My interest in this book increased as I began to hear it mentioned from several sources as an excellent treatment on the subject of being a godly husband. With so many marriages failing in our day and in our churches, we need instruction - biblical instruction! Stuart Scott has provided such a tool, and it is more than worth your time to read it.

Strengths: I would place Scott's emphasis on what a husband's goal is to be as the greatest strength of this book. Scott gets right to the heart of the matter and states that a man's goal in the marriage is not to please his wife or to please himself, but the goal is to be like Christ! Everything Scott proposes in the following pages is built on that truth. Indeed, approaching marriage, or any relationship for that matter, with this in view is a major, yet necessary, change of perspective from our natural inclination of self-pleasure.

Second, Scott's foundational approach to the subject provided the proper grounding for his instructions for men. Scott did not launch into a series of psychobabble, self-help topics; rather he builds his work on a biblical understanding of God, man, and sin. This was refreshing! Finally, someone points us to Scripture instead of statistics, polls, and theories in order to grasp our condition.

Third, Scott's work is thoroughly comprehensive. After the foundation is laid, Scott covers his material in three more categories; responsibilities, resolves, and regrets. After reading through the book, I simply cannot think of an important or related issue that Scott should have included.

Fourth, every subject Scott addresses in EH is guided by Scripture. The subtitle, A Biblical Perspective, is precisely descriptive of Scott's approach. For example, Scott writes, "God's will for every Christian husband is to shepherd and love his wife the way Christ shepherds and loves the church (Ephesians 5:23-33)." Point being made by the quote is that Scott points us husbands to Scripture in answering large questions such as God's will for us.

Fifth, as an additional aid for comprehension and application, Scott has provided helpful charts, graphs, and excellent appendices.

Weakness. This is one of those books that is so on target and helpful one feels timid in suggesting any weakness at all. For sure, this one weakness that I mention may just be petty on my part, but I do think that it is important in terms of understanding the full concept and meaning of the term "love." Scott defines love as "a selfless and enduring commitment of the will to care about and benefit another person by righteous, truthful, and compassionate thoughts, words and actions" (p. 106). My problem with this definition is not in what it says, but in what it does not say. I agree that love is a commitment, but it is more than a commitment. Love is also an affection. I think maybe that in an effort to counter the culture's definition of love as nothing more than feeling, evangelicals have swung too far in the other direction by defining love as mere commitment. I would appeal to Edwards here and submit that our wills are moved by our affections. The affection of love must be present for the commitment of love to be realized, whether that be affection for God or spouse or, hopefully, both. Biblical, godly love is much more than a feeling, but it is a feeling.

Notwithstanding that one weakness, EH is a most excellent tool for husbands! In fact, I began recommending this book to others before I even finished reading it. I would suggest it as a personal help, a men's study, or a marriage counseling tool.