ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in preceding chapters of this book. Christian authorities recognized the importance of regulating sexual activity through external controls and internal norms long before the early modern period. Though conversion did not bring the right to divorce a non-believing spouse, unmarried converts were encouraged to marry other converts, and eventually, Christians were prohibited from marrying Jews and Muslims. After the Protestant Reformation, secular and religious authorities in both Europe and colonial areas attempted to prohibit marriages between members of different denominations, or when they occurred, to ensure that the children were raised within the 'correct' faith. The restriction of sexual activity to marriage made a range of sexual activities morally unacceptable, and in many cases illegal, as church and state authorities first in Europe and then elsewhere sought to 'criminalize sin'. The criminalization of sexual activities was not new in the early modern period in Europe; nor was it limited to Christianity.
