Journal: Journal of Dispensational Theology
Volume: JODT 29:79 (Autumn 2025)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JODT 29:79 (Autumn 2025) p. 189

Book Reviews

Abuse, Abandonment, and Divorce: Confronting the Reality of Marital Abuse with Foundational Issues, Biblical Compassion, and Exegetical Objectivity by Steve Swartz. Bakersfield, CA: Four Sparrows Publishing, 2025. x + 210 pp., paper, $19.99.

Steve Swartz joins the discussion on one of the most complex and controversial subjects presently circulating within conservative evangelicalism: does abuse constitute abandonment and, if it does, is it a cause for biblical divorce and remarriage? Swartz believes the answer is yes.

Adultery should be considered a cause for divorce primarily (dare I say only) when that adultery is unrepentant. And abandonment should no longer be defined purely as one spouse physically leaving another; abandonment may occur while living under the same roof, defined using a modern word: abuse [p. 6].

In order to develop and prove that his thesis is biblical, the author covered many related subjects.

• He began with a definition of marriage as “a one-flesh relationship between a man and a woman that is exclusive for a lifetime, created in the sight of God and in front of witnesses” (p. 11). Swartz calls this the covenantal view of marriage and supported it with seven evidences (pp. 16-18).
• The author stated that there are eleven major views on divorce and remarriage and examined the top three, ultimately accepting the position that “divorce is sometimes allowed and when it is, remarriage is also permitted” (pp. 46-50).
• Swartz believes that biblically there are only two exceptions for divorce and remarriage: adultery (Jesus) and abandonment (the “Pauline Privilege” – pp. 90-91). However, the author demonstrated that most who hold to the two-exception view ignore an entire category — abuse (p. 3). Bible-based churches have excluded abuse, due to “Christian mythology;” that is, Christians have repeated a biblically-sounding truth for so long

JODT 29:79 (Autumn 2025) p. 190

that it is now the standard for truth, rather than Scripture (p. 43). Swartz’s intention was to dispel this myth.

• One means of demythologizing is to examine Scriptures the author believes have been misinterpreted. For example, Swartz made a case that Malachi 2:16 does not teach that God hates divorce, for He commands it under some circumstances (e.g. Ezra 10:11), and He himself is divorced from Israel (pp. 51-59). (This reviewer thinks this last statement needs more exploration. After all, if the Lord has promised to never leave or forsake Israel, in what sense has He divorced her?)
• The author showed that divorce during the first century, and specifically at Corinth, occurred whenever one spouse left th...
  
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