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Re: orion Divorce and poligamy in NT and DSS
>I actually, I re-read the article in question. It is by Broshi himself, a
>review of several DSS related books (Jerusalem Post, Jan 20 '95, "Scrolls
>Primers"). The notion that both DSS and NT object to divorce and poligamy
>is presented as an idea from one of the books reviewed, J. Fitzmeyer's
>"Responses to 101 questions on the DSS" .
>
First, please can we all please spell polygamy correctly. (The posting
above picked up the incorrect spelling from the posting to which it was
responding! I didn't complain the first time around, but if this virus is
spreading it needs to be nipped in the bud. )
Second, can we please note that what we are speaking of here is not
polygamy but polygyny (one man, many wives). I's important to be aware
that neither in the Jewish or Christian sacred books is there any support
whatsoever for polyandry (one woman, many men). In fact, it is simply
taken for granted that polyandry is a no-no (exactly as one would expect in
patriarchal cultures -- nothing worldshaking about that). So the issue is
ONLY this: whether, like the Hebrew Bible, the DSS, the NT, and other
Jewish texts of that time permit polygyny (or at least take for granted
its occurrence in their societie).
To this, the answer sould seem to be yes, they know it's happening and no,
they do not excoriate it in specific terms -- though the NT may do so by
implication, especially in the Pauline discussions of marriage law. (I
would assume that once the church got organized, canon law must have
explicitlyu proscribed polygyny . -- but I'm not sure when and would like
someone who knows to supply chapter and verse from some edict or other to
that effect. I have always assumed that this change in the rules was made
because of the increasing association of Christianity with the Roman Empire
-- we know that the Romans in practice were monogamous; again I'm not sure
if/when Roman law first explicitly proscribed polygyny.
Judith Romney Wegner
jrw@brown.edu