5000 Years of Marriage:Martin Luther's Legacy

Salon reports:

By the time Luther came around in the early 16th century there was a lot of hatred of the church -- [its] greed and [its] antisexual notions. Even popes were famous for having out-of-wedlock children and millions of mistresses.

Luther came out of a monastery saying that celibacy was a depraved state and that marriage was a holy state. He said this even while he was still a monk and still celibate. God wanted marriage, because God said "be fruitful and multiply." He was going back to the original Genesis stipulation.

He also said that marriage should not be primarily about reproduction or property, that its highest value was emotional comfort, affection, companionship, not necessarily passion.

Luther popularized this idea that middle-aged men should not marry teenagers, that there had to be some compatibility in age and background, and that the people who were getting married should not be forced into marriage by their parents. This brought up this idea of choice in marriage. Marriages were arranged for many, many, many centuries up and down the classes, because young people were not considered capable of making such a huge choice that was going to impact on generations.

Luther said the bride and groom should have some say in who they're marrying -- at least they should have the power to say "no" to a match -- and that they should be compatible, and that they should work on developing affection, and realizing his concept of married love.