Living Together and Christian Ethics

by Adrian Thatcher

• ISBN13: 9780521802048
• ISBN10: 0521802040
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-04-08
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Living Together and Christian Ethics is the first positive, in-depth study of cohabitation outside marriage from a mainstream Christian theological perspective. The book retrieves the traditions of betrothal from the Bible and church history, and shows how these can transform Christian attitudes to living together before marriage. A crucial distinction is made between prenuptial cohabitation where marriage is intended, and nonnuptial cohabitation where it is avoided. Since betrothal was widely understood as a real beginning of marriage, the book argues for a complete pastoral, theological and liturgical renewal that reclaims the riches of forgotten Christian marital traditions and redeploys them in conveying the good news of the faith to women and men who are not yet married. The book takes issue with theologians who marginalize marriage, and suggests that the recognition of marital values can act as a helpful bridge between Christian teaching and people who are not formally married.

Table of Contents

General editor's preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xii
PART 1 LIVING TOGETHER AS A THEOLOGICAL PROBLEM
A guide to living together	3	(36)
Living together: a preliminary theological analysis	39	(37)
Testing the betrothal solution	76	(43)
PART 2 AN EXERCISE IN RETRIEVAL: BRINGING BACK BETROTHAL
The Bible and betrothal	119	(32)
Evidence from liturgy and law	151	(31)
Whatever happened to betrothal?	182	(29)
PART 3 EXTENDING THE MARITAL NORM
Betrothal, consent and consummation	211	(26)
The sacramental beginning of marriage	237	(27)
Extending the marital norm	264	(12)
Appendix: A Rite of Betrothal before Marriage	276	(4)
Bibliography	280	(15)
Index	295