The Fraternal / Baptist Ministers2019-09-252019-09-252016-11-1820140950-1703http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/159490"Thank you for biting the bullet over same-sex marriage in the July bmj. I hope any responses you get are thoughtful and kind! Two aspects stood out for me. The first was Phil Jump's recognition that the legislation on same-sex marriage was a ‘monumental change’ to the laws of our land. This often seems to be ignored by those who say it was simply a natural extension of equal legal rights to all. Marriage—at least in the traditional sense of the word—is far more than a legal contract. It has always been understood and defined in dictionaries, Registrar's offices, Prayer Books, literature etc—quite apart from the Bible—as the union of a man and a woman. In justifying same-sex marriage Keith refers to St Augustine. He would have taken it for granted that he was talking about the union of a man and a woman, of course. In British law, that definition has now been changed. Other past ‘redefinitions’ of marriage (criminalising of polygamy etc) have not been nearly as profound"engWith permission of the license/copyright holderSame-sex marriaggenderMinistryethicsIntercultural and contextual theologiesGender and theologyFeminist theologiesChristian denominationsDenominations in World ChristianityArticle