As the number of cross-cultural and interracial marriages in our society grows, our faith communities find they are welcoming into their midst an increasing number of those who are marrying across the traditional barriers of race, language and ethnicity. Such couples inevitably face unique hurdles as they try to forge family systems that function even though they come from disparate backgrounds and, in many cases, have dissimilar expectations of what marriage and family should be. Dr. J. Lawrence Driskill has done a masterful job interviewing and writing up the case histories of 20 cross-cultural couples with church connections. He points out what the church can do to help these families resolve conflicts and establish happy homes.

Oxford-educated Arab journalist Atallah Mansour here recounts the history of the Arab Christian community in the Holy Land for the past two millennia. To protect their ancient churches from desecrating marauders on horseback, worshipers in the Holy Lands sealed up most of their doors centuries ago to keep the invaders outside their sacred halls. Thus the term, "narrow gate churches" was used to describe Christian churches in the land of our savior's birth. This fascinating history of how Christians have survived and prospered here down through the centuries under stressful conditions is a tribute to the faith of this remnant community and to the divine intervention on their behalf that helped them survive rather miraculously under hostile regimes and straitened conditions.