Through with Kings and Armies: The Marriage of George and Jean Edwards

In an era of seemingly endless war, and similarly endless debates about the nature of marriage, Through with Kings and Armies offers a fresh look at what both war and marriage might mean for Christians. This is a love story: the tale of a sixty-three-year marriage grounded in the love of Jesus Christ and shaped by the conviction that his disciples must witness publicly to their faith in him. As a Presbyterian ministerial student in 1941, George Edwards renounced a draft deferment to register as a conscientious objector, serving at home and abroad for five years. Jean, his childhood friend, turned against war when the Battle of the Bulge left her a widow at twenty-three. After George and Jean fell in love overnight at the end of the war, their pacifist beliefs became the foundation for their life together. A pastor and biblical scholar yoked to a Christian educator, their gifts complemented each other as they organized communities of witnesses against war and racial violence, while raising three children and remaining active in the church that rarely supported their witness.