Marriage Academy
Choose an Academy.
Each Academy features an excellent, Gospel-centered marriage book, divided into four months of reading. Each month, couples work through a few questions together about the reading, reflect on a message, and enjoy a date night designed around meaningful conversation. Your group then gathers four times — around a meal in someone’s home or by video — with discussion questions we provide to guide your time together.
Choose whichever Academy interests you; each stands on its own, so you can begin with any one.
This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence
John Piper
Weighty and unashamedly theological — marriage as a picture of Christ's covenant love, with a bracing view of permanence; strict on divorce and remarriage, and very little on physical intimacy. 192 pgs. · no audio
$20
Marriage: 6 Gospel Commitments Every Couple Needs to Make
Paul David Tripp
The gentlest place to start: warm, practical and honest about ordinary sin, light on theological heavy lifting, and nothing explicit. Tripp consistently moves beneath behavior into desires and identity in Christ. 384 pgs. · 12h 8m audio
$20
The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God
Timothy Keller with Kathy Keller
Substantial but very readable, with an apologetic edge that lands even with a skeptical spouse; frank about sex in one chapter, openly complementarian on roles, and profoundly Gospel-centered. 352 pgs. · 8h 15m audio
$20
When Sinners Say "I Do": Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage
Dave Harvey
Accessible to anyone, and exceptionally strong on sin, grace, humility, self-awareness, covenant, and two sinners learning to love one another. Candid on sex without being graphic. 190 pgs. · 5h 43m audio
$20
Sacred Marriage
Gary Thomas
The "holy more than happy" book — reflective and contemplative, moderate theologically, drawing on older spiritual writers; brief and tasteful where it touches sexual intimacy. 272 pgs. · 7h 44m audio
$20
A Lifelong Love: What If Marriage Is About More Than Just Staying Together?
Gary Thomas
More practical and less Gospel-centered: spiritual habits applied to an ordinary marriage, warm and undemanding theologically, with some direct discussion of sexual intimacy. 186 pgs. · 5h 40m audio
$20
Gospel-Shaped Marriage: Grace for Sinners to Love Like Saints
Chad Van Dixhoorn and Emily Van Dixhoorn
Short, careful and rooted in Ephesians 5 — Reformed and exegetical in tone, assumes some comfort with doctrine, and restrained on physical intimacy. 160 pgs. · 3h 36m audio
$20
Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel
Ray Ortlund
More biblical theology than practical advice — traces marriage from Eden to Revelation in a short, rich study, and warm about sexual intimacy as God's good gift. 128 pgs. · 3h 44m audio
$20
How to Build a Godly Marriage: 12 Principles for Flourishing and Lasting
Joel R. Beeke and Mary Beeke
Short, practical and steeped in the Puritans; twelve brief chapters on loving God, then your spouse, from family worship to everyday kindness; plain and reverent about sex, firmly complementarian. 102 pgs. · 1h 44m audio
$20
Love That Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace
Gary Ricucci and Betsy Ricucci
Warm, practical and biblically faithful. Grace before technique, including headship and submission, communication, conflict, romance and sex, all anchored in the local church; firmly complementarian. 176 pgs. · no audio
$20
One $20 fee per group — not per couple: Just $20 for the person who starts the group. Every other couple joins free; the only additional cost is each couple’s book.
Have questions before you begin? Explore our FAQ.