Sadler's Lectures St. Anselm on Marriage, Conjugal Love, and Sexual Desire - Sadler's Lectures
Dec 3, 2025
Explore Anselm's intriguing perspectives on marriage, emphasizing mutual fidelity and companionship. Discover his reinterpretation of wifely submission, focusing on moral guidance instead of blind obedience. Reflect on the responsibilities of husbands, including love and care for their wives. Delve into Anselm's views on sexual desire, where he contrasts licit intimacy within marriage with the dangers of fornication. Unpack how marriage serves to order desires, integrating them into a pursuit of higher moral ends.
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Marriage As A Unique Friendship
- Anselm presents marriage as a distinctive friendship oriented by mutual fidelity, love, and companionship.
- Marriage's ends exceed procreation or social order, making conjugal love a moral and relational good in itself.
Submission Includes Moral Influence
- Anselm's call for wifely submission includes active moral influence, not blind obedience.
- Wives should admonish, encourage, and calm husbands, exercising moral and rational agency within marriage.
Queen Matilda As Moral Mediator
- Anselm's letters to Queen Matilda praise her for mediating between the king and the archbishop and steering the king away from bad counsel.
- He explicitly urges her to encourage the king's soul-care and to repeat moral remonstrances often.
