What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense

Cover of the first edition
Authors	Sherif Girgis Ryan T. Anderson Robert P. George
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Marriage
Publisher	Encounter Books
Publication date	December 2012
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	168
ISBN	978-1594036224

What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense is a 2012 political book arguing against Same-sex marriage in the United States^[1] co-written by Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, as well as Sherif Girgis and Ryan T. Anderson. The book was cited by Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Samuel Alito in United States v. Windsor.

Background

The book is based on an academic article published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, a student-edited conservative journal, in 2010.^[2][3] One month before its publication, in November 2012, the co-authors published another article in The Wall Street Journal presenting the book.^[4]

Summary

George, Girgis and Anderson argue against gay marriage.^[1] They suggest that marriage should lead to procreation, which is not possible for two people of the same sex.^[1] They call this the 'conjugal view.'^[1] Moreover, they argue that gay marriage would open the door to short-term unions and polygamy.^[1] They go on to suggest that gay marriage would be an expansion of the power of the state and a violation of religious liberty.^[1]

Reception

Writing for Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, Douglas Farrow, a Professor of Christian Thought at McGill University, praised the book. Indeed, he suggested it represented 'a model contribution to public discourse, combining clarity and pithiness with fairness and generosity.'^[5] He added that the arguments professed by the co-authors were 'eminently rational.'^[5] Similarly, in the Claremont Review of Books, Hadley Arkes concurred with arguments developed by the co-authors.^[6]

Writing for First Things, Hans Boersma, the J. I. Packer Professor of Theology at Regent College, said the book was 'remarkably well documented and proceed[ed] with a lawyer’s precision.'^[2] However, he criticized the authors for presenting sex as a private matter.^[2] Instead, he suggested they should have gone further and argued that homosexual activity was harmful to families and to American society as a whole.^[2] As a result, he argued that 'many will remain unconvinced' by the book.^[2]

In Prospect, Alex Worsnip, a Teaching Fellow of Philosophy at Yale University concluded that 'the arguments of What Is Marriage [were] no less flimsy than those of other anti-gay marriage crusaders.'^[1] He concluded that the 'bad arguments' in the book amounted to 'nonsense.'^[1]

In 2013, Zachary Young of The Yale Politic called it, 'the touchstone for the defense of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife' in The National Review.^[3] The book was cited by Justice Samuel Alito in his decision over United States v. Windsor, which led to a repeal of a section of the Defense of Marriage Act.^[3][6]

References