Recent Doctrinal Tensions Regarding the Nature of Marriage and the Relationship Between Faith and Conjugal Intention

Abstract

Following an analysis of the most recent studies of the problem of sacramental intention and the faith-sacrament relationship, the author proposes a middle way that makes use of the categories of juridical realism and the study of knowledge by inclination, where the universal is specifically identified in concreto by the spouse who is conscious of his or her own objective dimension as a created being. Sacramentality ought not to be confused with some kind of magical automated result, while the pure consensualist principle seems to continue to best correspond to man’s status as a created being as well as to the nature of marriage, which is described by a correct anthropological understanding of gift.