Few institutions are more misunderstood in the 21st century than marriage. Even among devout Christians, it has come to have a multitude of different meanings. Setting aside the usual controversy of the last two decades of whether marriage must be between a man and a woman or simply any combination of people who claim to “love” one another, there are many other ongoing debates on the topic. Is marriage a contract or a sacrament? What are the rules on chastity? What role do children play in the marriage?
Typically, the answers to these questions would be answered by a community’s moral and spiritual authorities and regularly discussed among everyone since marriage is so crucial to a healthy society and happy individuals. However, under the guise of being more “pastoral,” these authorities have instead worsened the confusion, giving their blessings on every kind of definition for marriage — or they scarcely mention marriage at all. Even for an orthodox Catholic like myself who has attended Mass his whole life, much of what I thought about marriage came more from pop culture than the pulpit.
As an antidote to this problem, the Catholic professor and composer Peter Kwasniewski proceeds to systematically define, analyze, and evaluate marriage in his most recent book, Treasuring the Goods of Marriage in a Throwaway Society. As such, Kwasniewski takes a more theological and philosophical approach to the subject, respecting his reader enough to follow along. By the end of the book, he not only debunks the many
