Protest and Circumstance Between the Secularism and the Religion :Marriage Education in Medieval Christian Families and Its Contemporary Implications

• In Event: Highlighted Session: Protest and social justice in religion, education, and society across varying national contexts

Proposal

1. Origin of the research question
Family is the cell of society and marriage is the key to family. The order and stability of marriage pattern plays a very important role in the development of society. Nowadays, the contemporary marriage problem is getting more and more attention from the society. In recent years, some schools in China have offered courses on marriage and love. The courses have aroused extensive discussions and concerns. How to solve the problems existing in the contemporary view of marriage, establish a reasonable orientation for the development of the contemporary view of marriage, build a reasonable view of marriage and achieve broad social acceptance is an important social issue.
Curriculum is the core of education, and the provision of marriage curriculum is the core of marriage education. During the medieval period in the West, Christianity ruled people's spiritual life and affected every aspect of their lives, thus it inevitably had an important impact on marriage education in medieval families. In this period, secular and religious concepts of marriage education have fundamental differences, in the mutual protests and compromises between the two sides, the concept of marriage education in the medieval Western Christian families evolved constantly, in the process of continuous change and development, marriage as a link to promote the orderly functioning of the medieval society, and gave birth to a romantic, free modern marriage model. The author attempts to explore and document this evolutionary process and, based on it, to make reasonable suggestions for contemporary marriage education programs.
2.Theoretical framework
2.1Identify key concepts
Protest：A protest is the act of saying or showing publicly that you object to something.
Secularism：Secularism is a system of social organization and education where religion is not allowed to play a part in civil affairs.
Marriage Education：Marriage education in this article refers to the marriage-related component of education.
2.2Research related theories
At present, there is not a great deal of literature on "marriage education" and "marriage course" at home and abroad, which basically consists of the teaching of laws relating to marriage and interviews or reports on marriage courses offered by certain schools. The literature on the "Christian view of marriage" is more plentiful, and mainly focuses on Christian marriage patterns at different times in history. Some scholars have linked the two to explore the influence and significance of the Christian view of marriage on modern marriage, but no research has attempted to explore the significance of medieval Western Christian family marriage education in contemporary marriage course, and in this sense, this study can fill in some of the academic gaps. This study will utilize the following theories as a background to develop.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory:Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a motivational theory in psychology that consists of a five-level model of human needs, often depicted as levels within a pyramid, from the bottom of the hierarchy upwards, the needs are: physiological, safety, social needs, respect, and self-actualization. The significance of marriage to humans can also be understood in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory.
Social Learning Theory: Social Learning Theory explores the influence of the three elements of an individual's cognitive, behavioral and environmental factors and their interaction on human behavior. The theory suggests that marriage is a social learning process in which people learn the roles, rules and codes of behavior in marriage and family by observing and imitating the behavior of others.
Lifelong Education Theory: Lifelong education refers to the sum of all kinds of education that people receive in all stages of their lives. Marriage education can be realized in many ways, such as through school education and social education.
3.Discoveries
3.1 The eventual formation of the Christian concept of marriage was the result of mutual protests and compromises between the "asceticism" of Christianity and the "pursuit of love and sex" of secular society.
3.2 The concept of marriage in Western Christian families in the late Middle Ages has many merits, such as the principle of voluntariness, monogamy, mutual respect and love between husband and wife, and fidelity.
3.3 At present, marriage education suffers from the problems of low popularity, low emphasis and lack of a systematic and standardized curriculum.
4.Conclusions
4.1 The marriage requires the fulfillment of different human needs, which evolve from lower to higher levels. Christianity's "asceticism" was protested because it did not satisfy people's basic physiological needs, and eventually became integrated with "lust". This leads us to pay attention to the most basic and higher needs of human beings, and in the curriculum of marriage education and courses, students should be guided to pay attention to their own needs and the needs of their partners at all levels.
4.2 Marriage and marriage education can all be refined and improved in the process of social learning, and the curriculum of marriage should constantly integrate some excellent elements of marriage at home and abroad, in history and in contemporary times.
4.3 Items such as marriage, love and family, as a kind of sociological knowledge and as part of the concept of life, should be understood and less avoided by everyone. Marriage courses should not only be set in the school curriculum, but should also be popularized through social education and non-formal education, and marriage education should be taken as an important initiative of social management innovation.

Author

• 俏涵 王