Biography:Don Raunikar

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Don Raunikar
BornDonald Fred Raunikar
(1959-09-19) September 19, 1959 (age 64)
DiedJanuary 26, 2004(2004-01-26) (aged 44)
Houston
OccupationPsychotherapist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Notable worksChoosing God's Best
SpouseKimberley Raunikar
ChildrenJonathan Valentin Raunikar

Dr. Donald Fred Raunikar ( - ) was an American psychoanalyst, Christian writer, and advocate of Biblical courtship from Houston, Texas.

Career

Raunikar was an American psychoanalyst from Houston, Texas.[1] He was a Baptist[2] and was married to Kim Raunikar, with whom he adopted their son Jonathan Valentin from Romania through Buckner International.[3] He was the director of New Life Clinics, where he practices psychotherapy, and he was in charge of Lifehouse, a crisis pregnancy center.[4]

Biblical courtship advocacy

Raunikar advised singles not to engage in dating but instead to engage in Biblical courtship, which he defined as an interpersonal relationship that honors God and in which both people's actions have the clear goal of pursuing marriage.[5] He wrote the book Choosing God's Best: Wisdom for Lifelong Romance, which was published in 1998.[6] In this book, Raunikar wrote that waiting for God's plan to unfold requires courage and faith.[7] Belinda Elliott of the Christian Broadcasting Network called Choosing God's Best her favorite book on Christian romance and dating.[8] In the book The Invisible Bond: How to Break Free from Your Sexual Past, Barbara Wilson writes that Choosing God's Best "resonated with [her] like none other" of the "many books on dating" she had read.[9] In the journal Critical Research on Religion, Courtney Ann Irby of Loyola University Chicago writes about the similarities between Choosing God's Best and other Evangelical books about premarital romantic relationships, such as Dannah Gresh's And the Bride Wore White, Elisabeth Elliot's Passion and Purity and Quest for Love, Eric and Leslie Ludy's When God Writes Your Love Story, Ben Young's and Sam Adams' The Ten Commandments of Dating, Henry Cloud's and John Townsend's Boundaries in Dating, Alex Chediak's 5 Paths to the Love of Your Life, and Joshua Harris's I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy Meets Girl.[10]

References

  1. Rob Marus (June 11, 2001). "Kissing Nonsense Goodbye". Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2001/june11/6.46.html?start=2. Retrieved September 19, 2013. 
  2. Barbara Driessen (March 14, 2006). "Vor der Ehe nicht einmal ein Kuß" (in de). Hamburger Abendblatt. http://www.abendblatt.de/politik/ausland/article385983/Vor-der-Ehe-nicht-einmal-ein-Kuss.html. Retrieved September 19, 2013. 
  3. Russ Dilday (May 5, 2003). "Buckner Adoption: Three of hearts". Baptist Standard. Archived from the original on September 21, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130921060717/http://assets.baptiststandard.com/archived/2003/5_5/pages/buckner.html. Retrieved September 19, 2013. 
  4. "Making a "Good" Choice or a "God" Choice". Crosswalk.com. February 3, 2005. http://www.crosswalk.com/family/singles/making-a-good-choice-or-a-god-choice-1311008.html?p=7. Retrieved September 19, 2013. 
  5. Christine Tatum (February 25, 2000). "More Couples Committed To Courtship As Alternative". Chicago Tribune. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-02-25/news/0002250184_1_dating-singles-scene-marriage. Retrieved September 19, 2013. 
  6. Don Raunikar (1998). Choosing God's Best: Wisdom for Lifelong Romance. Random House. ISBN 0307568652. 
  7. Vicki Johnson (2006). More Gems for the Journey. Kimani Press. p. 56. ISBN 1552545598. 
  8. Belinda Elliott. "Dating: God's Best or All the Rest?". Christian Broadcasting Network. http://www.cbn.com/family/datingsingles/ElliottB_GodsBest.aspx. Retrieved September 19, 2013. 
  9. Barbara Wilson (2010). The Invisible Bond: How to Break Free from Your Sexual Past. Random House. p. 167. ISBN 978-0307562845. 
  10. Irby, Courtney Ann (2013). "'We didn't call it dating': The disrupted landscape of relationship advice for evangelical Protestant youth". Critical Research on Religion 1 (2): 180. doi:10.1177/2050303213490041.