Sacramental Woes and Theological Anxiety in Medieval Representations of Marriage
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University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 When Two Become One: Sacramental Woes And Theological Anxiety In Medieval Representations Of Marriage Elizabeth Churchill University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Churchill, Elizabeth, "When Two Become One: Sacramental Woes And Theological Anxiety In Medieval Representations Of Marriage" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2229. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2229 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2229 For more information, please contact [email protected]. When Two Become One: Sacramental Woes And Theological Anxiety In Medieval Representations Of Marriage Abstract This dissertation traces the long, winding, and problematic road along which marriage became a sacrament of the Church. In so doing, it identifies several key problems with marriage’s ability to fulfill the sacramental criteria laid out in Peter Lombard’s Sentences: that a sacrament must signify a specific form of divine grace, and that it must directly bring about the grace that it signifies. While, on the basis of Ephesians 5, theologians had no problem identifying the symbolic power of marriage with the spiritual union of Christ and the Church, they never fully succeeded in locating a form of effective grace, placing immense stress upon marriage’s status as a signifier. As a result, theologians and canonists found themselves unable to deal with several social aspects of marriage that threatened this symbolic capacity, namely concubinage and the remarriage of widows and widowers. For, just as concubinage possessed the dangerous ability to signify the one-to-one unity of Christ and the Church (and the pressure for exact symbolic conformity prevented theologians from imposing a formal marriage ceremony distinguishing the two), second marriages threatened to off-set the sacrament’s precarious numeric balance, wherein Christ and his heavenly bride are forever joined as two unique but entirely unified entities. This dissertation also contends that awareness of these problems was embedded in the larger medieval discourse about matrimony, and can be detected in literary depictions of marriage, marriage-making, and quasi-marital situations. It thus explores attitudes towards marriage in several prevalent literary genres, with an eye towards how each genre handles the sacramental problems outlined above. While the these literary treatments are all perceptibly impacted by the lacunae within sacramental discourse, they each display this impact in specific ways, depending upon social context and wider generic features and customs. In highlighting this discursive interplay, this dissertation finally seeks ot illuminate the sense in which what we think of as “marriage” is a highly constructed conceptual entity, the result of much conversation, contention, and invention. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Religious Studies First Advisor E. Ann Matter Keywords Literature, Marriage, Medieval, Sacrament, Theology Subject Categories English Language and Literature | Religion This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2229 WHEN TWO BECOME ONE: SACRAMENTAL WOES AND THEOLOGICAL ANXIETY IN MEDIEVAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MARRIAGE Elizabeth Churchill A DISSERTATION in Religious Studies Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Supervisor of Dissertation Signature______________________ E. Ann Matter, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Religious Studies Graduate Group Chairperson Signature________________________ Annette Yoshiko Reed, Associate Professor of Religious Studies Dissertation Committee Rita Copeland Professor of Classical Studies, English, and Comparative Literature Kevin Brownlee Professor of Romance Languages In memory of Dr. Lana Schwebel 1971-2007 Manibus date crustis plenis ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A six-year dissertation project does not come to fruition without immense support, and now, at its completion, I find myself with a series of “marriage debts” of an entirely non-Augustinian nature. I am, first, deeply indebted to my committee: Kevin Brownlee, whose encyclopedic knowledge of medieval literature is matched only by his kindness; Rita Copeland, whose insight helped shape the contours of this project, and whose attention to detail kept it in decent working order; and my advisor, Ann Matter, who never stopped pushing me to make my work better, no matter how much I resisted. I am also grateful to the esteemed and very busy scholars who took the time to talk shop with me: Ruth Karras, Deanna Klepper, Max Cavitch, and Peter Hawkins. And my thanks are always with Stephanie Nelson, my very first college professor, whose creativity, generosity, and overall awesomeness are still inspiring me seventeen years later. I have been additionally blessed to undertake this endeavor with the reassurance and encouragement of my wonderful family and friends: the Reverends Vanessa Payne Rose and Kaji Dousa, Niels Dahl, Lucy Swanson, and Kim Crandall, all of whom always picked up the phone. Molly Connors introduced me to the Richard Pryor quote that opens my fifth chapter, and Marcus Elder never said no to a bit of Latin translation help. And I have been so incredibly fortunate, throughout my doctoral program and the twenty six years that preceded it, to have the unwavering support of my father, Jim Churchill, the dad who will get on a plane and endure a six-hour layover in Iceland when he knows his adult daughter needs him. Though he never managed to teach me physics or soccer, I trust this dissertation will prove that he at least managed to pass along a talent for horrible puns. And of course, this dissertation would not exist without the constant love and reinforcement of my handsome, brilliant, and kindhearted husband Luc, who has taught me more about the goodness of marriage than an entire library could hold. Finally, this dissertation is offered in memory of Dr. Lana Schwebel, my master’s advisor and forever-hero, whose guidance, expertise, and inimitable wit have been acutely missed at every stage of this project. I have paused heavily before composing this dedication, as Lana always maintained that professional achievements should be undertaken for ourselves, not out of indebtedness or as a tribute to others. However, I hope she would see it as a fitting homage that her once fearful, airplane-phobic mentee is writing this from the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, having finally acquired the love of travel that so enriched Lana’s own life. It is therefore not so much this actual dissertation that I dedicate to her but the growth and adventures that have come with it, all of which it has been my deepest sadness not to be able to share with her. As her eager-to-please former student, I still cannot help but hope that what I have produced would have met her high standards, or at the very least she would have gotten a chuckle out of one of my many ill-advised footnote puns. If not, Lana, I beg your indulgence. iii ABSTRACT WHEN TWO BECOME ONE: SACRAMENTAL WOES AND THEOLOGICAL ANXIETY IN MEDIEVAL REPRESENTATIONS OF MARRIAGE Elizabeth Churchill E. Ann Matter This dissertation traces the long, winding, and problematic road along which marriage became a sacrament of the Church. In so doing, it identifies several key problems with marriage’s ability to fulfill the sacramental criteria laid out in Peter Lombard’s Sentences: that a sacrament must signify a specific form of divine grace, and that it must directly bring about the grace that it signifies. While, on the basis of Ephesians 5, theologians had no problem identifying the symbolic power of marriage with the spiritual union of Christ and the Church, they never fully succeeded in locating a form of effective grace, placing immense stress upon marriage’s status as a signifier. As a result, theologians and canonists found themselves unable to deal with several social aspects of marriage that threatened this symbolic capacity, namely concubinage and the remarriage of widows and widowers. For, just as concubinage possessed the dangerous ability to signify the one-to-one unity of Christ and the Church (and the pressure for exact symbolic conformity prevented theologians from imposing a formal marriage ceremony distinguishing the two), second marriages threatened to off-set the sacrament’s precarious numeric balance, wherein Christ and his heavenly bride are forever joined as two unique but entirely unified entities. This dissertation also contends that awareness of these problems was embedded in the larger medieval discourse about matrimony, and can be detected in literary depictions of marriage, marriage-making, and quasi-marital situations. It thus explores attitudes towards marriage in several prevalent literary genres, with an eye towards how each genre handles the sacramental problems outlined above. While the these literary treatments are all perceptibly impacted by the lacunae within sacramental discourse, they each display this impact in specific ways, depending upon social context and wider generic features and customs. In highlighting this discursive interplay, this dissertation