The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse: Improving Your Marriage by Understanding Your Spouse

In their bestselling book, The Temperament God Gave You, Art and Laraine Bennett re-introduced the age-old concept of the four classic temperaments, and showed how to use them to understand yourself, get along with others, and grow closer to God.

Now they’re back with more temperament wisdom, designed specially for couples and guaranteed to improve your marital communication, intimacy, and happiness: The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse.

In no other kind of human relationship is knowledge of the temperaments — the fundamental personality traits, hard-wired into us at birth, that affect the way we respond to the world around us — so critical, and so fruitful, as in a Christian marriage. For it’s only by understanding our own patterns of reaction and those of our spouse that we can motivate, nurture, respect, and above all, love each other with the selfless patience to which Christ calls us in the sacrament.

In a fun-to-read style that incorporates practical psychology, real-life anecdotes, and decades of clinical experience, the Bennetts will show you:

The four kinds of spouses — which kind did you marry?

How temperament affects the way you and your spouse work, pray, argue, socialize, and show affection

Tips for developing the communication skills that your temperament needs most, and for nurturing them in your spouse

All the possible temperament combinations in marriage, and how to handle the unique challenges that yours creates

Proven ways to figure out what really makes your spouse tick!

So often we wish we could make our spouses different (because they’re not just like us); yet the Bennetts show that true marital contentment lies not in changing the way God made our loved ones, but in appreciating it — and helping them to perfect it. Read The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse and discover a new world of understanding and respect for the person you married.

Art Bennett is a licensed marriage and family therapist and director of the Alpha Omega Clinic and Consultation Centers, Catholic mental health clinics currently established in Maryland and Virginia. He is also the host and co-producer of Healthy Minds/Healthy Souls, a Catholic radio show in the Washington, D.C., area. He has more than twenty years’ experience in the mental-health field and is a frequent speaker on marriage and family issues. He writes a monthly column for the National Catholic Register, on the topic of families and work. Currently residing in Northern Virginia, the Bennetts have been married for twenty-eight years and have four children — one of each temperament type!

Laraine Bennett has a master’s degree in philosophy and is a freelance writer with articles published in Faith & Family, Nazareth Journal, the New Oxford Review, and the National Catholic Register. Currently residing in Northern Virginia, the Bennetts have been married for twenty-eight years and have four children — one of each temperament type!