What Makes for a Good Theory of Marriage? A Reply to Merrick

This paper is part of an EPS web project, “Philosophical Discussions on Marriage and Family.”

In this paper, Adam Omelianchuk replies to Teri Merrick’s paper, “A Not So Modest Proposal: Faithfully Redefining Methodist Marriage.” While both authors agree that Christians are in an epistemic crisis concerning their theory of marriage, they differ on the nature of the crisis and what it is about.

Omelianchuk argues that a theory of marriage is a moral one, not a scientific one, and that neither Merrick’s proposal, nor the biologically-grounded conjugal view or the view articulated in Obergefell v. Hodges can justify the norm of monogamy in marriage. Nor is it obvious how we should go about justifying it if we want to conserve it.

The full-text of this paper is available for FREE by clicking here.