Research Project on Marital Spirituality

In autumn 2002 INTAMS launched a project on marital spirituality, with the aim of taking stock of the field as it has evolved in recent decades and contributing to advancing new knowledge on the spirituality of marriage.

Between 2003 and 2006, the various phases of this project consisted in an annotated bibliography (providing a guide to the academic and pastoral literature on marital spirituality) and in two scholarly articles:

Monica Sandor: The Rise of Marital Spirituality (a review of the field), in: INTAMS review vol. 10/2, 2004, 153-176.

Monica Sandor: Contemporary Marital Spirituality: A Survey of the Principal Themes, in: INTAMS review vol. 11/2, 2005, 238-258.

The project was brought to a close in December 2007, with the submission of a manuscript on marital spirituality to Peeters Publishers in Leuven. It will be published end 2008 / begin 2009 as a single-volume reference work entitled Companion to Marital Spirituality.

Summary:

The twentieth century has witnessed the emergence of a new discourse in Christianity’s approach to marriage and family life which is not simply one of official doctrine or institutional teaching. The term “marital spirituality” describes a field of Christian faith and practice that emanates from and has its distinctive contours in the lives of married people and their families. This Companion to Marital Spirituality, multi-disciplinary and international in scope, is dedicated entirely to the exploration of this recent and still relatively young discourse: how the ground was prepared and how it finally emerged in the history of Christianity, the specific field of faith experience and practice it points to, and the perspectives it opens for the Christian understanding of marriage and spirituality alike. By providing an overview of key developments, thematic issues and debates, this volume is conceived as an academically grounded introduction to the growing subject of marital spirituality.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

I. STATUS QUAESTIONIS

1. Marital Spirituality – The Emergence of a New Paradigm in Marriage Theology and Christian Spirituality
Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi

II. CONTEMPORARY SOURCES

2. New Currents in Spirituality and Their Impact on Marital Spirituality
Claire E. Wolfteich
3. Anthropological Perspectives on Gender Relations and Their Relevance for a Marital Spirituality
Ann L. Gilroy
4. Social Ethics and a Spirituality of Relationships
Ilona Nord
5. Marital Spirituality through the Life Course – Insights from the Psychology of Human Development
James M. Day

III. BIBLICAL AND HISTORICAL SOURCES

6. A Biblical Spirituality of Marriage
Beate Kowalski
7. Marital Spirituality in the Early Church
David Hunter
8. Marital Spirituality in the Middle Ages and in Early Modernity
Monica Sandor
9. Marital Spirituality from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Centuries
Agnès Walch

IV. NEW DIRECTIONS IN THEOLOGY

10. Marriage as Vocation
Donna Orsuto
11. Contours of a Sacramental Spirituality of Marriage
Ralf Miggelbrink
12. Nuptial Imagery in Christian Doctrines and Their Usefulness for a Marital Spirituality
Adrian Thatcher
13. The Theology of Gift as Source, Mystery, and Goal of Marital Spirituality
Alain Mattheeuws
14. Marital Spirituality and the Nuptials of the Word and the Flesh
Xavier Lacroix
15. Towards a Liturgical Spirituality of Married Life
Andrea Grillo
16. Marital Spirituality and Family Spirituality – Paths That Converge and Diverge
Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi

V. PERSPECTIVES FROM PRACTICE

17. Married Priesthood in the Tradition of the Eastern Churches
Basilio Petrà
18. Married Ministers in the Protestant Tradition
Bernd Wannenwetsch
19. Living in the Mystery of Hope and Healing: A Spirituality for Couples in Crisis
Joann Heaney-Hunter
20. Spiritual Ecumenism and a Spirituality for Interchurch Marriages
Ruth Reardon
21. Married in the Eyes of God – A Spirituality for Inter-Faith Marriage
Paul J. Fitzgerald

Note on the contributors
Index



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