In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
1 of 10
More
Next Blog»
Create Blog
Sign In
T H E S E R I O U S A N D S O M E T I M E S S AT I R I C A L R E F L E C T I O N S O F A P R I E S T, P O E T, A N D P I L G R I M — W H O K N O W I N G H E H A S N O T O B TA I N E D T H E G O A L , PR E S S E S O N I N A G O D WA R D D I R E C T I O N .
soli deo gloria M AY 3 0 , 2 0 1 5
Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Marriage
M Y L AT E S T W O R K
A few weeks ago, John Bauerschmidt, Zachary Guiliano, Wesley Hill, and Jordan Hylden published a response to the report of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage (TFSM), titled “Marriage in Creation and Covenant,” henceforth MCC. This essay appeared on the Anglican Theological Review website along with three responses from Scott MacDougall, Kathryn Tanner, and Daniel JoslynSiemiatkoski. The three responders took up some of the serious problems with MCC and I commend their essays to your attention. As one of the authors of “Essay 1" (Biblical and Theological Framework) in the TFSM report, I had hoped for a better level of engagement than MCC demonstrates; it is largely and off-handedly dismissive, but also mistaken in some of its characterizations of content, leading me to the conclusion that the MCC authors do not actually understand the argument. I have long been an advocate of the position that one can only truly have a meaningful discussion when you can state your interlocutor’s position in language she can recognize and affirm. MCC fails that test, even to the slight extent it engages with Essay 1 at all — the authors spend most of their time disagreeing with the essay on history, and I leave it to the author of that essay to address their concerns. MCC to a large extent follows the method of questioning motives and form rather than engaging deeply with the content of the TFSM report. Interestingly enough, this seems to me to reflect the deeper issue of what constitutes marriage: MCC expounds a thesis about the form of marriage as a male-female bond that serves as an icon of the relationship between Christ and the Church in a constructive sense (I hope I’ve understood and stated their thesis correctly); whereas the TFSM focuses on the content of the marriage relationship as expressed in the vows, and in the spouses’ living out the loving mutual self-offering inherent in those vows, as an iconic realization of the relationship between Christ and the Church. Some might say, What’s the difference? We are dealing, to some extent, with the old perceived conflict between being and doing. (It also likely reflects the distinction in the honor given to icons as dulia rather than latria. Some, it seems to me, want to exalt marriage to a place it does not belong. However, in the present context, this also reflects the old difference of opinion as to what constitutes marriage: consent or coitus. Which gives me the opportunity to correct a misapprehension of
Think about this or the print edition as a Confirmation gift or for a newcomers' class M Y CONT R I BUT I ON TO T HE LISTENING PROCESS
from Seabury Books / Church Publishing Inc. available at Amazon.com, and at Google Books. Comment on Reasonable and Holy.
"a book that honors the Word of God, the faith once delivered, and moves it into our cultural context."—The Episcopal New Yorker "seeks to meet opponents on their own ground, assessing their arguments carefully and refuting them courteously....
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
2 of 10
MCC, one of the few observations about Essay 1. On page 4, in the context of bemoaning the lack of references to the literature, the authors state, ...Brundage's work makes a brief appearance in "Essay 1" (13), where an incorrect citation is provided, making unclear the reference to a definitive "papal ruling" on the significance of consent and consummation in marriage. Perhaps it refers to Alexander III's Veniens ad nos or Innocent III's Per tuas? It is hard to know; neither said quite what the essay states nor offered a final word.
First, the citation is only “incorrect” to the extent that it fails to include “ff” after the page indicated — the page which marks the beginning of a subsection of a chapter dealing with this issue. More importantly, however, is the coy, and erroneous, rejection of what Essay 1 says, which is, “The eventual papal ruling settled the debate (for Roman Catholics) by taking a middle ground: consent makes the marriage, but consummation seals it.” It is true that “seals” is my language for the more convoluted “renders indissoluble by any human power.” But this is the conclusion reached by Alexander III (not in a single decree but in a process of development through many rulings) and enshrined in the Roman canons to this day (see CCL 1141-42.) As George Hayward Joyce, S.J., put it, in a work written long before our current controversies,
The value ... lies not in its conclusions alone but chiefly in the way Haller reaches them. Whoever is charged with compiling ... resources [on same-sex relationships] will want to add this book to the list."— The Anglican Theological Review ABOUT M E I am Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG To email me use: jintoku à gmail point com
PEEKS AND PEAKS
522,435 GOOGLE+ FOLLOWERS
Tobias Haller
Alexander III... settled the dispute between the Schools of Paris and Bologna about the essentials of marriage. He approved the teaching of the Paris doctors that marriage is effected by the consent of the parties..., rejecting that of the Bolognese canonists who held that until consummation the partners were not strictly speaking married. Yet he did not accept the Paris teaching in its entirety, but retained one important feature of the Bolognese system.... Alexander III, though pronouncing consent to be the effective cause of marriage, taught that until consummation the bond was capable of dissolution. (Christian Marriage: An Historical and Doctrinal Study, Second Edition. London: Sheed and Ward, 1948. pp 430-431.)
Now, this may seem trivial, but it appears to me to indicate a problem that the MCC authors, and many others, have when wrestling with the issues surrounding marriage — same-sex and otherwise. There is a reluctance to place the locus of marriage in the action of marriage, the exchange of vows that makes the marriage, as an act of self-dedication through the human faculties of will and love. Instead there is a repeated retreat — often rhapsodically articulated — to the formal biological reality of male and female. With Augustine, and many since, they emphasize that which is shared with the animal realm rather than that which is uniquely human. (The reponses to MCC detail a few of the other problems with their use of Augustine. I would add to that, their failure to distinguish between sacramental marriage as Augustine understands it, as only existing between Christians, and what is often called “natural marriage” — a point I think fatal to their thesis about the constitutional nature of male-female marriage in and of itself. But that is a point for another essay.) Of course, the TFSM does not deny this formal reality. However, what we do attempt is to articulate the reasons for our emphasis on the vows rather than the “purposes” of marriage — recognizing that the Episcopal Church did without an articulation of these
277 have me in circles
View all
SUBSCRIBE
Posts Comments
M OST READ POSTS
NT Wright: Wrong Again NT Wright is a distinguished scholar in the area of New Testament studies, but when he gets off his primary topic and into the muddy waters ... Board Stiff In spite of a few hopeful signs at the end of October, the effort to resolve the ongoing tensions at the General Theological Seminary have r...
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
3 of 10
“purposes” in its marriage liturgy for almost 200 years. But even here MCC misunderstands. For instance, on page 18 they state, The very idea that marriage is a social form with ends (or purposes, teloi) given by God is not grasped at all; rather, such ends are described as "extrinsic" (perhaps better put, heteronomous) and so run afoul of Kant's categorical imperative never to treat persons as means rather than ends (21, 24). By this argument, we are told that the marriage vows are what really count, as they represent the moral "commitment" that two make to one another, and that the opening exhortation describing the ends of marriage is extraneous to this deeper reality (20-25).
The last sentence approaches but misses an accurate grasp of our position, though why commitment is in scare-quotes escapes me. However, the first sentence here not only misstates the TSFM position, but presents a thesis Essay 1 explicitly rejects as mistaken. Here is what the report says about “extrinsic” and the way in which the TFSM proposes to balance the Kantian ethical concern with the role of the “ends” of marriage (page 23):
More on General In response to a very defensive comment from a current member of the Board of Trustees of General Theological Seminary, which argued essent... People, Look East Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG This article appeared in somewhat different form in The Anglican Catholic, Volume XV (Summer 2003), and in the ... Incoherent Hypocrisy The Church of England continues not to serve its members or itself very well. The latest is a statement of pastoral guidance from the House ...
Procreation can become a problematical cause or purpose when it is understood primarily as an extrinsic end, rather than as the natural outgrowth of the loving couple treating each other as ends in themselves. It is acknowledged that as the end in this case is a human life, it has its own inestimable worth. It must also be noted that many, if not most couples, desire this end and work together toward its accomplishment; and that the generation of new life is a tangible expression of their mutual love.... Children are a gift and a grace and a hope — but ought not be understood as an extrinsic expectation or demand, in the absence of which a marriage is deemed to have failed in some intrinsic way. Moreover, the greater and more fully realized the love of a couple for each other, the more likely any child who becomes part of the growing family, by birth or adoption, will be nurtured and raised in a way that expresses the familial virtues.
Generally Speaking One would have to be living under a paving tile if not a rock not to have heard of the turmoil that has been under way at the General Theo...
What the TFSM essay does is attempt to give procreation in marriage its proper place and role as reflected in the Prologue to the marriage liturgy: as a positive good (when possible, and “when it is God's will” or as the older (1946) canon put it “if it may be”). This stands in opposition to the rhetoric advanced in some circles that it is an "essential element" of marriage. This has never been the teaching of the church. The confusion arises precisely when one drifts from the language of "goods" or "fruits" into “ends,” "causes," or "purposes." The issue is that the institution of marriage (as the Prologue puts it) may have purposes which never are realized in a particular marriage — and that should not be seen as a reduction in the value of that marriage. The traditional position — which the TFSM paper supports — is that procreation should take place within a loving marriage; not that any given marriage must lead to procreation in order to be a valid and loving marriage that reflects God’s love and generativity.
The (Mis)Shape of the Liturgy On the topic of liturgical change, be it dubbed "renewal" or "experimentation" I am on record as being conservative. I&#...
I hope I’ve adequately addressed these two problems with MCC. A more general concern is that they seem to think that the proposed canon change undercuts the church’s teaching on marriage, and I hope I’ve addressed that in the previous posts on the topic of that change. Obviously, the canon change will remove an obstacle (in some minds) to authorizing liturgies for solemnizing marriages of same-sex couples where it is permitted by civil law, but that in no way alters the teaching concerning the nature of marriage — merely refocuses it on the moral center of marriage, which the tradition
Anglican Disunion: The Issues Behind “the Issue” A talk to the Albany Via Media Annual Meeting St George’s Church, Schenectady, November 12, 2011 Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG Introductio...
If God Had Wanted Women Priests If God had wanted women to be priests and bishops, He would have made a woman the means of His Incarnation, the agent of the first manifesta... One Last Question on the Canon Change Continued from here Bishops Benhase and McConnell have posted an essay concerning the proposals coming to the General Convention. They are...
ABOUT COM M ENTS Comments are welcome, but: • require an ID (i.e., anonymous comments are not permitted) • avoid mere contradiction or assertion; give reasons for disagreement • stay with the topic of the post.
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
4 of 10
holds lies in the couple’s mutual consent to live by the vows they make to each other; not on their capacity to fulfill a “purpose.� It is, in short, the content of marriage, not its form, that ought to be the focus of our canonical, liturgical, and theological attention. Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG 6IGSQ Q IRH XLMW SR + SSKPI
TA G S : G E N E R A L C ON V E N T I ON , M A R R I A G E E Q U A L I T Y, S A M E -S E X MARRIAGE
Your words are yours but I reserve the right to cite them or refer to them in other contexts I will not post comments that are irrelevant or offensive. Note that Blogger limits comments to 4,096 characters.
C O N S TA N T C O M M E N T S Harry wrote: But for a few of us
5 COMMENTS: thomas bushnell, bsg said... Do they really make the inattentive freshman's misunderstanding of Kant? Kant most certainly did *not* say that we should "never to treat persons as means rather than ends". He said that we should never treat persons as means unless, at the same time, we also treat them as ends. For example, it is perfectly ok to treat the barista as a means to obtaining a cup of coffee, *provided* we also treat them as an end in themself at the same time, and so if they're a slave for example, or being treated abusively by their employer, or we want to shout at them for being slow, we are likely not treating them as ends in themself. And that, it seems to me, gets to the rub of the matter. There's nothing wrong with using people to achieve your own ends, *provided* you treat them as an end in themselves at the same time, according to Kant. And hence (amazing!) commitment and mutual respect and consent suddenly come to the fore, as being, oh, I don't know, essential for marriage. MAY 30 , 20 15
Ptolmey's system is more beautiful than Copernicus's. The proposal of the eccentric is so devastatingly pass... Peggy Blanchard + wrote: Thank you for this elucidation, Tobias, it has been very helpful to me. It's been a long time since ethics and theology in seminary... Daniel Weir wrote: As has, I think, been pointed in discussions of the hierarchical nature of the church, metropolitic authority is vested in the GC. Marshall Scott wrote: Seems to me it is a matter of "what your definition if is is." I have understood the BCP to be "constitutional" as o... Tobias Haller wrote: Thanks, Lionel. I actually did address this issue in an earlier blog post The Authority for Worship Forms, noting that the GC is the sup... Lionel Deimel wrote: The Living Church essay complains about the
Tobias Haller said... Indeed so. We tried, in the TSFM document, to treat this notion with the nuance it deserves, not as an either/or -something that the MCC authors miss. For instance, that "as Kant would put it, the principal end of marriage must be found in the couple themselves, and in their life together, as well as in a pragmatic recognition that marriages are not always procreative even when that is the couple’s intent — and a couple incapable of procreation cannot reasonably intend it — but they are always meant to be loving and faithful. As noted above, a child coming into a loving and faithful context, whether by birth or adoption, is more likely to grow to be a loving and faithful person."
General Convention’s being considered the ultimate constitutional authority in the church. C... Tobias Haller wrote: Wish I could say the same... Though you might enjoy the "essays in response" to the Bauerschmidt et al. paper. They range into... thomas bushnell, bsg wrote: The more I read your comments, the happier I am that I have not read the originals. I have enough to keep track of. :)
TO P I C A L TA G S
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
5 of 10
In other words, procreation ought not be understood simply as an "end" but as an outgrowth of the couple treating each other as ends in themselves. The problem with much of the anti-SSM rhetoric is that it elevates procreation as an end above the other moral values.
39 articles 9/11
acc
adam and eve
MAY 30 , 20 15
anglican communion anglican covenant
Tobias Haller said...
anglicanism archbishop of canterbury
Of course, they were also not alone in seeing "Kant" and reacting with a litany against all the supposed bad thoughts that the Enlightenment has brought upon the church and the world. MAY 30 , 20 15
art augustine of hippo autonomy
baptism BCP bigotry blogging BSG BVM canons cats celibacy charity
thomas bushnell, bsg said... The more I read your comments, the happier I am that I have not read the originals. I have enough to keep track of. :) MAY 30 , 20 15
comprehension conflict conscience
consensus constitution
Tobias Haller said... Wish I could say the same... Though you might enjoy the "essays in response" to the Bauerschmidt et al. paper. They range into some of the more serious problems. MAY 31, 20 15
covenant CS Lewis CWOB death development of doctrine diaconate diocese of new york discipline doctrine economics
Post a Comment
ecumenism
episcopal church episcopate epistemology ethics eucharist
LINKS IN Create a Link Newer Post
church church of England civil rights communion
Home
Older Post
evangelicalism faith
evangelism
freedom GAFCON general convention
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
global south
genesis
gnosticism golden rule grace gts heresy hermeneutics
homophobia humility humor huntington hypocrisy icons idealism vs
realism incarnation
indaba
jesus christ jonathan and david
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
6 of 10
judgment
lambeth
laity lambeth language
quadrilateral law leviticus
liturgy
logic
love
marriage
marriage
equality mathematics ministry morality
mission
music nature nt wright ontology ordination papacy philosophy plato
poetry
politics
polity presiding bishop primates procreation property reason reasonable and holy religion
richard roman catholic roman church williams review
hooker church rowan
sacrifice
saints salvation same-sex marriage satire
schism
scripture sexuality
science sermon
theology tradition trinity truth
unity virtue vocation windsor process women's ordination P R E V I O U S LY G O D W A R D
â–ź 2015 (34) â–ş June (2) â–ź May (5) Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Marriag... Marriage Canon Q and A Part 2
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
7 of 10
Chaste Convention Marriage Canon Change Q&A (Part 1) Web of Tragedy
► April (14) ► March (2) ► February (4) ► January (7)
► 2014 (68) ► 2013 (106) ► 2012 (137) ► 2011 (153) ► 2010 (140) ► 2009 (144) ► 2008 (191) ► 2007 (163) ► 2006 (82) ► 2005 (41) ► 2004 (6)
WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD READ STUF F LIK E THIS?
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
8 of 10
Live Traffic Feed A visitor from Silver Spring, Maryland viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 36 A visitor from Roseville, secs ago California viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 3 mins ago A visitor from Toccoa, Georgia viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 3 mins ago A visitor from Columbus, Georgia viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 15 mins ago A visitor from Columbia, South Carolina viewed "I a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 16 A visitor from Florence, mins ago South Carolina viewed "I a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 16 A visitor from Holley, mins ago New York viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 21 mins ago A visitor from United States viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 25 mins ago A visitor from Providence, Rhode Island viewed "In a Godward direction" 26 mins A visitor from Saintago Loui Missouri viewed "In a Godward direction: Love and Marriage: Thoughts before Utah" 28 mins ago Real-time view ¡ Get Feedjit
BOOK S BY BLOG GING FRIENDS
A Lesson of Love: Julian of Norwich Anselm (Great Medieval Thinkers) Challenge of Change Find Your Way Home Hooker's Blueprint How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take To Change A Christian Jesus the Meek King Jesus’ Family Values
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
9 of 10
Requiem for the Dictator Sacred Art of Chant Shard Streams of Mercy When in Doubt Sing
BLOG ROLL WITH DUCK SAUCE
Acts of Hope (Jane R) Adventus Along the way... Andrew [Gerns] Plus Anglican Curmudgeon Anglicans Online AngloCat BSG Barkings of an Old Dog Benny's Blog Bishop Alan Byzigenous Buddhapalian Care with the Cure of Souls (J Cramer) Cartoon Church Blog Catholicity and Covenant Caught by the Light Changing Atitude Chicago Consultation CityDesert Clergy Family Confidential Colin Coward at CA Conciliar Anglican Counterlight Country Parson Creedal Christian David John Battrick BSG Desert's Child (K Sherrod) Divine Latitude Do Justice (Louie Crew) Ekklesiastes (Tobias’ Sermons) Entangled States Episcopal Café Episcopal Chaplain @ the Bedside Episcopal Church Visual Arts Eruptions... (Leonardo Ricardo) Fr Mark Collins Friends of Jake From Glory Into Glory (M Hopkins) GAFCON Hoosier Musings Inch at a Time Jamie Parsley Kirkepiscatoid Kiwi Anglican Lionel Deimel Liturgical Curmudgeon (WSJM)
6/16/2015 6:34 PM
In a Godward direction: Being and Doing: A Response to an Essay on Mar... http://blog.tobiashaller.net/2015/05/being-and-doing-response-to-essay-on...
10 of 10
Liturgy New Zealand Mom Said / Some Disagree (Pseudopiskie) Monastery of... (Caelius Spinator) Monastic Mumblings Mr. Catolick Not Too Much Of course I could be wrong On not being a sausage (D Good) Openly Episcopal in Albany Padre Mickey Paradoxy Pluralist Speaks Preludium (Mark Harris) Project Canterbury Queer Eye 4 the Lectionary Raspberry Rabbit Reasonable and Holy: The Blog Rentonia Reverend Ref+ Rose Maniple Saintly Ramblings Sandals at the Gate Shreds and Patches (Fr Tony Clavier) Significant Truths Simple Massing Priest Stone of Witness Telling Secrets That We All May Be One (Bp Epting) The St. Bede Blog (Derek Olsen) Thin Tradition Thinking Anglicans Three Rivers Episcopal Topmost Apple Walking with Integrity What the tide brings in Why..., Sir? Wounded Bird (Mimi) Yearning for God hypersync layanglicana blog
6/16/2015 6:34 PM