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Toward a Theological Response to Prostitution: Listening to the Voices of Women Affected by Prostitution and of Selected Church Leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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Toward a Theological Response to Prostitution: Listening to the Voices of Women Affected by Prostitution and of Selected Church Leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Middlesex University Research Repository An open access repository of Middlesex University research http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk Singh, Jennifer (2018) Toward a theological response to prostitution: listening to the voices of women affected by prostitution and of selected church leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. PhD thesis, Middlesex University / Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. [Thesis] Final accepted version (with author’s formatting) This version is available at: https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/25959/ Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University’s research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this work are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners unless otherwise stated. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Works, including theses and research projects, may not be reproduced in any format or medium, or extensive quotations taken from them, or their content changed in any way, without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). They may not be sold or exploited commercially in any format or medium without the prior written permission of the copyright holder(s). Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author’s name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pag- ination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award. If you believe that any material held in the repository infringes copyright law, please contact the Repository Team at Middlesex University via the following email address: [email protected] The item will be removed from the repository while any claim is being investigated. See also repository copyright: re-use policy: http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/policies.html#copy Toward a Theological Response to Prostitution: Listening to the Voices of Women Affected by Prostitution and of Selected Church Leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Jennifer Andrea Singh OCMS, Ph.D. August 2018 ABSTRACT This feminist, qualitative research project explores how the voices of women affected by prostitution in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and of selected evangelical church leaders in that city, could contribute to a life- affirming theological response to prostitution. The thesis engages sociological and theological sources to interpret the data gathered; contextual Bible study sessions provided access to the women’s voices, and semi-structured interviews revealed church leaders’ perspectives. During conversations with the women, six core themes emerged, reflecting their contextual understanding of the social and theological ramifications of prostitution: their entrance into prostitution; God; sin; humanity (Christian anthropology); justice; and the church. The women articulated that: 1) prostitution was a means of survival; 2) God is a protective figure in their lives; 3) sin is equated with prostitution and uncleanliness; 4) humanity is rejecting; 5) injustice is a normalised experience; and 6) they are unwelcome in the church due to their status as ‘sinners,’ and have few expectations that the Christian church or its leaders would help them exit prostitution. These themes reportedly resonated with interviewed church leaders, who expressed empathy for the women. Bringing both sets of voices together in a discussion of the Story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), however, revealed several theological deficiencies held by the evangelical church that currently impede the formation of a life-affirming theological response to prostitution. These deficiencies primarily involve an excessively narrow understanding of sin, salvation, and repentance in light of the Kingdom of God. This thesis offers a theological response to these specific deficiencies, based on an appropriation of the Peter and Cornelius story (Acts 10:1-48) to the evangelical church in Addis Ababa. This study contributes new understanding about the gift that women affected by prostitution have to offer to the evangelical church in Addis Ababa. The insights of all of the participants in this study draw attention to an expanded, Biblical view of salvation in light of the Kingdom of God, a vision that places responsibility on the community of faith to mediate God’s holistic program of restoration for the full human being. Further areas of study could include voices of other key stakeholders within the wider Christian church in Ethiopia to address additional theological deficiencies that impede a life-affirming theological response to women affected by prostitution. Toward a Theological Response to Prostitution: Listening to the Voices of Women Affected by Prostitution and of Selected Evangelical Church Leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by Jennifer Andrea Singh BA (Trinity Western University, Canada) MDiv (Regent College, Canada) A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Middlesex University August 2018 Oxford Centre for Mission Studies DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to two very important women in my life who left this world far too early, but who left a legacy of what it means to live for the glory of God’s Kingdom that has come and is coming: My beloved mother, Veena Singh (1955 – 2015) and My dear friend and sister, Hareg Zihon (1973 – 2014) i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I give glory to the Lord Jesus Christ for the privilege to have been able to do this work, and for His enabling grace that has sustained me through every stage of this project. I would like to thank my family and friends, for their steadfast love, encouragement, and prayerful support for me and this research. My father, Rajcoomar Singh, visited Ethiopia twice during my research and has been a faithful sounding board over all of the years we have spent living on different continents. My Ellilta Women at Risk (EWAR) family were instrumental to catalysing this research and walking faithfully beside me over the course of this long journey. EWAR has modelled what the Family of God, on earth, looks like and have continually inspired me by their incarnated love for women affected by prostitution for over twenty-years. This research would not have been possible without their generosity, care, hospitality, or Fantu’s shiro wot, and buna be wutet. I would especially like to thank all of the people that participated in this research project, the Flamingo and EWAR Women who allowed me the privilege of being a part of their lives and have imparted a clearer vision of what the Kingdom of God is supposed to look on earth, as it is in heaven. I am grateful for all of the evangelical church leaders who graciously gave of their time to participate in this research. I am indebted to all of my research informants and assistants, particularly Aynalem (China), who taught me how to attend to the voices represented in this project, and with patient forbearance, coped with my Amharic. My research supervisors, Dr. Elaine Storkey and Dr. Kate Tomas, have shaped and challenged me by their theological expertise and wealth of life experiences among vulnerable women. I am deeply grateful for all of their assistance in this project. I would like to thank all of the good people who prayerfully and financially supported me over the course of my three years of living in Ethiopia. Their kindness and generosity have blessed this project in ways that they could not have even asked for or imagined. A special thanks must be given to the Missionary Health Institute (Toronto) and the following churches in Canada who all stood by me in some of the darkest moments of my life, that occurred during the course of this research: Valley View Alliance Church (Newmarket), Tenth Avenue Alliance Church (Vancouver), Summit Alliance Church (Richmond Hill), GoodTree Christian Fellowship (Calgary), and All Saints Anglican Church (Cochrane). My Samaritan’s Purse (SPC) family deserves a special mention. SPC introduced me to EWAR ten years ago and for over twelve years, gave me the opportunity to participate in meaningful work with vulnerable women around the world. The organisational DNA of ‘going to the hard places’ will always be an integral part of who I am, and I am so thankful that you continue to love, support, and cheer for me in this new stage of my life. I would like to thank my Ambrose University community for all of their encouragement to see this project to completion. I am indebted to my colleagues who have provided significant practical support in the final write-up of the project, particularly my dear friends in Cochrane who have surrounded me with love and prayers during the most solitary moments of this project. One of the most important notes of appreciation have been saved for the end, and that is to my OCMS community. This project would have never happened if it had not been for the financial aid, countless hours of one-on-one advising, prayer, friendship, and deep love that the OCMS community has extended to me. I am particularly grateful for Dr. Bill and Ky Prevette and Dr. David Singh. I wish to also express my sincere appreciation for my dear host-parents in Oxford, Dr. Paul and Ruth Taylor, who have provided me with a home and a family in the UK for the past six years. I am so grateful for all of you. ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is
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