Browsing by Author "Kamau, Patrick Maina"

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    circumcision Contestation Among African Christians in the Advent of a Rejuvenation of African Cultural Practices
    (ijmart, 2024) Kamau, Patrick Maina; Katola, Michael T.; Waweru, Humphrey M.
    Circumcision among many African communities is a vital and common rite of passage. Traditionally the rite was performed on both male and female teenagers but with the coming of the Europeans and the conversion of African communities to Christianity, female circumcision was discarded and eventually outlawed. Male circumcision survived despite European pressure. Many Europeans viewed circumcision as a psychologically hazardous exercise that was detrimental to the initiates’ physical health and a waste of valuable time that could be better utilised economically. Missionaries associated circumcision rituals with paganism laced with many outdated practices, thus there was need to Christenize the rites. The missionary fashioned the circumcision rite of passage into what they felt was in line with Christian values. Most of the circumcision rituals were discarded. The circumcision rite changed from a communal affair to an individual family affair. In the beginning of the third millennium, the church took started organizing circumcision camps for boys in churches in a bid to align the traditional practice to Christian values. This became the norm as the Kikuyu community’s cultural practices had overtime been inclined to the Euro Christian culture. At the same time a rejuvenation of Kikuyu culture was taking shape. The rejuvenation was given the impetus it required by the promulgation of the 2010 Kenyan constitution. From then on Kikuyu elders started organising their own circumcision camps targeting teenage Christians that were also targeted by the church. This has caused discontent among Kikuyu Christians necessitating a search for possible remedies to the contestation in a bid to have a spiritually fulfilled Kikuyu Christian.
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    Resurgence of Agikuyu cultural practices and their influence on the Anglican worship in Murang’a County, Kenya.
    (Kenyatta University, 2024-11) Kamau, Patrick Maina
    Resurgence of Agikuyu traditional religious and cultural practices in Central Kenya was unexpected. The same community that has embraced Christianity for over a hundred years is going back to the practices they discarded. Christianity reached the Agikuyu at Kabete in 1900 with the CMS missionaries headed by Rev. Macgregor and have since registered great success. This achievement is now at risk. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causes of the resurgence of traditional religious and cultural practices among Christians in Murang’a County, Kenya and their effects on Anglican worship. The statement of the problem therefore focused on the strife caused by this resurgence between Africanist Anglicans and conservative Anglicans in Murang’a County. The objectives of the study were to investigate the causes of the resurgence of Agikuyu cultural practices, to evaluate worship challenges posed by resurgence, to assess whether the practices conflict the Anglican Church dogma and to determine whether some of the Cultural practices can be incorporated in the Anglican Worship. It was important to conduct this study because the gains of over a hundred years of evangelization among the Agikuyu are at risk and if effective mitigation steps are not taken, it will create room for syncretism. This study will inform religious leaders, academicians and the society on proactive and reactive measures to apply on the growing resurgence of traditional African cultural practices among Christians. The review of literature related to the problem of the study revealed that no detailed research had been carried out on the resurgence of Agikuyu traditional religious and cultural practices in Murang’a County. The study was guided by two theories; the power-knowledge theory by V. Y. Mudimbe and the Christ and Culture theory by H.R. Niebuhr. Descriptive survey design was used for the study, questionnaire, observation guide and interview guide were the main instruments for data collection. The target population was all the ACK members in Murang’a county. A sample of 267 participants was selected through probability and non-probability sampling. The research identified identity crises, socio-economic challenges, desire for religio-cultural knowledge, media, nationalism, desire for men to reassert their supremacy in the society, laxity in the Anglican church as some of the major causes of the resurgence of the Agikuyu cultural practices. Suspicion among worshippers, enfeebling of Christian faith on the blood of Christ and the shying away from testifying are some of the worship challenges brought about by the resurgence. Animal sacrifices, veneration of the ancestors, polygamy, wife inheritance, traditional marriage processes, use of traditional wine for blessings, traditional forms of worship in shrines facing Mount Kenya are some of the Agikuyu cultural practices that have resurged. Fear and respect of God, prayer, love for family, circumcision and marriage are cultural practices that do not contradict the Anglican Church dogma. Resultant data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and research findings presented in tables and charts with explanations