Asking All the Wrong Questions about Marriage–Part 2
2. The blessing of the local priest eventually brought about a second pivotal event in changing marriage law: identifying marriage as a sacrament.
Marriage became defined as a sacrament during the time of Pope Innocent II in his 1208 Profession of Faith. The reason this became pivotal is that the sacramental nature of marriages obligated Catholic marriages to take place in the presence of a priest.
What was once recommended now had become mandatory. This was largely to curb what had become known as clandestine marriages (which would remain a problem for a significant period of time and we will see this again in another pivotal event). With an increasingly powerful Catholic Church now requiring marriages take place in the Church, priests had greater authority over who could marry and what constituted marriage. On one hand, it could make sure no one was already married, but it also restricted marriage outside of the Church.
Whoever possesses the authority to control who can get married has the potential to steer the entire direction of a culture.
Of course, there was great debate over whether consent to marry is what rendered the marriage as a sacramental union or whether it was consummation. But once a marriage was complete as a sacramental union, it was considered permanent, indissoluble, and the Catholic Church’s position of rejecting the practice of divorce and remarriage was brought to bear.
The Christian West began a process of decline in the fourteenth century and when Pope Boniface VIII issued a bull in 1302 called Unam Sanctam, asserting papal authority over the French national state, he brought matters to an extreme point by writing,
Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”
In this increasing Church versus state conflict over power, Pope Boniface VIII was arrested and died shortly thereafter. In a succession of events, financial abuses became endemic in the Church and the politics of control began to set the stage for the Protestant Reformation.
3. Yes, it’s a lot of church history, but it leads to this interesting point: the third major event in shaping marital law was the Protestant Reformation in 1517.
With a powerful Catholic Church, increasing influence of money, divorce being disallowed, and marriage being a sacrament one could only have through the Catholic Church, the Reformers rejected the authority of the Catholic Church in the area of marriage. Martin Luther rejected marriage as a sacrament even while he considered matrimony a sacred thing. He upheld the social civilizing role of marriage in his belief that humans have a nature and an irresistible drive to produce offspring and it’s better for society to have legitimate children than ones illicitly produced through adultery and promiscuity.
By removing the sacramental idea and transforming marriage to a sacred institution existing in a stable and moral society, a Christian magistracy shifted the final control over the marital court and marital law to a state church, such as one in Basel. The civil authorities had unique jurisdiction over marriage. Divorce and remarriage were reintroduced to the legal scene. Judges in the marital court dismantled the sacramental idea, and by doing so, they severed the understanding of a spiritual bond (one presumed by the Catholic Church to endure even in cases of divorce).
This tug of war between church and state became pathway for the secularization of marriage, largely precipitated by what to do about divorce.
This battle for control changed marriage to what is practiced today—both a sacred institution and legitimized by the government. The Reformation was the fulcrum on which the balance of power between church and state in marriage turned.
Join me on the next page for the next event shaping marital law, the Council of Trent.
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4 Comments
by Emily ZR
On July 31, 2012
Barbara, thanks for this insightful and far-reaching essay. very very informative. what were some of the sources that got you thinking about this?
by seminarygal
On July 31, 2012
I’m not a prophet, but I have been greatly concerned about the path we are headed on in the US as Christians sit on the sidelines with our hands in our pockets. Afraid of being called “intolerant” or stupid or whatever, we’ve retreated from asking hard theological and legal questions about where the US is going with issues such as (recently) gay marriage, contraception, religious freedom, abortion, health care, etc. I began my Wrong Questions series with Patriarchy, then Rights and Freedom, followed by Marriage and my next article will be an in-depth look at Asking the Wrong Questions about Homosexuality.
All one has to do is listen to the news to see that we are approaching a point of no return. If we don’t change direction, we’re likely to end up where we’re headed.
by seminarygal
On July 31, 2012
Oh, and not to leave out the obvious answer to all questions: Jesus! 🙂
God has had me researching marriage for over a month with a stack of books a mile high. Finally, the promptings of the Holy Spirit were starting to keep me awake at night so I pushed the “publish” button. 😀
by seminarygal
On July 31, 2012
And one more thought…most of the books I’ve looked at were dealing with the development of the law and religious freedom from a legal perspective in the West (US specifically). Being more of a theology person, I couldn’t help but see these in light of the development of religion.
Don’t you find it interesting that if redefining marriage to include the GLBT relationships was a matter of true civil/human rights, they’d be pursuing this classification worldwide and not just in the Judeo-Christian world? If it’s a human right, why aren’t they pursuing civil marriages for homosexuals in countries that have Islamic ties?