Sex, Marriage, and Family in World Religions

by Browning, Don S.

• ISBN13: 9780231131179
• ISBN10: 0231131178
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780231505192
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-01
• Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr

Summary

Spanning thousands of years, this new collection brings together writings and teachings about sex, marriage, and family from the Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Confucian traditions. The volume includes traditional texts as well as contemporary materials showing how the religions have responded to the changing conditions and mores of modern life. It reveals the similarities and differences among the various religions and the development of ideas and teachings within each tradition. Selections shed light on each religion's views on a range of subjects, including sexuality and sexual pleasure, the meaning and purpose of marriage, the role of betrothal, the status of women, the place of romance, grounds for divorce, celibacy, and sexual deviance. Separate chapters devoted to each religion include introductions by leading scholars that contextualize the readings. The selections are drawn from a variety of genres including ritual, legal, theological, poetic, and mythic texts. The volume contains such diverse examples as the Zohar on conjugal manners, a contemporary Episcopalian liturgy for same-sex unions, Qur'anic passages on the equality of the sexes, the Ka--masu--tra on husbands, wives, and lovers, Buddhist writings on celibacy, and Confucian teachings on filial piety.

Author Biography

"An excellent resource for scholars and teachers." Religious Studies Review Don S. Browning is the Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Religious Ethics and the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. He is the author or editor of more than forty books, including Marriage and Modernization: How Globalization Threatens Marriage and What to Do About It. M. Christian Green is senior fellow and senior lecturer in the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University and author of a forthcoming title on fatherhood in the Western tradition. John Witte Jr. is the Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law, Alonzo L. McDonald Distiguished Professor, and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He has published twenty-four books, including The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	p. xi
About the Contributors	p. xv
Introduction	p. xvii
Judaism	p. 1
Introduction	p. 1
The Hebrew Bible	p. 12
The Elephantine Marriage Contract	p. 21
Hellenistic Jewish Philosophy in the Wisdom of Ben Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)	p. 22
The Damascus Document of the Dead Sea Scrolls	p. 24
Josephus on Marriage Law	p. 26
Mishnah on Procreation, Marriage, and Divorce	p. 28
The Babylonian Talmud	p. 31
Aggadic Midrash on Marriage and Family	p. 35
The Babylonian Talmud on Marital Sex	p. 38
The Babylonian Ordinance from the Academy on Divorce	p. 39
The Ordinances of Rabbi Gershom (The Light of the Exile)	p. 40
Medieval Marriage Contracts from the Cairo Geniza	p. 42
Love Poetry from the Golden Age of Spain	p. 43
The Order of the Get	p. 45
Maimonides on Sex	p. 49
Jewish Mysticism on Marriage and Sex	p. 52
The Book of the Pious of Medieval Germany	p. 56
"The Epistle on Holiness" ("Iggeret Ha-qodesh")	p. 59
Exchange Between Napoleon and the Jewish "Sanhedrin" on Issues of Marriage	p. 62
Contemporary Developments in Jewish Marriage Contracts	p. 66
Reform Opinion on Patrilineal and Matrilineal Descent	p. 73
Christianity	p. 77
Introduction	p. 77
Creation and the Fall in the Book of Genesis	p. 89
The Greco-Roman Context	p. 89
Hellenistic Jewish Moral Instruction	p. 91
Gospels of Matthew and Luke	p. 92
Paul's Letters to the Corinthians and Ephesians	p. 94
Apocryphal Christian Texts	p. 98
Augustine of Hippo	p. 100
John Chrysostom	p. 105
Peter Lombard	p. 110
The Fourth Lateran Council	p. 114
Thomas Aquinas	p. 115
Mechthild of Magdeburg	p. 119
Martin Luther	p. 120
Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1549)	p. 125
John Calvin	p. 128
The Council of Trent	p. 133
George Fox	p. 137
A Contemporary Critique of Sexual Ethics	p. 138
A Womanist Critique of Family Theology	p. 142
A Contemporary Liturgy for Same-Sex Unions	p. 146
Islam	p. 150
Introduction	p. 150
Creation and the Identity of Origin of Women and Men	p. 156
The Fall from the Garden and Gender Equality	p. 162
The Marriage Contract	p. 166
Consent to Marriage	p. 168
Mahr: The Obligatory Marital Gift	p. 171
Other Stipulations in the Marriage Contract	p. 174
Marital Relations	p. 177
Polygamy	p. 185
Marital Conflict	p. 190
Divorce	p. 200
Sexual Ethics	p. 206
Rights Within the Family	p. 211
Hinduism	p. 226
Introduction	p. 226
Rig Veda 10.85: The Marriage Hymm	p. 232
The Grhya-Sutras: The Wedding Ceremony	p. 236
Laws of Manu	p. 240
The K&abar;mas&ubar;tra	p. 250
Divine Marriage: Śiva and P&abar;rvat&ibar;	p. 255
The Karma of Marriage: The King's Wife, the Brahmin's Wife, and the Ogre	p. 261
A Contemporary Hindu Marriage Ceremony	p. 270
"Counting the Flowers," a Short Story by Chudamani Reghavan, Translated from the Tamil by the Author	p. 291
Buddhism	p. 299
Introduction	p. 299
The Beginning of the World	p. 309
The Joys of Ascetism	p. 313
Married Life Versus the Life of the Ascetic	p. 316
Songs by Buddhist Women	p. 318
The Conversion of the Nun, Pat&abar;c&abar;r&abar;	p. 322
The Buddha Accepts His Aunt, Gotam&ibar;, as a Nun	p. 325
The Buddha's Renunciation of His Family	p. 329
Confusion Over the Buddha as a Fertility God	p. 338
Buddhism as a Threat to the Indian Family	p. 341
The Buddha's Advice for Laity	p. 343
An Early Buddha Lineage	p. 346
East Asian Buddhism: An Overview	p. 351
The Sutra on the Filial Son	p. 353
The Ghost Festival Sutra	p. 356
The Sutra on the Profound Kindness of Parents	p. 359
The Blood Bowl Sutra	p. 363
Confucianism	p. 367
Introduction	p. 367
The Book of Poetry (Shijing)	p. 372
The Analects (Lunyu) of Confucius	p. 375
Mencius on Filial Piety	p. 377
Historical Incidents from the Zuo Zhuan	p. 378
Record of Ritual	p. 381
The Record of Ritual of the Elder Dai	p. 393
The Classic of Filial Piety	p. 394
Lives of Model Women	p. 400
Admonitions for Women	p. 402
Filial Sons	p. 404
Mr. Yan's Family Instructions	p. 405
The Classic of Filial Piety for Women	p. 408
Yuan Cai on Concubines	p. 414
Zhu Xi on Family and Marriage	p. 416
Sexual Offenses in the Code of the Qing Dynasty	p. 423
Advice to Local Officials on Handling Sexual Offenses	p. 427
Qing Legal Cases Concerning Sexual Offenses	p. 436
Chen Duxiu on the Way of Confucious and Modern Life	p. 438
Feng Youlan on the Philosophy at the Basis of Traditional Chinese Society	p. 441
Index	p. 451
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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