Theology of sexual purity: Reimagining child-marriages within the white garment churches in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article investigates the role of religious doctrine in sustaining child marriage in Zimbabwe, a practice that persists, despite its prohibition by the Constitutional Court in 2016. While existing literature often attributes the prevalence of child marriage to poverty and economic hardship, this research identifies the white garment churches’ theology of sexual purity as a significant
and underexamined driver. The study argues that this theology, synthesised from pre-Christian African cultural norms on sexuality and literalist interpretations of biblical texts, actively legitimises and perpetuates the practice. Furthermore, it examines how a mutually protective relationship between the white garment churches and the ruling ZANU-PF party has fostered an environment of impunity, allowing perpetrators to evade legal consequences. Through a descriptive and hermeneutic
phenomenological analysis of qualitative data, this article uncovers a direct correlation between this specific religious ideology and the normalisation of child marriage as a form of gender-based violence.