Christian Marriage in Nigeria

Extract

There are perhaps three main reasons why I should not have been the person to write this article. Firstly, because I hold fairly strong opinions, which are by no means shared by all Christian workers in Nigeria, whether African or European. This will not matter provided the reader remembers that others, better and wiser than myself, do hold other opinions, and that what I say must be corrected by them. In no way do I wish to suggest that opinions with which I disagree are illegitimate for the Christian. Secondly, it may be objected that since all my experience has been in a training college, my opinions must be somewhat academic, and out of touch with the problems of the villages and towns. This, no doubt, is largely so, but perhaps because I have been detached from the constant personal problems, which are often so distressing, I may be able to see a little more clearly the essential principles involved, and am not so liable to be distracted by ‘hard cases’. Thirdly, it may be objected that I possess very little anthropological knowledge and understanding, and therefore do not sympathize enough with the African point of view. Again I plead guilty, but in spite of that deficiency there may be some small compensation. During my probation, I was required to study African customs; I was interested and to some extent I have kept up my interest. But against my theory I had always, at the back of my mind, that I was studying the past and not the present. The anthropologist has an invaluable and essential contribution to make to our understanding. He will explain much in the African outlook, and we disregard him at our peril. But he has not the last word. We cannot put the clock back, and the most significant fact in Nigeria, as in other parts of Africa, is that the whole social life is changing.