Treasures of Darkness: Struggling with Separation and Divorce in the Church

The Reverend Dr. A.J. Pell is rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral in the
Diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia.

In a society where obtaining divorce has become easier, people are
finding that separation and divorce are more than just legal matters:
they are full of struggle and pain. Tanner has lived through that
experience and grown because of it. Treasures of Darkness is based on
her Doctor of Ministry thesis about the experiences of other Anglicans
who have faced the ending of their marriages.

Tanner has written this book for the Christian Church in general and
for the Anglican Church in particular. As part of her discussion, she
presents the perceptions of the divorced on how their church both failed
and served them in their crises. Intertwined with these observations and
reflections are the lessons she has drawn on how the church as an
institution, the parish clergy, and church members can be sensitive to
and can minister to the needs of the divorcing and divorced.

The genius of Tanner’s work is the way she shows how things easily
taken for granted in churches touch positively or negatively on the
lives of the separating and divorced. Language, for example, projects
assumptions that everyone lives in a nuclear family, subtly excluding
single parents and their children.

Liturgy begins a marriage, but at its end there is no liturgy for
healing and carrying on, so Tanner provides ideas for addressing this
problem. In this and many similar ways, she provides hope for all who
struggle with separation and divorce in the church.