The Christian Sacraments Of Baptism Confirmation And Marriage: Their Relevance To The Daily Lives Of The Agikuyu Christians

Abstract

The study is an investigation of the relevance of the christians sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage to the concrete existential life of the Agikuyu Christians. The interest in the topic of this study arises out of the need to understand, present and interpret the Gospel especially the Christians sacraments of initiation namely : Baptism, confirmation and marriage within the Agikuyu culture. The above sacraments seem to have lost their meaning and relevance in illuminating the individual's life thereby losing significance on the Agikuyu day to day life,living, believing and interpersonal relationships. As such there is a lacuna with regard to the christian "philosophy of life" today, which would embrace the peoples' culture and religiosity.Hence there is a dichotomy between the actualization of the above christian sacraments and the Agikuyu traditional way of life. The study therefore, seeks the Agikuyu traditional to determine the significance of rites of passage namely; birth, circumcision and marriage which are parallel to the above christian sacraments. This knowledge would facilitate the contextualization of the above sacraments through the process of inculturation, a modern trend in African Theology. The site selection of the study was based on familiarity and religiosity where Kiharu and Kigumo both in Murang'a were chosen due to their being highly christenised and at the same time harbouring individuals who adhere to African Traditional Religion. The data were collected mainly through discussions with key informants where questionnaires consisting mainly of open ended questions were administered. The methods used to pick on the informants were theoretical and snowball methods of sampling whereby an assumed knowledgeable informant was selected and in turn led to another informant also thought to be knowledgeable and so on. Old people with knowledge of both their past and present were interviewed, and young christians were interviewed while, Church leaders especially on the sacraments. The study concludes that due to various factors, the above sacraments seem to have lost their relevance to majority of Agikuyu christians. That there is need to Africanize them (sacraments) through the process of inculturation not by abandoning the christocentric aspects, but by use of familiar means of expressions that are already developed in the Agikuyu traditional practices and which are consistent with the quality and purpose of christian sacraments. This way, the study hopes to contribute towards making the christian sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and Marriage more compatible with the ordinary life of the Agikuyu christians through the process technically called inculturation which is emerging as one of the strongest trends in African Theology and which proves that African traditions have a lot to offer Christianity.