What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson, and Robert P. George Encounter Books, 2012; 168 pages, $15.99 In june, Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court that held a law that retained the definition of marriage as a husband and wife for federal […]
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Getting the Marriage Conversation Right – A Guide for Effective Dialogue William May Emmaus Road Publishing, 2012; 82 pages, $5.95 When the socialist government of France began to move ahead with plans to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples, some observers were surprised at the very significant public opposition that resulted. On January 13, 2013 […]
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Baby-Making: What the New Reproductive Treatments Mean for Families and Society Bart Fauser and Paul Devroey Oxford University Press, 2011; 292 pages, $29.95 What does it mean to “make” a child? The title of this book is presumably a nod to the euphemistic meaning of the term, but with the twist that it invokes the […]
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Family Politics: The Idea of Marriage in Modern Political Thought Scott Yenor Baylor University Press, 2011; 430 pages, $39.95 Scott Yenor wastes no time in getting to the point. The political science professor at Boise State University writes in the opening chapter of this book: “Modern individuals see themselves as persons independent of unchosen duties […]
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Premarital Sex in America: How Young Americans Meet, Mate, and Think about Marrying Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker Oxford University Press, 2010; 312 pages, $24.95 Although written two centuries ago, the novels of Jane Austen remain a fascination with many young adults living on this side of the Atlantic. It is hard to imagine a […]
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When Gay People Get Married What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage M. V. Lee Badgett NYU Press, 2009; 285 pages, $35.00 In 2001, the Netherlands became the first nation in the world to legally and fully redefine marriage to include same-sex couples. The experience of the Dutch with same-sex marriage would, therefore, seem to […]
Read MoreThe one great principle of the English law, is to make business for itself.—Charles Dickens, Bleak House In the modern state, law—like nature—displays a marked distaste for a vacuum. Spurred by elites distrustful of independent social institutions and a cultural embrace of atomistic individualism, the United States in past decades has experienced a dramatic incursion […]
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