Love, Marriage, and Sexuality

The chapter examines the doctrine on marriage in Spanish Scholasticism in the sixteenth century within the context of marked religious and political tensions that were being developed around it. Central to the analysis is the work of the Jesuit Tomás Sánchez (1550-1610), who appears to have been acutely aware of the fallout of these tensions: contrary to the ideas of the Reformers, who wanted marriage in the profane sphere, conjugal bond was deemed instead a holy sacrament, and thus under exclusive ecclesiastic jurisdiction. However, it was also a contract that regulated the mutual transaction of a very particular commodity, the use of the body for reproduction and, only to a secondary extent, to contain a human nature constitutionally inclined towards sensuality. Numerous areas of knowledge were referenced to regulate this institution, suspended as it was between heaven and earth, between the economy of salvation and worldly interests. Among these areas special prominence was assigned to biology and medicine, called on to explain the interaction of the soul with the body, and the mechanisms that govern the operation of the latter, in particular as regards its reproductive functions.