Marriage in the Western Church

Marriage in the Western Church examines how marriage acquired a specifically Christian identity in the Western Church from the patristic through Carolingian periods. It shows how theologians came to regard marriage as an ecclesiastical institution and how they developed a Christian theology of marriage.
The first part of the book deals with marriage and divorce in Roman and Germanic law. Other parts deal with marriage and divorce in ecclesiastical law, with the Latin Fathers' distinction between the divine and human laws of marriage, and with the customary stages by which persons became married. Several chapters are devoted to Augustine's views on marriage and sexuality.
The author shows how the doctrine of indissolubility became the West's chief means of christianizing marriage, and how theologians found here their preferred arguments for affirming the holiness and the 'sacramentality' of marriage. The author argues that the Western regime of indissolubility was the product of a fourth century reform movement.

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Philip Lyndon Reynolds, Ph.D. (1986) in Religious Studies, University of Toronto, is Director of the Aquinas Center of Theology at Emory University and an assistant professor of historical theology at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.

'...the laws of Caesar are different from the laws of Christ'. The book by Reynolds is a scholarly contribution to mapping out this difference.'
Robert Ombres OP, , 1995.
'La création d'une liturgie de noces à l'époque carolingienne aurait fortement contribué à la consolidation de cette théologie.'
I.Z.B.G., 1993-1994.
'...Reynolds...has presented a very valuable survey with a plenitude of detailed insights and information.'
Bernd Wannenwetsch, Studies in Christian Ethics.
'Reynolds' account of Augustine and the Western tradition is balanced and fair-minded. It should become the standard English survey of legal developments in the patristic and early medieval periods...Reynolds has produced a compilation of Western materials which is likely to remain unsurpassed for some time to come.'
David G. Hunter, Theological Studies, 1995.
'...well-written, thorough and illuminating book...'
Roger Wright, Early Medieval Europe, 1996.
'...Dr. Reynold has performed a notable service in exemplary fashion.'
C.N.L. Brooke, Journal of Theological Studies, 1996.
'This is a very important work…it is a necessary source for any serious study of the history of Christian marriage.'
Béla Somfai, Studies in Religion, 1999.