Browsing by Author "Mwaniki, Lydia Muthoni."
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Item God's image or man's glory? : a Kenyan postcolonial feminist reading of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16.(2011) Mwaniki, Lydia Muthoni.; Nadar, Sarojini.This study uses a postcolonial feminist analysis to show how a biblical text (1 Cor 11:1-16), because of its patriarchal and imperial background, excludes women from the image of God. It demonstrates how this text has been taken up, developed and appropriated to support the subordination of women throughout the Christian tradition from the Church Fathers to the reformers and right up to the present day postcolonial Kenyan Church context. While this text has been used for a long time to oppress women, this study argues that a critical reading of the text from a postcolonial feminist perspective shows that gender disparity exists in this and in other gender-biased Pauline and post-Pauline texts because they were based on the existing patriarchal and imperial structures, which subordinated women to men. Further the study demonstrates that the texts have continued to subordinate women to men throughout the history of Christian tradition. Most churches, such as the Anglican Church, express belief in the Scriptures. Yet such churches like the Anglican Church of Kenya, which seemingly supports gender equality through its gender inclusive article in its Constitution, does not offer guidance about how such texts are to be read and appropriated by Christians. The study offers a method to fill this gap. It is hoped that the academy and the church will avail themselves of this method in their reading practices of the Bible. It takes into account the history of gender and imperial biases in the construction of texts such as 1 Cor 11:1-16 that exclude women from the image of God.Item The impact of the church on the development of the identity of an African Christian woman : a case study of the Anglican Church of Kenya, Diocese of Kirinyaga, 1910-1999.(2000) Mwaniki, Lydia Muthoni.; Bediako, Kwame.; Mwaura, Philomena.This study focuses on the contribution of the church to the development ofthe identity of a Gikuyu woman. Opposition to the suppression of women by culture has become a strong social, political and religious conviction. There is a growing number of men and women in Africa who are concerned about the marginal status of women. In traditional African society, the experience of women was that of subjugation, exploitation and control by men. These experiences are persistent even today because most African cultures are still patriarchal. This study therefore seeks to establish and evaluate how far the church has liberated a Gikuyu woman from such unjust patriarchal conditionings. The study was undertaken in ACK Kirinyaga diocese and concentrated mainly on Kirinyaga district in the period between 1910- I999. Among other factors, the study was undertaken as a contribution to the search for the identity of an African Christian by African theologians. The first chapter introduces the whole thesis and gives a clear explanation of the problem of investigation and the methodology used. Chapter two investigates the status of women in Gikuyu traditional institutions. The chapter concludes that although women held some important roles in Gikuyu traditional society, to a great extent their identity was defined in terms oftheir reproductive roles. Chapter three evaluates the impact of colonialism and Mission Christianity on the status of a Gikuyu woman. We observed that this era had both destructive and regenerative effects on the status of women. Chapter four evaluates the different ways in which women have been involved in church life. It singles out the ordination of women as the greatest effort that Kirinyaga diocese has made on emancipation of women. Chapter five searches for an evidence of the biblical meaning of the identity of a Christian woman, evaluating the place of women in selected controversial biblical passages. Chapter six is the conclusion and sums up the main findings of the study. It also points out that the study is not exhaustive; much more still requires to be researched in this area.