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Contact: Rose Trabbic, Publicist, Ignatius Press, 239-431-5025, rose@ignatius.com
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9 /Christian
Newswire/ -- In today's society, marriage is under tremendous attack. This
raises an important question: is marriage the foundation of family life? Many
people today would say, "No!" Others would say, "Yes", but they would define
"family" and "marriage" in ways at odds with how the words have been used
throughout history. In this revised and expanded edition of "Marriage: The Rock
on Which the Family is Built," internationally-renowned theologian William E.
May makes the case for marriage's foundational role for family, with marriage
defined as the union of one man and one woman. Drawing on Pope John Paul II's
"theology of the body," he explains the person-affirming, love-enabling,
life-giving, and sanctifying nature of marriage. He shows how marriage is
necessarily a complementary union of man and woman and how this rules out the
idea of "same-sex" marriage.
May argues, drawing on Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, that
marriage fully respects the equal dignity of husband and wife as persons, while
recognizing their unique, exclusive, enduring, complementary contributions to
their union. Likewise, he shows how marriage honors the truth that each new
human life brought about by sexual union is a person equal in dignity to his
mother and father. Both reason and revelation are used to show that only the
family, founded on marriage as an enduring, mutually-exclusive union of one man
and one woman, provides the proper context for begetting and raising children.
Reproductive technologies are also critically examined and the author argues
that human beings ought to be begotten in an act of spousal love, not made
through "in vitro fertilization." Furthermore, the role of the family as the
"domestic church," a community of holiness, is explored. This expanded edition
includes new chapters: "Pope John Paul II's Catechesis on the Theology of the
Body" and "Pope Benedict XVI and Marriage," the latter summarizing Benedict’s
thought on marriage, particularly as found in his first encyclical "Deus Caritas
Est." Also included is Pope John Paul II's "Letter to Families."
William E. May is the Michael J. McGivney Professor of Moral Theology at the
John Paul II Institute on Marriage and Family Life in Washington, D.C. He is the
author of numerous works in moral theology and ethics.
To interview author William May or request a review copy, please contact Rose
Trabbic: rose@ignatius.com or
(239)431-5025