Covenant marriages requiring premarital counseling and tighter strictures on divorce have recently emerged in some American states. At the same time, the doctrine of covenant has reemerged in religious circles as a common way to map the spiritual dimensions of marriage. Covenant Marriage in Comparative Perspective brings together eminent scholars from Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic religious traditions as well as experts on American covenant marriage. The introduction carries out an unprecedented comparison of contract and covenant in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim understandings of marriage. The rest of the book elucidates various facets of marriage from the perspectives of both jurisprudence and religion, producing an enlightening integrated picture of the legal and spiritual dimensions of marriage.
| Introduction | 1 | |
| 1 | Jewish marriage : nature, covenant, and contract | 26 |
| 2 | The covenant-contract dialectic in Jewish marriage and divorce law | 53 |
| 3 | Marriage as covenant in the Catholic tradition | 70 |
| 4 | Covenant marriage : reflections from an eastern orthodox perspective | 92 |
| 5 | Marriage as covenant in early Protestant thought : its development and implications | 124 |
| 6 | Covenantal marriage : Protestant views and contemporary life | 153 |
| 7 | The nature of the Islamic marriage : sacramental, covenantal, or contractual? | 182 |
| 8 | Marriage, love, and sexuality in Islam : an overview of genres and themes | 217 |
| 9 | The modern American covenant marriage movement : its origins and its future | 239 |
| 10 | What does covenant mean for relationships? | 265 |
| 11 | The American "covenant marriage" in the conflict of laws | 294 |
Overview
Covenant marriages requiring premarital counseling and tighter strictures on divorce have recently emerged in some American states. At the same time, the doctrine of covenant has reemerged in religious circles as a common way to map the spiritual dimensions of marriage. Covenant Marriage in Comparative Perspective brings together eminent scholars from Jewish, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and Islamic religious traditions as well as experts on American covenant marriage. The introduction carries out an ...