A missiological analysis of selected Bemba proverbs on marriage

Abstract

Because many Bemba Christians do not experience the guality of life through would follow conversion they are tempted to either settle for shallow, superficial religious'experience, or, during times of crisis, revert to traditional religious beliefs and practices they know are inconsistent with their theological understanding. In order to assist Christian communicators in their task of bringing the Bemba to authentic conversion and an experience of salvation that genuinely meets their needs, we have, in this study, tendered one strategy for reaching the Bemba heart. most comprehensive idea of order. Because the heart, or worldview, is where reality is known, vaiued · and ordered, it should be the focus of Christian communication that has as its purpose restoring people to comprehensive well-being, or restoration of peace with God, others, one's self and nature. To this end, we have gathered 2,686 Bemba proverbs. from approximately fifteen previously seven Bemba informants, provided conte:-..tually deterrt"$1ed translati_ons, meanings, usages and teachings, inter alia, and have attempted, by means of employing Hiebert's critical conte:-..tualisation method ( 1985: 188), to begin constructing a contextualised local theology of marriage which is the result of engaging in a dialogue between Bemba traditional values as expressed in their proverbial lore and related biblical values. The process of contextualisation is incomplete because it is our contention that it is the responsibility local Bemba theologians, not of foreign researchers, to construct a theology of marriage that is relevant t local Bemba needs. Thus, this study does not attempt to provide theological answers to marital needs; rather, it is offered to Christian communicators for exploratory use as a beach-head for constructing a bridge across which both Bemba and biblical worldview values might be mutually enriched.