The Adam & Eve Factor

Produced in England, The Adam & Eve Factor opens with a barrage of social statistics concerning divorce and cohabitation rates over the past few decades in England, forcing one to ask whether American audiences will find anything useful here. But then it quickly shifts to a lively Christian examination of the rules and regulations regarding marriage. Hosted by Helen Cooke, the program mixes interviews with couples, clergy, and Christian psychologists and therapists together with an ongoing skit concerning a marriage in trouble. Divided into four 35-minute programs, the tape looks at four primary "factors": commitment, conflict, intimacy, and servant. At its best, The Adam & Eve Factor delivers a rousing defense of the institution of Christian marriage, and some excellent common sense about the concept of commitment and ways to deal with conflict. At its worst, the program dithers around with the issue of woman's subjugation to man, and uses some pretty specious reasoning to show why man should assume the leader's role. Overall, however, this is a fairly good traditional Biblical approach to building strong Christian marriages. Recommended, with reservations. (R. Pitman)