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WORK TITLE: Making Marriage Beautiful
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WEBSITE: http://www.dorothygreco.com/
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NATIONALITY:
http://www.dorothygreco.com/author-writer-and-photographer/ * http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/whoweare/regular-contributors/dorothy-littell-greco.html * https://mrsreadsbooks.com/2017/02/07/making-marriage-beautiful-by-dorothy-littel-greco-christopher-greco/
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no2017026611
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https://lccn.loc.gov/no2017026611
HEADING:
Greco, Dorothy Littell
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__ |a Making marriage beautiful, 2017: |b title page (Dorothy Littell Greco) about the author (Dorothy Greco, with her husband helped couples create and sustain healthy marriages. She has also worked as a professional photographer for more than thirty years)
PERSONAL
Married; husband’s name Christopher; children: three sons.
EDUCATION:Received degree from Boston University, 1983.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author. Worked variously as a home teacher, photographer, pastor, and journalist.
AVOCATIONS:Paleo cooking, beach walks, being with loved ones, traveling, reading, kayaking, theater.
AWARDS:National Press Photographers Photos of the Year; Communication Arts Photography Annual.
RELIGION: Christian.WRITINGS
Contributor of articles to The Englewood Review of Books, Relevant Magazine, Well, Christianity Today, Sojourners, Her.meneutics, Junia Project, Gifted for Leadership, The Mudroom, Today’s Christian Woman, Start Marriage Right, and SheLoves.
SIDELIGHTS
Dorothy Littell Greco has dedicated her professional livelihood to both artistic and religious pursuits. She has worked predominantly in photography, but is also involved in writing, educating, and ministerial work. She has contributed photography to a number of publications and companies, including Houghton Mifflin, National Geographic, Boston University, New York Times, Harvard University, Boston Globe. She has also contributed written pieces to the likes of The Englewood Review of Books, Relevant Magazine, Well, and Christianity Today, as well as numerous other periodicals.
Greco’s book, Making a Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy, and Intimacy Start with You, comes from her personal experiences as a wife in a long standing marriage, as well as her knowledge of her faith. It was written in collaboration with her spouse, Christopher, with the intent of helping other Christian couples achieve a stronger partnership and, as a result, a happier married life. Each of the book’s eleven sections addresses its own strategy on how to build a stronger and more Godly marriage. Greco draws from many of her own experiences with her marriage, using what she has learned to offer advice to other couples who may be struggling in one way or another. In doing so, Greco shares much about the tribulations that once rocked her own marriage, as well as how she and her husband managed to make it out on the other side of any issues life threw at them. The key, Greco states, is to commit to being a united front. This commitment can be made no matter the personality differences (or similarities) of either partner. Greco illustrates this fact by using anecdotal evidence not only from their own marriage.
She starts off from the very start of her and her husband’s married life, painting a picture of the challenges they faced early on. She also draws from the relationships of several other spouses and their vastly different experiences together. In doing so, Greco examines several of the most common problems that plague married couples, from issues with dishonesty and stress brought about by in-laws. She then presents several points on how to approach these issues in a way that leads to a happy resolution and a stronger marriage. Throughout all of these chapters, Greco draws from Biblical scripture to further bolster her points. She stresses the importance of communication, coming clean, and approaching a spouse with an open and compassionate mind. Greco also highlights the significance of evaluating the various events that have shaped both spouses as people, as well as what they want for their futures. In doing so, couples can strive to unite and help craft a future that both partners will be happy with. Greco (and the other couples she interviews) offer numerous tips on how to strengthen a relationship in the face of various problems. Greco also asserts that marital issues are a normal occurrence, part of what happens when two individuals bond together and are faced with each other’s differences. However, in spite of all of the conflict these differences can cause, a couple can weather any hiccups or even major storms with the right approach. Greco also encourages couples to discuss the book’s content further by offering a list of questions at the end of each section of the book.
One Publishers Weekly contributor called Making a Marriage Beautiful a “wise, winsome book.” On the MRS Read Books blog, David C. Cook remarked: “Overall I thought it was one of the better books I have read on strengthening marriage from a Christian perspective.” He added: “It covers a range of topics that I imagine are common obstacles in marriages and gives practical advice about how to resolve those issues and move on.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, November 14, 2016, review of Making a Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy, and Intimacy Start with You, p. 51.
ONLINE
Christianity Today, http://www.christianitytoday.com/ (August 30, 2017), author profile.
Dorothy Greco Website, http://www.dorothygreco.com (August 30, 2017), author profile.
MRS Read Books, https://mrsreadsbooks.com/ (January 1, 2017), David C. Cook, review of Making Marriage Beautiful.
Suzanne Burden Blog, http://www.suzanneburden.com/ (September 12, 2014), Suzanne Burden, “Reclaiming Eve: Dorothy Greco’s story.”
Today’s Christian Woman, http://www.todayschristianwoman.com/ (August 30, 2017), author profile.*
Since graduating from Boston University in 1983, I have worked as a photographer, journalist, pastor, home educator, author, and writer. I feel equally at home speaking in front of hundreds or standing quietly behind my camera. At core, I’m a story teller who listens well, validates others’ sorrows and joys, and captures beauty.
My writing has been featured in Relevant Magazine, Christianity Today, Her.meneutics, Gifted for Leadership, Today’s Christian Woman, SheLoves, Start Marriage Right, The Mudroom, Junia Project, Sojourners, InterVarsity’s The Well, and The Englewood Review of Books. Making Marriage Beautiful, my first book, was published by David C Cook in January of 2017.
Past and present photography clients include: The National Geographic, New England Home Magazine, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Yankee Magazine, Mass General Hospital, Harvard University, Boston University, Lexington Christian Academy, Boston Trinity Academy, Arnold Arboretum, Houghton Mifflin, and many more. I have won several awards from Communication Arts Photography Annual and National Press Photographers Photos of the Year.
Christopher and I have been married for more than 25 years. We have three sons and one amazing daughter-in-law. We love walking on beaches, traveling, seeing great theater, and kayaking. I also enjoy reading, spending time with friends, and figuring out how to make awesome paleo meals.
Dorothy Greco
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Making Marriage Beautiful
Making Marriage Beautiful
From Englewood Review of Books:
“Making Marriage Beautiful is a wise and immensely practical book for anyone who is married, or who hopes to someday be married.” Click here to read the full review.
From Publishers Weekly:
“In this wise, winsome book, readers will find practical tools for understanding themselves and their partners, and learning how a robust faith in God can equip couples to face whatever life throws their way.” Click here to read the full review.
Now available at Barnes and Noble and select local bookstores or through Amazon and CBD.
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Download Introduction and Chapter One
What Others Are Saying about Making Marriage Beautiful
With wise and winsome words reflecting decades of couples’ ministry experience, Dorothy Littell Greco offers deep yet extremely practical ways to build a Christ-honoring, thriving relationship. Rather than proclaiming ideals from some imaginary pedestal, she invites you to walk with her and her spouse as fellow sojourners, while pointing you to tangible hope from God’s promises. Indeed, this book will speak life-changing truth straight into the heart of your marriage.
Jeffrey P. Bjorck
Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist, Professor of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA. Married 26 years.
With careful precision, Dorothy Greco examines the complexities, pain, and beauty inherent in our marriages and guides us chapter by hope-filled chapter into the wisdom needed to cultivate marriages that overflow with love and beauty.
Marlena Graves
Author, A Beautiful Disaster. Married 16 years
Making Marriage Beautiful addresses everything we bring into marriage—our family histories, our cultural backgrounds, our ambitions and areas of growth. She compassionately challenges us to see how those aspects of our identity can both hinder and strengthen our marriages. With humor, warmth, and honesty, Greco calls us to be not only better spouses, but better individuals and better followers of Jesus.
Dorcas Cheng-Tozun
Inc.com columnist and Christianity Today contributor. Married 11 years
Making Marriage Beautiful is full of goodness and truth, one of the wisest and most comprehensive books on marriage I’ve ever read.
Karen Swallow Prior
Ph.D., author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me and Fierce Convictions–The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More. Married 31 years.
A remarkably honest and profoundly wise roadmap for real marriage—the kind that survives relational ups and downs, twists and turns, disappointments and doubts long enough to become a reflection of the life-changing, love-giving Christ. Dorothy Greco paints this real-marriage landscape with uncanny skill, deft insight, and fearless power. Five stars!
Patricia Raybon
Award-winning author and essayist. Married 41 years
Making Marriage Beautiful is a unique, remarkably engaging, and vulnerable treatise. It shows me how, even after 31 years of marriage, I’ve got more to learn and my own “willingness and commitment to be changed” can and will make all the difference. As a husband and pastor, I hope this book gets the acclaim it deserves.
Rev. Ray Kollbocker
Senior Pastor, Parkview Community Church, Glen Ellyn, IL. Married 31 years
Within faith communities, marriage has been largely written about by men. Dorothy Greco brings a refreshing female voice to the conversation: candid, thoughtful, wise, and well-researched, with helpful examples from actual marriages, including her own. A solid resource for couples, pastors, and congregations.
Sarah Arthur
Author, The Year of Small Things. Married 16 years
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Dorothy Littell Greco works as a photographer, writer, speaker, and pastor. Her passion is helping other believers pursue holiness and reconciliation. She and her husband live outside Boston and have three sons and one daughter-in-law. You can find more of Dorothy's work on her website (DorothyGreco.com) or by following her on Twitter at @DorothyGreco and Facebook.
Dorothy Greco
Dorothy Greco
Dorothy Littell Greco uses words and images to help folks find transformation through Jesus Christ and see the beauty in everyday life. Her work has appeared in Relevant Magazine, Fullfill Magazine, Gifted for Leadership, Her.meneutics, Christianity Today, Today's Christian Woman, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Yankee Magazine, and many others. She currently lives outside Boston with her husband and two of her three sons. You can follow her via Facebook, find her on Twitter @dorothygreco, or visit her website, www.dorothygreco.com
Suzanne Burden
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Reclaiming Eve: Dorothy Greco's story
September 12, 2014
DLGport-Jun-0612-009-©DGreco-224x300Dorothy Littell Greco has spent the past thirty-three years following Jesus. In addition to trying to become more like the One she loves, Dorothy works as a photographer, writer, and pastor. She and her husband have three sons, and as of August 2014, one daughter-in-law. You can find more of Dorothy’s work on her website or by following her on twitter (@dorothygreco) or on facebook.
If ezer[1], the Hebrew word used to describe Eve, literally means strong rescuer, being a mother and being an ezer have often felt mutually exclusive. Changing diapers, settling sibling arguments, teaching my sons to read are all important but definitely not on par with the adventures of Joan of Arc or Tolkien’s Éowyn. One could argue that the activities which have dominated my days have actually disqualified me for the job description laid out in Genesis. Or have they?
Carolyn Custis James writes in Ruth, “The Bible’s consistent usage of ezer within a military content has led to the conclusion that God created the woman to be a warrior alongside the man in advancing God’s kingdom throughout the earth.” I’ve never fired a gun or drawn a sword but I assure you, I mother like a warrior.
Our eldest son recently got married at the tender age of twenty. The wedding itself was a glorious celebration of God’s faithfulness and provision. My son’s bride is every bit his match. She is smart, passionate, devoted to God, and fiercely loves our son. At the reception, Anthony stood up and gave the following testimony:
weddingjeffs-Aug-0814-001-©DGreco
“A lot of who I am today is not just because of homeschooling but because of the attention and love that I got on a daily basis. The ways that I can get along with others, the ways that I can perform well academically, the ways that I can love and respect Kate, most of them stem from [my mom’s] parenting and leadership.”
(In case you were wondering, yes, I was crying.)
Anthony is a substantial young man. He is disciplined and missional. He cares about weighty issues such as racism, sexism, and poverty. He hopes to leverage any of his privilege to bring God’s kingdom to the earth. If I take Anthony at his word, I had a hand in this.
This was no accident. My husband and I have made some radical parenting choices, including ten years of homeschooling. Our goal was quite simple: teach our kids to love to learn and incarnate Christianity in our home. How we learned and the level of care, compassion, and love we demonstrated toward one another was significantly more important that what we learned.
We made this choice in part because we had seen one too many Christian families who appeared shiny and perfect on Sunday morning but whose lives failed to reflect Jesus Monday through Saturday. We believed for more. We believed for a faith that would transform us, that would free us from our besetting sins, and allow us to actually become more like Christ.
With this in mind, the boys’ schooling was not confined to grammar, history, and math. Theology, the works and words of Jesus, how our faith might impact larger social issues were all fair game. One of the specific topics I sensed God wanted me to explore with my three sons was the disparity between how the world valued women and how God valued women. We read and repeatedly returned to the creation story:
So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
If men and women were both created in the image of God, then as Reclaiming Eve states, “both men and women have the capacity to reflect God equally.” Despite the patriarchy, the concubines, the generations of misogyny that are portrayed in the Bible—all of which are impossible to skip over—I always assumed that if our goal is to be reconcilers and to bring God’s kingdom to earth, part of my job description is to help us get back to the garden. In this specific case, to teach my sons how to treat women as co-heirs and then expect them to live out that reality.
I remember one particular morning at the local playground. Before he understood how to embody leadership, Anthony was quite bossy. The six-year-old girl he was trying to coerce into playing the game his way was having none of it. She said no emphatically and Anthony did not back down. I pulled him aside and with way too much heat said, “When a girl says no, you stop what you are doing. Immediately. Do you understand?” I was not simply protecting that befuddled girl with the ponytails at the playground. I was looking ahead and contending for his future wife.
In all of this intentional parenting, it never occurred to me that I was “disrupting the created order” by teaching my sons how to honor women. (This charge was leveled at me during a radio interview last year.) I thought I was helping to restore the created order and bring God’s kingdom to earth in the process.
Custis James writes in When Life and Beliefs Collide, “God’s calling for women applies to all of us from the cradle to the grave, whether we are single or married, divorced or widowed, childless or moms, infirm or able bodied. . . . The strong helper isn’t a role a woman puts on like a white veil as she heads down the aisle to the altar. It is a lifetime calling for all of us.”
Rather than disqualify me from fulfilling my role as an ezer, mothering provided me with a sacred opportunity to step into this god-given role—and work toward reclaiming Eve in the process. As my son would attest, this has been a win-win for all of us.
[1] “Ezer is a Hebrew, military word most often used in the Bible to describe God as Israel’s helper.” (Carolyn Custis James, The Gospel of Ruth, p. 211)
On #ReclaimingEve: “I recommend this resource for every daughter of Eve!”
— Nancy Beach, leadership coach, speaker; author, Gifted to Lead: The Art of Leading as a Woman in the Church
Reclaiming Eve Small Group DVD sample here. Includes print Bible study piece; great for fall studies! Order here.
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Making a Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy, and Intimacy Start with You
Publishers Weekly.
263.46 (Nov. 14, 2016): p51. From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Making a Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy, and Intimacy Start with You
Dorothy Littell Greco and Christopher Greco. David C. Cook, $22.99 trade paper (256p) ISBN 978-0-7814-1408-1
The Grecos, who have been married for more than 25 years, help couples of faith better understand how their own pasts, presents, and views of the future affect the strength and stability of their marital bond. The Grecos are very frank about their marriage struggles. Dorothy, whose voice primarily directs the text, eloquently describes how she and her spouse have chosen to work through life's difficulties together. She and her husband are both strong-willed and determined, but rather than allowing themselves to chart separate courses for their own individual well-being, the Grecos opt daily for a joint position of selflessness and sacrificial love. The authors also highlight other couples whose personalities, divergent backgrounds, and childhood experiences cause ongoing strain and stress in their marriages, and discuss the strategies that have worked for getting through the tough periods. In this wise, winsome book, readers will find practical tools for understanding themselves and their partners, and learning how a robust faith in God can equip couples to face whatever life throws their way. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Making a Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy, and Intimacy Start with You." Publishers Weekly, 14 Nov. 2016, p.
51. PowerSearch, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=GPS&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA473459047&it=r&asid=d8f338b0bda32786706bbc7df9db7f7e. Accessed 28 July 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A473459047
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MAKING MARRIAGE BEAUTIFUL BY DOROTHY LITTEL GRECO & CHRISTOPHER GRECO
February 7, 2017
Making Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy and Intimacy Start With You by Dorothy Littel Greco & Christopher Greco
Published January 1, 2017 by David C. Cook
Genres Self Improvement, Christian
Pages 256
Amazon / Amazon Canada / Amazon UK / Book Depository / Goodreads
What makes a marriage beautiful? Honesty? Compatibility? Physical and emotional intimacy? All of these are important, but there’s one component that determines the quality and longevity of a marriage more than anything else: a willingness to grow. Because a wedding joins together two imperfect people, all couples experience disappointment, conflict and pain. How husbands and wives respond to these challenges determines the kind of people they will become and the kind of marriage they will have. Making Marriage Beautiful reveals how the pursuit of Christ results in profound transformation for both the individual and the marriage. Rather than offering cliches and formulas, Greco relies on candor, humor and wisdom to all couples, regardless of whether they have been married for four weeks or forty years.
Making Marriage Beautiful is divided into 11 chapters that each focus on a different topic from “Tuning In: Why Good Listeners Make Better Spouses” to “Choosing Joy: God’s Secret Weapon”. The author begins by explaining the rough start she had with her husband during their engagement and marriage. And then the second chapter jumps right into acknowledging “scars” such as problems with family. There is a chapter that talks about dealing with addictions and a chapter that talks about confessing things you have done wrong and forgiveness. Basically each chapter talks about a particular issue that may be a common obstacle that comes up in many marriages and how to fix that problem. The chapter about gender roles wasn’t a particular favorite of mine, although I know in this day and age it is an important issue to address. I am probably biased as my husband and I both equally believe in traditional gender roles, however I often also do things such as mow the lawn or wash a car as well. We just don’t feel the need to “go against gender expectations.” This book is also a Christian based book and the author cites scripture throughout the book that may relate to the issue the chapter is talking about. At the end of each chapter there is also a section called “Going Deeper” that has several questions relating to the chapter.
Overall I thought it was one of the better books I have read on strengthening marriage from a Christian perspective. It covers a range of topics that I imagine are common obstacles in marriages and gives practical advice about how to resolve those issues and move on. The author makes the point that marriage can be fulfilling and beautiful, even when it’s hard and full of challenges. I personally liked that aspect of the book, as I have read other books in the same genre that don’t seem to acknowledge that marriage can be difficult and although there will be challenges, it’s still beautiful and full of joy.