The Meaning of ‘Marriage’: A Christian Perspective in a Zambian Context

Abstract

This article focuses on the institution of marriage. It seeks to clarify the meaning of same-sex union from a Christian point of view and tries to tease out how this may be located within the conception of the institution of marriage. It is an attempt at redressing what seems to be a growing misuse of the term "marriage" in so far as it is applied outside the context of heterosexual union, a situation that, in the authors’ view, if left unchecked, may lead to the loss of the meaning of the term. Against this backdrop have been some contentious maneuvers by some sections of society in Zambia to push for the legalisation of same-sex marriages, which has bred divergent views among Zambians. The rationale behind the study, therefore, was to provide a critical difference between the union of the same sex and that of the opposite sex. Methodologically, the study was a desk review that sought reliance on secondary data to analyse and bring to light what marriage means in line with Christian teaching. It is apparent from the analysis of the paper that the general feeling of the majority Zambians is that the fact that other countries have legalised same-sex unions should not sway Zambia as a nation, as she has her own ground to position her stance on the matter, with the church as her pillar.