The role of premarital counselling for marriage stability: a pastoral examination of the interface between the Christian and Alago Indigenous Epawoza concept of marriage preparation.
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Date
2018
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Abstract
This study focuses on the pastoral examination of the interface between the premarital
counselling methods of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ (ERCC) and the Alago
indigenous Epawoza concept of marriage preparation in a quest to help curb the spate of marital
instability among the Alago people of Nigeria. The study argues that neither the ERCC current
model of premarital counselling nor the Alago indigenous Epawoza methods of premarital
counselling are able to provide adequate help to couples for marriage stability among the Alago
when allowed to operate independently. This study therefore seeks to answer this key research
question: What aspects of premarital counselling from the Alago indigenous knowledge systems
can be inculturated by the church to improve stability in Alago marriage in Nigeria in a context
that is full of domestic violence and alarming rates of divorce? Hence by using prevention,
contextualization and the see-judge-act frameworks as tools, the ultimate objective of the study is
to develop a synergistic premarital pastoral counselling model that the ERCC ministers can use
towards improving marriage stability among the Alago Christians. The foundation upon which
the proposed model is built is the ERCC theological justification for church engagement in
reaching out to each ethnic group through the proclamation of the gospel alongside pastoral care
through counselling within the ambit of their contexts. The research methodology is qualitative
in nature, in which case data was obtained through individual in-depth interviews and focus
group discussions with four categories of participants: the ERCC ministers/church elders, elderly
Alago persons, wedded Alago couples, and divorcees among the Alago Christians. The
philosophy of the study is to obtain views from both the ERCC and Alago indigenous
perspectives as well as insights from literature on the major sources of the challenges resulting in
domestic violence and divorce. Analysis of the research findings shows that the underlying factor
accountable for instability in marriages among the Alago Christians of the ERCC is the absence
of synergy between the church and the Alago indigenous methods of doing premarital
counselling, given the fact that the Alago are currently caught up in-between their culture and the
influence of Christianity, Westernization and modernity. This dissertation offers a synergistic
premarital pastoral counselling approach that seeks to promote greater marital stability as a
benefit of this interface.
Description
Doctor of Philosophy in Religion, Philosophy and Classics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2017.
Keywords
Theses - Biblical & Historical Studies, Theological Studies & Ethics.