The above quotation is from St. Thomas, who in the Summa answers the question “Whether a betrothal is a promise of future marriage?”. That’s a most interesting phrase.
More to the point: in “Whether a betrothal can be dissolved?”, Thomas discusses many of the questions people brought up in the previous post about the Georgia man who intends to marry his troubled bride-to-be, despite ample evidence that she might be nuts. Fornication, fidelity to a promise, etc., were all discussed by Thomas eight centuries ago. Why would anyone need another theologian?
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Breaking a betrothal is a serious decisions, but not as serious as divorce. A real concern here is that this woman is not ready or mature enough to be married and that ultimately and inevitably a marriage with her will end in divorce. It seems quite possible this man feels compelled to “be Christ-like” by his religious community and is thus ignoring the 1000-decibel alarms that should be going off in his own brain. IMO they should delay the marriage for at least six months, continue courtship for awhile if they really feel like it, and then see how they feel.
Why would anyone need another theologian?
Because Thomas tied himself to a naturalist teleology that got “nature” so spectacularly wrong that I find it hard to believe, frankly, that anyone still takes it seriously, given its own map of self-promotion.
We live about 1/2 mile from the fiance, so we’re getting tired of the media hanging around. Of course, it’s better than having police helicopters circling over your house for four days, or wondering whether there’s a murderer wandering around your neighborhood.
Jennifer’s pastor said the other day that she has serious issues in her life right now, unrelated to the wedding. The stress of the wedding probably just pushed her over the edge.
Her fiance strikes me as a good man. He’s not thinking of how inconvenient it will be if he marries a woman who’s just had a nervous breakdown; instead, he’s thinking of how he can serve and support the woman he loves.
Personally, I am just praying for them all. This whole scenario could also be one of mental or physical abuse. Running away the way she did is not something a well-adjusted woman would need to do, and the fiance’s willingness to marry her could be an indication of a strong love, or it could also be a sign of a domineering fiance who won’t take even such a public “NO” to heart.
In Christ’s peace and joy,
Robin