Divorce as a Challenge to African Christian Marriages
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Date
2005
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
Marriage is divinely instituted. In the book of Genesis we read: So God
created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and
female He created them (Gen 1:27). And again in the same book we read, "That is
why man and woman leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife and two of
them become one body (Gen 2:24).
According to the present legislation, marriage is a covenant between a man
and a woman who are not impeded by law.' It is the command of our Lord that
Christian marriage is stable. "What God has joined together no human being must
separate (Mt 19:6). The church in her teaching on marriage sticks to this command
of the Lord. It is obvious that the Christian marriage is reflected in the essential
properties of marriage namely Unity and Indissolubility. Unity in the sense that
Marriage is between one man and one woman. Thus polygamy that is common in
many African societies, have no place. Indissolubility in the sense that Christian
marriage being sacramental, reflects the unbreakable union of Christ with his church
and so it is especially indissoluble.
Pastoral experience shows that many African Christian marriages are
unstable. They are in crisis because of some factors like drunkenness, bride-wealth
infidelity, diseases, economic setbacks and so on.
So married people think that any misunderstanding or conflict that makes
conjugal life difficult is a sufficient reason to terminate the marriage bond. They are ignorant of the fact that marriage is permanent union. Indeed the question of
instability of many marriages in the church is not a small problem. It is for this
reason that our research becomes significant. We therefore intended to contribute
towards challenges facing African Christian marriages.
Our thesis has four chapters. Chapter one gives the background information
of marriage and divorce in traditional African societies. Chapter two gives the
analysis of divorce in scripture. It discusses the way divorce was handled in the Old
and New Testament. Chapter three concerns itself with the causes of crises in
marriage. In other words it deals with the factors that lead to the divorce in African
Christian families. Chapter four puts forward the church's teachings on marriage,
and we also present our proposals and recommendations for stability of African
Christian marriages.
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Keywords
Divorce, African Christian Marriages