In Defense of Biblical Polygyny (Multiple Wives) Elisha J. Israel makes a compelling case for the morality of plural marriage. In this book, Israel explains the prevalence of polygyny among the ancient Israelites. Israel also explains how Christians came to uphold monogamous marriage as the only legitimate marital structure. In Defense of Biblical Polygyny (Multiple Wives) also combats the most popular Biblical arguments against polygynous marriage. This book will undoubtedly challenge your beliefs about marriage. This book is a must read!
A groundbreaking examination of polygamy showing that monogamy was not the only form marriage took in early America Today we tend to think of polygamy as an unnatural marital arrangement characteristic of fringe sects or uncivilized peoples. Historian Sarah Pearsall shows us that polygamy's surprising history encompasses numerous colonies, indigenous communities, and segments of the American nation. Polygamy--as well as the fight against it--illuminates many touchstones of American history: the Pueblo Revolt and other uprisings against the Spanish; Catholic missions in New France; New England settlements and King Philip's War; the entrenchment of African slavery in the Chesapeake; the Atlantic Enlightenment; the American Revolution; missions and settlement in the West; and the rise of Mormonism. Pearsall expertly opens up broader questions about monogamy's emergence as the only marital option, tracing the impact of colonial events on property, theology, feminism, imperialism, and the regulation of sexuality. She shows that heterosexual monogamy was never the only model of marriage in North America.
In We Want for Our Sisters What We Want for Ourselves, Dr. Patricia Dixon debunks myths about monogamy and polygyny and challenges us to rethink our approach to marriage and family. This book reveals that before European domination, polygyny was an accepted marriage and family practice in over eighty percent of the world's cultures. Even in Western societies, polygyny has always been practiced. However, because it is done so under a myth of monogamy, this creates a "peculiar" form of the practice that is demoralizing to women. This peculiar form of polygyny was practiced in early European history in Greece and Rome. It was also practiced during slavery in the U.S. to the detriment of African American women and their families. Even in contemporary America, because closed polygyny is practiced in various forms, under the guise of monogamy, it continues to disempower African American women and undermine their marriages and families. Dr. Dixon offers many reasons to support polygyny, most importantly, the shortage of available African American men. Through extensive interviews, she offers an insider's look at polygynous marriages, showing readers its benefits and disadvantages, inter-personal dynamics, how financial, sexual, and parental responsibilities are determined, and the legal, moral, and cultural challenges that must be overcome in order to make polygynous marriage possible within American society. Finally, she calls for African American women to move toward building marriages and families based on love, truth, community, and ultimately a womanist ethic of care for sisters. Book jacket.
The Monogamy Lie! is the first book in a five book series examining the so called "truth" that monogamy is the only morally acceptable form a relationship. This belief stems from the church and its false teachings from the Bible.Western societies have been subjected to institutional indoctrination leading us to believe that anyone who dares to love more than one person at a time is doing something evil. Could this all be a lie? Why do men cheat? Maybe it is because they are fighting thier very nature with every passing day. Are men morally weak or are they incredibly strong in attempts to overcome the way they are designed by Nature and Nature's God?The Bible proves, beyond any doubt, that God never meant for men to be limited to only one wife. The Bible contains 36 named polygynists. But the real shocker is that Bible actually contains words where God declares himself a polygynist as does Jesus. Even if you dont believe in God or Jesus, the Bible has been the source of the Monogamy laws in western societies. Finally, the Bible, itself, becomes the star witness as we put monogamy on trial.
Beginning in the 1830s, at least thirty-three women married Joseph Smith. These were passionate relationships which had some longevity, except in instances in which Smith's first wife, Emma, learned of the secret union and quashed it. Emma remained a steadfast opponent of polygamy throughout her life.
"Captivating, provocative, and groundbreaking. Taking up the mandate that women's realities matter, Majeed writes with depth and analytical rigor about a topic we have scarcely begun to understand."--Amina Wadud, author of Inside The Gender Jihad "Tackles the contours and intimacies of a much practiced but seldom spoken about quasi-marriage that leaves women without legal support. A much-needed text on an extremely sensitive topic. Majeed excavates this terrain with finesse and a deft scholarly hand."--Aminah Beverly McCloud, coeditor of An Introduction to Islam in the 21st Century "Utilizes ethnographic research methods to imaginatively and constructively complexify the reality of polygyny in the lives of African American Muslim women."--Linda Elaine Thomas, author of Under the Canopy "Majeed's womanist approach is critical, yet balanced enough to include the concerns of women, men, and children, affording readers a broad and vital gaze into the lives of these unconventional households."--Zain Abdullah, author of Black Mecca "A powerful and long overdue study of polygyny in African American Muslim communities."--Shabana Mir, author of Muslim American Women on Campus Debra Majeed sheds light on families whose form and function conflict with U.S. civil law. Polygyny--multiple-wife marriage--has steadily emerged as an alternative to the low numbers of marriageable African American men and the high number of female-led households in black America. This book features the voices of women who welcome polygyny, oppose it, acquiesce to it, or even negotiate power in its practices. Majeed examines the choices available to African American Muslim women who are considering polygyny or who are living it. She calls attention to the ways in which interpretations of Islam's primary sources are authorized or legitimated to regulate the rights of Muslim women. Highlighting the legal, emotional, and communal implications of polygyny, Majeed encourages Muslim communities to develop formal measures that ensure the welfare of women and children who are otherwise not recognized by the state.
Are all the moral commands of the Bible meant to be obeyed exactly for all time, or are there some that need to be adapted for our modern world? Scripture contains lots of guidance on ethical issues, including statements about polygamy, slavery, divorce, sex, and other things that sound strange to our modern ears. Even Christians, who believe the Bible is God's word, disagree on whether women should wear head coverings, whether Christians can ever lie, whether women should preach, and whether Christians should drink alcohol. How can we resolve these issues and figure out how to apply the Bible to our lives? David Instone-Brewer helps answer this question by showing how the Bible's moral commands were understood in their ancient cultural context. The more we understand what God and the biblical authors intended to communicate to the original audience, the better we will be able to make sense of how to apply those commands today. In brief chapters that address a wide variety of moral issues, Instone-Brewer equips Bible readers with a paradigm they can use to discern matters for themselves: Is a biblical command timeless or time-bound? If the command itself is time-bound, what is the timeless purpose behind it? And how do we remain faithful to the Bible's commands today even when handling subjects the Bible does not address? The Scripture in Context series is driven by the conviction that there is nothing as exciting, direct, provocative, and spiritually enlightening as the Bible when we read it as it was meant to be read. Each book in the series dives into the ancient cultural context behind Bible passages, examining the effect this context had on what the Bible writers were saying and how we should understand their words today. When we read the Bible in light of its context, it is anything but boring. Instead, God's word can speak to us as powerfully as it did to those who first read it. Chapters are short and informal, so it's easy to read one chapter at a time or the whole book straight through.
"Polygamy?" says the mainstream Mormon Church. "We gave that up long ago." Not so, claims noted LDS poet and author Carol Lynn Pearson, who examines the issue as it has never been examined before. Any member of the LDS Church today who enters the practice of polygamy is immediately excommunicated. However, Pearson claims, polygamy itself has never been excommunicated, but has an honored and protected place at the table. It has only been postponed, a fact confirmed by thousands of "eternal sealings" giving a man an assurance that he will claim as wives in heaven the two, three, or even more women he has sequentially married during his lifetime. No such opportunity is available to women. Through her own personal stories, those of her ancestors, and the thousands of stories that came to her through an Internet survey, Pearson shows the power of the Ghost of Eternal Polygamy as it not only waits on the other side to greet the most righteous in heaven, but also haunts the living-hiding in the recesses of the Mormon psyche, inflicting profound pain and fear, assuring women that they are still objects, harming or destroying marriages, bringing chaos to family relationships, leading many to lose faith in the church and in God. Mormon historian and author Dr. Gregory Prince says of The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: "Carol Lynn Pearson has hit a home run in her quest to illuminate both the damage that Mormonism's de facto practice of polygamy continues to inflict, and the route to a better, more humane place. Those who truly hope for eternal polygamy or who resent any call to institutional reform will be upset, but countless others will rejoice that she has shown 'a more excellent way.' "
