ABSTRACT
Considered one of the world’s biggest social trends, international marriage migration is integral to many transnational communities. This chapter wrestles with the experience of cross-border marriage migrants, with attention to the experience of female spouses from developing countries in heterosexual marriage, and how cross-border marriage migration, in general, and foreign wives’ experience of it, in particular, may be understood from Christian theological perspectives. It begins with a discussion of the contexts and challenges of the phenomenon in terms of, first, the changed and changing views and modalities of marriage and, second, the (dis)empowerment that occurs, particularly for foreign wives from low-income countries. The chapter then reflects on the questions these contexts and challenges pose to Christian theological positions on the gender complementarity conundrum and what constitutes a true and good marriage. The chapter proposes the expansion of theological frameworks for marriage to include the oikos, friendship or human connection, and marriage as a social and moral good, not just a spiritual good.
