In Defense of the Marital Family

John Witte, Jr., In Defense of the Marital Family (Leiden: Brill, 2023)

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Description

This book combines Christian theology, Enlightenment liberalism, and modern social science to defend the marital family as an essential institution for adults and children, regardless of sexual orientation. John Witte presents the marital family as an integrated sphere with natural, social, economic, communicative, contractual, and spiritual dimensions. He rejects modern efforts to abolish the legal category of marriage or to reduce it to a transient and malleable sexual contract.

While celebrating the sexual liberty of consensual adults, Witte calls for stable marital families and responsible sex and parentage as the surest and safest path to private flourishing and social stability for all.

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Table of Contents​

Preface and Acknowledgements 

Introduction
 
​Chapters:

1. The Marital Family Sphere and Its History
2. The Nature of the Marital Family
3. It Takes a Society to Raise a Family
4. The Economics of the Family
5. The Communicative Dimensions of Marriage and Family Life
6. The Contractual Dimensions of the Marital Family
7. The Marital Family as a Spiritual Institution

 
Concluding Reflections: The Modern Marital Family in Christian and Liberal Perspectives
 
Bibliography
 
Index​

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