Christian marriage and family life in the African context

[摘要] English: The African Christian is in search of biblical principles when it comes tomarriage and family life. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide meansby which Christians in marriage and family can come to understand better thatpart of life in which they spend most of their time and energy.The dissertation has been divided into six chapters. Chapter 1 is theintroduction. It gives an overview of the problem we are investigating. It alsoprovides us with a historical background to the preaching of the Gospel inAfrica. The argument in this chapter is that the missionaries were in totaldisregard of the African culture when they preached the Gospel. As aconsequence the African converts rejected their own culture without anyconcrete understanding and accepted the culture of the missionaries thatcame with the Gospel. The result is that we are sitting with a Christianity inAfrica that does not give answers to African problems, and in this regard, tomarriage and family life. Chapter 2 deals with the traditional marriage customs in Africa. This chapterprovides us with the context. It gives us a picture of marriage and family life intraditional Africa.Chapter 3 gives the Biblical theology for Christian marriage. The Bible as theWord of God plays a major role in this paper. There are issues that areparticular to a specific culture, and there are principles that are applicable toall Christians. This chapter also serves as a reference to the chaptersfollowing it. The Biblical foundation that is established here comes back inChapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 gives answers to marriage and family lifechallenges. The approach in this chapter is to take the African contextseriously and to apply the principle of continuity and discontinuity critically andresponsibly. The Word of God has to triumph at the end. Chapter 5 deals withthe family. The relationship between husband, wife and children isapproached from a Biblical perspective. Leading a healthy family life is also a sign of growth. Christians need to grow. We cannot just remain like babiesand drink milk from year to year.In Chapter 6 we make our concluding remarks and discuss the way forwardfor Christian marriage and family life in the African context. It is not optional forChristians to apply Biblical principles into their lives, it is an obligation. In thisglobalising and secularising world Christians need to spend more time instudying the Scripture so that they will know how to apply it in their daily lives.My stance as an evangelical Christian in Africa is also evident in this research.I tried to be as objective as I could in my approach, but it is not possible to betotally objective. This statement should not serve as an excuse for any child ofGod to act irresponsibly, but we must try to make His truth known to all men.

[发布机构] University of the Free State