Just as the debate over same-sex marriage united disparate forces in opposition, so too the issue of polygamy brings together ‘various liberals and libertarians, Muslims and Christians, philosophers and social scientists, multiculturalists and counter-culturalists’, as John Witte Jr notes in the conclusion to this impressive study (p. 444). The voices of modern proponents of polygamy are, however, barely heard: as the title indicates, this book is a study of the arguments marshalled against polygamy in the Western, Christian tradition. While ambitious in scope, erudite in its analysis, and a joy to read, it is also a book with a very clear agenda.
Witte takes in an exceptionally broad range of sources, from the Old Testament to modern American sitcoms, via the key theological and philosophical writings of the past 2,000 years. He begins by tracing the initial acceptance of polygamy within Judaism and its subsequent control both by external laws and internal guidance until its outright ban in 1030. At the same time, he shows, the early Church fathers were also explaining away the practice of polygamy in the Old Testament and focusing on the implications of the New Testament for second marriages (whether before or after the death of the first spouse). It was, however, the state, Witte contends, that was primarily concerned with ‘real’ polygamy – that is, marrying during the lifetime of an existing spouse without a divorce having been obtained – and he accordingly traces the evolution of the canon law in the context of Greek and Roman prohibitions on the practice.
Witte then goes on to show how the arguments against polygamy were bolstered in the Middle Ages by the development of the concept of marriage as a sacrament and the elaboration of ideas of natural law. Early Protestantism saw some experimentation with the idea of polygamy. It was advocated as an alternative to divorce for dealing with matrimonial difficulties in certain high-profile cases (including that of Henry VIII), and occasionally put into effect within particularly radical communities. The most notable was that of the Anabaptists of Münster in Germany, whose grisly end might well have acted as a deterrent to any others tempted to follow suit.
Two chapters are then devoted to the approaches taken by specific legal systems. The treatment of polygamy in sixteenth-century Geneva is located within the writings of Calvin and Beza, with a few examples being given of specific cases. On the other hand, the discussion of the early common law in England examines a larger number of cases from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century.
As Witte acknowledges, the refutation of polygamy was not universal. Across the centuries there were theologians and philosophers who accepted polygamy as a possibility or even endorsed it as desirable. Witte devotes a chapter to the political broadsides that proliferated in the turbulence of seventeenth-century England, the writings of John Milton, and the ‘theological utilitarianism’ of theologians such as Johann Leyser and Martin Madan. As he notes, these writings ‘though provocative, were not taken seriously by the establishment’ (p. 347), and the Enlightenment saw a new tranche of philosophical, scientific, rational, and empirical arguments being marshalled against polygamy. The final substantive chapter then explores the American case against polygamy, from the different legal traditions of the various colonies to the Mormon question of the late nineteenth century.
Witte makes no secret of his personal preference for monogamy over polygamy: while he is not uncritical of the arguments advanced in favour of monogamy there is never any doubt as to his overall conviction. Nonetheless, he is at his best when analysing the evolution of ideas. This is not an easy task when examining the arguments against polygamy since, as he notes, the same arguments were marshalled time and time again over the centuries. Despite this, he teases out the nuances of different eras – the emphasis on the equality of husbands and wives in the writings of Enlightenment philosophers, for example, or the shift from the idea of natural law to the concept of natural rights in the work of Beza.
He is less surefooted when dealing with the specifics of the English legal system. Like many commentators, he overstates the impact of the 1753 legislation outlawing clandestine marriages: not all of its requirements were mandatory, and so not every failure to comply with its provisions invalidated a marriage. The reasons why particular cases led to the results they did are not always adequately explained, and the impression is of a somewhat random and unpredictable system.
However, perhaps the weakest section of the book is the concluding chapter. This seeks to distinguish the Western case against polygamy from that against same-sex relationships and to explain why the arguments against polygamy still hold good. Having accepted that ‘[d]usty historical arguments about what is natural and unnatural are just not good enough anymore’ (p. 451), and that modern formulations of rights can either be challenged as cultural constructs or used to argue for a right to religious freedom and self-determination, Witte contends that polygamy can still be opposed on the basis of the harm that it causes to women and children in particular. There may well be a compelling case to be made, but it needs more evidence than is presented here. The final image evokes an unwanted door-to-door salesman: do the arguments against polygamy amount to no more than a polite ‘no thank you, we don't want that here’?
Moreover, when weighing the evidence as to whether polygamy is more or less harmful than the alternatives, it needs to be acknowledged that the true comparison is not between life-long monogamous marriage on the one hand and polygamy on the other, but rather between successive and concurrent relationships. After all, an uncomfortable truth is that a medieval theologian looking at the modern Western world would perhaps regard almost all of us as polygamists.
