BEING AND SEXUALITY: AN ANTHROPO-THEOLOGICAL STUDY OF SEXUALITY AMONG MODERN AFRICAN CHRISTIANS

Abstract

This is an anthropo-theological study of sexuality among modern African Christians.Thus, the study examines the concept of sexuality among modern African Christians by seeking to extend the frontiers of knowledge on the topic. It is observed thatAfrican Christians carry two identities; Christianity and traditional culture-bearer. These have far-reaching effects on the people socially and religiously as the two have in it,the concept of moral rules.Data indicate that African societies, at various points, construe sexual relationship as a sacrosanct factor in their image of an idealsociety, and a respectable phenomenon, which every member of the society must adhere to the rules guiding it.The study notes that on one hand, modern African Christians are faced with the challenge of expressing sexuality and its different colourations within the confine of Judeo-Western Christianity bequeathed to them by Western missionaries, and on the other hand, they are confronted with expression of sexuality within their traditional cultural norms. Methodologically, the study uses documented ethnographic data from anthropological studies of some notableAfrican societies and biblical exegesis.It is clear from the study that in Africa, sexuality is attached with high level of sacredness, especially in traditional communities, which have come under heavy doses of westernization, sinoization (Chinese influence) and globalization. Findings show that Christians inAfrica are dissected and torn between two worlds of Westernized Christianity and traditional African culture, out of which they are forced to forge a new identity.