It is a distinctive feature of Luther's understanding of marriage that he considers marital love as a selfless attitude on the one hand and a selfish form of desire broken by concupiscentia on the other. Thus the aim of marriage is not the satisfaction of the affections of the partners but simply the procreation of children - this renders the sexual dimension rather significant for Luther's understanding of marriage, which he had to explicate in a situation when the medieval image of marriage was increasingly bewildered by the reformatory movement. As opposed to the tendency of the late middle ages towards secret betrothals, Luther emphasized the parents' right to bring about the marriage(s) of their children. His bewilderment regarding marriage law and practice results in a certain acceptance of bigamy, which is not only obvious from the famous case of Philipp of Hesse, but also from some remarks Luther made as early as 1520 in "De captivitate Babylonica". His most important and most extensively debated criticism of medieval church law were a) the obstacles to marriage, which Luther wanted to see reduced to their original biblical number, and b) his denial of the sacramental character of marriage. According to Luther, marriage law should be left to the secular government- in this respect it is a "weltlich Ding" (temporal). Nevertheless marriage is founded in the order of creation and serves to prevent the actualization of sin.

Enthalten in:
Evangelische Theologie; 2015/1 Zweimonatsschrift (2015)

---

Serie / Reihe: Evangelische Theologie

Personen: Leppin, Volker

Schlagwörter: Ehe Liebe Sexualität Luther