Living Together and Christian Ethics

This book is the first positive, in-depth study of cohabitation outside marriage from a mainstream Christian theological perspective. The book retrieves the traditions of betrothal from the bible and church history, and shows how these can transform Christian attitudes to living together before marriage. It takes issue with theologians who marginalize marriage, and suggests that the recognition of marital values can act as a helpful bridge between Christian teaching and people who are not formally married.

The first positive, in-depth study of cohabitation outside marriage from a mainstream Christian theological perspective.

Adrian Thatcher read Theology at Regentís Park College, Oxford, and was awarded the D.Phil. in 1973 for his work on The Ontology of Paul Tillich (also his first book, OUP, 1978). He was a Baptist Minister (1966-74) and is now an Anglican. He has taught at the College of St Mark and St John, Plymouth, since 1977, becoming Head of the Department of Theology and Philosophy in 1984, and Professor of Applied Theology in
1995. His books include Truly a Person, Truly God (SPCK, 1990), Liberating Sex ñ A Christian Sexual Theology (SPCK, 1993), People of Passion: What the Churches Teach about Sex (with Elizabeth Stuart (Mowbray, 1997), and Marriage after Modernity: Christian Marriage in Postmodern Times (Sheffield Academic Press, New York University Press, 1999). In 2000 he directed The First International Marriage Conference at the College of St. Mark and St. John and has edited and contributed to the volume of conference proceedings, Celebrating Christian Marriage: New Agendas, New Opportunities (T&T Clark, 2001). He also writes in the Theology of Education, and recently edited Spirituality and the Curriculum (Cassell, 1999). He was Alan Richardson Memorial Fellow in the University of Durham, England, in 1997, and is a regular speaker at Church conferences on marriage and questions of sexual ethics. He has written articles and reviews in many journals including, most recently, British Journal of Religious Education, Christian Century, Crucible, Feed the Minds, Theology and Sexuality, Scottish Journal of Theology, Studies in Christian Ethics, and The Witness. He is a member of several learned societies including the Societies for the Study of Theology, and ofChristian Ethics. He is the husband of Grace and the father of John. He likes watching birds, listening to jazz and classical music, playing the piano, running, and playing tennis and squash.