Sorry - I started writing my own reply, wandered onto Wikipedia to find an authority for something I wanted to say, and found that their article said exactly what I wanted to (no I didn't write it!), so decided to short circuit the process. I guess I should have been clearer about my endorsement of the Wikipedia article in terms of its biblical exegesis. Yes, it is interesting to note that the Church's rejection of polygamy is not on the basis of unambiguous scriptural teaching. It rather reflects the fact that monogamy was the dominant social form of the culture in which the church came into existence... The widening range of modern views reflected in the article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy_in_Christianity#Modern_views

indicates the degree to which the biblical injunctions can be interpreted in a variety of ways.

So you want me to be clearer about what I believe? Certainly if a polygamist becomes a Christian that is no reason for him to abandon any of his wives. In cultures where monogamy is the norm, Christianity offers no warrant for a change of attitude. Similarly where there is an implicit understanding (preferably an explicit one) in the forms of marriage used that the woman has the right to be the only wife, then there is no excuse for endorsing a later abandonment of that agreement. I think I would also argue that the imagery of Ephesians 5 seeing marriage as a reflection of the relationship of Jesus and the church means that monogamy is the ideal; certainly I don't see it as inherently disordered / sinful in the same way as I do homosexual practice!