Christendom Theology Professor Mary Stanford to Talk about Finding True Freedom in Marriage on Oct. 11, 2022
Christendom theology professor Mary Stanford – the author of The Obedience Paradox: Finding True Freedom in Marriage, which examines the nature of a wife’s obedience in marriage as an image of the Church’s relationship to Christ – will be talking about the book at the Basilica’s Lyceum Auditorium (313 Duke Street) on Tuesday, October 11, 2022. The free evening starts with social time (light refreshments and the sale of her book) from 7-7:30 p.m. Stanford’s talk – which is titled “Made for Each Other: The Case for Complementarity” – then begins at 7:30 p.m.
Stanford is a speaker, teacher, and writer on Catholic marriage and family life. She is an adjunct professor at Christendom and has a Master’s degree in theological studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. The book contributes to the ongoing debate over marriage in the 21st-century, following numerous articles, talks, and classes given on Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
Illuminating the subject by examining the relationship between husband and wife in marriage as an image of Christ’s relationship to the Church, Stanford’s The Obedience Paradox presents the sexual complementarity of husband and wife as an expression of gift, probing the meaning and power of receptivity in a relationship over the course of the book.
“For our culture, perhaps the greatest stumbling block in the Catholic faith is its emphasis on obedience,” says Father Paul Scalia, the Episcopal Vicar for Clergy for the Diocese of Arlington. “Drawing from the Church’s Tradition and Pope Saint John Paul II’s writings in particular, Mary Stanford brings out both the beauty and the challenge of obedience in God’s highest natural creation, the family. Her work will benefit engaged and married couples in particular and all who desire to deepen their appreciation of this great paradox, the obedience that frees and ennobles.”
Listen to an audio interview of Professor Stanford on what she plans to talk about on October 11:
