Is Marriage Christian? (PDF)

Essay from the year 2018 in the subject Theology - Systematic Theology, grade: 1,7, University of Cambridge (Faculty of Divinity), course: Doctrine of God: Love and Desire, language: English, abstract: This essay argues that marriage is Christian because there is a specifically Christian theology of marriage that understands its nature as sacramental. For a great part of the Christian tradition, marriage has been dismissed or regarded as inferior in favour of celibacy. It is possible, however, to have a thoroughly positive understanding of marriage alongside celibacy.

I will examine this question by looking at two key examples in the Christian tradition, Gregory of Nyssa's On Virginity and St. Augustine of Hippo's The excellence of Marriage. For Nyssa, celibacy seems to be the ideal. I will show that his treatment is more complex than this; it is clear, however, that he does not regard marriage as in the sense of having a positive theology of it. Augustine, on the opposite, advocates for an understanding of marriage as a good way of Christian life, but still insists on its inferiority to celibacy. I will show, however, he opens a way that allows a development of theological interpretation of marriage as a sacrament of love. I will argue that as a sacrament of love, marriage does not have to be sacrificed in favour of celibacy but neither should it be regarded as an inferior good compared to celibacy.

The predominantly negative view of marriage in both authors is influenced by their (partly unconscious) engagement in the Mystic and/or Gnostic traditions. I will argue that both authors neglect the crucial aspect of love in marriage which stems from the reluctance to regard the spiritual and bodily dimensions of love as inseparable. This is caused by the negative view of the embodied world and sexuality, which leads to an impoverished notion and a diminished role of love that is not appropriate with regard to man's embodied nature and destroys the possibility of understanding marriage as an active, positive participation in God's love.