Church, State, and Family

Reconciling Traditional Teachings and Modern Liberties

John Witte, Jr.

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781107184756
• eBook ISBN: 9781316886939
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Jurisprudence
• Index: Law

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.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title page
• Series page
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 The First Integrative Visions of Christian Marriage and Family Life
• 2 Marriage as an Office of Nature and a Sacrament of the Church
• 3 The Marital Family as Social Estate and Community Covenant
• 4 The Domestic Market
• 5 The Nature of Family in Seventeenth-Century Christian Thought
• 6 The Surprising Liberal Defense of the Traditional Family in the Enlightenment
• 7 The Multidimensional Family Sphere
• 8 Why Suffer the Children?
• 9 Why No Polygamy After Same-Sex Marriage
• 10 By the Power Vested in Whom?
• 11 The Dangers of Private Ordering
• Concluding Reflections
• Bibliography
• Index