The influence of Luyia traditional Religious Rituals on Christianity: a case study of African Israel Church Nineveh in Vihiga County, Kenya
Abstract
Ritual syncretism has been an emotive problem which crept into Christianity
since its inception by Jesus Christ. In the context of this study, the spontaneous
mix of Luyia culture and Christianity resulted into the problem of marginal
faith where Christians upheld their traditional beliefs. This work has examined
the bonding of Luyia religious rituals with Christianity in African Israel
Church Nineveh of Vihiga County. The following objectives were examined:
Socio-historical origins of the Luyia and their religious beliefs and practices,
Cardinal doctrines of Christianity which have a universal dynamism of cultural
and spiritual nature, influence of the Luyia indigenous religious rituals on
African Israel Church Nineveh and the future of the Luyia rituals in this
Church. A multi-disciplinary theoretical framework comprising sociological
theories of: symbolic interaction, conflict and psychological theory of
motivation were used in the study. Secondary information was obtained from
libraries, archives and supplemented with primary data from the field. Primary
data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules and participant
observation schedules. Probability and non-probability sampling techniques
were incorporated in fieldwork. The assembled data was coded using numerals
and structured into chapters basing on the family- tree and the thematic
approach. Qualitative and comparative approaches were used to compare Luyia
indigenous with Biblical values that tended to be non-empirical. The study
found that the Luyia community still value their traditional beliefs and
practices besides subscribing to Christian faith. In particular, African Israel
Church Nineveh which is a spiritual movement in the Luyia community blends
with indigenous rituals as evidenced by the fact that they have refused to
assimilate into European culture in totality. The findings further revealed that
Christian doctrines are dynamic and have bonded with the Luyia traditional
rituals in African Israel Church Nineveh. The areas of bonding include: health
rituals, language, initiation traditions, dispute resolution rites and music. The
study finally found that the interfaith bonding between the Luyia Culture and
Christianity points to a bright future in regard to the spread of Christianity
among the Luyia. It was concluded that African Israel Church Nineveh resulted
from the clash between the Luyia culture and Christianity as brought by
European missionaries. The study recommends that more investigations be
carried out on African rituals to broaden knowledge on the interaction of the
African indigenous religious rituals with Christianity in other African instituted
Churches.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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