Patriarchy reinvented? ‘Spiritual parenting’ within African Pentecostalism in Zimbabwe

Abstract

How do we explain the emergence of the ‘spiritual parenting’ concept within African Pentecostal churches especially in urban Zimbabwe? From ethnographic studies conducted in Harare, Zimbabwe, these seem to usurp the traditional roles associated with mother, father, or Auntie within the household of counselling, instructing, protecting, guiding and other functions associated with parenthood. This study explains the emergence of spiritual parenting as a development plausibly explainable through social variables such as (1) the disintegration of traditional patriarchal values because of growing urbanisation and (2) socio-economic insecurities that seem to produce alternative kinship ties. Using a constructive postmodern approach, the concept of spiritual parenting may be understood as providing alternative ‘fatherhood’ spaces, thus implicitly reinventing traditional hegemonic models under the pretext of Christian spiritualities. INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : Using social scientific approaches, the study explains the emergence of particular spiritualties in modern African Christianity, viewing such spiritualties as influenced by particular explanatory social variables. It argues that new spiritualties and practices within African Pentecostalism may be plausibly explained vis-à-vis from particular cultural realities.