[1] The Wedding of Katharina von Bora and Martin Luther on June 13, 1525 was an event that re-formed the understanding of marriage and family. This issue of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics explores what this wedding meant to Luther, to Bora, and to us today.
[2] The first essay is an abridged version of a lecture given by Diane Bowers on the date of the 500th anniversary at Gustavus Adolphus College at a celebration event hosted by Women of the ELCA. Readers might find it interesting to watch the video of the full lecture as well as a skit performed by students at Gustavus re-enacting the wedding itself. https://youtu.be/FqHbyfebFTk In the essay, Bowers explores letters between Luther and others that detail what he was thinking and feeling as the Peasant War waged, his own assassination seemed imminent, and this young ex-nun kept asking for his hand in marriage.
[3] Bowers essay will delight the historian and those interested in the very human aspect of the story. Readers will face questions concerning the commitment to a cause and the commitment to an individual, the meaning of human relationship during times of uncertainty and war, and the way Luther and von Bora navigated the possibility of equality of men and women in a heterosexual relationship under patriarchy.
[4] The second essay is by a pastor and activist who was moved by the horror of his own daughter being trafficked to consider how families, parents, and churches might be a bulwark for children even as evil remains in our world. Alvin Erickson speaks not only of the role of parents as priests, bishops, and apostles according to Luther but also of the role of the church in engaging parents and all people fully. Looking at Luther’s own interest in equipping parents with the Small Catechism, Erickson gives a blueprint for churches to become a vital part of the lives of families and all people.
[5] The third essay is by an activist who found in her church a sanctuary that strengthens her as a single mother. Elisha Branch’s beautiful essay speaks of the paradox of allowing God’s grace to overcome a mother’s own insecurity about being enough. Only by recognizing our own inadequacy to be the perfect parents we wish to be, can we allow our faith and trust in Christ to guide us to be the examples our children need us to be.
{6} The fourth essay, by Joy McElroy, speaks specifically of the importance of all of us in protecting children by teaching them about healthy relationships. McElroy shares resources that both churches and parents can use to teach children about romance, partnership, safety, and joy.
[7} Key to Martin Luther’s understanding of marriage and to the guidelines for healthy relationships taught by Joy McElroy is equality between partners. This equality is made difficult when structures of patriarchy create a hierarchy between people of different genders. The release of this issue of JLE comes after the conclusion of the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly held in Phoenix where there were several activities repudiating patriarchy. The entire assembly read a liturgy confessing the sins of patriarchy, and an interactive learning space was dedicated to learning about patriarchy and its harms. There was also a day dedicated to remembering and advocating for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women as well as a day for Thursdays in Black, which seeks to end all sexual violence.
[8] Luther understood that the wellbeing of two persons in intimate relationship in marriage in the home required theological and political structures that promoted equality. It should not be forgotten that essential to Luther’s theology of marriage and family is his own repudiation of patriarchy. Luther argued from the pulpit and the teacher’s podium for the equal dignity of women and men before God. Luther preached of the equal duty of partners to give themselves to each other and to care for each other in his treatises and sermons on marriage. He demanded the German nobility create opportunities for both boys and girls to go to school. In his own life, he worked with the lawyers to allow his wife to inherit his property, creating new legal pathways for others who wished to do the same. In short, Luther understood that the theology and the policies of patriarchy that restricted the education and rights of women undermined human relationship, family, and society.
[9] Patriarchy does not only undermine the possibility of healthy heterosexual marriage. Patriarchy and gender hierarchy has led to painful oppression of same-gender relationships and relationships involving those individuals who identify as queer.
[10] At the 2025 Churchwide Assembly a revision to the social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust was approved; updated language in the document reflects changes in law that have occurred since its original passage in 2009. Updates include using the word “marriage” in the document to refer to publicly accountable lifelong monogamous same-gender relationships, as these are now recognized as marriages under U.S. law. Further review of this document will seek to address other concerns involving the way the document speaks to the ethics of human sexuality for all persons regardless of gender identity.
[11] Another memorial passed at the 2025 Churchwide Assembly spoke specifically to repudiate the objectification, trafficking, and murder of Indigenous women and girls. Education, prayer, repentance, and advocacy are named as ways to make progress on the serious issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and relatives. This memorial speaks specifically to the way race and gender intersect to create serious and dangerous inequalities that undermine the ability for people to be in healthy relationship with each other.
[10] 500 years ago, Martin Luther said that he would take his Katie to wife to spite the devil. As a pastor, he was well aware of the difficulties of marriage as readers of his writings on marriage before 1525 can attest. His view that marriage is a calling from God in which partners create a covenant to commit to mutual care of each other and their children transformed the view of marriage and family and neighbor love. The ethics of this mutual care and the way society is called to support children, individuals, and families continues to be an important field of study that has grown out of Luther’s reformational declaration that every individual human person is a beloved child in God’s grace. That we stand as equals before God’s friendly heart transforms the way we see each other and act towards one another in our society and in our most intimate relationships.
