PRINCIPLES OF PARENTING IN THE BIBLICAL OLD TESTAMENT AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN SOCIETY

ABSTRACT

This work embodies an in-depth examination of the principles of parenting in the Old Testament and their significance to modern-day society. Particular reference was made to Deuteronomy 6: 4-9. In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy stands out as the book that contains the laws guiding family and social lives of the people. The book of Deuteronomy lays down the principles of parenting, which runs through the whole Old Testament. Parenting is seen as the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, intellectual and moral development of a child from infancy to adulthood. In the Old Testament/Traditional society, parenting responsibility went beyond biological/foster parents to include contributions from all members of the nuclear and extended family, members of one’s kindred and the entire community. They play specific roles at different stages of a child’s life towards his or her overall well-being in the society. Canonical Criticism of biblical studies and interpretation was adopted as the methodology for the study. This critical method builds upon the foundation of earlier methods and further portrays the Bible as a comprehensive collection of canonical writings that is sacred and normative in various communities of faith. This implies that the law given in Deuteronomy indicating the norms of training a child from infancy to adulthood is binding and encompasses the dictum for an egalitarian and cohesive society. Information was sourced through literature review, oral interview and personal observation. In its analysis of the quantum of available data, this work shows that the Biblical pattern for building a society devoid of corruption, indiscipline and violence is through the process of inculcating strong moral standards. This became apparent because the Old Testament consistently links proper parenting to a healthy society. However, the study found that poor parenting is one of the major causes of moral decadence in the contemporary society. The prevalent model of parenting today is grossly inadequate because many parents tend to be passive about their parenting responsibilities. The Biblical principles of child upbringing as contained in the Old Testament squarely located the hub of social cohesion and development on the pedestal of strong family values that were transmitted and sustained by active and proper parenting. Some principles of parenting from the Old Testament that can be applied to the Nigerian context include catechetical dogmatism and the appropriate interpretation and use of the rod. Hence, this work put forward the Old Testament ideal of parenting as a model for the present Nigerian society in order to alleviate the problems facing the nation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page ——————————————————————————————i

Requirement page ——————————————————————————-ii

Approval page ———————————————————————————–iii

Clarification page ——————————————————————————-iv

Dedication —————————————————————————————-v

Acknowledgments——————————————————————————-vi

Abstract—————————————————————————————– viii

Table of contents———————————————————————————ix

CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ———————————————————1

1.1       Background of the Study ————————————————————–1

 1.2      Statement of the Problem—————————————————————4

 1.3      Objectives of the Study——————————————————————6

1.4       Methodology —————————————————————————–7

 1.5      Significance of Study——————————————————————–8

 1.6      Scope of Study and Limitation——————————————————-10

 1.7      Definition of Key and Related Terms———————————————–12

CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW————————————————21

2.1 The Family as a Social Structure——————————————————–21

2.2 Understanding the Concept of a Child ————————————————-28

2.3 The Concept of Parenting —————————————————————-32

2.4 Contemporary Outlooks on Parenting ————————————————–34

2.5 Parenting in the Old Testament ———————————————————39

2.6 Summary of the Literature Review ——————————————————49

CHAPTER 3 – THE CHALLENGES OF PARENTING IN THE 21^ST CENTURY ————————————————————————————-51

3.1 Factors that Affect Parenting in the 21^st Century ————————————–55

3.1.1 Unemployment, Work and Time      ————————————————–56

3.1.2 Child Rights    —————————————————————————-58

3.1.3 Poor Parenting Skills ——————————————————————–60

3.1.4 Single Parenthood ———————————————————————–61

3.1.5 Influence of Peer Group —————————————————————-63

3.1.6 Poverty and Economic Challenges —————————————————-68

3.1.7 Television and Home Movies ———————————————————-70

3.1.8 Internet and Modernization ————————————————————73

3.2 Basic Principles to Help Parents Overcome Parental Challenges ———75

3.3 Modern Parenting Styles ——————————————————————79

3.3.1 Authoritative Parenting Style ———————————————————-80

3.3.2 Authoritarian Parenting Style ———————————————————-81

3.3.3 Permissive or Indulgent Parenting ————————————————83

3.3.4 Uninvolved Parenting Style ————————————————————84

CHAPTER 4 – EXEGESIS, IMAGERY AND SYMBOLISM OF PARENTAL IDEAS  FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT—-———————————86

4.1 Exegesis of Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 and its Essence to Parenting in the Old Testament ————————————————————————————————86

4.2 Fundamental Parenting Principles in the Old Testament————-100

4.3 The Concept of Imagery and Symbolism in the Old Testament———-103

4.4 Biblical Imagery and Symbolism Portrayed in Deuteronomy. 6:6-9 —-105

4.4.1 Mezuzah ——————————————————————————–107

4.4.2 Tefillin ———————————————————————————–109

4.5 The Significance of Imagery and Symbolism in Deut. 6:6-9 to 21^st Century Parents—110

CHAPTER 5 – CATECHETICAL DOGMATISM: THE PARENTING INDICATIVE OF DEUTERONOMY 6:6-9 AND PROVERBS. 22:6 ———- 119

5.1 Catechetical Dogmatism in the Light of Deut. 6: 6-9 ————————119

5.2 Catechetical Dogmatism: A Parental Indicative of Deuteronomy 6:6-9 —-126

5.3 The Implication of Biblical Principles to the Contemporary Society —131

5.4 The Effects of Neglecting Biblical Principles of Parenting ————145

CHAPTER 6 – SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ———————————-148

6.1 General Assessment ——————————————————————–148

6.2 Suggestions for further Study ———————————————————-150

6.3 Recommendations and Conclusion ————————————————–151

Bibliography ———————————————————————————156

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.1       Background to the Study

Parenting involves the process of nurturing and building up the physical, emotional, social, intellectual and moral life of a child from infancy to adulthood. Proper parenting is therefore, an integral part of transferring social norms to, and raising responsible citizens among, younger generations. This explains why the Old Testament aptly links proper parenting to a healthy and well-organized society (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). However, poor parenting has become a common, universal problem that threatens the well-being and survival of contemporary societies. More-so, several other social problems that are rampart in the modern era are by-products of the problem of poor parenting. Yet, the Bible is a rich source of good parenting models. Particularly, the Old Testament writings contain patterns of parenting that tend towards raising children who are wholesome individuals and who go on to ensure a healthy society. This goes on to reveal God’s intention to build human societies that are devoid of corruption, indiscipline and violence. Furthermore, it lays the foundation for each individual member of the family and society to be humane, patriotic and constructive.

Currently in the Nigerian society, there is a general decline in the standard of morality among the citizenry and President Goodluck E. Jonathan in Ombe (2012) attributed the problem to the lack of right attitude to issues and realities of life among the citizenry. Even-though this ugly trend of moral depravity and negative outlook to life cuts across the age groups, Okoye (2012) maintains that it is more ravaging

among the youths in Nigeria. The implication is that young people are at the centre of the high and increasing levels of social vices such as prostitution, armed robbery, corruption and general insecurity. This point is also buttressed by Mariety (2009) who observes that the youths in Nigeria are involved, and in most cases in the vanguard, of violent conflicts that have occurred in different parts of the country in recent times. This primarily implies that the major problem with the Nigerian society is structural in the sense that something is apparently going wrong at the home front and the nation is feeling its effects in terms of youth dysfunction and depravity, which dovetails into various other social and moral problems. The bigger effect of this problem leads to the observation of Nwabueze in Edike (2013) that Nigeria is on the verge of becoming a failed state. According to him,

This country is on the verge of becoming a failed state, there are so many failed states in Africa and Nigeria is on the verge of getting that status of a failed state. Before now, we did not know about kidnapping, but it has become a way of life. Did we know about bombings before? But today, churches, schools, offices are being bombed on daily basis, the worst is that the bombers are not coming from outside the country, we are bombing ourselves. A nation that cannot provide a credible election for her people is a failed state; in 2003, 2011 we had no credible elections, yet we are talking about democracy. A country that cannot secure social and economic rights for her people is a failed state. Read chapter 2 of Nigeria’s constitution and you will understand what I am taking about, they are not leaders but looters.