The Meaning of Marriage

St. Philip's Church
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The Meaning of Marriage

The Rev. Justin Hare leads this class that seeks to understand the nature and goal of marriage using Timothy Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage as a launching pad. The class will examine some of the more recent objections and challenges posed to marriage in the world today, as well as look at the timeless difficulties faced within marriage.

Episodes

  1. 04/02/2023

    Class 12: Marriage, Singleness and an Eternal Perspective

    In this final class, Justin discusses Tim Keller's chapter "Singleness and Marriage" from his book The Meaning of Marriage. Far from being something that is of no relevance to singles, Keller asserts that all types of singles cannot live well without a proper understanding of marriage. This week Justin wraps up the class by putting marriage in its proper perspective and shows how essential the community of the Church is intended to be when it comes to both singles and married couples.

  2. 03/26/2023

    Class 11: Embracing the Other

    In this class, Justin discusses the chapter "Embracing the Other" in Tim Keller's Meaning of Marriage. This chapter was written by Tim's wife, Kathy, and holds that while men and women are both of equal dignity and worth, their differences in gender correspond to different roles that God has designed within marriage. This week Justin presents what Kathy teaches, while also defining some key terms, setting the limits of the discussion, locating the debate within a historical framework, and then presenting what the Bible says and doesn't say about gender roles in marriage, hopefully debunking many popular charicatures along the way. This is indeed a controversial teaching but one that, as Kathy Keller says in the chapter, leads to flourishing and healing when embraced with honor and love.

  3. 03/19/2023

    Class 10: Loving the Stranger

    This week Justin discussed Tim Keller's 5th chapter in The Meaning of Marriage "Loving the Stranger." Keller sums up the tools we are given in marriage to care for our spouses as "speaking the truth in love in the power of God's grace."

  4. 03/12/2023

    Class 9: Cleaving pt. 2

    In this class Justin looks at the eighth and ninth chapters of The Intimate Mystery by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III. Unlike Timothy Keller's chapter "Sex and Marriage" which sought to define and defend the Bible's sexual ethic, the content this week focuses on the theological and relational implications of the biblical sexual ethic.

  5. 03/05/2023

    Class 8: Cleaving pt. 1

    In this class, Justin looks at Timothy Keller's eighth chapter in The Meaning of Marriage entitled "Sex and Marriage." This chapter focuses on what the Christian sexual ethic actually is, why God designed it that way, and how those who are married and not married can live according to that design.

  6. 02/26/2023

    Class 7: Weaving

    In this class, Justin looks at chapters 6 & 7 in Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III's The Intimate Mystery which discuss how married couples are to weave souls their souls together. This weaving involves speech - speaking like God speaks. It involves addressing two common responses that we have in conflict: shame (hiding) and blaming (contempt). Married couples should not hide, blame, or distort the conflicting view of reality of their spouse but must be committed to seeing reality the way God does, which involves both parties perceptions being addressed. Marriage partners are then to move towards one another, speak the truth in love, own their own faults, feel the other's pain, understand one another's hearts through narrating the stories that have shaped them, and then extend the forgiveness and love of God so that their hearts might be further knit together.

  7. 02/19/2023

    Class 6: Leaving

    This week Justin examines the chapters in Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III's The Intimate Mystery that explore what it means to leave father and mother (Genesis 2:24). Far from being a one time event, leaving our family of origin and all of our past allegiances is an ongoing process that is essential if we are to forge trust in this new ultimate allegiance of marriage. The marriage relationship must have privacy, primacy and power moreso than any other relationship in order for us to live into the fulness of what God created marriage to be.

  8. 02/12/2023

    Class 5: The Purpose of Marriage

    In this class, Justin examines the 4th chapter of Tim Keller's The Meaning of Marriage, entitled "The Purpose of Marriage." Marriage was instituted by God for a far grander purpose than our mere earthly lives. It was intended by God to be nothing short of an instrument to make us fit for an eternity with God in heaven. And this purpose has profound consequences for how we search for a spouse and how we interact with our spouse. Also in this episode, we begin to take a peak into Dan Allender's book The Intimate Mystery which we will tackle in the next few weeks in order to gain some practical tools into how we can work towards the purpose of marriage.

  9. 02/05/2023

    Class 4: The Essence of Marriage

    In this class, Justin explores the nature of marital love by reviewing Tim Keller's third chapter, "The Essence of Marriage." Keller argues that at the heart of real love is the act of promising and commitment. While any notions of duty and legally binding oneself to another (which are entailed in the making of any covenant) are seen by many today to be restrictive, oppressive and counter-productive to one's self-flourishing, Keller shows that in fact the actions of love lead to greater feelings of love and freedom.

  10. 01/22/2023

    Class 3: The Power for Marriage

    In this class, Justin discusses chapter two of Tim Keller's book entitled, "The Power for Marriage." After discussing the lofty calling and nature of marriage in chapter 1, Keller thankfully shows us where we can obtain the power to live into this wonderful mystery.

  11. 01/15/2023

    Class 2: The Meaning of Marriage

    In this class, Justin discusses the first chapter in Timothy Keller's book The Meaning of Marriage entitled, "The Secret of Marriage," as well as the second chapter in Dan Allender's book The Intimate Mystery entitled, "The Meaning of Marriage." Although marriage has fallen on hard times of late, studies show that the percentage of people who want to be married has not declined at all. People want to be married and the Christian faith offers a robust, trascendent view of what marriage is really all about.

  12. 01/08/2023

    Class 1: Introduction

    In this class, Justin covers all the details––from who the class is for and why we are having it, to what we will cover, when and where we'll meet, and what you can expect in the course. You can find the syllabus for the course attached. Please reach out to justin@saintphilips.church if you have any questions!

  • 12 Episodes

About

The Rev. Justin Hare leads this class that seeks to understand the nature and goal of marriage using Timothy Keller’s The Meaning of Marriage as a launching pad. The class will examine some of the more recent objections and challenges posed to marriage in the world today, as well as look at the timeless difficulties faced within marriage.

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