When the Church Meets the Throne, Who Defines the Modern Omukama / King
WHEN CHRISTIANITY MEETS AFRICAN KINGSHIP: WHAT SHOULD A CULTURAL KING PROTECT? By Davis Owomugisha, Kampala Uganda. The appearance of the newly crowned Omukama of Tooro, Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I, at St John’s Cathedral and the subsequent call by the Bishop of Ruwenzori Diocese, Rt. Rev. Reuben Kisembo, that the King should remain committed to monogamy has opened a much larger conversation about the relationship between Christianity and African cultural institutions. The Bishop's position was clear: the King had married in church, had made Christian vows, and should therefore remain faithful to monogamy. That is a legitimate Christian position within Christian teaching. But it also raises a legitimate cultural question: When a person occupies an institution whose legitimacy is fundamentally rooted in African history, culture, clan, custom and traditional authority, where should the boundaries between the Christian individual and the cultural institution be drawn? This is...