Bed and Board - by Robert Farrar Capon (Paperback)

About the Book

Republished for the first time, these musings on marriage and family life come from renowned theologian-chef Capon. With an emphasis on grace and forgiveness, this "anti-marriage-manual marriage manual" is a uniquely accessible and beautifully written tool for those wanting a deeper understanding of relationships.

Book Synopsis

This little book was Robert Farrar Capon's first best-seller, originally published in 1965. Now re-released for the first time, Bed & Board is Father Capon's enduring, rambunctious counsel on marriage and family life--woven through with the message of grace that never changes, no matter the decade.

Review Quotes

..".sage wisdom, biting humor, uncomfortable truths...never a page that must be forgiven for pedantic, sawdusty prose."
--Chad Bird
Author of Night Driving: Notes from a Prodigal Soul

"Bed and Board is necessary and offensive in the best possible way."
--Sarah Condon
Author of Churchy: The Real Life Adventures of a Wife, Mom, and Priest


..".an excellent place to begin. Channeling Wendell Berry and Pope John Paul II avant la lettre, Capon delivers piles of practical wisdom...wrapped in characteristic wit and charm."
--Christopher Wells
Executive Director and Editor of The Living Church


"Fear not, gentle reader. Though there are scriptural insights aplenty in the pages of Bed and Board to keep the biblical specialist engaged, Father Capon's insights woo us into joining this author in his passion for all things scriptural rather than mandate that we accept his perspective. Throw in equal measures of the author's wit and ardor and I am hard pressed to think of a woman or man who will not find this book engaging.
Chapter by chapter this priest, husband, and father proves himself to be the equal of the fellow who penned the Song of Solomon on the wondrous topics of the shared bed and the groaning board about which the family revolve. We dive in and find ourselves nurtured and challenged."
-- Larry David McCormick
Professor of New Testament & Early Church History
Fordham University


"Even after fifty years, Capon takes the familiar--marriage, children, food, even grace itself--and makes you go back. 'Wait. Really? I want to read that part again.'"
--Gil Kracke
Director of Ministries and Programs at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham


"I found relief in Capon's recognition of--even delight in--our own absurdity, the absurdity of marriage, even the absurdity of the everyday. Capon writes with a freedom, wit, and whimsy rarely drawn upon in today's impossibly high standard of romantic love...a relic yet entirely relevant...."
--Charlotte Getz
Editor-in-Chief at Rooted Ministry