title: Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity: The Jovinianist Controversy (Oxford Early Christian Studies)
author:  David G. Hunter 
description: "Handled with a welcome sensitivity." --<BR>ournal of Ecclesiastical History<BR><br /><br />"Handled with a welcome sensitivity." -- ournal of Ecclesiastical History<BR>
zlib_text: how marriage became one of the sacraments
  Among the contributions of the medieval church to western culture was the idea that
  marriage was one of the seven sacraments, which deﬁned the role of married folk in the
  church. Although the idea had ancient roots, this new way of regarding marriage raised
  many problems, to which scholastic theologians applied all their ingenuity. By the late
  Middle Ages, the doctrine was fully established in Christian thought and practice but not
  yet as dogma. In the sixteenth century, with the entire Catholic teaching on marriage
  and celibacy and its associated law and jurisdiction under attack by the Protestant
  reformers, the Council of Trent deﬁned the doctrine as a dogma of faith for the ﬁrst
  time but made major changes to it. Rather than focusing on a particular aspect of these
  intellectual and institutional developments, this book examines them in depth and in
  detail from their ancient precedents to the Council of Trent.
  philip l. reynolds has taught at