or widows. Of the remainder, most are about “how to find the right one.”

The marriage books never argue that marriage is a good thing. That is presupposed. They accept the reality that marriages often have problems, so that’s what these marriage books are for: dealing with the problems. But books on singleness usually have a different approach. Instead of dealing with problems that singles might face, these books seem to think singleness is the problem. They instruct the reader on how to bide one’s time until the right person comes along. In other words, they imply that the solution to the problem of singleness is to get married. Then one can have marriage problems and read all those marriage books.

But is this approach correct? Is singleness the problem? Or does singleness ...