Abstract
The early Christian missionaries have been scathingly accused of uprooting Africans from their historical past and for failing to incorporate African traditional values into Christianity. One of such African traditional values that were booted away by Christianity, is polygamy. Africa is known to have been polygamous but was forced to drop this in favour of Christian monogamy. This paper x-rayed the impact of the Christian doctrine on polygamy on African society and concludes that the practice produces more dysfunctional effects than functional ones. It, therefore, advises the church to revise the one man, one wife doctrine. At best, it should be made optional.
Highlights
It is difficult to imagine a lady of 30 years of age in traditional African societies not having a husband (Omoregbe 1979)
The one-man one wife doctrine propagated by Christianity and which has taken root in almost all Christian societies may have served the cause of feminism well but has invariably led to delays in marriage in Africa and in most cases inability to marry at all
The most important effects include: Increases the number of unmarried Women: In the traditional African societies, where one was allowed to marry more than one wife, it is rationally implausible that one could think of a case where a woman would remain unmarried at the age of 30
Summary
It is difficult to imagine a lady of 30 years of age (who is ready for marriage) in traditional African societies not having a husband (Omoregbe 1979). . Keywords: Polygamy, African societies, Christian Teaching, Marriage. The one-man one wife doctrine propagated by Christianity and which has taken root in almost all Christian societies may have served the cause of feminism well but has invariably led to delays in marriage in Africa and in most cases inability to marry at all.
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