JPI 641/841
Marriage and Family in Patristic Theology
This course provides an introduction to the study of marriage and family in the early Church through a reading of representative patristic texts that situates them within a particular literary and historical context. Early Christian views of the Incarnation, revelation, and salvation invoke elements of Christian anthropology that relate to marriage and family, e.g., competing concepts of the physical body, life, and death in the ancient world necessarily raised questions as to whether Christians should marry and bear children or practice celibacy. Issues of marriage and family were also important in the Church’s efforts to combat heresy, since many groups identifying themselves as “Christian” discounted the need for marriage and procreation.
