"Examine what one religion teaches about marriage" [30 marks]

Development of Christian Teachings
1. For early Christians, marriage customs, laws and practices were inherited from the Graco-Roman culture and from their Jewish background
  1. The early Christians simply followed customs of the times and moved in together, with or without a simple domestic marriage ceremony
    1. It was the cohabitation of baptised people and sexual fidelity was stressed.
    2. There was no special ceremony for Christian marriage as there was for the Eucharist and for Baptism- marriage was not seen as needing to be blessed by a priest.
  2. Marriage gradually became an exchange of mutual consent based on the principle of consent from Roman law and the emphasis of sexual consummation from Judaism.
  3. Progressed to be seen as a process rather than an event and specific Christian ceremonies didn't come about until well into the Middle Ages
    1. Philip Reynolds argues that getting married was a process rather than a simple act- marriage was initiated by betrothal and consummated by sexual intercourse. Any liturgical ceremony might occur at various points between courtship and betrothal
2. In the 20th century Pope Alexander III decided that mutual consent was the basis for a valid marriage and that it was an unbreakable contract
  1. Since then the Roman Catholic Church has always held that a properly celebrated and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved
    1. Today the CATHOLIC CHURCH teaches that marriage is a divine institution that cannot be broken, even by divorce. Marriage is seen as on of the seven sacraments, but harking back to the original understanding it is the only sacrament that is not administered directly by a priest, but which the husband and wife administer directly to each other
Quotes
1. Bible
  1. A man and a woman who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh" Matt. 19:ff
  2. Homosexuality
    1. Genesis 19:4-11
      1. The story of Sodom
    2. Deuteronomy 23:17-18
    3. Leviticus 20:13
    4. Today, the CATHOLIC CHURCH believes there is no sin in having homosexual inclinations, only in putting them into practice.
      1. Following Natural Law any sexual act that is not open to procreation is unnatural and wrong
  3. Monogamy
    1. Many Christians would argue that marriage is the only place that sexual activity is endorsed
      1. Genesis 2:24
        "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh"
      2. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
        "Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers- none of these will inherit the kingdom of God."
      3. There is now no stigma attached to premarital sex. Sex is seen as an essential part of a relationship, it is an expression of love but is also too important to be experimented with
2. Augustine
  1. Sex was to be restricted to marriage
    1. Sex was still "dangerous"
      1. The Devil uses women to lead men away from reason, and pleasure in sex leads men away from reason
    2. Only for the purpose of Procreaction
  2. Large impact on Catholic teachings of marriage
    1. Cohabitation, contraceptives, homosexual relationships
    2. Positive impact: marriage is seen as a sacrament that should be the basis for a supportive, loving relationship that allows couples to be joined in union for life
    3. Divorce not recognised, but allows annulments to show that there was no marriage in the first place
3. Vatican II
  1. "By their very nature, the insitution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find them their ultimate crown. "
  2. The couple "render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for unbreakable oneness between them"
4. Government
  1. "Marriage is the surest foundation for raising children and remains the choice of the majority of people in Britain" 2011
5. Catholic Catechism
  1. Polygamy and Monogamy
    1. 1993
      1. "Polygamy is not in accord with the moral law... because it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that is total and therefor unique and exclusive"
THE PROTESTANT CHURCH
1. Consider marriage to be ordained by God for the union between a man and a woman with the primary purpose of glorifying God by showing his love for the world, and then for intimate companionship, rearing of children and mutual support
2. Usually approving of contraception and will allow the remarriage of divorcees
3. Some Protestant groups such as the Religious Society of Friends accept homosexuality and are in favour of same sex marriage
4. The mainstream Protestant Churches follow the same belief as Catholics- see Catholic Catechism Quote 1993
EASTERN ORTHODOX CHURCH
1. Marriage is seen as a Sacred Mystery
  1. Uniting men and women in eternal union before God
2. Marriage is seen as an icon of the relationship between Jesus and the Church
  1. Like the use of marriage as an analogy to describe the relationship between God and Israel by the Old Testament prophet Hosea
3. Unlike Western Christianity, Eastern Christians do not see the couple as giving each other the sacrament
  1. Rather it is seen as the action of the Holy Spirit acting through the priest and so only a priest or a bishop may perform the Sacred Mystery
4. Divorce is discouraged
  1. Sometimes out of economia (mercy) a marriage may be dissolved and couples may remarry but only three times
5. Orthodox priests are allowed to marry before ordination, but if their wide dies they may not remarry and remain a priest
6. Bishops must always be monks and so are celibate
Duncan Dormor
1. Argues that today cohabitation plays an integral part of becoming a couple and leading eventually to marriage for most
2. Says the Christian Church needs to accept and welcome cohabiting couples and listen to their reasons (e.g. trying out a relationship to see if it could become a permanent partnership or not) without giving an uncritical idealised endorsement of marriage
  1. The Church should therefore help couples move from the wedding to the marriage as a life long journey- which is far more of a moral issue than cohabitation and divorce
Jack Dominion
1. Catholic psychiatrist
2. He does not see prematrital sex, cohabitation or even one-off adultery as destroying this ideal and even considers homosexual sex as fine within a permanent loving relationship- sex is not dangerous and needing marriage to protect it but rather sex is so powerful and meaningful that can can only be downe to it in a continuous and enduring relationship

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"Examine what one religion teaches about marriage" [30 marks]

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