Roger Scruton's argument in "Sacrilege and Sacrament" is characteristic of the sharp reasoning to be found throughout The Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals. As Scruton observes, the institution of marriage -- which started out as a sacred, eternal vow and covenant -- has today been reduced to a civil contract. The implications which these changes pose for relations between the sexes, and for the future of society and culture in general are explored.
As a respected staff writer for The New Yorker, Caitlin Flanagan doesnt seem like the type of person who would make feminist blood boil, but thats exactly what her new book is doing.
In our first reflection on Pope John Paul IIs Love and Responsibility, we considered the personalist principle, which says that we should not treat other persons merely as a means to an end.
What can a celibate priest really teach us about love, sexuality, and relationships between men and women?
A man eating lunch at a restaurant notices an attractive woman at another table, and is immediately drawn to her beauty. His heart stirs, and he finds himself wanting to see her again.
In the England of the Forties, when my parents were courting, terms like "moral," "decent," and "clean living" applied primarily to sexual behavior. Immorality meant sleeping around (and how innocent the word "sleeping" now sounds!); indecency meant unsolicited advances; dirtiness meant whatever put the sexual object before the loving subject.
Virtue is not something simply lacking in the modern world. It is something many in the modern world actually resent.
How does a person know if he is in a relationship of authentic, committed love or just in another disappointing romance that will not stand the test of time?
It is routinely pointed out that about half of all marriages end in divorce. But what is not often discussed is the other half of the equation: the marriages that don't break up. Are those marriages thriving? Do married couples that stay together feel truly close to one another? Do they achieve true, lasting, personal intimacy?