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| The History and Philosophy of Marriage: A Christian Polygamy Sourcebook | 
 enlarge | Author: Nathan Braun; James Campbell; E. N. Jencks; William Shakespeare; John Milton; John Cairncross; John Dryden; Martin Luther; Victor Hugo; Martin Madan; St. Augustine
Publisher: Logos Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 1091743
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 298
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1411626249
Dewey Decimal Number: 248
EAN: 9781411626249
ASIN: 1411626249
Publication Date: August 16, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book! Delivered direct from our US warehouse by Expedited (4-7 days) or Standard (usually 10-14 days but can be longer). Expedited shipping recommended for speedier delivery. Over 1 million satisfied customers
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Product Description
The first and best classical Christian treatise on polygamy (after Madan's Thelyphthora) not emphasizing Mormonism or far away lands. Based on the second and third editions of the 19th century's compelling original literary masterpiece.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Rare topic, fair treatment of historical data September 15, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a Christian, I am familiar with the many Biblical arguments that show polygamy to be perfectly sanctioned by scripture, both by law and by patriarchal precedent. This rare book takes the discussion one step further by evaluating historical data.
The book, in essence, shows how Christianity became perverted by contact with a mix of the licentious "monogamy" of the Romans and the asceticism of the Gnostic religion. This led to a growing denial of polygamy over the first several centuries after Christ (it took several hundred years to transform the practice into a "sin" in the minds of the people) and eventually led to the rejection of marriage in favor of celibacy for the priesthood.
Additional insight is gained by reading the appendices, of which a large part consist of the author's refutation of some of his reader's attempts to rebut his arguments.
I found his perspective, from the 1800s, to be refreshing. Today's acquiescence to feminism was unthinkable in those days as feminism was still viewed as what it is -- a destructive attack on women and the family. Sadly, the poetic language contained in his book celebrating the beauty of delicate femininity and the strength of loving masculinity are often absent from what today passes for literature. In this way, this book is a refreshing reminder of times long ago when fathers were unashamedly masculine and women were proud to be mothers.
I rated this a 4 out of 5 only because I wanted to read more details about the historical decline of polygamy in Westernized countries. Much was said about the early practices of the Romans, Gnostics, and their link to the church. It was convincing and valuable, but I felt like much more could have been said (if indeed records exist) about the intervening years between early Christianity and the corrupt Romanized church of the Middle Ages in relation to the slow decline of polygamy. He did include some important hints and milestones, but this inclusion would've made the book much more powerful in my opinion.
Overall, researching this topic has, by far, taught me the most about the idea of Christian liberty versus man's Pharisaical traditions than any other. Although I have no active plans to act on this freedom, my perspective on it has changed.
I no longer see polygamy as the result of a sexually perverse mind; I see it as God's wonderful provision for women and families. God seems to be saying through His law, "take care of each other", "don't leave widows unattended for", "children are wonderful blessings", and "large, strong, cooperative families are to be enjoyed by all." Enforced monogamy effectively removes God's provision.
The History & Philosophy of Marriage showed convincingly that polygamy is not primarily about sex or status. The author demonstrated the opposite: that sexual perversions thrive more in an enforced monogamistic culture than in a polygamous one.
The author raises some powerful questions. After reading and reflecting on the book, it seems natural to ask, "what other traditions have taken the place of God's revealed will?" Overall, the book is well worth reading and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to understand God and the freedoms and responsibilities He's given us more fully.
 From truthbearer.org October 17, 2005
5 out of 15 found this review helpful
In September 1994, only 10 months after first receiving revelation of the truth of Christian Polygamy, (and only two months after first publishing my newspaper, THE STANDARD BEARER), I found a very interesting book in the Portland (Maine) Public Library, a book of which I had never heard before nor had anyone else (nor even in Christian Polygamy, as this was long before the topic would later first appear on the WWW ---since absolutely no one advancing Christian Polygamy doctrine was on the world wide web before February, 1996). For at this time, in September, 1994, I was the only man teaching the masses the Scriptural doctrines of Christian Polygamy (at that time in our area).
The title of the Book was, "The History and Philosophy of Marriage, Or, Polygamy and Monogamy Compared". It was originally published in 1869 by a (non-Mormon) "Christian Philanthropist", named James Campbell.
The book itself was so old that the Library would not even let the book be taken out. One was only allowed to read the book there in the special old-books reference room of the Library, in which the book was stored.
The next day or so after first discovering that amazing book, I was planning to return to the Library to read more of it. (Portland was a thirty minute automobile-drive away for me, and I do not usually go to that Library much at all.)
But not only did I want to go back, but I also wanted to bring my wife so that the two of us could read it together. (My wife had known of the righteousness of Christian Polygamy, but was, at that time, still unhappy about the idea. For indeed, I was the absolutely only man anyone had ever heard of (in our area at that time) who was teaching the Scripturality of [non-"mormon"] Christian Polygamy ---something which sometimes gave my wife reason to wonder if her husband had "gone off the deep edge".)
Anyway, I informed my wife about the book, how I had wanted to go read it, and how I thought that it also would be beneficial to her for her to also come and read it with me. I explained how it could provide her with some comfort to see that someone else, over a century previously, had written about the very same topic of Christian Polygamy!
It is also vital to understand that, at the very same time in which I was inviting her to come with me to the Library to read this book, my wife was actually suffering a very painful (and chronic) affliction in a very sensitive area of the body, something she has suffered often. And on top of that, of course, she was neither really very positive nor excited about the fact that the book was about POLYGAMY either. (She was still in need of growing to fully accepting that concept.) So, clearly, my wife did NOT really want to go with me to read that book.
I then said something to the effect that it might just be that she SHOULD go. She understood and, indeed, then wanted to turn to God right then for His help in this affliction she was suffering. And so, we prayed over her affliction, asking God for a miracle in casting off this torment, which was so painful and interfering that it made even sitting a very difficult thing for my wife to do. After the prayer, my wife then gladly agreed to go with me to the Library!
So we drove the thirty minutes to get to the Portland Public Library, went to the old-books reference room, and began to read the book.
My wife and I sat there together for two solid hours reading that 125-year-old book. It described the history of the Christian church and the changing of the doctrine of adultery to that being aligned with roman "false-god theologies".
My wife, herself, was quite intense in reading it with me ---much to my surprise at the time! And after a couple of hours of sitting there reading it, I suggested and she agreed that the book was just too long to read in one sitting. So, we then both agreed that I would have to come back to the Library later and spend the $25 it would cost to photocopy all the pages of the book (as the Library's old-books reference room had a ready-available photocopier for that very purpose). Mind you, we certainly did not have that kind of money to be "throwing around", so I would have to return later, after finding that amount of money to somehow cover the cost of photocopying all the book's pages.)
But clearly, my wife's attitude was profoundly positive at this point. She had been quite blessed by that book. She had thereby gained more of an understanding about Polygamy than she had ever had previously (not in terms of doctrine in Scripture which she intellectually accepted, that is, but rather in terms of the historical perspective as the book demonstrated). And what was most convincing for her was that the information had come from somone OTHER than her own husband. Indeed, the book was confirming what I, her husband, had been teaching for almost a year by that point ---when there had been absolutely no one else anywhere (in our area at the time) teaching these doctrines to the masses.
We then returned home, and it then occurred to me that something else had happened as well. That is, I was suddenly amazed as I then realized that my wife had been able to sit through all that time that we had been at the Library, reading that book about polygamy.
And by this point in time, after we had arrived home, she was then in a very joyous and faithful frame of mind and spirit, even despite the agony of the affliction. She wholly accepted the truth of the doctrine of Christian Polygamy. And the LORD blessed my wife. For that very evening, God performed the miracle. Her affliction had been removed! It had disappeared. Vanished. Gone.
The LORD our God had blessed my wife with a miraculous healing, as she had been willing to read the book which God had given to confirm the work of God, which she had otherwise been witnessing, that the LORD was performing in her husband to teach others the Scripturality and Righteousness and Holiness of Christian Polygamy.
The LORD God is faithful!
Yes, my wife and I were profoundly blessed!
Alleluia Hallelujah!
Praise ye the LORD!
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