Although
some Christian groups continue the ancient practice of polygyny, most Christian traditions reject
this biblical form of marriage in favor of the prevalent one-man and one-woman
type of monogamy.
This post
examines the polygamous form of marriage known as polygyny—a relationship in
which one man has more than one wife. What’s in this post?
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Reasons most Christians reject polygyny
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Reasons some Christians approve polygyny
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Psychological factors associated with polygynous relationships
Christians
generally reference the Bible when creating doctrinal statements that proclaim
the way Christians ought to live. It’s commonly known that ancient leaders like
Abraham and King David had more than one wife. Polygyny was common throughout the
centuries of Israel’s history found in the Hebrew Bible. In fact, the leaders
of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel had different mothers. What many Christians
may not know is that polygyny continued to be a part of Jewish culture during
the time Jesus and his disciples lived in the first century and continued until
the 10th century (see Jewish Virtual Library) when many, but not all, Jews
accepted a ban on polygamy.
Jesus and
his early followers were of course Jews living under Jewish law as well as
Roman law. Although the church of Rome provided guidance for most of the
world’s Christians and prohibited polygamy, other Christians continued the
practice and do so until this day. Outside of Christianity, polygyny is
practiced by Muslims. Although polygyny is rare in most countries, its
existence has allowed scientists to understand contemporary versions of
polygyny, which may offer insights into the greater complexity of relationships
than is evident in monogamous marriages.
Reasons
most Christians reject polygyny
The primary
reason most Christians reject polygyny relies on a pervasive interpretation of biblical
texts that rely on statements about monogamy beginning with Adam and Eve (for
example, see Focus on the Family) as well as the relationship problems
reported in the households of prominent biblical men who had many wives.
Following are a few salient points.
1. In the Genesis
creation story, God created Eve from Adam’s rib and gifts her to Adam to be his
helper. God blesses them. More importantly for Christians is Jesus’ teaching on
divorce that references the first couple, which God joined together and made
them as one (See Matthew 19: 1-12).
2. A second
teaching comes from the apostle Paul regarding church leadership. In his first
letter to Timothy, Paul advises that church leaders should be the husband of
one wife (3:2). This text has been interpreted to mean that church leaders could
only have had one wife. Those who were divorced and remarried would not meet
this standard. But the verse has also been applied to mean a leader cannot have
more than one wife at the same time.
3. Christian
writers also point to the difficulties in the household of men who had multiple
wives such as Abraham, Israel, Samson, David, and Solomon. For a summary of
Christian views, see Klein, (2023, April 2).
Reasons
some Christians approve polygyny
Some
Christian groups continue to support polygyny as an acceptable form of marriage
(e.g., Agadjanian, 2020; Baloyi, 2012). In Africa, various churches that include
members who live in polygynous relationships are those identified as AICs
(African Initiated Churches), which are those churches created in Africa by
Africans (Masoga & Shokane, 2016).
A few
biblical arguments support Christian polygyny as a moral form of marriage.
1. First,
the great leaders of ancient Israel, blessed by God, had more than one wife.
These included such men as Abraham, Israel, Gideon, and David.
2. There is
no overt commandment prohibiting God’s people from living in polygynous
relationships. There are many commandments in the Bible. None of those
commandments condemn polygyny. If polygyny were a sin, given the detailed
commandments, surely polygyny would be in the list.
3. One commandment
dictates how a man with two wives must treat his firstborn son even when the
firstborn is not from his relationship with the wife he loves (See Deuteronomy
21: 15-17).
4. Deuteronomy
25: 5-10 instructs a man to marry his brother’s widow if she had not given
birth to a son. This command is presented as a duty to preserve his brother’s
legacy and there are negative social consequences for failing to carry out this
responsibility.
Psychological
factors in polygynous relationships
I present
these findings with a note of caution about generalizing these findings to
other cultures in the present and in the past. The findings may only serve to
think about polygynous relationships rather than assume what is true in a
particular contemporary study is true for all people in past or present polygynous
relationships.
Researchers
have documented that women in polygynous relationships suffer higher rates of physical
abuse than do women in monogamous relationships (e.g., Hassouneh-Phillips,
2001).
Women in
polygynous marriages report high rates of emotional distress, which includes
depression, anxiety, and other conditions (e.g., Alhuzail, 2023; Shepard,
2013). Although there appears to be a consensus that polygynous relationships
are harmful, Lawson and others (2015) challenge that view.
Some wives in
polygynous relationships comment on the benefits, which include sharing
household responsibilities and caring for children (e.g., Tabi et al., 2010).
Women who
do not bear children appear to have been stigmatized in the Bible and continue
to experience pressure to have children in modern cultures. For example, in
their sample of Gambian women, Dierickx et al. (2018) found that women who were
childless experienced social stigma along with financial problems and violence.
The women also reported stress and sadness.
In their small
study of wives in polygynous relationships in Ghana, Tabi et al. (2010)
reported the primary reason wives allowed the addition of another wife was
infertility, which of course reminds us of the biblical stories like Abram and
Sarai (Abraham and Sarah). The problem of Sarai’s infertility was temporarily resolved
when she allowed her husband to take her servant Hagar as a second wife who
then became pregnant and gave birth to a son (Ishmael). Of course, readers will
note that problems ensued when Sarah gave birth to Isaac.
Concluding Remarks
One point
that is missing in discussions about biblical and Christian polygyny is respect
for people who consent to marital relationships that make sense for them within
their cultural context. The fact that people, mostly women, in many types of
marriage are abused emotionally, economically, physically, and sexually is not
a reason to condemn either monogamy or polygamy. It seems that all Christians
ought to be concerned about fostering healthy marriages and caring for the adults
in unhealthy marriages, including children within any abusive family.
The
arguments Christians use to support a ban on polygamy are easy to understand.
Most people do not question the ways their church leaders interpret the Bible,
especially when they believe that the Bible is God’s Word. No one wants to
challenge God; however, in the case of polygamy, Christians opposing polygyny
create arguments based on reasoning to deal with the scriptures that governed Old
Testament polygyny.
It is harder
to understand why progressive Christians would not support polygamy when they
support other forms of marriage not considered in the Bible. That is,
progressive Christians do not rely on a literal understanding of the scriptures
when it comes to supporting the following:
1. Ordaining
clergy who have been divorced and remarried
2.
Ordaining clergy who have same-sex spouses
3.
Affirming same-sex marriage
There is
one caveat here. Progressive Christians and non-Christians may reasonably be
concerned for women who are trapped by their cultures in harmful nonconsensual polygynous
relationships. However, the fact that not all women in polygynous relationships
experience harm reduces the force of this argument and suggests that freedom to
consent to a relationship and cultural support for leaving all abusive
relationships may be more important than banning polygyny per se.
How do
Christians find ways to create exemptions to biblical teachings?
Human are
creative when it comes to finding wiggle-room when it comes to laws and
policies. There are likely many reasons I have not considered, but here are a
few.
1.
Cultural arguments.
Christians argue that some biblical teachings are for people who lived in
ancient cultures and therefore do not apply to day. Thus, most Christians
ignore respect for the Jewish Sabbath Day and do what they want on Sunday. Most
Christians eat whatever they can afford without worrying about God’s commands
to Israel, which prohibited eating certain foods. Most Christians do not support
stoning as a form of punishment as found in the Bible.
2.
Context arguments.
Context arguments can be similar to cultural arguments but they emphasize a
specific situation. For example, some women argue that Paul’s advice to Timothy
that women should be silent in church or should be under a man’s authority only
applies to a specific church and not to other churches of his day and certainly
not to churches today.
3.
Linguistic arguments.
Essentially, arguments based on biblical language rely on disagreements about
the meaning of ancient words and phrases. Scholars disagree on how to translate
specific words and expressions. Most of us do not have the technical expertise
to discern which translation is best. In addition, some doctrines are based on
a literal meaning of a translated phrase and ignore the possibility of
metaphorical or allegorical interpretations. So many different Christian groups
exist because they disagree on specific doctrines.
4. Scientific
arguments. More and
more Christians have learned to accept scientific evidence as a basis for
rejecting a literal interpretation of some biblical texts in favor of
considering alternative explanations (e.g., Sutton, 2024). For example,
although Christians generally view God as the creator, they believe evolution
is the process by which people were created. The early Genesis stories about
Adam and Eve were about the identity of the Israelites and not about literal
people. This has the advantage of not wondering where the wives of Adam and
Eve’s children come from.
Another
example is the relatively recent discovery that babies developed from the fertilization
of a woman’s egg and that some reasons for a couple’s infertility lie with the man
and not the woman. There is no biological or moral reason to condemn women for
not bearing a son nor is the absence of a son a viable reason to justify adding
a wife or other woman to a household.
Psychosocial
studies of women in polygynous marriages have documented problems of abuse and impaired
mental health at higher rates than for women in monogamous relationships (e.g.,
Shepherd, 2013) but such problems may not be universal for all women in
polygynous marriages (e.g., Lawson, et al., 2015). An important factor
regarding marital satisfaction is the relationship between or among the wives in
polygynous marriages (e.g., Anderson, 2000). Research by Gwanfogbe et al. (1997)
identified several factors related to marital and life satisfaction (1997).
5.
Rights Arguments.
It is not
surprising that people concerned about women’s rights would be quick to condemn
polygyny—both the biblical variety and polygyny as practiced today. In
patriarchal societies, women had, and still have, few rights. In the Bible, a
marriage was arranged with a woman’s father. One of her prominent roles in the
Bible and throughout Christian history was to produce a son as a male heir.
Biblical examples illustrate how men obtained children by sex with other wives
or household servants. And many of us are familiar with the founder of the
Church of England and his treatment of the women who did not produce a son. As
a psychologist, it is easy to be concerned about the harm done to women in
polygynous relationships. In addition, the research on the wellbeing of children
in polygynous households (e.g., Al-Sharfi et al., 2016) is a reason to be
concerned about these forms of marriage.
References
Agadjanian V. (2020). Condemned and Condoned: Polygynous
Marriage in Christian Africa. Journal of marriage and the family, 82(2),
751–768. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12624
Alhuzail, N. A. (2023). “I wish he were dead” The experience
of loss among young Arab-Bedouin women in polygamous families. Affilia:
Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, 38(1), 75–90.
https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099221075899
Anderson, C. M. (2000). The persistence of polygyny as an
adaptive response to poverty and oppression in apartheid South Africa. Cross-Cultural
Research: The Journal of Comparative Social Science, 34(2),
99–112. https://doi.org/10.1177/106939710003400201
Dierickx, S., Rahbari, L., Longman, C., Jaiteh, F., &
Coene, G. (2018). 'I am always crying on the inside': a qualitative study on
the implications of infertility on women's lives in urban Gambia. Reproductive
health, 15(1), 151. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-018-0596-2
Gwanfogbe, P. N., Schumm, W. R., Smith, M., & Furrow, J.
L. (1997). Polygyny and Marital Life Satisfaction: an Exploratory Study from
Rural Cameroon. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 28, 55-71.
Hassouneh-Phillips, D. (2001). Polygamy and wife abuse: A
qualitative study of Muslim women in America. Health Care for Women
International, 22(8), 735–748.
https://doi.org/10.1080/073993301753339951
Lawson, D. W., James, S., Ngadaya, E., Ngowi, B., Mfinanga,
S. G. M., & Mulder, M. B. (2015). No evidence that polygynous marriage is a
harmful cultural practice in northern Tanzania. PNAS Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(45),
13827–13832. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1507151112
Masoga, M. A., & Shokane, A. L. (2016). Women in
polygynous marriages and African Initiated Churches: Selected narratives in
Greater Tzaneen, South Africa. Agenda, 30(3), 80–90.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2016.1259868
Shepard, L. D. (2013). The impact of polygamy on women’s
mental health: A systematic review. Epidemiology and Psychiatric
Sciences, 22(1), 47–62. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796012000121
Sutton, G.
W. (2024). Irreconcilable differences? Apes, Adam and an ark: Relating
Christianity and psychology. Springfield, MO: Sunflower ISBN = 979-8323386581
(ON AMAZON)
Tabi, M. M., Doster, C., & Cheney, T. (2010). A
qualitative study of women in polygynous marriages. International
nursing review, 57(1), 121–127.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1466-7657.2009.00762.x
Notes
The
earliest biblical reference to polygyny is in Genesis 4, which refers to the
two wives of Lamech.
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Geoffrey W. Sutton, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Psychology. He retired from a clinical practice and was credentialed in clinical neuropsychology and psychopharmacology. His website is www.suttong.com
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