Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

40 Armando R. Favazzait glowing reviews. Marriage for them was “a formof this world [that] is passing away” because theend of the world was approaching, “So that hewho marries his betrothed does well; and he whorefrains from marriage does better” (1 Cor. 7).That Jesus attended a wedding at Cana, where heperformed his first miracle by changing water intowine, is not particularly significant. It would bea totally different story if he had consecrated thecouple’s marriage with a nuptial blessing.With a few exceptions, the early church fatherswere not terribly high on marriage. Ambrosewrote, “Even a good marriage is slavery. What,then, must a bad marriage be?” For Jerome,“Marriage is only one degree less sinful than fornication.”The church adopted the Roman conceptthat a valid marriage simply required theconsent of the bride and groom. Marriage was asecular contract and the church recognized thevalidity of all marriages, including those amongslaves, that followed local civil laws. A priest couldattend a marriage as a witness. At the Council ofElvira in 309 AD, many rulings were made aboutthe necessity for control over sexual matters; itwas in this century that priests began to intrudecautiously into the marriage ceremony by blessingthe newlyweds. In the sixth century, marriageswere often associated with a mass but theirvalidity was still based on a secular contract. Itwasn’t until the Council of Trent in 1563 that thechurch officially proclaimed marriage to be a sacrament.The current Catholic catechism states,“In the Latin Church, it is ordinarily understoodthat the spouses, as ministers of Christ’s grace,mutually confer upon each other the sacramentof matrimony by expressing their consent beforethe Church.”In modern times, just about all Christianchurches, some more reluctantly than others,have modified their position on divorce becausesecular divorce is so prevalent. Even in thosechurches that might excommunicate persons whoget divorced, members of the church usually willaccept divorced persons as new members. TheCatholic Church still has a hard-line policy aboutdivorce, but each year new records are being setby couples who have their marriages annulled bythe church, sometimes on a flimsy pretext. Manyparish priests do not withhold communion fromremarried persons even though they technicallyare acting against church policy. I might add that,for a long time, psychiatrists considered divorcea sign of emotional immaturity. However, whenenough psychiatrists themselves divorced theirspouses, they changed their position. Now,divorce may indicate a mentally healthy actiondepending on the circumstances. Psychiatryreflects the times in which we live and the customsof the people.The period of the exile of many Jews in Babylon(587–538 BC) marks an important historicaldivision. Before the exile, women, although subordinateto men, had a certain status. Along withconcubines, slaves, precious metals, and animals,wives belonged to a man, but they could not bepurchased or sold. Women could participate inreligious ceremonies. They could be prophetessesor wise persons or sorceresses. They could beheroines, like Deborah, or agitators, like Jezebel.When the Israelites returned from their exile,they were determined to avoid the circumstancesthat caused God to treat them so harshly. Theirsolution was a back-to-the-basics focus on purity,which meant keeping within the boundariesof divine order. There was a renewed emphasison the covenant established between Abrahamand God. “And you shall be circumcised in theflesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign ofthe covenant between me and you” (Gen. 17:11).Because circumcision was an option only formen, females could enter into the covenant onlythrough their relationship with men. To emphasizethe importance of sacrificial blood, whichmade atonement possible, other forms of bloodwere deemed impure. Thus, a menstruatingwoman was unclean and so was everything shesat on. Slowly but surely, the social and religiousstatus of women declined. A special court wasconstructed in the temple to keep women in theirplace away from the sanctuary. The period of awoman’s impurity was seven days following thebirth of a boy, but fourteen days after the birth ofa girl. Ecclesiasticus noted that only one man ina thousand is wise, “But a woman among these I