About the Book
Hookup culture is about much more than the quest for pleasure. It also teaches us to treat each other as objects for personal satisfaction. Even those who reject the hookup culture can still be negatively affected by it. In Off the Hook, Timothy P. O’Malley, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, shows how God’s plan for love serves to heal the wounds of hookup culture and is a medicine for what ails our understanding of sex, romance, love, and marriage. Here are a few things O’Malley found out from students in his popular undergraduate course—Nuptial Mystery: Divine Love and Human Salvation—at Notre Dame:
• Hookup culture is present in all students’ lives, whether they’re hooking up or not.
• Some students approach love as a transitory and fleeting transaction—they love the idea of romance; they love the sexual
chase; and they crave the hookup, but not the commitment.
• Other students have come to idolize the mystery of marriage and so their conception of what sex, love, and marriage will be like is overly romanticized and largely naive.
O’Malley explains how the ethics of hooking up shape relationships and examines the considerable harm that results. By exploring the sacrament of marriage in its biblical, theological, and liturgical dimensions, he offers Catholic young adults and those charged with their formation and pastoral care a wealth of insight into God’s plan for love.
About the Author :
TIMOTHY P. O’MALLEY is a Catholic theologian, author, speaker, and managing director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life (ICL) at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as an associate professional specialist in both the ICL and the theology department. He is the academic director for the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, as well as the acting director of digital education in the ICL. He lives with his family in the South Bend, Indiana, area.
Review :
"In Off the Hook, Timothy O'Malley confronts squarely the seamy reality of the hookup culture. He offers alternative pathways filled with appreciation for God-given sexuality, well lived in unselfish, faithful, and joyous love. This book provides a treasure trove for all affected by the hookup culture and those who minister to them." --Most Rev. Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville "Off the Hook takes a raw and eye-opening look at the current state of dating and marriage in our world and shows how the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Church's teachings provide the answers to what we are really looking for. Tim O'Malley authentically proclaims a stunning and hopeful message--the Church has the answer to what ails us." --Kevin and Lisa Cotter, FOCUS missionaries and coauthors of Dating Detox
"Timothy O'Malley manages to explain the seriousness of today's hookup culture while never abandoning the hope of the nuptial mystery. With down-to-earth language and practical reflection exercises for anyone's vocational journey, Off the Hook needs to be on your reading list!" --Michael St. Pierre, Executive director of the Catholic Campus Ministry Association
"Powerful and wonderfully real, Off the Hook honestly and personally relays the reality of love in a way that challenges us to recommit, renew, and reconceive our relationships with our loved ones, families, the world, and above all with God. This is a beautiful and extraordinary book." --Katherine Sisk, University of Notre Dame Class of 2018
"The realities of today's hook-up culture are as undeniable as they are destructive. Timothy O'Malley sees the sacrament of marriage as a remedy to this sickness of self-serving romance. Off the Hook helps us dive into the marital vocation, which calls us to follow Christ's example of self-giving love for the sake of the other. Whether you are twenty-five years married or discerning the vocation, this book will help you love more deeply and lead to a richer understanding of how marriage sanctifies a couple--and, in turn, the culture." --Jason A. Kidd, Marriage and Family Director, Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
"Experience is an important teacher for most of us, shaping what we do and who we become. Today, young adults are taught important lessons about sex, love, and relationships by the hookup culture. But these lessons are false. As Timothy O'Malley explains in Off the Hook, the practices learned from hookup culture encourage young people to become more self-centered, more anxious, and more alienated from genuine love. Thankfully, in this important book O'Malley points young adults and those you guide them to better practices and to an identity that is much more likely to lead them to genuine love." --W. Bradford Wilcox, Director of the National Marriage Project and professor of Sociology, University of Virginia
"This book revolutionized the way I imagine my future, and it has been incredibly edifying for my family life today. Professor O'Malley's work is clear, engaging, and full of beauty. He left me wholly convinced that the sacramentality of Christian marriage is underappreciated even among Catholics, and he has given me the tools to articulate to my own family and friends what we believe about married life signing God's love in the world." --Maureen Schweninger, University of Notre Dame Class of 2019
"Professor Timothy O'Malley offers a rare blend of shrewd insight and practical wisdom on marriage, invaluable for persons of any age or vocation. As a young Catholic, I love how he is able to articulate the beauty of marriage and its meaning as a sacrament in ways that are profoundly relevant to me. He has an uncanny ability to concretize lofty theology into something accessible for the average person." --Michael Singleton, University of Notre Dame Class of 2018
"Professor O'Malley shows a deep understanding of his students' lives, engaging us with compassion and humor. Refreshingly frank, O'Malley seamlessly integrates rigorous theology with personal testimony and critical research to provide a clear and accessible answer to our confusion and longing. O'Malley's countercultural insights not only provoke me to examine the way I live, but invite me to enter into a more fulfilling way to love. His class was life changing and this book is too. I can't recommend it enough!" --Sofia Carozza, University of Notre Dame Class of 2019
"Tired of a culture that cheapens sexuality? Seeking a new story? Search no further. Timothy O'Malley presents the alluring mystery of a sacrament that heals and enables true freedom to love. The radical witness of marriage is precisely the couple's daily commitment to be a lasting sign of God's love in the world." --Grace Mariette Agolia, University of Notre Dame Class of 2017, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry Class of 2019
