David Mullins

This book represents a new direction in the study of religion and marriage by using a postmodern theoretical framework focusing on gendered discourse and culture, to examine the meaning of sacred marriage within social contexts. Drawing upon data from in-depth interviews of couples in long-term, sacred marriages living in the American Midwest, together with an analysis of Christian marriage advice manuals, Sacred Marriages explores how couples use religious and nonreligious discourses and cultures to give their marriages meaning, and how those sacred meanings are used in their daily lives and the spaces that they embody. The study shows how religious and secular beliefs are combined to formulate cultural strategies for approaching the sacralization of marriage, and how religious and nonreligious discourses and cultures are ordered, depending on circumstances and social contexts. This often results in other relationships being subordinated in favour of the sacred bond believed to exist between husband and wife. The book argues that sacred marriage is a malleable concept, as people bend religious culture to form new and altered sacred marriages during emotional extremes. A thoughtful examination of long-term Christian marriages, this volume will appeal to scholars of religion and sociology with interests in marriage and the family.

This book represents a new direction in the study of religion and marriage by using a postmodern theoretical framework focusing on gendered discourse and culture, to examine the meaning of sacred marriage within social contexts. Drawing upon data from in-depth interviews of couples in long-term, sacred marriages living in the American Midwest, together with an analysis of Christian marriage advice manuals, Sacred Marriages explores how couples use religious and nonreligious discourses and cultures to give their marriages meaning, and how those sacred meanings are used in their daily lives and the spaces that they embody. The study shows how religious and secular beliefs are combined to formulate cultural strategies for approaching the sacralization of marriage, and how religious and nonreligious discourses and cultures are ordered, depending on circumstances and social contexts. This often results in other relationships being subordinated in favour of the sacred bond believed to exist between husband and wife. The book argues that sacred marriage is a malleable concept, as people bend religious culture to form new and altered sacred marriages during emotional extremes. A thoughtful examination of long-term Christian marriages, this volume will appeal to scholars of religion and sociology with interests in marriage and the family.

Humans have expanded out into their solar system and the Off Earth Settlers have created a truly free society. Independent people living the life they want with no interference. But this life hangs in the balance. Living off Earth requires a great deal of energy which means a great deal of methane is needed. Luckily a ready supply is laying right here on the surface of Pluto, an icy rock at the edge of mankind's space. Timothy Krane and his crew are here, struggling constantly against the unforgiving environment and the unrelenting cold, to keep the supply line running. Everything changes when they discover a murderer among them. This is followed by a series of seemingly pointless and increasingly deadly acts of sabotage which crank up the pressure cooker they are living in. Thrust into a role he is ill prepared for, Krane must work to uncover those responsible as he tries to prevent his crew and the miners from splitting into warring factions and, as always, to keep the methane moving.

This report provides the first detailed assessment of housing association allocations policies for over 10 years. Since 1992, when the last national study of this kind was published, the sector has changed out of all recognition. In particular, stock transfer has not only expanded, but also altered the character of this segment of the housing market in a fundamental way. Carried out in 2001-02, and funded by the Housing Corporation, the research focuses on the largest 250 'general needs' RSLs in England, nearly half of which are now transfer associations. It looks at the way that policies and practices on nominations and lettings are evolving in response to changing housing markets, legal and regulatory developments, and new thinking on social policy more broadly.