Sam Speaks
Member
I have read most of the PM books available through Patriarch Publishing House and they have been great. For me. I’ve noticed that every one of them is a man-to-man book. Not that women cannot read and gain from them, but they are still written more from a man’s frame of mind and lack much of the feminine touch.
By contrast I’ve also read and appreciated Be Fruitful and Multiply by Nancy Campbell. As the title suggests, it is a pro natalist book and well written with a feminine tone. Even the cover art had a feminine touch. I certainly appreciated it as a man, but it probably speaks even more to women. It is hard to imagine a young Christian couple reading it and not resolving to have more children. Nancy also edited a women’s magazine and solicited answers from her readers for why they were choosing to have more children and answers from the children for why they wanted younger siblings. She listed the answers near the end of the book and I found them quite charming, making the book all the more compelling, probably even more so for women readers.
One of the biggest obstacles to advancing PM is convincing first wives to willingly share their husbands. If a man has much at all to offer, it probably won’t be that hard to find a willing second wife because her options are to share or do without, or settle for a less worthy man. But the first wife already has significantly less incentive to share, and a lot of social pressure to not share. I doubt it would be a big deal without the Western stigma against PM but the stigma is not going away so we need a way to conquer it.
That’s why I think a Christian woman-to-woman book is needed. (Or perhaps there is one already out there and I am missing it.) We can cite statistics all day long and we can quote verse on top of verse, do Greek word studies, etc which may be good but all too often will not be enough. It lacks comforting emotional appeal and social proof. But an approach like Mrs Campbell used with positive questions and collected answers from many women could be quite compelling. Sure, the book could include some argument from data and conditions of society, and some brief Scriptural exegesis, but having a section on positive testimonials from women already in PM could be quite powerful.
Imagine a small book with dozens of women briefly answering the question “Why I choose plural marriage.” Or maybe “The benefits of having a sister-wife.” Maybe even having children answer “Why it’s nice to have [additional wife] in the home.”
I think having a book like that to gift a woman could prove quite helpful for convincing a first wife to share or even a second wife to come on board.
By contrast I’ve also read and appreciated Be Fruitful and Multiply by Nancy Campbell. As the title suggests, it is a pro natalist book and well written with a feminine tone. Even the cover art had a feminine touch. I certainly appreciated it as a man, but it probably speaks even more to women. It is hard to imagine a young Christian couple reading it and not resolving to have more children. Nancy also edited a women’s magazine and solicited answers from her readers for why they were choosing to have more children and answers from the children for why they wanted younger siblings. She listed the answers near the end of the book and I found them quite charming, making the book all the more compelling, probably even more so for women readers.
One of the biggest obstacles to advancing PM is convincing first wives to willingly share their husbands. If a man has much at all to offer, it probably won’t be that hard to find a willing second wife because her options are to share or do without, or settle for a less worthy man. But the first wife already has significantly less incentive to share, and a lot of social pressure to not share. I doubt it would be a big deal without the Western stigma against PM but the stigma is not going away so we need a way to conquer it.
That’s why I think a Christian woman-to-woman book is needed. (Or perhaps there is one already out there and I am missing it.) We can cite statistics all day long and we can quote verse on top of verse, do Greek word studies, etc which may be good but all too often will not be enough. It lacks comforting emotional appeal and social proof. But an approach like Mrs Campbell used with positive questions and collected answers from many women could be quite compelling. Sure, the book could include some argument from data and conditions of society, and some brief Scriptural exegesis, but having a section on positive testimonials from women already in PM could be quite powerful.
Imagine a small book with dozens of women briefly answering the question “Why I choose plural marriage.” Or maybe “The benefits of having a sister-wife.” Maybe even having children answer “Why it’s nice to have [additional wife] in the home.”
I think having a book like that to gift a woman could prove quite helpful for convincing a first wife to share or even a second wife to come on board.
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