On Marriage and Family: Classic and Contemporary Texts

by Matthew Levering Mundelein Seminary (Editor)

Overview

Marriage as an institution faces many challenges today. This volume presents essential wisdom from the 2000 year-old Christian tradition that is as true and valuable today as it always was. The readings present positive resources for understanding the sacrament of marriage as a beautiful and sacred Christian vocation, a context in which difficult times can be worked through with grace. Marriage also involves family, even if the couple has no children. In marrying a spouse, one marries his or her whole family. The readings embrace family life as well.

Levering introduces historically arranged texts from Christian saints and spiritual leaders describing the nature and value of marriage, offering counsel about how to live out marriage as part of a life of faith, or depicting their own experience of family life.

This volume has much to offer married couples, people preparing for marriage, and classroom study of marriage and family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780742542495
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	03/25/2005
Series:	Sheed & Ward Books
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.24(w) x 8.46(h) x 0.45(d)

About the Author

Matthew Levering is associate professor of theology at Ave Maria College. He is author of On the Priesthood, On Death and Dying, and On Prayer and Contemplation.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Hermas Chapter 2 St. Clement of Alexandria Chapter 3 Tertullian Chapter 4 St. Gregory of Nazianzus Chapter 5 St. Gregory of Nyssa Chapter 6 St. Augustine Chapter 7 Hugh of St. Victor Chapter 8 St. Thomas Aquinas Chapter 9 St. Birgitta of Sweden Chapter 10 St. Thomas More Chapter 11 St. Teresa of Avila Chapter 12 St. Jane de Chantal Chapter 13 The Second Vatican Council Chapter 14 Pope John Paul II Chapter 15 Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Editorial Reviews

As this engaging survey of twenty centuries of Christian thought shows us, marriage has been a central focus in the thought of Christians from the beginning, enlightening us about all aspects of living a Christian life.

The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly - Lee Ann Doerflinger

A splendid little set of readings on marriage, family, and human sexuality.

First Things

Much of the nonsense written about Catholic marriage by recent writers will be disspelled by this well-designed anthology. From 2,000 years of Catholic writing on marriage, Matthew Levering has shrewdly selected passages that shed light on what he calls a "radically beautiful" invitation to self-giving on the part of husbands and wives. Levering is particularly good at distinguishing the real thing from the sort of fraudulent substitutes harpooned so well in literary works since at least the time of Chaucer.

Michael Novak

Levering's book demonstrates the clarity and continuity of Church teaching on sex and marriage, assembling the work of its most eloquent and able defenders from the second century to the present. On Marriage and Family is a timely and authoritative resource that uncovers new riches for scholars while remaining accessible to a general audience.

Laura Garcia

There is hardly a more important lesson for Christian families than to see how the ways of Christ with his bride, the ways of God with his adopted children, are written into the relations of the "domestic church," and Levering's collection of texts seems calculated to show us how grace both preserves and elevates married and family life. It is remarkable, too, that both ancient and modern, the voices assembled here sound in an astonishingly harmonious chorus.

Guy Mansini

As this engaging survey of twenty centuries of Christian thought shows us, marriage has been a central focus in the thought of Christians from the beginning, enlightening us about all aspects of living a Christian life.--Lee Ann Doerflinger "The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Summer 2007 "

There is hardly a more important lesson for Christian families than to see how the ways of Christ with his bride, the ways of God with his adopted children, are written into the relations of the "domestic church," and Levering's collection of texts seems calculated to show us how grace both preserves and elevates married and family life. It is remarkable, too, that both ancient and modern, the voices assembled here sound in an astonishingly harmonious chorus.--Guy Mansini, OSB, Saint Meinrad School of Theology

Levering's book demonstrates the clarity and continuity of Church teaching on sex and marriage, assembling the work of its most eloquent and able defenders from the second century to the present. On Marriage and Family is a timely and authoritative resource that uncovers new riches for scholars while remaining accessible to a general audience.--Laura Garcia, adjunct assistant professor, department of philosophy, Boston College

From the Publisher