Good News About Sex & Marriage Found in “Kristin Lavransdatter”

Last updated on: April 19, 2015 at 1:38 pm by Guest Contributor

Good News About Sex & Marriage Found in “Kristin Lavransdatter” 2015-04-19T13:38:01-04:00 Guest Contributor

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[Editor’s Note: A friend of mine sent me this post about my new favorite novel, Kristin Lavransdatter*, viewed through the lens of the* Theology of the Body*. The blog is called* The Wine-Dark Sea and is filled with great insights. Enjoy this excerpt and click below to read more!]

The following are quotes from Christopher West’s The Good News About Sex and Marriage with annotations by the blogger:

Yet if this issue is left unaddressed, a couple who enters marriage having already engaged in sex with each other or with other people will inevitably face difficulties, perhaps totally unaware that the pain they’re experiencing stems from the wounds of illicit sex.

This was at the heart of the novel for me. Kristin’s marriage with Erlend is wounded from the beginning because of their illicit sexual relationship. It seems to me Kristin is very self aware and generally understands those premarital encounters as the root of the pain in her marriage.

Authentic love is ready to sacrifice everything for the good of the beloved. Above all, it never entices another to do evil. To engage in gravely disordered kinds of behavior and encourage one’s beloved to do so as well manifests an attitude diametrically opposed to authentic love. At the very least, it manifests a blatant ignorance of the meaning of marriage.

I think Kristin does have an understanding of the meaning of marriage, at least more so than Erlend. Erlend is very childish, though of course he also didn’t have any good role models to help him form a healthy understanding of marriage. Kristin’s parents’ marriage may be wounded– in fact I found that encounter between Lavrans and his wife where they confront their hitherto-unspoken brokenness one of the most poignant moments of the novel– but despite that woundedness, there is still a solid foundation of faith that Lavrans passes on to Kristin. And a strong element of self-sacrifice on both their parts.

Be sure to read the rest here!

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