Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 36:1 (Oct 2023)
Article: Emotive Or Ethical? A Theological Reflection On Kenya’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Author: Kevin Muriithi Ndereba

Conspectus 36:1 (October 2023) p. 59

Emotive Or Ethical? A Theological Reflection On Kenya’s Comprehensive Sexuality Education

Kevin Muriithi Ndereba

St. Paul’s; Stellenbosch University

About the Author

Dr. Kevin Muriithi Ndereba holds a Ph.D. in Practical Theology from the University of South Africa. He initially worked as a power systems Engineer before pursuing theological education. After serving in pastoral ministry in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, he now serves as a Lecturer and Head of Department, Practical Theology at Saint Paul’s University. He is also a Research Fellow at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa and leads a ministry called Apologetics Kenya. Kevin’s research interests are in apologetics, youth ministry, and Practical Theology. E-mail: [email protected]

This article: https://www.sats.ac.za/conspectus/emotive-ethical-theological-kenya https://doi.org/10.54725/conspectus.2023.3.5

Abstract

Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) has been lauded as a more inclusive, rights-based, and progressive approach to sexuality, particularly in its assumed impact on youth sexuality in Kenya. An emotive approach is proposed by both protagonists and antagonists of CSE. This article, however, seeks to ground the discussion on a theological and ethical approach, by way of utilizing a customized practical theological methodology. First, it utilizes inter-disciplinary methods to analyze the CSE policy in Kenyan society. Second, its normative aspect is grounded in a theological reflection on the sexual ethics espoused in key New Testament passages. Third, its practical recommendations explore the ramifications of this research for sexual ethics in youth and family ministries and public theological engagement with Kenya’s society.

Keywords

Adolescent reproductive and sexual health, Comprehensive Sexuality Education, Practical Theology, Public Theology, youth and family ministry

1. Sexuality And Sex Education: An Introduction

Sexuality is central to what it means to be human persons created in the image of God. Sexuality, which involves physical, biological, psychological, emotional, and even spiritual aspects, is a topic that finds resonance in the biblical text from Genesis to Revelation. We see this in the one-flesh union between Adam and Eve, the sexual abuses and excesses in the narratives of Lot (Sodom and Gomorrah), Dinah, and Tamar in the Pentateuch, the romantic and sexual imagery of the Song of Songs, the counsel on sexual ethics in the Wisdom

Conspectus 36:1 (October 2023) p. 60

Literature, Jesus’s ethical teachings in the Sermon on the Moun...