marriage

• marriage became a sacrament: special means of receiving God's grace

  • remained a sacrament in Catholic tradition; raising a Christian family was a vocation, seen as inferior to the vocation of celibacy
• Reformation: balance shifted against celibacy in favour of marriage

  • family = God's blessing upon the union of husband + wife
• Roman Catholic: focuses on the sacramental nature of marriage

  • divorce is not possible
  • divorcees cannot remarry + if they do, they are excluded from Holy Communion
  • in some cases, a marriage CAN be annulled, if it is proven to never have been valid in the first place - in this case, they are allowed to remarry
• Protestants: do not view marriage as a sacrament

  • end of a marriage would show that a couple have failed to live up to God's high standards for personal life
  • Jesus appears to allow divorce in the case of adultery
  • many allow remarriage of divorcees if there is evidence they have admitted their failure
• marriage today (secular society)

  • seen primarily as a relationship offering satisfaction to the partners who enter it
  • the Christian element in marriage can be seen by some as an 'optional extra' over + above the legal + financial commitment of a couple
  • the Christian marriage ceremony states that it is a commitment for life, but divorce rates are high: around 42%