The term "conjugal rights" has long characterized ways of speaking about marriage both in the canonistic tradition and in the secular legal systems of the West. This book explores the origins and dimensions of this concept and the range of meanings that have attached to it from the twelfth century to the present. Employing far-ranging sources, Charles Reid Jr. examines the language of marriage in classical Roman law, the Germanic legal codes of early medieval Europe, and the writings of canon lawyers and theologians from the medieval and early modern periods. The heart of the book, however, consists of the writings of the canonists of the High Middle Ages, especially the works of Hostiensis, Bernard of Parma, Innocent IV, and Raymond de Peafort. Reid's incisive survey provides a new understanding of subjects such as the right of parties to marry free of parental coercion, the nature of "paternal power," the place of bodies in the marriage contract, the meaning and implications of gender equality, and the right of inheritance.

This volume explores the causes and consequences of family inequality in the United States, Europe, and Latin America.

The Routledge History of Medieval Christianity explores the role of Christianity in European society from the middle of the eleventh-century until the dawning of the Reformation. Arranged in four thematic sections and comprising 23 originally commissioned chapters plus introductory overviews to each part by the editor, this book provides an authoritative survey of a vital element of medieval history. Comprehensive and cohesive, the volume provides a holistic view of Christianity in medieval Europe, examining not only the church itself but also its role in, influence on, and tensions with, contemporary society. Chapters therefore range from examinations of structures, theology and devotional practices within the church to topics such as gender, violence and holy warfare, the economy, morality, culture, and many more besides, demonstrating the pervasiveness and importance of the church and Christianity in the medieval world. Despite the transition into an increasingly post-Christian age, the historic role of Christianity in the development of Europe remains essential to the understanding of European history – particularly in the medieval period. This collection will be essential reading for students and scholars of medieval studies across a broad range of disciplines.

Combining Jewish, Greek, and Roman teachings with the radical new teachings of Christ and St. Paul, Christianity helped to cultivate the cardinal ideas of dignity, equality, liberty and democracy that ground the modern human rights paradigm. Christianity also helped shape the law of public, private, penal, and procedural rights that anchor modern legal systems in the West and beyond. This collection of essays explores these Christian contributions to human rights through the perspectives of jurisprudence, theology, philosophy and history, and Christian contributions to the special rights claims of women, children, nature and the environment. The authors also address the church's own problems and failings with maintaining human rights ideals. With contributions from leading scholars, including a foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, this book provides an authoritative treatment of how Christianity shaped human rights in the past, and how Christianity and human rights continue to challenge each other in modern times.

Did medieval women have the power to choose? This is a question at the heart of this book which explores three court cases from Yorkshire in the decades after the Black Death. Alice de Rouclif was a child heiress made to marry the illegitimate son of the local abbot and then abducted by her feudal superior. Agnes Grantham was a successful businesswoman ambushed and assaulted in a forest whilst on her way to dine with the Master of St Leonard's Hospital. Alice Brathwell was a respectable widow who attracted the attentions of a supposedly aristocratic conman. These are their stories.

The Routledge History of Childhood in the Western World provides an important overview of the main themes surrounding the history of childhood in the West from antiquity to the present day. By broadly incorporating the research in the field of Childhood Studies, the book explores the major advances that have taken place in the past few decades in this crucial field. This important collection from a leading international group of scholars presents a comprehensive survey of the current state of the field. It will be essential reading for all those interested in the history of childhood.

The enlightening collection of new approaches to understanding sexual abuse When sexual abuse occurs, helping those directly affected can be a difficult and convoluted task. The Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse is a comprehensive guide that provides the latest information on assessment, management, prevention, and policy. Through insightful and accessible discussions, this collection of essays encompasses the full spectrum of child and adolescent sexual abuse to shed needed light on an affecting issue. This innovative text is the up-to-date source for unique and compassionate ways of supporting and treating survivors. The increased attention given to child sexual abuse in recent years has revealed how little we know about this tragedy. The Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse is the practical compendium that covers the already existing information regarding violence against children and delves into practical methods for treating those immediately affected by it. From its historical place in society to contemporary issues of prevention that have only recently come to light, contributors examine essential details in-depth and provide concise, empirical directions for short- and long-term support. Also included is the important and newly-available assessment and treatment information focusing on ethnicity, gender, and comorbid influences as they relate to family member treatment. Among the topics discussed in the Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse are: historical views of and responses to sexual abuse risk and protective factors life stage consequences theories of family dysfunction comorbidity and attachment intrafamilial abuse the non-family offender current empirical assessment methods approaches to treatment in children approaches to treatment in adolescents neurological effects of abuse treatment for the non-offending caregiver the role of the internet and other media policy and practice implications the prevalence and consequences of abuse new methods of abuse prevention and child protection the etiology of sexual offending in an attachment framework and much more! The Handbook of Social Work in Child & Adolescent Sexual Abuse is an essential resource for educators, medical practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counselors, family therapists, and students, researchers, and academics in the field of social work.

A brilliant exposé of the implications of same-sex marriage -- and a compelling analysis of what it will take for society to reclaim the birthright of freedom it has lost in a reckless social experiment. To some, same-sex marriage is evidence that society has finally come of age. To others, it is yesterday's issue, posing no danger to traditional marriage. To still others -- McGill University's Douglas Farrow among them -- it has turned civil society on its ear, creating a new political situation in which several things are no longer clear: Is the state the property of the citizenry? Or are citizens, with their cherished personal associations, including marriage, now the property of the state? Who "owns" the children, now that natural parenthood had been replaced by legal parenthood? Is the family still "the natural and fundamental group unit of society," as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights claims? Or is the concept of “the natural" moribund? What is marriage for, anyway?

At the five-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses and the dawn of the Protestant movement, Indulgences: Luther, Catholicism, and the Imputation of Merit sets forth a revised theological interpretation of the Church’s practice of indulgences. Author Mary C. Moorman argues that Luther’s sola fide theology merely absolutized the very logic of indulgences which he sought to overthrow, while indulgences in their proper context remain an irreducible witness to the Church’s corporate nuptial covenant with Christ, by which penitents are drawn into deeper fellowship with the Church and the Church’s Lord. As Robert W. Shaffern, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Scranton, writes in his foreword to Indulgences, “Mary Moorman’s book joins a number of recent scholarly studies that revise substantially the old convictions about indulgences. She is mostly interested in how theological thinking about indulgences should be done today, with of course the help that patristic, medieval, and early modern authorities might lend. She brings to bear a broad range of primary and secondary sources on the issue of indulgences and constructs an impressive series of covalent images with which to understand the role of indulgences in today’s Christian Church.”

The idea of this book began in a conversation David Blankenhorn had with the president of Freedom to Marry, a group advocating equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. This man asked Blankenhorn, a leading figure in the “marriage movement,” to endorse his group’s objectives. Feeling a bit defensive, Blankenhorn replied, “Every child deserves a mother and a father.” The Future of Marriage is the result of that conversation. In their current demands, Blankenhorn points out, gay and lesbian leaders are not asking for marriage with an adjective in front of it, but marriage itself. So in that sense, what marriage is and why it matters is ultimately what this debate is all about. What exactly is this institution to which gay and lesbian activists are seeking access? Why do we have it in the first place? Where did it come from? What is it for? How is it changing? These are some of the hard questions The Future of Marriage confronts. David Blankenhorn says that if same sex marriage debate is to be “redemptive rather than merely divisive,” it must accept the principle that all persons are equal in dignity. But it must also help us to rediscover and renew marriage as the main protector of our children and our primary social institution.