¹ Harris, Joshua, I Kissed Dating Goodbye (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, 1999).Google Scholar

² Ibid., chap. 1.

³ Ibid., 17–18.

⁴ See Lawler, Ronald, Boyle, Joseph, and May, William, Catholic Sexual Ethics: A Summary, Explanation, and Defense (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 1998)Google Scholar, chap. 6 and 8; Curran, Charles E. and McCormick, Richard, eds., Readings in Moral Theology No. 8: Dialogue About Catholic Sexual Teaching (New York: Paulist, 1993), part 7.Google Scholar

⁵ Genovesi, Vincent, In Pursuit of Love: Catholic Morality and Human Sexuality (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996).Google Scholar

⁶ Ibid., 178.

⁷ Ibid., 172. He does qualify his position by stating that in certain circumstances (e.g., lack of knowledge, immaturity, slow moral development), people engaging in premarital sex may not be committing subjective sin.

⁸ Gaillardetz, Richard, A Daring Promise: A Spirituality of Christian Marriage (New York: Crossroad, 2002), 42–43.Google Scholar

⁹ Fein, Ellen and Schneider, Sherrie, The Rules: Time Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right (New York: Pocket Books, 2002)Google Scholar

¹⁰ Kuriansky, Judy, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Dating (New York: Alpha Books, 1998).Google Scholar

¹¹ Piven, Joshua, Worick, Jennifer, Brown, Brenda, and Borgenicht, David, The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Dating and Sex (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2001).Google Scholar

¹² Generally, many people brought up in a Christian community leave it during their high school and college years only to return when they are married with children. While we by no means think this is because the Church lacks a theology of dating, we would argue that we facilitate the departure because we offer them no means of making sense of this part of their life other than, “It is dangerous.”

¹³ Aristotle, , Nichomachean Ethics, 8.1.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Ibid., 8.2.

¹⁵ Ibid., 8.3.

¹⁶ Ibid.

¹⁷ Ibid., 8.3–4. See also ibid., 8.13: “for those who are friends on the ground of virtue are anxious to do well be each other … each man desires what is good.”

¹⁸ Wadell, Paul, Friendship and the Moral Life (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1989), xiii and 152.Google Scholar

¹⁹ Ibid., 152.

²⁰ Ibid., 157.

²¹ Cahill, Lisa Sowle, Sex, Gender, and Christian Ethics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²² Ibid.

²³ Ibid.

²⁴ See n. 8 above.

²⁵ Soelle, Dorothee, To Work and To Love: A Theology of Creation (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 115.Google Scholar

²⁶ Soelle, 144–45.

²⁷ hooks, bell, Salvation: Black People and Love (New York: William Morrow, 2001).Google Scholar

²⁸ Ibid., xxiv.

²⁹ On the importance of narrative, see Hauerwas, StanleyA Community of Character (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986), 145–51.Google Scholar We believe that narratives can provide paradigmatic examples that assist people in their attempts to understand the meaning, morality, and spiritual dimensions of dating.

³⁰ Percy, Walker, The Second Coming (New York: Washington Square Press, 1980).Google Scholar

³¹ Endo, Shusako, Deep River, trans. Gessel, Van C. (New York: New Directions Books, 1994).Google Scholar

³² Shakespeare in Love, film directed by Madden, John (Miramax Films, 1998).Google Scholar

³³ Ten Things I Hate About You, film directed by Junger, Gil (Touchstone Pictures, 1999).Google Scholar

³⁴ Day, Dorothy, The Long Loneliness (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1997).Google Scholar

³⁵ This is not meant to imply that relationships in general are a hindrance to one's relationship with God but only that Day's particular relationship presented problems for her particular relationship to God.

³⁶ Meier, John P., A Marginal Jew, vol. 3: Companions and Competitors (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 2001), 80–82.Google Scholar We are gratefully to Christopher McMahon, a professor at Mt. Marty College, for providing us with this reference.