Social Controls on Marriage

Abstract

At all levels of the community, nothing alarmed Christians more than the thought of Christians converting to Islam. The most common way for this to happen was through Christian women marrying Muslim men by “falling in love” rather than through the orderly process of parentally arranged marriages. This chapter looks first at the different views of cross-sect marriage that caused Christians so much concern about their children’s marriages. It then describes the process of arranging marriages and people’s expectations about the “natural” consequences of certain types of marriage for the stability of family and community life.