Possibilities and limitations for Interculturation

A Perspective from the Rabai Marriage Practices vis-à-vis Anglican Teachings in Kilifi County, Kenya

Abstract

This research article sets out to explore Rabai cultural marriage practices in an Anglican Church perspective within Kilifi County, Kenya. It has utilized a number of specific objectives, which elaborates the arrival of the Biblical teachings in Kilifi that turned out to be a fertile ground for Christianity to germinate. It examines the Rabai marriage practices in the light of the Anglican Church’s teachings (hereafter, ‘the duo’) on the same. In retrospect, it surveys the biblical teachings on marriage, assesses the resilience of the Rabai [African] customary practices in light of the strong presence of the Anglican Church who epitomizes ‘modernity’ as opposed to the former who can easily be dismissed as merchants of the past models. The initial research was carried out in Rabai location. It targeted 120 Anglican Church members from the total membership of 360. The interviewed Church members were married under Rabai [African] customary marriage rites. It adapted qualitative research method in collecting data. Explanatory and descriptive methods were used to explore the Rabai [African] customary and Anglican Church’s marriages, hence purposive sampling was equally administered. In retrospect, it was established that customary marriage, or some of its elements, were un-avoidable due to a hotchpotch of marital misfortunes. In other words, there was a progressive interchange amongst the duo, a development that encourages mutual cooperation for socio-strategic purposes. It was thus recommended that although the duo performed their marital rituals differently, their understanding of the same was largely similar. This further upped the game, as the Rabai case study demonstrated a pan-African approach in understanding the culture-gospel debate. Did the Rabai inter-culturation debate speak for the global community? Did the Rabai case speak to the ecumenical society, rather than the Anglican Communion? Did it speak beyond marital inter-culturation? Is inter-culturation the way to go amongst the converted peoples of the world?