Review of Dawn Eden’s “The Thrill of the Chaste”

I picked up Dawn Eden’s 2006 book, The Thrill of the Chaste, from a sale bin a couple of weeks ago. I recommend it to you if you are an unmarried woman or the the dad of a daughter. I am neither, of course, but I read the book as a pastor to both kinds of potential readers.

First, if you’re an unmarried woman, I suggest you read it. Unmarried men will benefit from Eden’s work, too, but she writes from inside the fears and temptations of women.  Eden is a journalist who first made her mark covering the rock scene in New York City. Raised as a Jewish agnostic, she placed her faith in Christ in her late 20s. Her book deals primarily with how she is learning to live out the implications of Christ’s Lordship in the area of sexuality. 

With honesty and vulnerability, she describes the mindset behind her sexual decisions in the past and the new mindset she’s trying to live out of now that she’s follows Christ.

Unmarried believers, particularly women, will find some well-written guidance here. You’ll find sound reasons for honoring the Christian commands regarding sex, and you’ll be able to identify with Eden’s mistakes and resolve on the road to sexual faithfulness.

But, as I said, I also recommend this book to dads of daughters. As Eden tells her story, its clear that her relationships with men in her young adult years were driven in part from the uncertainty she had about her own father’s love. While she does not shift blame to her father for her actions, it’s still clear that her father’s physical absence and emotional distance contributed to a deep need to attract and hold a man’s attention. This book should remind dads how important they are in a daughter’s formative years.