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Singleness and Marriage after Christendom: Being and Doing Family
Momentous change is taking place in Western societies and churches. Singleness is on the rise, along with growing interest in different pathways to human happiness. However, we still largely consider coupledom as the norm and a symbol of the good life. This is especially true in the Christian context, where the decline of “traditional” marriage and family patterns is often presented as an erosion of the Christian way of living.
Yet when the church was very young, the world was also very concerned with the demise of traditional family ways—but the culprits accused of destroying family values were none other than Christians. A considerable number of them willingly chose to forego marriage, embracing Jesus’s vision of a new kind of a the church.
This book follows the changes in the practice of marriage and singleness, from those early days of the Christian movement to our modern preoccupation with romance and coupledom as essential ingredients of a happy, fulfilled life. It argues that the current surge in the number of single people is actually an opportunity for us to reconsider both singleness and marriage in the larger context of a community of faith.
Yet when the church was very young, the world was also very concerned with the demise of traditional family ways—but the culprits accused of destroying family values were none other than Christians. A considerable number of them willingly chose to forego marriage, embracing Jesus’s vision of a new kind of a the church.
This book follows the changes in the practice of marriage and singleness, from those early days of the Christian movement to our modern preoccupation with romance and coupledom as essential ingredients of a happy, fulfilled life. It argues that the current surge in the number of single people is actually an opportunity for us to reconsider both singleness and marriage in the larger context of a community of faith.
- GenresNonfiction
152 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 4, 2023
Coupledom is the norm and a symbol of the good life according to many today and in fact about 80% of Westerners are coupled (the book does not intend to address global issues nor the non-Western world). "Traditional" marriage is often thought today as an erosion of the Christian way of life but ironically, in the early Christian movement the culprits thought to be destroying family values were none other than the Christians. They abandoned coupling by embracing Jesus' vision of a radically new family: the church.
Singleness is here defined as those who consider themselves single. Marriage "may include any committed, long-term, exclusive, intimate, and presumably sexual relationship between two people, whether that is religiously or legally sanctioned or not" (p. 3). In this work family is what Jesus considered his family, the church as theologically, the author is part of the Radical Reformation Anabaptist tradition. The author is writing to inform others in the contemporary world as part of the post-Christian era and surveys history as a way to understand how issues of singleness, marriage, and family can be re-considered and adapted to the new situation. Is the modern preoccupation with romance and coupledom an essential ingredient of a happy, fulfilled life? The author posits a contemporary bias against singleness, particularly for women, and argues that the church should so a better job addressing their needs in this regard.
The author surveys Biblical and historical sources up to the contemporary world. The Biblical roots express these issues with the concepts of household and kin. The first term addresses both a home and a business while the latter relates to relationship networks of blood and marriage. The Christian witness conflicted with Greco-Roman ideas of marriage and family to favor a radically new vision of the church as family. Indeed, during the second and third century the Christians were suspected of political subversion threatening the social order and the predominant institutions of patriarchy. After Constantine both monasticism and more regularized norms for marriage emerged and held sway for a thousand years.The romance of the nuclear family can be dated when a significant development occurred with Martin Luther and the Reformation. The family became the center of church life. Thereafter, happiness was seen to be located in the obligation of coupled love by equating coupling primarily through a romantic and fulfilled marital life. In the contemporary world, the author suggests a re-learning of love and happiness but bearing in mind the importance of friendship and community.
In conclusion, there has been a marked and complex change taking place in the makeup of Western societies. The storyline that the author presents is very different from typically viewing romantic, marital happiness as the central component of the church, much less of Western Civilization. The church is the family of Jesus. The new paradigm may be the church of happiness as the locus of singleness and friendship. The author's concern is to consider how the church can adjust to the significant changes that have taken place in the West and the new found rediscovery found in singleness.
Singleness is here defined as those who consider themselves single. Marriage "may include any committed, long-term, exclusive, intimate, and presumably sexual relationship between two people, whether that is religiously or legally sanctioned or not" (p. 3). In this work family is what Jesus considered his family, the church as theologically, the author is part of the Radical Reformation Anabaptist tradition. The author is writing to inform others in the contemporary world as part of the post-Christian era and surveys history as a way to understand how issues of singleness, marriage, and family can be re-considered and adapted to the new situation. Is the modern preoccupation with romance and coupledom an essential ingredient of a happy, fulfilled life? The author posits a contemporary bias against singleness, particularly for women, and argues that the church should so a better job addressing their needs in this regard.
The author surveys Biblical and historical sources up to the contemporary world. The Biblical roots express these issues with the concepts of household and kin. The first term addresses both a home and a business while the latter relates to relationship networks of blood and marriage. The Christian witness conflicted with Greco-Roman ideas of marriage and family to favor a radically new vision of the church as family. Indeed, during the second and third century the Christians were suspected of political subversion threatening the social order and the predominant institutions of patriarchy. After Constantine both monasticism and more regularized norms for marriage emerged and held sway for a thousand years.The romance of the nuclear family can be dated when a significant development occurred with Martin Luther and the Reformation. The family became the center of church life. Thereafter, happiness was seen to be located in the obligation of coupled love by equating coupling primarily through a romantic and fulfilled marital life. In the contemporary world, the author suggests a re-learning of love and happiness but bearing in mind the importance of friendship and community.
In conclusion, there has been a marked and complex change taking place in the makeup of Western societies. The storyline that the author presents is very different from typically viewing romantic, marital happiness as the central component of the church, much less of Western Civilization. The church is the family of Jesus. The new paradigm may be the church of happiness as the locus of singleness and friendship. The author's concern is to consider how the church can adjust to the significant changes that have taken place in the West and the new found rediscovery found in singleness.
March 7, 2022
Excellent resource to follow the understanding of singleness and marriage from the early times of Roman Empire and Christian church till the time after Christendom.
March 14, 2022
Excellent content on a thought-provoking subject. Very readable.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews