26 Comments
User's avatar
P Perrin's avatar

Can you name notable Christians with multiple wives? Matthew is pretty clear on marriage. Polygamy is clearly out of bounds.

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

Is polygamy specifically forbidden in the New Testament or did it simply fall from fashion?

Expand full comment
Gilgamech's avatar

You're not answering the question. Can you name any examples? The New Testament is clear about one man one wife. The only counter examples I'm aware of are original and breakaway Mormons and other sects. Which are arguably not Christian on other grounds. I expect you will find a few mad sects during the anarchic period of the Protestant schism but few others. I doubt the evidence will rise above "the exception proves the rule".

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

You say that the New Testament is clear about one man, one wife. Could you perhaps give me the Scriptural authority for this?

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment removed
Mar 29, 2024
Comment removed
Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

But that verse from Genesis was not held by the Hebrews to forbid polygamy! From the Patriarchs all the way through to the prophet Samuel's father Elkanah, having more than one wife was common. Jesus was of course aware of this, he was not instituting any new teaching.

Expand full comment
P Perrin's avatar

The gospels contain the Christian good news. Maybe some new information, and maybe clearing up prior misunderstandings.

Christian marriage is one man and one woman.

ps.. I'd much rather you admitted you got it wrong, or had tried to slip one past your readers and got caught out, rather than see you try to wriggle out of a false statement.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment removed
Mar 29, 2024
Comment removed
Expand full comment
P Perrin's avatar

If it had 'fallen out of fashion' among Christians, there would surely be a list of formerly fashionable Christians who were polygynous and that you could cite.

Is there such a list? Can you name any of those on it?

Meanwhile...

Matthew is clear - that marriage is one man and one woman. It is clear that this precludes polygamy.

Is gluttony forbidden by listing every single food that you should not over consume? Is murder forbidden by listing every method of killing that you should not use?

Expand full comment
York Luethje's avatar

Happy Easter!

Side note: Rimbert wasn’t just some monk. He was archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen and led a Frisian army which defeated the Vikings and drove them out of East Frisia. The Hedeby where he preached wasn’t the modern Danish one but the trading port of Haithabu near Schleswig (with a very interesting museum).

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

Thank you for filling in some of the gaps in my knowledge, which are, I am sad to say, extensive...

Expand full comment
York Luethje's avatar

Same. Whenever I learn something, the extent of my ignorance increases tenfold.

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

All too true!

Expand full comment
Claude Banfield's avatar

Brutal business….spare a thought for the fate of all those young ladies also and the fate of all the babies that that were born into the barbaric system. 🙏

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

True enough.

Expand full comment
John Light's avatar

The Qur'an - 'Whoever castrates his slave, we will castrate him'.....Really?

'The slaves in the Muslim world were castrated for them to be more obedient and less fertile so that their numbers never grow or rebel against their slave masters. It was also done to control population growth which is an extreme act of cruelty, and don’t forget they also had caste systems too just look at the country called Mauritania that struggled to abolish slavery till 1981.' (Quora)

If that's what the Qur'an said in the quote above, then it would seem that a lot of the male muslim population worldwide must have ended up minus their genitals.

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

As I say, they used to buy their slaves ready-castrated!

Expand full comment
John Light's avatar

And there weren't any islamic DIY buffs?

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

It was a chancy business, because the mortality rate was so high. far better to buy slaves ready-castrated!

Expand full comment
Gilgamech's avatar

Excellent article Mr Webb. If very grisly.

Expand full comment
Simon Webb's avatar

Glad you liked it. It makes me wince to think of the process!

Expand full comment
Patrick Melody's avatar

Simon, there is surely a book in this story? Please consider writing on this subject that I have never heard of before. Just the fact that eunuchs were Europeans was completely unknown to me.

Expand full comment