Fear of commitment Fear of commitment In self-help literature, fear of commitment is the avoidance of long-term partnership or marriage. The concept is often much more pervasive, affecting school, work, and home life as well. The term "commitmentphobia" was coined in the popular self-help book "Men Who Can't Love" in 1987. Following criticism of the perceived sexist idea that only men were commitmentphobic, the authors provided a more gender balanced model of commitmentphobia in a later work, " He's Scared, She's Scared" (1995). When aversion to marriage involves fear it's called gamophobia. A hatred of marriage is called "misogamy". Besides the common criticisms
Fear of God in "Inside the Vatican" magazine, contributing editor John Mallon writes that the "fear" in "fear of the Lord" is often misinterpreted as "servile fear" (the fear of getting in trouble) when it should be understood as "filial fear" (the fear of offending someone whom one loves). According to Jerry Bridges, "There was a time when committed Christians were known as God-fearing people. This was a badge of honor." Lutheran theologian Rudolf Otto coined the term numinous to express the type of fear one has for the Lord. Anglican C. S. Lewis references the term in many of his writings, but