Abstract
In a 2000 lecture, Peter Berger emphasized the importance of understanding the effects of religious diversity on religious beliefs and practice—effects that may not be characteristic of secularization: “I would propose that pluralism affects the how rather than the what of religious beliefs and practice—and that is something quite different from secularization.”1 Much can be learned about religious pluralism in America from the choices the individuals in these religious intermarriages make.
“Marriages may be made in heaven.
But they have to be worked out on earth.”
Proverbs
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Notes
Peter L. Berger, “Reflections on the Sociology of Religion Today,” Sociology of Religion 62, no. 4 (Winter 2001): 449.
Corrine Glesne and Alan Peshkin, Becoming Qualitative Researchers: An Introduction (White Plains, NY: Longman, 1992), 7.
In this study, I cannot measure happiness and satisfaction in a marriage. However, this is my general observation from the tenor of the interviews. Loren D. Marks provides the following rationale for her statement that the couples she interviewed were in successful and happy marriages: “It is probable that the participants were relatively happily married, based on their willingness to be interviewed in depth regarding their marriage and family relationships without compensation.” Loren D. Marks, “How Does Religion Influence Marriage? Christian, Jewish, Mormon, and Muslim Perspectives,” Marriage and Family Review 38, no. 1 (2005): 89.
John Borelli, “Pastoral Care for Interfaith couples—A Beginning,” New Theology Review 6, no. 3 (Aug. 1993): 40.
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© 2012 Erika B. Seamon
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Seamon, E.B. (2012). Stories of Contemporary Intermarriages: Paradox and Ambiguity. In: Interfaith Marriage in America. Palgrave Macmillan’s Christianities of the World. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137014856_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137014856_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-43695-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-01485-6
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