Abstract:
ABSTRACT
This thesis dealt with the issues surrounding the cultural perspective of
widowhood rites in the context of Christianity in Ghana. The thesis,
therefore, looks at the Christian attempt to find ways of participating in
widowhood rituals in the Ghanaian context. The concern or gap this thesis
tries to fill is the lack of clearly structured Christian widowhood rites that is
informed by the cultural context.
The methodology used for this research was a sociological theory of
legitimation and Theological Hermeneutics. A qualitative study was also
employed in the collection and analysis of the field work and Werner
Jeanrond’s theological Hermeneutical tools were adopted. It was found that
it appeared most widows were very uncomfortable allowing others to
witness their rites. The women were of the view that many widowhood
taboos and prohibitions get confusing sometimes and difficult to observe in
the traditional setup. It was also noticed that most widows end up doing
both the Christian and Cultural rites and will not necessarily want to be
questioned about it, but just to fulfil all obligations. In view of this, I
recommended that there is a need for the Church to collaborate more with
the traditional setup in dealing with the entire widowhood rites. This can be
in the form of having joint meetings with influencers and traditional opinion
leaders to come up with some understanding in coming up with a common
harmonized system that is acceptable to both. There could also be more
clear legal rights for widows in Ghana as we saw in the Athenian society
which can be easily implementable, since the Ghanaian perspective at the
moment, lacks clarity and sometimes making it difficult to implement
