Step-siblings marrying
Posted by The Mysterious H.C. on June 30, 1998 at 03:08:59:
In response to The other answer, written by Molly on June 29, 1998 at 23:44:42
] There is no mention in the Table of Kindred and Affinity in the Book of Common Prayer (Restoration period) about one's step-sibling.
Right, and in the genealogy my father has assembled, there are several cases of step-siblings marrying each other in 17th-century New England at least... The general policy in post-Reformation England has basically been to forbid marriage with the relatives mentioned in Leviticus 18 (with minimal symmetrical extensions). Leviticus 18:11 actually prohibits a man from marrying a father's wife's daughter of his who is "moledet avikha", which is a little ambiguous. Hebrew "moledet avikha" can mean either "an offspring of your [the man's] father" (in which case Leviticus 18:11 reduces to a prohibition against marrying one's half-sister by one's motherr, which was already prohibited in a previous verse), or it can mean something like "born in your father's household" (in which case the verse might be interpreted as a prohibition against marrying a step-sister in particular cirumstances). The King James Version has the first interpretation of the verse, so I assume this is the general early Church of England interpretation...
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