In this study the problematic aspect of divorce and remarriage in the christian church is researched. Exceptional emphasis is laid on the policy of the Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (hereafter: AFM of SA) in this regard and how it is enforced in practice. Unfortunately we have to face the reality of divorce in the church, and the fact that not only members, but also the pastor can get involved in divorce and remarriage. Up to now the church has not really been able to come to a clear conclusion on the most appropriate way to handle such a situation. The AFM of SA, as well as several other churches prefer to prevent such situations by implementing certain precautionary measures. In this study the relevant problem of divorce and remarriage will be researched using a Biblical-ethical approach. The Bible refrains from giving specific pastoral guidelines to be used by the church and its members in cases of divorce and remarriage. The Pharisees incorrectly interpreted Deut. 24:1-4 that divorce and remarriage is acceptable when a man gives his wife a divorce letter. Jesus however controverts this interpretation in Matt. 5:32 when He says that divorce and remarriage was established due to the hardness of the human hart. The biblical message is rather that God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16). Some exegetes believe that there are two “grounds” on which a person is entitled to a divorce. These “grounds” are based on Matt. 5:31 & 32 when adultery is committed, and according to I Cor. 7:15 when the unbeliever wishes to not continue with the marriage (known as malicious separation). In this study we would like to stress that the Bible does not give any grounds for divorce. One cannot argue that God hates divorce, and then give “grounds” on which divorce is acceptable. Reference is only made to circumstances which destroys a marriage. Such incidents also hold connections with incidents where the marriage is not in honor of God, and leaves space for sin to ruin lives. The marriage is now an instrument in the hand of evil which will consequently lead to more sin. In these last instances a point can be reached where the marriage does not exist in the eyes of God any more, and can be separated lawfully by means of divorce. It is of opinion that divorce should remain as last resort to a broken marriage. Reconciliation should always be the first option. When divorce has taken place, the parties involved may choose to remarry as the previous marriage is ruined before God. If a person, however, should get married while the marriage still exists before the Lord, adultery is being committed. This marriage will be interpreted as a deed of adultery, but it would not be biblical to view such a marriage as a state of adultery. Marriage is therefore not seen as something which can’t be annulled, as opposed to the Roman Catholic Church, who views marriage as a sacrament. Marriage is not an absolute establishment, and can break up under certain circumstances. In this study we found that different religions, Christian and non-christian, have diverse views about marriage, divorce and remarriage. Most Christian religions uphold monogamous marriages – a lifelong binding between one man and one woman. Non-christians such as the Muslims believe in polygamous marriages where a man is allowed to marry four wifes at any given stage. Divorce is viewed as “allowable” on certain grounds by most religions. The Roman Catholic Church, as mentioned, differs in that the marriage is viewed as unbreakable. Nowadays an annulment is granted easier which allows remarriage to occur more often. In case of the AFM of SA, there are no clear guidelines on how divorce of a congregation member or pastor should be handled. Direction in this regard is however given by knowledgeable persons in the church. In earlier days, strict - mostly undocumented - guidelines have been followed in handling divorce and remarriage cases of pastors in the AFM. The person was found guilty because of his divorce status and was asked to resign from the ministry. In later years cases were handled on merit. Policies were enforced by means of disciplinary action following a church court’s ruling. Due to churches being reluctant to discipline members getting divorced and / or remarried, it seems as if members perceived divorce not as a serious sin, and to justify their act. The “guilty” party must be disciplined. The innocent party must be allowed to continue with his/her service in the ministry. The Bible teaches us that after sin was confessed to God, He unconditionally forgives and removes our sins, and never thinks about it ever again (1 John 1:9; Psalm 103:12). Divorce however, is perceived by the church to be a bigger sin and that divorced persons are second hand christians. This is especially true in case of a divorced church leader. Although the church, and specifically the AFM, strives to implement an acceptable policy relating to divorce and remarriage, most churches have not investigated the fundamental theory as yet. It seems as if churches are sensitive in compiling, or can not reach consensus on the theory. The AFM has a basic course called “Ethics – Divorce & Remarriage” being presented by Dr. F.P. Möller (jnr) in their Theological Seminary. The researcher of this study is a pastor in the AFM of SA who has experienced divorce and remarriage himself. The way the case was treated by the church and colleagues proved that the church did not follow biblical guidelines in dealing with a divorced pastor. His experience motivated him to conduct the mentioned study. The church should pick-up, and care for divorced members (in a biblical sense) as the good Samaritan or the shepherd leaving 99 sheep to search for 1 missing one to pick him up and caringly bring him back to the flock. The study is concluded with a theory that can be used by the AFM of SA. / Dr. F.P. Moller

The purpose of this study was to study marital turnarounds by focusing on the exploration of the reasons for couples remarrying each other. A comprehensive approach based on human ecology provided a framework for exploring the reasons for marital turnarounds ranging from micro to macro level factors. Data was collected through six semi-structured interviews, with two African marital turnaround couples from the Nelson Mandela Metropole. Data analysis was carried out systematically through a stepwise process. Data verification and trustworthiness was also performed. Five major themes emerged from the data analysis of the interviews as follows: Culture and religious influences, individual influences, personal growth, family influences and the influence of friends. Culture and religion emerged as powerful theme in shaping decisions about marital turnaround. An important sub-theme was that, in a culture that continues to value marriage as a permanent commitment, spouses internalised the social and religious norm of marriage as a permanent commitment.

The interplay between remarriage and fertility is among the most poorly documented subjects in sub-Saharan Africa, yet remarriage is one of the fundamental aspects of marriage dynamics in the region. Referring to classical demographic and statistical techniques, this research uses data collected since 1992 from Malawi Demographic and Health Surveys to establish the pattern and level of union dissolution and remarriage, and to assess the influence of remarriage on fertility preference and childbearing. The results reveal increasing stability of unions over time and a declining proportion of remarried women. The probability of experiencing first union dissolution within 15 years dropped from 45.9 to 40.0 per cent between 1992 and 2015, while the comparable likelihood of remarriage decreased from 36.1 to 27.7 per cent over the same interval duration. The effect of remarriage on the desire for more children is positive at advanced interval durations relative to the onset of first marriage. At shorter interval periods, where remarriage is relatively most recent, remarriage inhibits the desire for additional children. For example, in 2015, among women who first married 15-19 years before the survey, the odds of desiring another child were 4 per cent significantly higher among remarried women relative to their counterparts in intact unions. In contrast, for women who were married for 0-5 years, remarried women had 3 per cent lower olds of desiring another child. Furthermore, the childbearing pattern of remarried women is found to be distinct from that of women in intact unions. Remarried women give birth to more children sooner than their counterparts in intact unions, but eventually end up with fewer children. Indeed, the results show that in 2015, women in intact unions had 0.4 more children on average than their remarried counterparts. However, the difference in complete family size is steadily diminishing (difference of 1.5 in 2000), largely due to more marked fertility decline among women in intact unions. This trend, together with the long-term pattern of cumulated fertility differentials at younger reproductive ages, and current fertility disparities over the past two decades, strongly reveals that a new regime, where remarried women will end up with higher complete family size than those in intact unions, is emerging.

Remarriages have been increasing over the last several decades, yet little has been done in establishing theories and interventions specific to remarried couples and stepfamilies. Fine and Kurdek proposed a model specific to individuals in a remarriage situation. In an effort to validate their model, this study tested a key tenet, the tenet of consistency in cognitions, across spouses. Data were analyzed from the "Relationship Quality and Stability in Utah Newlywed Remarriages" study. With a sample of 449 couples, a series of correlations and backward regressions were completed. The results indicate that individual perceptions are more predictive of remarital quality than is consistency of cognitions. A critique of the Multidimensional Cognitive-Developmental Model is discussed. Limitations are addressed and recommendations for future research are given.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Widowhood and remarriage affected a majority of people in colonial Australia, yet historians have given them scant attention. Today, widowhood primarily concerns the elderly, but in the mid-nineteenth century a considerable proportion of deaths were amongst young adults. Thus many widows and widowers had children to care for, who were also affected by the loss of a parent and the possible remarriage of their surviving parent. Extended families might be called on for support, while communities, at the local and government level, were confronted with the need to provide welfare for the widowed and orphaned, including the older widowed. This thesis considers how widowhood impacted on men and women at all levels of society in the nineteenth-century Australian colonies, especially Western Australia and Victoria, taking into account the effects of age, class and numbers of children of the widowed. When men were the chief family earners and women were dependent child bearers the effects of widowhood could be disastrous, and widows had to employ a range of strategies to support themselves and their families. Men too were affected by widowhood, for the loss of a wife’s housekeeping skills could cause serious financial consequences. One response to widowhood was remarriage, and the thesis discusses the advantages and disadvantages of remarriage for men and women. Historians have regarded remarriage as the best option for the widowed, especially for women. Research into remarriage, especially in Britain and Europe, has focussed on demography. Assuming that all widowed wished to remarry, demographers have compared remarriage rates for men and women, within the context of the relative numbers of marriageable men and women in a given community.

Thesis (M.D.)--Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-110).

<p>The author discusses three Soviet comedies from the</p><p>1970s: Moskva slezam ne verit (Moscow Does Not Believe</p><p>in Tears, Vladimir Menshov, 1979), Osenniy marafon</p><p>(Autumn Marathon, Georgi Daneliya, 1979), and Ironiya</p><p>Sudby, ili S lyogkim parom (Irony of Fate, Eldar</p><p>Ryazanov, 1975), and how they relate to both</p><p>conventions of romance and conventions of the</p><p>mainstream traditions of the romantic comedy genre.</p><p>The text explores the evolution of the genre and</p><p>accompanying theoretic writings, and relates them to</p><p>the Soviet films, focusing largely on the conventions</p><p>that can be grouped under an idea of the romantic</p><p>chronotope. The discussion includes the conventions of</p><p>chance and fate, of the wrong partner, the happy</p><p>ending, the temporary and carnevalesque nature of</p><p>romance, multiple levels of discourse, and some</p><p>aspects of gender, class and power. In addition, some</p><p>attention is paid to the ways in which the films</p><p>connect to specific genre cycles, such as screwball</p><p>comedy and comedy of remarriage, and to the</p><p>implications that a communist system may have on the</p><p>possibilities of love and romance. The author argues</p><p>that Soviet and Hollywood films share many conventions</p><p>of romance, but for differing reasons.</p>

This thesis addresses to what extent childhood family composition – the number of siblings and whether the parents live together, or whether there are non-parental adults and/or half-siblings in the household or not – contributes to variations in adult earnings. The theoretical perspective suggests that resources mediate the effect. While research has shown that siblings, as well as divorce and remarriage, are negatively linked to child outcomes, there are inconsistencies in previous literature. There has been debate over the unconfoundedness of previous studies, something that is handled here by analyzing large sets of representative data using a robust parameter. The longitudinal dataset used is based on Swedish administrative data and the cohorts analyzed are born in the beginning of the 1970s. The data structure is well suited for the assumptions underlying the semi-parametric method propensity score matching. The findings show that family size impacts on adult earnings. However, this is not always of concern. For example, no effect of siblings is found in affluent families, and if siblings are closely spaced this results in better outcomes for children. Divorce and remarriage do not seem to lower the future earnings of children. Thus, this thesis shows that some of the most well-established patterns in the sociology of the family, namely the link between number of siblings and adult earnings, and between divorce/family re-formation and adult earnings, can be broken by resources.

Thesis advisor: Donald Cox / <bold>Chapter 1 - Intergenerational Transfer Inflows to Adult Children of Divorce <bold> Do adult children of divorce receive less money from their parents than children of intact unions? Are they less likely to receive parental help for buying a house, starting a business or weathering a financial crisis? Though there is evidence that an individual divorced parent gives less to his child than he would give if he were married to his child's other parent, no study has examined the transfers given by both divorced parents. I approach the question of transfers to adult children of divorce from a fresh angle by asking not, "How much did the parent give?" but instead, "How much did the child get?" I also examine the correlation between parents' remarriage and transfers received. Using data from the 1988 wave of the PSID, I find that parental divorce and remarriage are uncorrelated with the incidence of a transfer. Within the select group of children who receive a transfer, however, divorce is correlated with an increased transfer amount, while a father's remarriage is correlated with a decreased amount. <bold> Chapter 2 - The Correlation Between Subjective Parental Longevity and Intergenerational Transfers <bold> Are parental financial transfers to adult children correlated with subjective parental longevity? Despite rapid and continuing increases in life expectancy, no previous study has looked at transfers in relation to parents' opinions of how long they will live. This paper uses the subjective survival probability data included in the Health and Retirement Study to examine this potential correlation for a select group of unmarried older parents. For mothers only, I consistently find modest positive correlations between subjective longevity and anticipated future inter vivos transfers and bequests. For fathers, I find a non-linear relationship between subjective longevity and anticipated future inter vivos transfers. I discuss the potential reasons for these descriptive results and some further questions that arise from them. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.