The Mature Luther's Revision of Marriage Theology. Preference for Patriarchs Ever Saints in His Commentary on Genesis (Ph.D. Saint Louis University, 1999, 366 pp.).

'Luther's theology of marriage was founded in Augustine's long-accepted foundation of three "goods" which marriage held for spouses: proles, the birth and nurture of children; fides, sexual faithfulness and obligation, and sacramentum, indissolubility. But Luther expanded each of these categories according to his own theological emphases. Proles came to signify that household or management is a vocational equal to religious life for both men and women. Fides continued to mean that marriage was designed to prevent illicit sex, but grew to include emotional ties which reflect God's love for his people. Sacramentum, defined by Augustine as metaphysical indissolubility, was denied by Luther, along with ecclesiastical control over marriage, and redefined as a bond of practical partnership between husband and wife, evidenced by loving commitment to the tasks of the household. Divorce was allowed when marriage broke down, in order that Christians might be able to achieve the first two purposes of marriage as God willed. This reformulation succeeded because it was attractive to the emerging middle class of European cities, and it came to redefine many values for modern married life'.