Levirate Marriage & Theo-doctrinal Embargo a Kenyan Experience

Abstract

African scholars have found themselves in a theo-doctrinal embargo, especially after the 19 th and 20 th century European missionary explosion, that ushered a vibrant protestant Christianity in East Africa that was largely dismissive of cultural dialogues with Christianity. One of the most contested subject, that went beyond the missionary era, and reverberates across the twenty-first century, is the levirate marriage (hereafter, levirate marriage). Outside the missionary armpits, African scholars have continued to debate its efficacy to the christian teachings. In view of this, the theo-doctrinal embargo that has evidently persisted across the mainstream churches and some African Instituted churches (AIC) in Kenya motivated the eventual research and publication of this article. Whereas the mainstream churches maintain that wife inheritance, especially where the male inheritor has another wife is sin, some AICs have tended to support the levirate marriage even where the male inheritor has another wife. They do this by quoting some Old Testament texts, as their reference point. The mainstream churches have insisted that wife inheritance narratives was permitted in the Old Testament in cases where the male inheritor was single and the deceased was childless. This article seeks to examine the biblical understanding of levirate marriage and its place in the Kenyan context. Overall, the article analyzed Scriptural texts dealing with the subject of Levirate marriages and reflected it from an African Christian perspective. The materials in this article were gathered through extensive reading of published works, interviews and via general observation of the practices therein.