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A SECOND DAY: Reflections on Remarriage by Robert Farrar Capon

A SECOND DAY: Reflections on Remarriage

By

Pub Date: Sept. 17th, 1980
Publisher: Morrow

The debonair gourmet cleric (Bread of the Lamb, etc.) is now three years into a second marriage for which, after 27 years, he terminated the first--and much of what little he has to say about remarriage (these are very talky pieces) speaks to situations of slippage, censure, and residual guilt. The message is therefore forgiveness, bestowed and granted (""more important. . . than angelic approval""); ""confidence that it's safe to fail"" (so give of yourself fully to your new spouse--you can't do worse than last time); and various congruent counsels in regard to children (who must come second) and friends (whose gossip should categorically be shunned). Meanwhile Capon is baking bread, explaining his new freelance/freeform island life, and interpreting the Gospels. The mix of styles (""Our restoration is not a reward for finally getting our act together; it's simply the result of letting it fall apart more fruitfully"") is not likely to have much appeal beyond the canapÉ-and-self-analysis circuit.