Marcus Peter: The Nuptial Character of the Biblical Covenants
Channel: Marcus Peter
Date: 2018-05-02

This Presentation was done in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Theology in Ave Maria University.

God is the God of covenantal love. Far from being a mere relationship of legality, covenants bring God and man into flesh and blood kinship bonds that are simultaneously adoptive, familial and nuptial in nature. The central premise of this presentation is that the relational dimension of the New and Eternal Covenant possesses an intrinsic nuptial character through which God desires to ultimately espouse creation to himself via covenant bond. Its inquiry engages all of Sacred Scripture – from Genesis to Revelation – within a hermeneutic of continuity and a hermeneutic of faith. It intellectually engages, from there, the works of theologians who have also extrapolated upon this nuptial character of the biblical covenants within this same framework. The words of Pope Benedict XVI in The Spirit of the Liturgy, do well to sum up the thrust of my thesis, i.e. that, “creation exists to be a place for the covenant that God wants to make with man. The goal of creation is the covenant, the love story of God and man.”