A very interesting book, mostly concerned with a fascinating critique of what the author sees as an excessively personalist cast to recent Catholic theology of marriage in D. vonHilldebrand JPII and so on. Matzko McCarthy presents his alternative approach. I'm not sure that his critique of "personalist" theology holds -- or that he fairly characterizes their work; but his reflections on the nature of Christian and married love are very good.

The book is problematic for we Catholics, though, since Matzko McCarthy's work also attempts to find support for same-sex marriage in a critique of sexual difference as a basis for a theology of marriage. You read that last sentence correctly, M.M. is not critiquing gender as "constructed" -- he's arguing against sexual difference as meaningful (or at least as definitive) to theological reflection on marriage. If someone tells you the sky is green he must be an academic. For a critique of HIS approach (and other similar ones) check out "Creation and Covenant" by Christopher C. Roberts.