What is Marriage is what’s called a “natural law” argument. It makes no claim about the morality of homosexuality. It doesn’t have to. The authors explain that marriage is something and that something simply can’t be changed without fundamentally altering the nature of things. It’s like this: We all remember the atomic structure of water (H2O). If one adds a third hydrogen atom, it ceases to be water. That reality requires no judgment about the morality of Hydronium (H3O). It’s the way things are. Marriage too has an innate, natural essence.

Have you ever felt like you were having one conversation while the person you were talking to is having a different one? If you’re married, the answer is probably yes. So it is with the debate in America over the meaning and purpose of marriage. Conservatives think they are in a boxing match; liberals understand that marriage policy is a beauty pageant.

In their new book What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense, Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson and Robert P. George expand on the argument that first appeared in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy in 2011. The book is a smart move, signaling an important recognition: most of us don’t read the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. The argument is too important to merely pinball around the Ivy League, and the book expands the argument while making it easier to understand and more accessible to average readers. What is Marriage is required reading for serious thinkers in public policy, philosophy, ethics, ministry and the law.

What is Marriage is what’s called a “natural law” argument. It makes no claim about the morality of homosexuality. It doesn’t have to. The authors explain that marriage is something and that something simply can’t be changed without fundamentally altering the nature of things. It’s like this: We all remember the atomic structure of water (H2O). If ones adds a third hydrogen atom, it ceases to be water. That reality requires no judgment about the morality of Hydronium (H3O). It’s the way things are. Marriage too has an innate, natural essence; hence, the relevance of “natural law.”

George is one of America’s most formidable conservative thinkers. You may not know it, but if you’re a conservative in America today you have been influenced by and benefitted from his work, which ranges from legal theory to bioethics and foreign policy. George holds a prestigious chair at Princeton University, with academic posts at Stanford and Harvard along with innumerable positions on boards and commissions, including the American Enterprise Institute. Not convinced? How about this: Ted Cruz, the newest senator from Texas, studied under Robby George.

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It is difficult to estimate the importance of a book like What is Marriage. It takes time for ideas to take root and flower. Someday, it is my hope that we will look back at the history of marriage in America and see that What is Marriage provided the intellectual foundation for a generation of policymakers, pastors and parents who kept America’s family policy on course when it was in deep danger of running into the ditch. Girgis, Anderson, and George filed an amicus brief based on the book in the upcoming Supreme Court cases on Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. If just five members of the Court are persuaded, that’s a mighty contribution.

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