In terms of the debate over marriage, nearly all of human history can be divided neatly into two halves. During the first, which stretches back into the dim mists of time, the human race struggled to understand the meaning of marriage — what it was for and how to undertake it. They struggled, sometimes poorly, in coming to grips with an idea they knew was central to their existence, but which was sometimes disconnected from their perceived needs and desires.
Yet they endured in that quest. Over the previous 500 years or so we encounter the second half of that story. After a genuine definition of marriage was attained, many decided it was either too hard, too limiting, or didn’t sanction the sort of activities towards which they felt driven.
The attainment of the truth about marriage was not easy to come by. To give one example, various theories of “primitive promiscuity” have enlivened academic debates now for over 100 years. A bit further in time we are met with some of the fundamental challenges to a developed understanding of marriage both in biblical and classical sources: polygamy, fornication, divorce, adultery, contraception, homosexual activity, inadequate theories of consent.
All of these have characterized humanity from the start, and all did their part in slowing the correct discernment of what marriage actually is.
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