A social reading of Judges 5 and its implications on the Church’s role in eradicating negative ethnicity in Kenya

Abstract

Ethnicity in itself is impossible to get rid of from our lives or from our churches. Attempts to do so merely end up privileging one ethnicity over the others. These realities highlight the need and importance of an appropriate model approach that incorporates ethnicity and embraces its benefits, while also ensuring that the church alongside the nation remain unshaken. The specific objectives of this study were: To carry out an elaborate exegesis of Deborah’s Song – Judges 5 alongside an analysis of the functionality of the Early Israel Amphictyony; To establish why ethnic loyalties override Christian unity and identity in Kenya; To Evaluate the Role of the Church in Kenya in eradicating Negative Ethnicity and to employ the findings obtained from the social scientific study of Judges 5 in proposing ways of combating negative ethnicity in Kenya. The study mainly utilized the social scientific approach alongside the exegetical and hermeneutical methods in unearthing principles that can be employed in the eradication of negative ethnicity. This study was also guided by the following questions: What informed and enhanced the functionality of Amphictyony in Early Israel?; What is the impact of the Church’s ethnic cracks in Kenya?; What is the connection between the governance and operations in churches and the divisive ethnic identities in Kenya?; and what principles does the song of Deborah in Judges 5 offer, regarding the role of the church in combating negative ethnicity in Kenya? This study dwelt around the confederation of the tribes of early Israel, established what held the tribes of Israel together in unity and the manifestations of the unity of the tribes more specifically in the operations of the Amphictyony. The researcher’s main assumption in this research was that, Kenya is an accurate reflection of her church. This claim springs from the fact that there is a high presence of Christianity across the country. For this reason, this research sought to reveal that the church plays an important role in eliminating the negative effects of ethnicity within herself and the country by extension.