Did Mary and Joseph have marital intimacy

[MaryT777]

This is a modern concept of marriage. In the time of Mary and Joseph, such romantic ideas of marriage did not exist. I have been told that sleeping in the same bed came about in the 1800’s do to the industrial revolution.

Reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof “Do you Love me” song. Their definition of love and ,marriage was much different back in the day so to speak.

Mary.

 

[TK421]

This is a modern concept of marriage. In the time of Mary and Joseph, such romantic ideas of marriage did not exist. I have been told that sleeping in the same bed came about in the 1800’s do to the industrial revolution.

Did you hear this from me? I made a thread about it a month or so back but somebody in the thread mentioned that it wasn’t entirely accurate. Married couples sleeping in the same bed is something that is actually encouraged by the Church as part of the intimate nature of marriage (though it would not have necessarily applied in the case of Mary & Joseph’s marriage).

 

[SighGuy]

I don’t believe that’s accurate, either. One, from a practical point of view (homes were so small they’d need to save on space… and “beds” were not something to just have a few lying around! Doubtless they’d sleep together for a lot of practical reasons) and two, from evidence in writing.

That is, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales clearly depicts couples sleeping in the same bed and having sex in the middle of the night, something I’ve heard elsewhere to be the normal way of operating.
(As an interesting side note, Chaucer also references the world as round. Though it was known that the world is round from the times of the ancient Greeks, this little insight proves in accessible, English writing that people knew the world was round before the time of Columbus. Chaucer was writing at the close of the 14th century)