Early Marriage in Pakistan: So Little Done, but So Much to Do

Marriage is a human social institution which lays the foundation of a family as a unit of a society. It has been happening in human societies since the dawn of the creation but with varying degree of celebrations, customs and traditions, modes and manners etc. It is regarded as a moment of celebration and joys not only for the couple who are going to lock in weddings, but in many parts of the world, it is a moment of joy and celebration for the blood relatives as well as the entire community. Unfortunately, it does not happen always especially in the case of early marriage. In such case, it does not give such a cause of celebrations to the wedding couple rather it imposes on them without their consent or informed consent. The practice of early marriages has been in vogue from time immemorial, but all its negative impacts whether social, economic, physical or psychological, are realized since the late 20th century. This literature based article highlights the concept, practice, causes and consequences of the child marriages with special reference to Pakistani society. It was concluded that by increasing literacy rate among the people and through educating them, the issue of early marriages may be minimized/dealt.

Does Generation Matter? – Changing the Church from the Inside

In this article, possible generational differences between younger and older pastors in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark are examined with respect to their understandings of the wedding and the ecclesiological implications of these understandings. Building on the generational theory of Karl Mannheim, the hypothesis is that despite in-group similarities between older and younger pastors, the two generations will show differences in the way they represent their office and thereby the church is changed not only from the outside but also from the inside. An explorative qualitative study of the understanding of the wedding among selected pastors investigates their understanding of the wedding service in three different dimensions and shows that both groups primarily understand the wedding as a traditional ritual, but younger pastors appear to enact this understanding in a relational approach in which the meaning of the wedding emerges in the encounter between pastor and wedding couple. The older pastors appear to link the meaning of the wedding closely to the ritual procedures themselves. At the end of the article, the ecclesiological implications of these different understandings of the wedding service are elaborated.