Exploring Human Sexuality of the Single Adult in the Church Today: A Reflection of Single Women.
Abstract
The family is an institution on which a nation is built. Where there are strong family structures, there are strong nations. This paper deals with a social sift whereby more and more adults are choosing not to marry and keep families but instead are opting to remain single. The discussion in this paper alleges that the needs of the single man or woman in the church are not taken care of. Consider for instance, that church programmes cater for the needs of children very well. The needs of the youth are meticulously catered for. Married people are served in elaborate family-life programmes and in a similar version, widows are provided for by religious and economic empowerment associations. But when it comes to the needs of the single adult, no provision is made to address exceptional needs such as management of sexual needs within that category. Bible writers specifically address other categories in the church, not so the single adult, man or woman. The church teaches the single adult to keep one’s sexual drive under wraps until marriage. The teaching regulates engagement in sex before marriage and out of marriage assuming that the person will eventually marry. This paper emphasizes the impact singlehood is posing to the people in the church including the life of the church today.
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References
At the present time there are adults who have chosen not to marry or remarry; who wish to enjoy life at their own terms. See Elyakim Kislev. Happy Singlehood: The Rising Acceptance and Celebration of Solo Living. University of California Press, 2019.
David G. Mailu. Our Kind of Polygamy. Nairobi: Heinemann 1988, p.168. In an earlier book which came out in 1971 titled After 4.30, Mailu had published material which was criticized because it was regarded as sexually explicit
Edwin W. Smith. The Christian Mission in Africa. London: International Missionary Council, 1926.
Kilbride and Kilbride, p.ix.
Lynn M. Thomas. Politics of the womb: Women, Reproduction and the State in Kenya. University of California Press, p. 135.
Many church organizations do not ordain women citing various reasons for not doing so. See Russell L. Staples. “A Theological Understanding of Ordination.” In Nancy Vhymeister ed. Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives. Berrien Springs MI Andrews University Press, 1998.
See Nehemiah M. Nyaundi ‘The Contemporary African Family in Light of Rapid Social Change Theory’ in Nahashon W. Ndun’gu and Philomena N. Mwaura eds. Challenges and Prospects of the Church in Africa: Theological Reflections of the 21st Century. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 2005: 71-87.
See Peter J. Stein. “Singlehood: An Alternative to Marriage,” in The Family Coordinator vol 24, No. 4 (Oct. 1975) pp.489-503.
See Richard Gray. ‘Problems of Historical Perspective: The Planting of Christianity in Africa in the 19th and 20th Centuries,’ In C.G. Baeta ed. Christianity in Tropical Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968, p.18-33.
See Tabitha Kanogo. African Womanhood in Colonial Kenya. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 2005.
See Wilfred R. Kent. God Created Sex. Today’s World Ministries, 2011.
Sue Headlee and Margery Elfin. The Cost of Being Female. Westport, Connecticut, 1996, p.47.
There are many books which have this history. See Bengt Sundkler and David Steed. A History of the Church in Africa. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Copyright (c) 2021 Nehemiah Nyaundi, ThD
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