Yippie Kai Yea!: The Rebirth of Patriarchs' Journal!

[Keith Martin]

WRITERS NEEDED!!!

Hello ya'll. The purpose of this new thread is to (a) announce that Clyde Pilkington, Jr., is reintroducing the occasional periodical titled Patriarchs' Journal, dedicated as always "to the restoration, support and encouragement of biblical marriage and family structure." In addition, Clyde et al will very soon begin incorporating truths about biblical polygamy in the weekly online Bible Students Notebook periodical. Clyde has asked me to share this good news here at Biblical Families.

Here's what we need from you folks: many of you prove on a regular basis that you not only have something to say to further the cultural conversations related to scripture-based truths surrounding polygamy, but you've also demonstrated that you have the ability to put your thoughts and knowledge into eloquent prose. So . . . this is an open invitation/encouragement for each of you to consider penning articles for upcoming issues of the Patriarchs' Journal. Many are already familiar with the PJ, which (temporarily) ceased publication a couple years ago, and a number of you asked at this summer's conference what had become of it -- noting that it was something you missed. Well, Clyde will certainly contribute, but he wants future issues to be less dominated by his writing and more dominated by new voices (yes, even old new voices!), so I'm asking you to take stock of your own personal creativity and create articles for publication.

You may search your memory banks for insights you've had or shared with others that contain useful guidance. You may expand upon (or, if you're anything like me, pare down) useful posts you've shared here on biblicalfamilies.org. You may document meaningful life experiences you've had that would help others navigate difficult waters if they had the chance to read about your successes . . . or failures. Please, though, reach into your bag of tricks and consider being a contributor to Patriarchs Journal.

Submission is simple. For now, you can just submit potential articles to me via a private message. In fact, that will also save time for Patriarchs' Journal, because I'm the associate editor (fancy title for the person who checks for and corrects spelling mistakes, grammar, etc.), and that way I can proofread them before sending them on to editor Clyde and assistant editor André.

I'm very excited about this. And I look forward to hearing from many of you!

Keith

P.S. If you're unfamiliar with Patriarchs' Journal, you can find out what it is all about by purchasing one of the two volumes that have been produced in softcover book form. They're available at: http://www.patriarchpublishinghouse.com/index.html. Once you're at that web page, you'll also find a link to subscribe to Patriarchs' Journal.

 

[frederick]

Thanks Keith.

 

[PeteR]

Subscribed. Thanks.

 

[cnystrom]

There was another thread about other Christian polygamists besides those here at BF, and Clyde comes to mind in that group. Obviously he is an ally. Why is he not on here himself? Too busy with his own ministry? Personality conflict? I do not know.

Further I bet there is significant overlap in those who participate in BF and those who subscribe to PJ. On the other hand there are probably many who do not overlap. How come they are not interested in BF? Not sure.

Christian polygamy has always seemed sort of fragmented as a movement to me for some reason. Too many chiefs and not enough indians? I am not sure.

 

[Keith Martin]

Hi, @cynstrom. Thank you for creating an opportunity for me to transform my automatic defensive reaction re: my friend, Clyde Pilkington, Jr., into a platform for clarifying a number of things.

There was another thread about other Christian polygamists besides those here at BF, and Clyde comes to mind in that group. Obviously he is an ally. Why is he not on here himself? Too busy with his own ministry? Personality conflict? I do not know.

@Clyde Pilkington is on Biblical Families. In fact, I believe he came to conferences for at least 4 years in a row but decided for a number of personal reasons to not attend this summer; it certainly had nothing to do with personality conflicts! Clyde spoke the previous two years at Biblical Families conferences. His family and mine shared two 2-story lodge rooms at the Summer 2016 conference.

He isn't an active participant on the BF web site, but anyone can check out his profile here, where I just found that his last post was in September 2017. Clyde can certainly speak for himself, but he and I are in almost daily communication, and I can promise you his decision not to attend August's conference was a difficult one that involved months of consideration. I'm quite excited that Patriarchs' Journal is being revived, but Clyde is the patriarch of 3 houses full of extended family members, and his work existence is organized around (a) writing and (b) publishing Bible Students Notebook, which, for him, is a more primary passion than polygamy, despite having been married to two women for the past 14 years. Even though polygamy is the issue that first brought me together with Clyde, I totally respect that it's not his primary passion -- nor do I think anyone else should question that, any more than we would approve of thinking that our fellow human beings should dominate their lives with concerns about their gender, their sexual orientation, their race or their ethnicity. Those, along with marital status, are all important characteristics, but they don't define us -- and one can check out Bible Students Notebook if one needs any proof of how clearly dedicated Clyde is to our Father and ultimate truth about Scripture.

The invitation to write something for Patriarchs' Journal is not in any way an attempt to draw people away from Biblical Families. Instead, it's just an opportunity for Biblical Families folks to reach additional audiences, some of whom would hopefully then be drawn to make a first-time contact at biblicalfamilies.org, right?

Further I bet there is significant overlap in those who participate in BF and those who subscribe to PJ. On the other hand there are probably many who do not overlap. How come they are not interested in BF? Not sure.

Neither am I, but I do know that Clyde's web sites have links to Biblical Families.

It is also my thinking that Biblical Families doesn't have to aspire to being the central clearing house for everyone who does or wants to participate in Biblical polygyny. It's just as OK for all sympathetic souls to distribute themselves among a variety of polygamy sites as it is for all hungry souls to distribute themselves among a variety of restaurants.

Christian polygamy has always seemed sort of fragmented as a movement to me for some reason. Too many chiefs and not enough indians? I am not sure.

We've discussed that too-many-chiefs dynamic at all three BF conferences I've attended. It seems only natural to me that an organization that promotes patriarchy/male headship would end up with more than its share of leaders. That doesn't, though, mean that anything is wrong. One of the beautiful things about the U.S. Constitution is that it reveres the right of association. Who says we all have to assemble under one 'tent?' Who says we even have to consider ourselves a movement?

One man's 'fragmentation' is another man's 'decentralization' of authority and government.

 

[julieb]

Personally, I am very happy that Clyde is starting the PJ again. I have admired all the work he has done regarding it in the past. I also know that things have seasons. I suspect that this new season for the PJ will be different than the first. I really encourage all you prolific posters to ask God to show you if you have something to contribute to this encouraging Journal. There is a beautiful mosaic of wisdom and view points on the site. I pray that those who need to share that wisdom will do so.