The Politics of Conjugal Love

Does the New Testament teach that a wife must submit to her husband as head? If so, does it have a lasting value beyond the cultural milieu in which it was first articulated? The Politics of Conjugal Love takes a fresh approach to this classic issue in theological anthropology, paying specific attention to the role of theological hermeneutics in its interpretation. Conor Sweeney and Brian T. Trainor contend that both ""subordinationist"" and ""anti-subordinationist"" readings of headship and submission miss the mark. Their alternative is a baptismally specified trinitarian reading in which headship and submission appear as modes intrinsic to both life in Christ and the love proper to the highest mode of trinitarian love.


""Is it possible to rediscover the language of conjugal love when marriage has been deconstructed and any reference to nature is viewed with suspicion? In order to regain the poetry of love as a hymn of praise to God, C. Sweeney and B. T. Trainor trace in this evocative book the personalistic, Christocentric, and Trinitarian dimensions of love through the sacramental language of baptism.""
--Livio Melina, Professor of Moral Theology at the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute, Rome

""I applaud Conor Sweeney's venture into a modern minefield, the enigmas of submission and rank, as they apply to the teaching on marriage in Ephesians 5. It begs us all to question our hearts deeply in the light of Christ's own headship and kenosis.""
--Anna M. Silvas, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and senior research fellow at the University of New England, Australia


Conor Sweeney is author of Sacramental Presence after Heidegger: Onto-theology, Sacraments, and the Mother's Smile (2015) and Abiding the Long Defeat: How to Evangelize Like a Hobbit in a Disenchanted Age (2018).

For most of his academic career, the late Dr. Brian T. Trainor worked as Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of South Australia. He later served as Senior Lecturer and Head of Postgraduate Studies in Humanities at Tabor Adelaide. Dr. Trainor published several books and international journal articles sharing his intellectual insights in the areas of philosophy, theology, and political theory--often nuanced by his compelling advocacy for traditional Christian marriage and family.