Abstract
Judges 14 speaks to the Nigerian context on the role of parents in the marriage process. Unlike in the traditional African society where the choice of spouses was determined by parents and the family, in Nigeria today, parents have little involvement in their children’s choice of marriage partner. Applying narrative reading and the descriptive approach, the article examines this text in light of the significance of parents' role in choosing marriage partners among Nigerian Christians. The study finds that due to the influence of Christianity and modernisation, Nigerian parents now play little role in the choice of their children’s marriage partners and that this is one of the factors responsible for the rampant marriage failures in society. It concludes that to curb the high rate of marriage instability among Nigerian Christians, the church in Nigeria should review its marriage theology to emphasise the role of parents in mate selection, using the Samson story as a literary instrument.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).