Malakoi (Effeminates) and Avrsenokoitai (Homosexuals): A Reflection on 1 Corinthians 6:9 from a Ghanaian (Akan) Perspective

Ernest Nyarko   ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.7  No.12  December 2021 Issue  Article 1 pp.201-214
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20217121  |   Published online 23rd December 2021.
© 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Views: 1,418
502 Downloads

DOWNLOAD PDF

Homosexuality and the rights of LGBTQ+ people have in recent times become one of the most discussed topics. In Ghana especially, there are massive debates, comments and advocacy of various kinds on the print, mass and electronic media on the subject. Politicians, religious leaders, among others have had to add their voice to the ongoing discussion as to whether or not to accept homosexuality. It appears the majority of Ghanaians are anti-gay and believe that the activities of homosexuals or LGBTQ+ people are unnatural and foreign to Ghanaian primal thought and thus are calling for proper human sexual rights and Ghanaian family values. This paper examines Paul’s use of malakoi (effeminates) and avrsenokoi/tai (homosexuals) in 1 Corinthians 6:9 from the perspective of the Ghanaian (Akan) culture. The researcher brings out Paul’s understanding and theology of malakoi and avrsenokoi/tai, and then engages these with the Akan understanding of homosexuality. This way, the Akan culture is factored into the interpretation of the selected Pauline passage as it forms the basis of the researcher’s theological reflection on the subject under discussion among the Akan. The researcher uses Kwame Bediako’s “scripture as the hermeneutic of culture and tradition” as an interpretive tool, to interpret the Akan philosophy on homosexuality and how that compares to Paul’s concept of homosexuality. This study serves as a contribution to knowledge as it brings new insights to the ongoing discussion throughout the world regarding the understanding of human sexuality especially from cultural and biblical perspectives.

KEYWORDS: Effeminates, homosexuals, homosexuality, unrighteous, hermeneutic, culture.

“Acts of Ghana, Criminal Code 1960”. (Act 29. Section 97). Accessed on 5th August, 2018, from www.wipo.int/edocs/lexdocs/laws/en/gh/gh010en.pdf

Afriyie, Ernestina. “Theological and Pastoral Perspectives on Sexuality”, in Journal of African Christian Thought. 16. No. 2. (2013): 40-42.

Amory, Deborah P. “‘Homosexuality’ in Africa: Issues and Debates”, African Issues. Vol. 25. Issue 1. (1997), pp. 5-10. Published online: 06th May, 2016. Accessed on 20th March, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1548450500005217.

Anderson, Ray S. On Being Human: Essays in Theological Anthropology. (Grand Rapids:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982).

Anum, Eric Nii Bortey. “The Body Matters: Rights and Rites of African Sexualities and the Body in the context of 1 Cor. 6”, International Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE), 1. 8. August (2014): 92-100.

“Answers on Homosexuality – Late Evans Atta Mills vs. Akuffo Addo”. Published by Eye Ghana TV On 26th
November, 2017. Accessed on 21st March, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bPxU9FvWwU

Appiah, Peggy, Kwame Anthony Appiah, & Ivory Agyeman-Duah. Bu Me Bε: Proverbs of the Akans. (Oxfordshire, UK: Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd., 2007).

Asamoah-Gyadu, John Kwabena. “‘Homosexuality and Ritual Filth’: Christianity and Media Discussions on Alternative Sexual Lifestyle in Contemporary Africa”, in Journal of African Christian Thought. 16.2, (2013): 52-60.

Baeur, J. B. “a;rsen”, Balz, Horst and Schneider, Gerald (eds.), Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. (Michigan: W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Grand Rapids, 1990). Accessed: 16th August 2015

Balentine, Samuel E. Leviticus Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. (Louisville: John Knox Press).

Bediako-Akoto, Daniel Osei. Towards Holistic Sexual Flourishing in Africa: Another Look at Human Sexuality from a Ghanaian Christian Standpoint with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana as a Case.(Utrecht: Boekencentrum Academic, 2017).

Christaller, J. G. Dictionary of the Asante and Fante Language Called Tshi (Twi). (Basel: The Basel Evangelical Missionary Society, 1933).

Danquah, J. B. The Akan Doctrine of God: A Fragment of Gold Coast Ethics and Religion. 2nd ed. (London: Frank Cass & Co. Ltd. 1968).

Fee, Gordon D. First Epistle to the Corinthians. Revised Edition. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2014).

Furnish, Victor Paul. The Moral Teaching of Paul: Selected Issues, 3rd Ed. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2009).

Garland, David E. 1 Corinthians. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2003).

Ghana’s Constitution of 1992 with Amendments through 1996, Chapter five, Article 14, Section1, 21. Accessed on 10th August 2020. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Ghana_1996.pdf?lang=en

Harper, Kyle. From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity.(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013).

Jackson, Robert P. “There are Far more Gays in Ghana than Ghanaians Realize”. Accessed on 12th March, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AleoMQcmEk

Jones, John R. “‘In Christ There Is Neither . . .’: Toward the Unity of the Body of Christ”, in Ferguson, David et al. Christianity and Homosexuality: Some Seventh-day Adventist Perspectives. (Roseville, CA: Adventist Forum, 2008).

Laryea, Philip. “Homosexuality: A Discussion on the Position of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG)”, in Journal of African Christian Thought. 16. No. 2. (2013): 15-16.

Lear, Andrew. “Ancient Pederasty: An Introduction”, in Hubbard, Thomas K. (ed.). A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities. (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2014), 102-127.

Maxwell, James, et al., Reader’s Digest: Family Health Guide and Medical Encyclopedia based on the Medical Writings of Benjamin F. Miller, M. D. (Pleasantville, New York: The Reader’s Digest Association, 1976).

Paul, Ian. Same-Sex Unions: The Key Biblical Texts, (Cambridge: Grove Books Ltd. 2014).

Quarshie, B.Y. “Bringing the Case before the Lord: An African Response to a North American Perspective on the Bible and Human Sexuality”, in Journal of African Christian Thought. 16. No. 2. (2013): 25-29.

Strong, James. The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990).

Vine, W. E. Vine’s An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words with their Precise Meanings for English Readers. (New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985).

_____.Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers, 2000).

Wright, D. F. “Homosexuality”, in Hawthorne, Gerald F., et al. (eds.). Dictionary of Paul and His Letters: A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship. (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1993): 413-415.

Yarbrough, Robert W. “The Kingdom of God in the New Testament: Mark through the Epistles”, in Morgan, Christopher W. and Peterson, Robert A. (eds.). The Kingdom of God, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).

Zanghellini, Aleardo. The Sexual Constitution of Political Authority: The ‘Trials’ of the Same-Sex Desire.(New York: Routledge, 2015).

Rev. Dr. Ernest Nyarko is a Biblical scholar in the area of New Testament. He is a Research Fellow at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture, and doubles as a minister of the Gospel with the Methodist Church Ghana, currently in charge of Ebenezer Society, Akropong-Akuapem, Ghana.

Nyarko E. “Malakoi (Effeminates) and Avrsenokoitai (Homosexuals): A Reflection on 1 Corinthians 6:9 from a Ghanaian (Akan) Perspective,” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies, 7 no.12 (2021): 201-214  https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20217121

© 2021 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Publishers. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Articles in this Issue

About Journal