| dc.description.abstract | The study is an investigation of the relevance of the
christians sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage to
the concrete existential life of the Agikuyu Christians.
The interest in the topic of this study arises out of the need
to understand, present and interpret the Gospel especially the
Christians sacraments of initiation namely : Baptism,
confirmation and marriage within the Agikuyu culture.
The above sacraments seem to have lost their meaning and
relevance in illuminating the individual's life thereby losing
significance on the Agikuyu day to day life,living, believing
and interpersonal relationships. As such there is a lacuna
with regard to the christian "philosophy of life" today,
which would embrace the peoples' culture and religiosity.Hence
there is a dichotomy between the actualization of the above
christian sacraments and the Agikuyu traditional way of life.
The study therefore, seeks
the Agikuyu traditional
to determine the significance of
rites of passage namely; birth,
circumcision and marriage which are parallel to the above
christian sacraments. This knowledge would facilitate the
contextualization of the above sacraments through the process
of inculturation, a modern trend in African Theology.
The site selection of the study was based on familiarity and
religiosity where Kiharu and Kigumo both in Murang'a were
chosen due to their being highly christenised and at the same
time harbouring individuals who adhere to African Traditional
Religion. The data were collected mainly through discussions
with key informants where questionnaires consisting mainly of
open ended questions were administered. The methods used to
pick on the informants were theoretical and snowball methods
of sampling whereby an assumed knowledgeable informant was
selected and in turn led to another informant also thought to
be knowledgeable and so on. Old people with knowledge of both
their past and present were interviewed,
and young christians were interviewed
while, Church leaders
especially on the
sacraments.
The study concludes that due to various factors, the above
sacraments seem to have lost their relevance to majority of
Agikuyu christians. That there is need to Africanize them
(sacraments) through the process of inculturation not by
abandoning the christocentric aspects, but by use of familiar
means of expressions that are already developed in the Agikuyu
traditional practices and which are consistent with the
quality and purpose of christian sacraments. This way, the
study hopes to contribute towards making the christian
sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage more
compatible with the ordinary life of the Agikuyu christians
through the process technically called inculturation which is
emerging as one of the strongest trends in African Theology
and which proves that African traditions have a lot to offer
Christianity. | en |
