Elia Shabani Mligo

Jesus and the Divorce Commandment: Reading the Gospel of Mark in a Context of Divorce and Remarriage in Tanzania Elia Shabani Mligo

What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage after divorce? Is it acceptable for a Christian to divorce his/her spouse, or remarry after divorce, under what biblical grounds? What is the position of the church concerning issues of divorce and remarriage? What is the response of lay Christians to the position of the church? These are some of the questions that greatly concern this book. Some scholars (Wenham, Heth, and Keener) have also embarked in a discussion about such questions. They have mostly searched for the meaning that the text on divorce in the gospel of Matthew had to offer, and the how to apply that meaning to the current church. This book contributes to this ongoing discussion. Instead of looking only at the meaning of the text in the gospel of Mark and applying it to the current church, the book analyzes the voices of some people from the church in Tanzania so as to open up a possibility for a dialogue between the text and its context and the current readers and their context. Hence, the book can be useful to both scholars and students as a textbook in classes or any group discussions about the way divorce and remarriage texts can be used in current churches