No programme of research on Christian marriage and family life in Africa, before or since, has come anywhere near to rivalling in scale or scope the Churches' Research on Marriage in Africa (CROMIA) It was an international and ecumenical project of sociology, theological and pastoral research, which had a profound impact on subsequent discussions at official and unofficial levels in the participating Churches, and on the shaping of their pastoral policies. This book is a re-edition of the final report of the five-year CROMIA project. This edition has not benefited by further specific research. It remains the original report on the research that was carried out in the 1970s. The project itself bore special reference to Eat, Central and Southern Africa, where the research was carried out, but there was also a general reference, through the project, to the rest of the African continent. The book represents an attempt by Africa to do her own socio-religious research and to respond theologically to her own social problems. It is meant in particular for pastors, the religious teacher and social worker, as well as to the various levels of leadership in the Churches.