Engaging the Doctrine of Marriage | Matthew Levering

[Laughter] do my name is matthew levering and i teach theology at monolith seminary and i hold the james anne and mary d perry jr chair of theology i mention that because they're personal friends of mine and i just feel very grateful to be associated with their work i enjoy i enjoy writing theology simply as a matter of personal learning i'm always motivated by some some question that i feel that i lack understanding and i lack background books arise out of particular questions and i have i have two or three styles of book that i write um and so when i when i write different styles that that will determine the shape of the book and it will determine also how many people be interested in the way that i'm approaching it the current one is engaged in natural marriage and the purpose there is to reflect upon marriage the marriage of god and humanity has the very purpose of creation that's the um the meaning of creation that's that's what god created everything for is a marriage of god and cosmos marriage human beings um is a sign a sign of the marriage of christ in the church the marriage of god and humanity and then of course and more broadly the marriage of god and the whole created cosmos so um human marriage then is is a sign a sign of that and and so i do treat i do treat human marriage um quite extensively in this volume and so but of course but i do i it's very important to me that this be kept under under the rubric of the marriage of god and humanity the whole purpose of of the creation of everything so um that's that's kind of crucial i think i think that um theology is a marriage that they don't place um they don't really begin in a very deep way with um the marriage of god and humanity um those theologies marriage are going to be theologically thin and not not going to be particularly helpful ultimately because um they've sort of they they've lost their place within the mysteries of our faith um you know marriage as a as a human reality as a sacramental reality you know marriage is a sign of that union of christ in church or union of god and humanity that that israel was was promised you know that that was the whole promise i'm given given to israel um that this would come about and it has been inaugurated it had it hasn't been completed but it has been consummated but it's been inaugurated by jesus christ and so marriage then in the christian context and and ultimately really marriage in the human context um the meaning the meaning is symbolic and and points toward the very purpose of what it means to be a human person well people ask you know what what does it really mean to be a human in light of marriage and so i think one one one place i begin there after after a lengthy chapter where i discuss the marriage of of god and humanity um and and our purpose in that regard uh i begin with the whole issue of whether the image of god whether there's a marital image of god the nature of the image of god what it means to be in the image of god and so so there i'm i'm not comfortable you know thinking of the image of goddess in terms of a married couple um because of course then the npm people who were not married would not be in the image of god so of course that's ridiculous but but there is something about marital fruit fruitfulness and self-surrender um that that can be applied to every every person including jesus christ our lord you know that that radical self-surrender that radical fruitfulness um i think that's part that's cr crucial element of the marital vocation and that that aspect um you know belongs to the image of god and characterizes the image of god and that's a that's a fruitful self-surrender that's that's who god is and that's um that's who we are so that's that's very important i think for understanding um you know marriage what what is marriage what's what's sort of the core of marriage well well fruitful self-surrender and that's um that's an image of god and and that's important and that's related to our our vocation you know whether we're single um you know whether we're celibate for the kingdom you know whether we're married but that fruitful self-surrender that's that's really at the heart of being related to christ that's who christ is that's that's who we're called to be and that's that's where we find um you know the happiness that god has made us for which is him people ask you know what what is fruitful self-surrender and ultimately of course fruitful self-surrender is love and and of course in a in a marital context it's fruitful in the sense that it's open open to new life to the sharing of life but but of course in a spiritual context it's simply um you know whole part it's part of the fact that we are made for uh divine life divine love you know and so so there is a spiritual fruitfulness that comes from self-surrender and that is bringing bringing people into the into the kingdom you know sharing the gospel bringing people into the kingdom you know sharing the new life in christ and so that's um fruitful self-surrender but i think fruitful self-surrender in a marrow context really means being being open open to life in a responsible way you know in a way that is befitting of um our human nature as as free persons but but that's that's what i've got in mind well sometimes when when people when theologians talk about fruitful self surrender you know people um who i meet kind of wondering is this real you know is it is it does this connect with real life it often seems a bit idealized you know a bit a bit sort of sentimental romanticized and talking about fruitful self-surrender you know when when i probably fight for a cup of coffee instead of the set of self-surrendering i would i would fight for a cup of coffee with somebody um tooth and nail if i if if i was in line at starbucks or something then they'd jump me anyway so people ask whether okay people ask whether this is real so i do i do have a chapter two chapters um on original sin marriage and original sin and marriage and the cross because i i really think that if we're going to talk about marriage um and fruitful self surrender and our vocation to be united with god um in that marital intimacy in eternal life um even now beginning in the kingdom i think we're going to talk about these type of matters we need to really be realistic and so in terms then of my work on marriage my book on marriage i i turn i turn fairly early in the book to the whole issue of original sin and the fact that it was committed by a married couple and so i kind of ask i ask um does it matter that um the first married couple committed this sin in according to scripture and so i go through different different points i'm of course aware that that paul talks about um the son of adam but i i take a look especially the church fathers and and they all they consistently present the um the original sin um the stories um they consistently present this sin as a sin of a married couple and it's very important really because you see then what what they think is is um self surrender self surrendering fruitfulness but you also you also see kind of the devastation you know so there has been there has been a devastation and marriage is caught up in that but but the you know marriage in some ways is part of that you know in terms of the sin as this couple turned inward and as and so that marriage is it's not it's not as though it's some sort of innocent idealized realm you know where um two persons come together to behave perfectly and and then um live there forever with god so that's very important to me that we we try to think concretely about about the issue of sin and and marriage and then therefore then i also i also want marriage um a real theology of marriage needs to have a lot to say about the cross the cross of jesus christ so of course of course marriage is not a crucifixion um it may be for my life but definitely not for me but marriage is is not that was a joke but so marriage is not a crucifixion but on the other hand um there is no marriage that that is not in need of redeeming there's no human relationship that's not in need of redeeming you see and there's no marriage of god in humanity there's no there's no um fulfillment of that promise that god gives to israel without the cross of jesus christ so the cross is right at the heart of marriage even in in terms of its sign character as it points toward the fullness of the kingdom you know that that marriage that intimate marriage that we is unfathomably glorious that we can't even hardly conceive but so the cross the cross is so important and it's important to see that in our self-surrendering fruitfulness the cross is going to be crucial to that and forgiveness then you know mercy and then also recognizing ourselves as sinners and just um being willing to be vulnerable to each other you know being willing to deal with um severe hardship uh caused often by each other or just simply caused by by the fact um that the world is a very very um difficult place so the cross in marriage um that's just absolutely crucial i think otherwise you get some sort of romanticized portrait of um you know a couple exists for to make each other happy and um you know you're going to have your your and you're going to have your dog and your house in in some suburbs or some beautiful area and and some sort of romanticized portrait that that just isn't isn't the christian view of marriage and really isn't about self-surrendering fruitfulness and and it's not about um maybe it's about kind of a consumer sense of happiness maybe maybe it's simply a physical physic some sort of physical happiness whether it's kind of you go hiking together and you know you do a lot of sports you travel a lot together you know you go to 80 different countries and hike the hike in the himalayas together or whatever that's not christian marriage though christian marriage is something deeper than that so that's very important to me in my book when i write about marriage the the eschatological is always is always central to me although of course in my engaging doctrine series i am leaving eschatology to the final volume but you know the eschatological is central and that's that's why in my first chapter in this book i i present on the marriage of god and humanity which is the eschaton you know which is the fulfilled um eschaton the the unfathomably glorious end for which we were made i put that right up front so the whole book is eschatological you know marriage is an escrow eschatological sign because um we live in the inaugurated kingdom you know so for christians marriage is um eschatological now on the other hand it's profoundly human as well and so i have a chapter where i i focus on that and the chapter is really about the ends or goods or purposes or meaning you know in terms of in the human um at a human level the meaning of marriage the purpose of marriage at a human level and there um of course augustine talks about three goods and um then then the tradition also talks about two ends ends or goals of a marriage um in in terms of marriage is a human reality and these ends are talked about in terms of mutual love or the the friendship of the couple um the couple's friendship and then um the good of children you know children are part of are part of the meaning of marriage you know there isn't really a christian marriage where there's no intention to have children but but don't worry the children the intention can be implicit you know if you get married if you get married when i got married i wasn't sure that i wanted to have children but it didn't matter um you know you see so it it's um but children are fundamental to marriage and that's part of that's part of the argument that i make is that is that christians can't have a christian understanding of marriage and really truly you can't really have a human understanding of marriage if children are not part of that because um you know marriage when it's the it's it's the mother and father coming together that's what differentiates it from any other kind of friendship so i go into aristotle and plato and and other different um thinkers as i'm talking about this in the book but but the main the main point is that there's plenty of kinds of human friendship and and there's many diverse human friendships that are that are very fruitful very valuable you know people don't need to get married married to have wonderful friendships and and deep bonds and incredibly um special relationships but but marriage though um children are part of it and and that's where mutual love comes in as well because you know the bond between the husband and wife the the man and the woman that's that's at the service of the other person that bond is at the service of of one's spouse but ultimately the service of of children it's it's a lifelong service and so that's i think that's often often forgotten in christian marriage um how important this is um but i i would really emphasize that the the particular kind of bond that that a marriage is has to do with the good of children so if you if you ask yourself um you know have you know you want to have a good marriage you really want to have a good marriage well there there is that that opening out toward the toward the community toward a communion of persons so if if you're in a marriage and you and you can't have children that doesn't mean that your marriage is not not ordered to children and so you're there's other ways of whether it's adoption or if adoption is not a possibility there's also and and it's fine if adoption is not a possibility um there's many ways then of opening oneself up to the entire christian community and um mentoring and serving in all sorts of ways but but the normal way is gonna is going to be through children and um children honestly need that service need their parents to give them that example of love and self-surrendering self-surrendering love and care that that goes on the whole life so there's never a time that when that stops so so that's part of that's part of um you know how i think about marriage you know part of my book on marriage obviously is the the contention that marriage is is a sacrament and of course um you know between christians this has been um a bone of contention sometimes uh different different christians have different viewpoints but that in part that's um i as in one of my ecumenical goals of the book is by by simply beginning christian reflection on marriage um beginning christian reflection in terms of the marriage of god and humanity the fulfillment in jesus christ of the promises given to israel about about the marriage of god and man um part of the part of the goal is just to indicate that essentially what is meant by marriage to the sacrament when catholics and orthodox talk that way or of course or anglicans or or whoever sometimes um depending on which anglicans are you know there's there's hot there's anglians who hold the marriage of the sacrament you know when it's talked about that way what we're talking about is this eschatological dimension there's some dimension of being caught up into into something that isn't solely pertaining to natural capacities but is is really being caught up in in a way that is um grounded in jesus christ into the into what christ has done into the power of his work his saving work you know and that power is his inauguration of his kingdom and so so marriage is is a certain at least in the catholic understanding you know marriage is a certain sharing in that in that power and that grace and and that what what marriage of the sacrament brings about is is um a certain sharing in what christ has done that that when couples enter into and enter into the sacrament and do so intentionally and consciously um the grace there is is um present is present to as part of strengthening them and uniting them more firmly as a sign so that they can truly be assigned so in other words married couples become what you are you know and and you're not what you are just because of your nature you're not what you are just because um you're two really good people you're not even what you are just because you're just two really friendly christians you're what you are because of jesus christ and because he has brought you into his kingdom and and that's that's the point of um become what you are become that sign that you are and so there is a participation in jesus christ um that's brought about through the sacrament of marriage and that participation is um is powerful and it does it does unite that couple um and make them truly a sign of um what what they are which is that sign of christ in his church you know ephesians 5. but of course i know that i know that ephesians 5 is contested in terms of biblical interpretation i'm aware of that so so part of what i do in my book on marriage then is i go through um you know reasons uh for not not thinking of marriage as a sacrament and and my my representative there is a fantastic catholic scholar named philip reynolds and he's done this great historical thousand page uh book with cambridge where he does shows that the catholic church invented marriage as a sacrament but but truly he's not doing anything new um you know the whole idea that catholic church invented marriage of the sacrament is has a long pedigree anyway there were there were these developments in the 12th century that's kind of the key idea but um and then i go through certain responses to that certain other certain ways of thinking about what marriage is that um indicate why it is the catholics hold along with orthodox and others you know why catholics hold their marriage as a sacrament but my purpose there is not polemical but the main the main thing is just to invite catholic readers who often often don't understand what it might even mean to call marriage as a sacrament i'm trying to invite catholic readers but also protestant readers orthodox readers i'm inviting people to just think about why it is that we would call marriage of sacrament you know when um you know when there was obviously development and understanding of that of that mystery development over over centuries you know how how it is that you know how is is marriage assembly it's something that the church sort of shapes and determines or is it just simply a human institution that the church takes over you know what is it so that's that's the purpose of my reflection um in that part of the book well the book on my book on marriage um concludes by reflecting a little bit on marriage and social justice because i know that social justice is an incredibly important concern for christians you know we care about our societies and and many um you know many many of my fellow christians and christian theologians are are now devoting themselves in a certain way um full time to thinking about social justice issues in our communities so oftentimes other times you'll you'll have christologies that are that are really focused entirely on on issues of justice or um you'll have different kinds of theologies that are very justice centered in in certain ways um you'll have sort of maybe you'll have um ecological theologies and so on so that's very important to me as well and so and so in this book um part of the book is to think about marriage and social justice because i think i think that christians christian marriage that's important um that's that's something we have to offer the church has has this to offer you know to communities um both within the church and then and then without the church um outside the church as it were not without the church but outside the church um the church has this offer it turns out it turns out that sociologists and and many um people who study these matters i'm find that that having a husband and wife a mother and a father have having them united and having them raise their raise their children that's so incredibly important for establishing societies that truly are just where children actually have a real chance to succeed and to to be to become the people who they're meant to be it's i mean if if the church cares about social justice then the church has got to care about marriage but sometimes we sort of romanticize that or try to make other people feel guilty that that type of thing and of course that's that's not the purpose of my book but my book is i do want to say though that um that marriage in addition to having the eschatological component marriage has a has a societal component and this is of course what you would expect um so that's that's part of my book [Laughter]

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Length: 23min 33sec (1413 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 26 2020