Mark Jordan, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Religion, will
speak on “Finding Christianity in the Quarrels Over Same-Sex
Unions” as he delivers the 2002 Decalogue Lecture, sponsored
by the Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion (CISR),
on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 12:15 p.m. in Tull Auditorium.
Jordan, a research fellow in CISR’s two-year “Sex, Marriage
and Family” project, said his lecture will serve as the first
preview for a book he is writing on the fundamental questions that
should be raised, but aren’t, in the discussions
of same-sex unions—questions that reach far beyond issues
of homosexuality.
“The real question is what same-sex unions can teach us about
Christian marriage in general,” Jordan said. “I don’t
see it as ‘making an exception’ to get them under the
big white umbrella of Christian marriage; I see same-sex unions
as raising really old, unresolved questions: What’s the relationship
between a church blessing and the state? Why should those two be
the same thing? Why should Christian ministers be allowed to function
as state officials in making legal marriages?”
It is these questions and more—including the nature of the
relationship between marriage and having children, and whether one
necessarily implies the other—that Jordan has been exploring
through his participation in the CISR project, which has drawn together
an interdisciplinary group of faculty to explore one of the most
fundamental institutions in human civilization.
“The ‘Sex, Marriage and Family’ project has sought
to summon the wisdom of the great traditions of Judaism, Christianity
and Islam for their enduring insights into the norms and habits
of marriage and family life,” said John Witte, Jonas Robitscher
Professor of Law and CISR director. “The project also has
sought to work reconstructively and critically with these traditional
resources and to draw them into greater conversation with the health
and human sciences.
“Professor Jordan has made sterling contributions to both
dimensions,” Witte continued. “He has been particularly
effective in pressing the group to sharpen its rhetorical and historical
analysis.”
For his part, Jordan said his exposure to other scholarly disciplines
through the project has been quite informative. “It’s
been great,” he said. “It gives us a rare opportunity
to talk to each other as colleagues and to just sit down and read
some text together. The learning has been incredible, about any
number of things, from history of marriage before Christianity to
contemporary legal problems and so on.”
The Decalogue Lecture was created in 2000 in memory of the late
Paul Kuntz, professor of philosophy emeritus. The inaugural lecture
was delivered by John Noonan, who returns to campus this semester
as the McDonald Professor of Jesus and Culture and a distinguished
visiting professor of the Law and Religion Program, which Witte
also directs.
Jordan’s lecture is free and open to the public. For more
information, call 404-712-8710.
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