• The Marital Covenant in John Calvin's Geneva

    Author(s):
    John Witte, Jr. (see profile)
    Date:
    2018
    Subject(s):
    Church history, Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564, Law, Religion
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Covenant Theology, Geneva, Law and Religion, Marriage and Family, Polygamy, John Calvin
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/9t1f-pe04
    Abstract:
    This Article analyzes John Calvin’s reformation of Western family law in sixteenth century-Geneva. Calvin depicted marriage as a sacred and presumptively enduring union, but also a conditional and breakable covenant with distinct and discernible goods and goals that couples and communities alike had to support. This covenantal framework gave Calvin new rationales for old rules concerning marital and non-marital sex and cohabitation, courtship and weddings, procreation, nurture, and education of children, and the punishment of adultery, polygamy, and “unnatural” sex within and beyond the marital bed. But Calvin also set out new teachings on the proper communal formation and maintenance of the marital covenant, and introduced into Genevan law the rights of husbands and wives alike to divorce and remarry in cases of hard fault.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. Date:
    2018
    Journal:
    Political Theology
    Volume:
    19
    Page Range:
    282 - 299
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
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