The mystery of marriage amid deconstruction : a dialogue between Orthodox anthropology and postmodern perspectives

Abstract

The social changes in the contemporary era have directly influenced the manner of human life and existence, and especially the meaning of marriage. As a result, researchers have called for the urgent need to deconstruct marriage and re-contextualize it. Conversely, the Orthodox Church views the essence of marriage as the mysterion experienced within the salvific faith in Christ. How could living the meaning of this mysterion in todays postmodern era be viable? To examine this issue, this study initiates an interdisciplinary dialogue between postmodern perspectives on marriage and family on the one hand, and the vision of Orthodox theology on the other hand. This dialogue aims at contributing to Orthodoxys positive engagement with the postmodern world. First, it explores main tenets of postmodern approaches and Orthodox anthropology concerning marriage. For this, it begins by surveying relevant postmodern epistemologies, holding that postmodernity suggests exploring new fields that have pertinent resonance with Christianity. Additionally, it analyzes signposts in the development of thought and the resulting impact on social life, love, gender, and free will, leading to new postmodern family forms. It also evaluates various postmodern endeavors of Christian traditions to reconstruct marriage and contextualize these family forms, in conformity with contemporary social trends. Second, since marriage is essentially a matter of anthropology, this study investigates various theological developments concerning the understanding of anthropology and its impact on marriage. By returning to first principles and patristic sources it examines the impact that the theology of personhood in the East and personalism in the West have had on marriage. Based on these findings, it discusses, in a dialogical methodology, four relevant antinomic issues of Christianity and postmodernity: mystery, love, authority, and intimacy. Drawing on the living words of St. John Chrysostom, this study reconsiders the application of these four issues in the context of an everlasting Christian view of marriage as the mysterion of love in Christ and the family as a "little church.".