Church, State, and Family: Reconciling Traditional Teachings and Modern Liberties

Description

This book defends the fundamental place of the marital family in modern liberal societies. While applauding modern sexual freedoms, John Witte, Jr also defends the traditional Western teaching that the marital family is an essential cradle of conscience, chrysalis of care, and cornerstone of ordered liberty. He thus urges churches, states, and other social institutions to protect and promote the marital family. He encourages reticent churches to embrace the rights of women and children, as Christians have long taught, and encourages modern states to promote responsible sexual freedom and family relations, as liberals have long said. He counsels modern churches and states to share in family law governance, and to resist recent efforts to privatize, abolish, or radically expand the marital family sphere. Witte also invites fellow citizens to end their bitter battles over same-sex marriage and tend to the vast family field that urgently needs concerted attention and action. Cover Half-title page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Preface Introduction The Nature of the Marital Family Churches, States, and Families The Multidimensional Marital Family Sphere 1 The First Integrative Visions of Christian Marriage and Family Life John Chrysostom and the Emerging Eastern Orthodox Tradition Augustine and the Emerging Western Tradition Summary and Conclusions 2 Marriage as an Office of Nature and a Sacrament of the Church Aquinas on the Three Goods of Marriage Marriage as “An Office of Nature” Background. Primary and Secondary Precepts. Enduring and Exclusive Unions. Unnatural Sexual Unions. “A Sacrament of the Church” Neo-Thomist Views of the Family: the Example of Francisco Vitoria Summary and Conclusions 3 The Marital Family as Social Estate and Community Covenant Martin Luther on the Goods of Marriage and Family Life Marital Love. Protection from Sin. Children. No Sacramental Marriage. The Marital Covenant in John Calvin’s Geneva Forming the Marital Covenant. Living the Marital Covenant. Violating the Marital Covenant. Ending the Marital Covenant. Summary and Conclusions 4 The Domestic Market Max Weber and the Protestant Spirit of Capitalism Illustrations from the Protestant Household Manuals Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575). Robert Cleaver (b. ca. 1561). William Perkins (1558–1602). Richard Baxter (1615–1691). Summary and Conclusions 5 The Nature of Family in Seventeenth-Century Christian Thought Hugo Grotius and the Self-Evident Natural Law of Sex, Marriage, and Family John Selden and the Neo-Hebraic Natural Law Theory of the Family Summary and Conclusions 6 The Surprising Liberal Defense of the Traditional Family in the Enlightenment Natural Rights in the Family John Locke (1632–1704). Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797). Common Sense and Moral Sentiments: Scottish Enlightenment Teachings on the Family Francis Hutcheson (1694–1746). David Hume (1711–1776). Adam Smith (1723–1790). Utilitarian Arguments William Paley (1743–1805). Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832). Summary and Conclusions 7 The Multidimensional Family Sphere The Nature of the Marital Family It Takes a Society to Raise a Family The Economics of the Family Rational-Choice Economics. Institutional Economics. Behavioral Economics. The Communicative Dimension of the Family The Contractual Dimensions of the Marital Family Husbands and Wives. Parents and Children. The Marital Family as a Spiritual Institution Marriage as Sacrament. The Covenant of Marriage. Concluding Reflections and Projections 8 Why Suffer the Children? Evaluating American Christians’ Criticisms of Children’s Rights No Children’s Rights. No International Children’s Rights. Endangering Parental and Religious Rights. Profamily Rights. The Roots of Children’s Rights in the Western (Christian) Tradition Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Priority of the Natural Family. Children’s Rights in Enlightenment Philosophy. Children’s Rights in the Common Law. Nonmarital and Prenatal Children. Summary and Conclusions 9 Why No Polygamy After Same-Sex Marriage Biblical and Legal Arguments Arguments from Nature Harm Arguments Symbolic and Educational Arguments Summary and Conclusions 10 By the Power Vested in Whom? (Religious) Privatization of Family Law? Covenant Marriage and Get Statutes Shared Jurisdiction in Charity and Education Ministerial Solemnization of Marriage Religious Arbitration of Family Disputes Summary and Conclusions 11 The Dangers of Private Ordering The Privatization, Expansion, and Abolition of the Marital Family Martha Fineman and the Abolition of the Marital Family Exploding the Myths of Family Law. Points of Convergence with the Tradition Points of Concern Summary and Conclusions Concluding Reflections Bibliography Index