Historical, Legal, and Cultural Contexts

Marriage is an institution with a long, varied, and often surprising history. In this section read articles about the history of marriage in various religious, historical, and cultural traditions.

Current features include an essay on the scholarship of historian John Boswell on same-sex unions in the medieval world; theologian Bob Goss writing on the procreative dimensions of marriage; and various items relating to current discussions on marriage within the Roman Catholic Church.

Check out this section of the site often as we add new items.

Articles on the History of Marriage and the Bible

• Articles of Faith: Biblical Values for American Families, by Reverend Jay Emerson Johnson, Ph.D.
   
• The Bible and Same-Gender Marriage, a lecture by Mary A. Tolbert, Wisconsin's for Marriage Equality Conference, December 4, 2004
   
• Marriage's lineage a bit convoluted, by C.W. Nevius, Chronicle Staff Writer, Wednesday, February 25, 2004 [full article on SF Gate website; opens in new window]
   
• Bible's sexual morality would suprise many: Ancient standards revealed values we would find alien, by Allen Brill, Special to the Observer, Monday, March 8, 2004 [full article on Charlotte Observer website; opens in new window]
   

Articles on the Theology of Marriage

• Marriage and the Patriarchy, by Rev. Nori J. Rost
   
• "Challenging Procreative Privilege: Equal Rites", by Robert E. Goss (Theology and Sexuality 6 [1997]: 33-55. Reprinted with permission.) [PDF Format]
  
  Goss, who teaches in the Department of Religion at Webster University in St. Louis, writes of this article: "My intention is to create dialogue about the love and justice of same-sex relationships within the churches and deconstruct the churches’ claims of procreative privilege for heterosexual marriage. This dialogue involves queer Christians who live the gospel and who want to engage in open discussions with their churches about the morality of their sexual lives and their families of choice... We, queer Christians, can no longer abrogate moral discussion of our lives to religious extremists but need to articulate and witness the moral qualities of our unions. Our struggle for liberation not only includes equal rights but also equal rites within the churches! Full acceptance within the churches can be nothing less full than acceptance of God’s Spirit within our procreative unions and their blessings."
  
  This essay will appear in Breaking the Silence of Sodom: The Crisis of Gay Catholic Priests and Clergy Sexual Abuse, ed. by Donald Boisvert and Robert Goss, Haworth Press, 2004 — read the table of contents [PDF Format]
   

Articles on Marriage and the Episcopal Church

• The Call to Wed
  An article written by Dr. Patricia Beattie Jung and posted by Dignity USA on why Catholics should celebrate their rights for same sex marriages. [full article is in PDF format; opens in a new window.]
   
• Claiming the Blessing
  A theology statement published in anticipation of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (Summer 2003)
   

Articles on Marriage and Judaism

• Same-Sex Marriage, In The Jewish Tradition, by Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, March 12, 2004 [full article on The Jewish Week website; opens in new window]
   

Articles on Marriage and Roman Catholicism

We have included several items here which relate to debates about marriage within the Roman Catholic Church, including: a July 2003 Vatican statement on the morality of legal unions between homosexuals, and two responses to this statements by Roman Catholic theologians: one by British theologian James Alison, another by American theologian Stephen Pope.

• Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Vatican City, July 31, 2003) [PDF Format]
  
  This Vatican document argues against any legal recognition of same-sex by stating that "Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on the same level as marriage would mean not only the approval of deviant behaviour, with the consequence of making it a model in present-day society, but would also obscure basic values which belong to the common inheritance of humanity."
   
• "Yes, but is it true . . .?", by James Alison
  
  A transcript of an impromptu theological/pastoral contribution by James Alison who was invited to speak before The Roman Catholic Caucus of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement at St Anne’s Church, Soho, London in August of 2003. The Caucus had gathered to respond to the United Kingdom’s proposals concerning same-sex partnership rights.
   
  Alison is an independent Roman Catholic theologian who lives in Great Britain. In this article he responds to the Vatican’s July 2003 statement decrying the legal recognition for same-sex legal unions in various countries around the world by asking this question. Alison writes: "The Vatican officials who published this letter clearly think that the movement towards legislative proposals for same-sex partnership or marriage which is growing all over the world is a sign that we are going to hell in a handcart. And the only response that is worthy of us is not to get worked up about the tone, the style and so on, but simply to ask 'Yes, but is it true?'"
   
• "The Vatican’s Blunt Instrument", by Stephen Pope (The Tablet: 9 August, 2003. Reprinted with Permission.)
  
  Boston College theologian Pope writes that the July 2003 Vatican statement on same-sex unions "has some notable strengths, not least of which is a remarkable clarity. But it also suffers from ambiguities which undermine the effectiveness of its arguments."
   
• "Bouquets and Brickbats: Reactions to John Boswell's book, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe", by Ralph Hexter
  
  Hexter, Dean of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of California in Berkeley, writes on the basic arguments and press reactions to historian John Boswell’s groundbreaking 1994 book, Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe.
   
• Ruling on same-sex civil marriage a positive step for human rights, editorial from the National Catholic Reporter, February 20, 2004 [full article on NCR website; opens in new window]

Some of the above literature is available for download in Adobe's Portable Document Format [PDF]. Click here to download Adobe's PDF Reader.

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