Is secular marriage so “secular”? Searching for (post)secular theologies of marriage

Abstract

In contemporary marriage transformation conditions against the background of the secularization process, marriage is becoming less grounded in economic and reproduction factors and tearing from religious and other norms. Marriage rate is declining and divorce rate is rising. From this it follows that the existence of marriage as a long (eventually — lifelong) unit with exclusive heterosexual relationships is becoming less justified, especially for nonreligious people. However, marriage still exist in secular space, individuals do entry into marriages and stay together for a long time and even for life. This means that secular marriage conceptions must presuppose the unit indissolubility justification (if not for life, than at least in the long run) and answer to the question “why should not one break up if staying in couple relationships” (otherwise those conceptions would not be marriage conceptions). In this paper, in line with the postsecular turn and John Milbank’s theory, the following statement is made: the unit indissolubility justification in hand must appeal to specific marginal value system, which, at the end of the day, contains theological element. The article aims at the reconstruction of marriage “ideal types”, founded in Modern heterosexual romantic discourse. The types reconstructed — marriage as a social contract, marriage as “pure relationships”, marriage as political economists’ society and marriage as sociological “we-relations” — follow the formation of the secular as described by Milbank, reflect the Christian marriage sacrament conception, presuppose (or do not presuppose) the role of the Third with specific ontological status and show themselves (more or less) as secular theologies of marriage. In conclusion, the marriage ideal types, which may be the foundation of the rationalities governing people’s social actions, are evaluated in perspective of the marriage crisis overcoming in Russia.

Additional Info

Submitted: December 10, 2025

Reviewed: January 26, 2026

Copyright: © Auhtors, 2026

Distribution: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)