General
Marriage as a Covenant and Sacrament by Julie Hanlon Rubio, Ph.D. (2005)
“Promoting and Sustaining Marriage as a Community of Life and Love” A Colloquium of Social Scientists and Theologians October 24-25, 2005
MARRIAGE AS A COVENANT AND SACRAMENT by Julie Hanlon Rubio, Ph.D.
In the recent social debate over gay marriage, there was a lot of talk about marriage. On one side were those who seemed to agree that marriage is a loving, committed relationship, thus to deny gay people the right to marry those they love and desire to be committed to would be unacceptable, akin to standing in the way of the many couples throughout history kept apart by social convention or limited notions of who was right for whom. On the other side, were those who stated what seemed an obvious truth— marriage is between a man and a woman. Sometimes this was followed by claims that marriage had always been this way, or that God had created marriage to be this way or that marriage by nature is heterosexual. While those open to gay marriage often spoke of marriage as evolving over time and in response to cultural trends, those opposed spoke with more certainty about the enduring value of marriage in its traditional form.