Clerical Marriage Research Articles

Theologies of Sexuality in English ‘Lollardy’

Using the records of heresy trials as well as the vernacular texts composed by English dissenters during the period 1381–1521, this article chronicles the development of Wycliffite and Lollard views about sexuality and lay and clerical marriage. John Wyclif's Latin writings reveal that he both professed caution about clerical marriage and articulated a culturally traditional theology of sexuality. Whereas his hesitation at the prospect of a married clergy gave way to enthusiasm among later dissenters, his ideas about lay sexuality resonated with dissenting and mainstream writers alike. The evidence calls further into doubt the view that Lollardy was an innovative movement with respect to issues of gender and sexuality.

‘Partner in his Calamities’: Pastors' Wives, Married Nuns and the Experience of Clerical Marriage in the Early German Reformation

This essay examines what factors led the first clerical wives to marry former Catholic clergy and nuns to marry in the first decade of the Reformation in Germany and seeks to explain the difference that social class, geography and gender made in those decisions. In contrast to the later Reformation, when pastors married same or higher social status women, the majority of women who married former priests and monks during the 1520s were often lower or, in the case of nuns, significantly higher social status than their husbands. Women married clergy for a variety of reasons that were counterintuitive to typical marital strategies for economic security and social networking, since clergy had neither in the 1520s. While sharing a common experience, clerical wives' reasons for marriage to a pastor varied greatly depending on class, local decision about the Reformation and numerous personal factors. Using a variety of sources including letters, civic records, court testimony and published pamphlets, this article demonstrates that these women did exhibit a limited agency that ultimately helped shape larger social and political acceptance of clerical marriage.

The Prohibition of Clerical Marriage in the Eleventh Century

The Prohibition of Clerical Marriage in the Eleventh Century

Opposition to Clerical Continence and the Gregorian Celibacy Legislation in the Diocese of Thérouanne : The Tractatus Pro Clericorum Conubio (c. 1077-1078)

In scholarly literature there is no consensus concerning the origin and the author of the Tractatuspro clericorum conubio, an anonymous polemical writing in favour of clerical marriage. In this article, the author argues that the treatise was written either after the Council of Autun (10-17 Sept. 1077) or shortly after the Council of Poitiers (15 Jan. 1078), but certainly before June-July 1078, and that it has to be identified with the wise letter of our neighbours to which the Cambrai clergy responded in their polemical letter. Of all the dioceses adjoining the double diocese of Cambrai-Arras the diocese of Therouanne is the most likely location where the polemical work originated. A serious candidate for the authorship is archdeacon and future bishop Hubert of Therouanne.

Clerical Marriage and Territorial Reformation in Ernestine Saxony and the Diocese of Merseburg in 1522–1524

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Anfang des Jahres 1522 erreichte die Debatte über die Priesterehe die Diözese Merseburg, als die beiden Pfarrer Johann Stumpf und Franz Klotzsch sich zur Heirat entschlossen. Stumpf und Klotzsch verteidigten ihr Handeln in mündlicher und schriftlicher Form vor den bischöflichen und herzoglichen Beamten, während andere Pfarrer sich entschieden gegen die Priesterehe aussprachen. Die durch Aktenmaterial gut belegten Fälle zeigen, wie sich die Reformation außerhalb Wittenbergs durchsetzten konnte. Insbesondere die Korrespondenz zwischen Friedrich dem Weisen und dem Bischof von Merseburg erhellt den reichspolitischen Umgang mit der erstarkenden Reformationsbewegung in den Jahren 1522-24. In der frühen Reformation war die Priesterehe ein in höchstem Maße öffentlicher und umstrittener Akt, der durch zahlreiche Interessen - theologische, rechtliche, gemeindliche und persönliche - bestimmt war.

The Clergy, Identity and Lay Society in the Diocese of Durham, 1561–1635

This article examines the relationship between the clergy and their secular neighbours in the diocese of Durham in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In particular, it seeks to uncover the extent to which the two spheres experienced a shared sense of identity, in a period when that relationship was being recalibrated as the full impact of the Reformation was making itself felt. For example, the novelty of clerical marriage, within and without the clerical community, as well as oppositional doctrinal and confessional outlooks, were superimposed on to existing associations and networks. In other respects interaction between the clergy and lay society fluctuated between harmonious and positive to contentious and damaging. Meanwhile, preconceptions about the diocese are re-examined in the context of this relationship.

Japanese temple Buddhism: worldliness in a religion of renunciation

There have been many studies that focus on aspects of the history of Japanese Buddhism. Until now, none have addressed important questions of organization and practice in contemporary Buddhism, questions such as how Japanese Buddhism came to be seen as a religion of funeral practices; how Buddhist institutions envision the role of the laity; and how a married clergy has affected life at temples and the image of priests. This volume is the first to address fully contemporary Buddhist life and institutions - topics often overlooked in the conflict between the rhetoric of renunciation and the practices of clerical marriage and householding that characterize much of Buddhism in today's Japan. Informed by years of field research and his own experiences training to be a Tendai priest, Stephen Covell skillfully refutes this corruption paradigm while revealing the many (often contradictory) facets of contemporary institutional Buddhism, or as Covell terms it, temple Buddhism. Covell significantly broadens the scope of inquiry to include how Buddhism is approached by both laity and clerics when he takes into account temple families, community involvement, and the commodification of practice. He considers law and tax issues, temple strikes, and the politics of temple boards of directors to shed light on how temples are run and viewed by their inhabitants, supporters, and society in general. In doing so he uncovers the economic realities that shape ritual practices and shows how mundane factors such as taxes influence the debate over temple Buddhism's role in contemporary Japanese society. In addition, through interviews and analyses of sectarian literature and recent scholarship on gender and Buddhism, he provides a detailed look at priests' wives, who have become indispensable in the management of temple affairs.

Richard M. Jaffe, Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism. Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001. xxii+288 pp. $47.50 (cloth).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewRichard M. Jaffe, Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism. Buddhisms: A Princeton University Press Series. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001. xxii+288 pp. $47.50 (cloth).Alexander Vesey, Alexander VeseyStonehill College. Search for more articles by this author , Stonehill College.PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Religion Volume 84, Number 2April 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/421825 Views: 17Total views on this site Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Monuments, Reputation and Clerical Marriage in Reformation England: Bishop Barlow's Daughters

The impact of the English Reformation upon women and women's agency in effecting religious change has been much debated. This paper examines the key innovation of clerical marriage by studying the family of Bishop William Barlow (d. 1568), whose five daughters married five bishops. It establishes that Barlow himself married well before it was lawful to do so, and reviews the circumstances that led to his daughters’ remarkable marital achievements. Subsequently, the commemorative acts of this family between 1595 and 1630 were crucial to the creation of an honourable role for the clergyman's wife in English society. By manipulating the representation of the dead, Barlow's daughter Frances Matthew improved her and her sisters’ place in the world. Monuments and their influence upon historical memory are therefore shown to be a hitherto unrecognised means available to women for transforming social order.

Incest and Lust in Luther's Marriage: Theology and Morality in Reformation Polemics

Clerical marriage during the time of the Reformation raised issues of theology for the reformers, but for the Catholics it flagged issues of morality in its verdict that theology was simply being used in the service of immorality. This is best underscored in the matrimonial case involving Martin Luther and Katherine von Bora. Luther's writings on the subject of marriage had to be applied to his own life. Protestants defended Luther, while Catholic polemicists, especially Thomas More, attacked the matter of clerical marriage relentlessly. In more strident denunciations, Luther's marriage specifically, and clerical marriage generally, was rooted in charges of lust and disobedience to God. As for the Luthers, who had been under holy orders, their union, by definition of canon law, was blatant and deliberate incest. The reformers regarded clerical marriage as an act of faith, a work of God, and a witness to the gospel. Catholic theologians perceived it as sin, the breaking of faith, an offense to God, and an abuse of the freedom of the gospel. The Luther marriage is a test case for exploring one dimension of the social implications of theology.

"A Godly Wyfe Is an Helper": Matthew Parker and the Defense of Clerical Marriage

Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker (1504-75) defended priestly matrimony throughout his career. His life, library, and letters provide counterevidence to Eric Carlson's argument that the clergy failed to receive marriage enthusiastically and were themselves responsible for its slow acceptance in England. Parker maintained his positive attitude toward marriage through five decades of shifting royal policies, when he delayed his marriage during the reign of Henry VIII, was married prematurely under Edward VI, sacrificed his career because of marriage during Mary's reign, and endured Elizabeth displeasure because of his married state. In contrast to Carlson's premise that Elizabeth harbored no hostility toward married clergy, Parker perceived the queens negative attitude and, therefore, defended clerical matrimony with his policies and publications. His example of a happily married clergyman suggests that Carlson's interpretation might be tempered by study of both the opponents and advocates of clerical marriage.

Review of: Richard M. Jaffe, Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism

Review of: Richard M. Jaffe, Neither Monk nor Layman: Clerical Marriage in Modern Japanese Buddhism

Neither monk nor layman: clerical marriage in modern Japanese Buddhism

Buddhism comes in many forms, but in Japan it stands apart from all the rest in one most striking way--the monks get married. In Neither Monk nor Layman, the most comprehensive study of this topic in any language, Richard Jaffe addresses the emergence of an openly married clergy as a momentous change in the history of modern Japanese Buddhism. He demonstrates, in clear and engaging prose, that this shift was not an easy one for Japanese Buddhists. Yet the transformation that began in the early Meiji period (1868-1912)--when monks were ordered by government authorities to adopt common surnames and allowed to marry, to have children, and to eat meat--today extends to all the country's Buddhist denominations. Jaffe traces the gradual acceptance of marriage by Japanese Buddhists from the premodern emergence of the clerical marriage problem in the Edo period to its widespread practice by the start of the Second World War. In doing so he considers related issues such as the dissolution of status and the growing domestication of Japanese temple life. This book reveals the deep contradictions between sectarian teachings that continue to idealize renunciation and a clergy whose lives closely resemble those of their parishioners in modern Japanese society. It will attract not only scholars of religion and of Japanese history, but all those interested in the encounter-conflict between regimes of modernization and religious institutions and the fate of celibate religious practices in the twentieth century.

Clerical marriage and the English Reformation. Precedent, policy and practice. By Helen L. Parish. (St Andrews Studies in Reformation History.) Pp. xii+276 incl. 4 maps. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. £52.50. 0 7546 0038 6

<i>Clerical marriage and the English Reformation. Precedent, policy and practice.</i> By Helen L. Parish. (St Andrews Studies in Reformation History.) Pp. xii+276 incl. 4 maps. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000. £52.50. 0 7546 0038 6

Early Modern

Nicholas Terpstra, The Politics of Ritual Kinship: Confraternities and the Social Order in Early Modern ItalyJohn Morrill, The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart BritainKeith Wrightson, Earthly Necessities: Economic Lives in Early Modern BritainHelen L. Parish, Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation: Precedent, Policy and PracticeRetha M. Warnicke, The Marrying of Anne of Cleves: Royal Protocol in Early Modern EnglandA. N. McLaren, Political Culture in the Reign of Elizabeth I: Queen and Commonwealth 1558–1585John Barratt, Cavaliers: The Royalist Army at War 1642–1646Laura Lunger Knoppers, Constructing Cromwell: Ceremony, Portrait, and Print, 1645–61John Miller, After the Civil Wars: English Politics and Government in the Reign of Charles IIJohn Spurr, England in the 1670s: ‘This Masquerading Age’John E. Wills, 1688: A Global HistoryGeraint Tudur, Howell Harris: From Conversion to Separation 1735–1750

:Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation: Precedent Policy and Practice

This volume is an examination of the debate over clerical marriage in Reformation polemic, and of its impact on the English clergy in the second half of the sixteenth century. Clerical celibacy was more than an abstract theological concept; it was a central image of mediaeval Catholicism which was shattered by the doctrinal iconoclasm of Protestant reformers. This study sets the debate over clerical marriage within the context of the key debates of the Reformation, offering insights into the nature of the reformers’ attempts to break with the Catholic past, and illustrating the relationship between English polemicists and their continental counterparts. The debate was not without practical consequences, and the author sets this study of polemical arguments alongside an analysis of the response of clergy in several English dioceses to the legalisation of clerical marriage in 1549. Conclusions are based upon the evidence of wills, visitation records, and the proceedings of the ecclesiastical courts. Despite the printed rhetoric, dogmatic certainties were often beyond the reach of the majority, and the author’s conclusions highlight the chasm which could exist between polemical ideal and practical reality during the turmoil of the Reformation.

Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation: Precedent, Policy and Practice (review)

Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation: Precedent, Policy and Practice (review)

Marriage and the English Reformation

Preface. Part I: The European and English Medieval Background: 1. From Celibacy to Fecundity: The European Reformation of Marriage. 2. Church, Crown, Lordship and Marriage in Medieval England. Part II: Marriage and the English Reformers: 3. Theology, Ritual and Clerical Marriage. 4. Canon Law. 5. Extraparliamentary Pressure. Part III: 6. Marriage Law and Marriage Pressure. 7. Church Courts and English Communities. Selected Bibliography. Index.

Meiji religious policy, Sōtō Zen, and the clerical marriage problem

One of the most signi≥cant legal changes for the Buddhist clergy in the wake of the Meiji Restoration was the decriminalization of clerical meat eating and marriage (nikujiki saitai). The end to state enforcement of the prohibition against marriage by the Buddhist clergy sparked a prolonged debate over that practice within the Buddhist world. This article examines the range of responses to the decriminalization measure by the Soto clergy and traces the spread of clerical marriage within the Soto denomination. Despite ongoing resistance to clerical marriage from the denomination’s leadership, the majority of Soto clerics eventually married, forcing many institutional adaptations. The de facto acceptance of clerical marriage, however, failed to resolve the fundamental doctrinal issues concerning that practice, which remains problematic for some Soto clerics today. IN THE WAKE OF THE Meiji Restoration the leaders of the new government, together with a mixed group of Nativists, Shinto clerics, and even a few Buddhists, embarked on an ambitious program of restructuring state religious policy. While the early Meiji anti-Buddhist violence known as haibutsu kishaku /[8ˆ had higher visibility, the effects of the quieter institutional changes and the rede≥nition of the relationship between religious institutions and the Japanese state proved to be an even more signi≥cant, persistent challenge to the leaders of the established Buddhist denominations. From the beginning of the Meiji era in 1868 until the promulgation of the constitution in 1889, government of≥cials in charge of religious affairs ended many of the policies that had been put into effect by the Tokugawa regime, in short order eliminating all status privileges for the clergy, abolishing state enforcement of religious precepts, and dissolving * I am grateful to the faculty at Komazawa University, in particular Kumamoto Einin and the late Ishikawa Rikizan, for their generous assistance with my research on clerical marriage.

Clerical Marriage and the English Reformation

The abolition of clerical celibacy in England was, according to its first great modern student, Henry Charles Lea, “a process of far more intricacy than in any other country which adopted the Reformation.” Since Lea wrote, historians have come to accept an outline of that process. According to this standard view, it was Henry VIII, acting out of his own personal conservatism, who retained and defended mandatory celibacy in the first stage of the English Reformation. Once the king had died and his leaden foot was removed from the brake, the clergy were able to overwhelm ineffective conservative opposition in the Edwardian government and legalize clerical marriage. The gains of the Edwardian years gave way before the reaction of the Marian period, and they were not reinstated after Mary's death because of the anticonnubial tastes and religious conservatism of Elizabeth I. Throughout this period, so the story goes, the clergy (a majority of them, at least) struggled for the right and privilege of marriage, only to find royal resistance (except briefly under Edward VI) impossible to overcome.This traditional outline is misleading in several respects. Elizabeth I's attitude toward the marriage of the clergy is far more complex than has been recognized. Specific regulations of such unions developed from her desire to establish an ordered church worthy of popular respect and cannot simply be ascribed to a general, almost pathological, personal distaste for marriage or quirky personal religious views.