An Apt and Cheerful Conversation on Marriage
John Witte Jr.
Emory University School of Law
THE FAMILY TRANSFORMED: RELIGION, VALUES AND THE FAMILY IN MODERN AMERICA, Steven M. Tipton and John Witte, Jr., eds., Georgetown University Press, 2006
Abstract:
This Article argues that modern Anglo-American marriage law was formed out of two traditions - one rooted in Christianity, a second in the Enlightenment. Each of these traditions has contributed a variety of familiar legal ideas and institutions of modern domestic life, lore, and law - some overlapping, some conflicting. The overlapping and creatively juxtaposed legal contributions of these two traditions hold the promise of creating a new understanding of marriage that is neither blindly nostalgic about a purported golden of marriage nor naively myopic about the massive social, psychological, and structural costs of the modern revolution of sex, marriage, and family.
Keywords: marriage, family, Christianity, Enlightenment
Accepted Paper Series
Suggested Citation
Witte, John, An Apt and Cheerful Conversation on Marriage. THE FAMILY TRANSFORMED: RELIGION, VALUES AND THE FAMILY IN MODERN AMERICA, Steven M. Tipton and John Witte, Jr., eds., Georgetown University Press, 2006. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=755105
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