The Christian Lover

The Christian Lover: The Sweetness of Love and Marriage in the Letters of Believers is a historical anthology that gathers love letters from prominent Christian believers across several centuries, offering readers a window into the place of romantic love and marital devotion within the life of faith.

Dr. Michael A.G. Haykin, with Victoria J. Haykin, presents twelve couples whose correspondence spans from the Reformation era to the twentieth century. The anthology includes letters from figures such as Martin and Katharina Luther, John and Idelette Calvin, Samuel and Sarah Pearce, Adoniram and Ann Judson, and Helmuth and Freya von Moltke. Each chapter pairs a biographical introduction with selected letters, allowing readers to encounter these figures not only as theologians, pastors, and missionaries but also as husbands and wives whose faith shaped their most intimate relationships.

The book traces how the Reformation recovered a positive theology of marriage after centuries in which celibacy was widely regarded as spiritually superior. Haykin draws on Patristic, Puritan, and later evangelical sources to show how Christian convictions about companionship, vocation, and covenant fidelity found expression in the personal correspondence of believers. The anthology is offered as a resource for strengthening Christian marriages by reflecting on the wisdom and affection of believers from the past.

Key Themes

• The Reformation’s recovery of marriage as a good and God-honoring calling
• Romantic love as an expression of Christian faith and devotion
• The role of shared mission and mutual encouragement in marriage
• Historical voices as resources for contemporary marital faithfulness

Featured Quotes

“Each letter gives us a glimpse of what marriage should be: joyful companionship, deep passion, and unfailing commitment through the ups and downs of life.”

“Spouses should keep this mission before one another and encourage one another in it. It is all too common for spouses to live much of their lives together in separate worlds.”