Book Description

Revised edition of a classic text long out of print--a moral analysis of making, keeping, and breaking personal commitments. In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Farley explores how commitments, rooted in the story of God's love, are acts of free choice and love that yield a claim. Farley's reflections are also rooted in the concrete experiences of people who strive to be faithful to what they have claimed to love: "My concern is to name something that I think is, after all, common to all of our lives an experience, a reality, perhaps a problem, a challenge, something that is sometimes a source of joy, sometimes a cause of tragedy." In eight short chapters Farley explores the nature and meaning of commitment as it is played out in our lives, addressing love, fidelity, a sense of obligation, and covenant. She also reflects on whether each commitment must be kept, and what we should do if, despite our best efforts, our commitments break down. "A brilliant study, in the literal sense that it brings needed light and clarity to a great deal of our everyday experience of sorting out, changing, reaffirming, attempting to prioritize, and wrestling with the constantly varying demands of our many freely chosen commitments." Anne E. Patrick (of the original edition) Of the original edition, Paul Wadell wrote, "Personal Commitments is a superb book that cannot be recommended too highly. Though richly research and tightly argued, its style and method make it accessible to anyone wishing to explore the commitments we make and the wholeness we seek when we make them." Another reviewer wrote "Personal Commitments is far more than a book on the ethics of commitment and obligation; rather, it is a searching account of love in both the personal and social relationships that form human life.