Foundations for African Theological Ethics , livre ebook

Langham Creative Projects - James Nkansah-Obrempong

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

188 pages

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Having taught on ethics in Africa for almost a decade, James Nkansah-Obrempong presents a work that goes some way to addressing the dearth of materials on ethics that combine African social, religious, cultural and moral values with biblical and theological values. Integrating these from African, Western and biblical contexts Nkansah demonstrates how important they are for dealing with contemporary moral and social issues facing the church in Africa and African societies. The book develops a theoretical, biblical and theological foundation for Theological Ethics and uses this to address the broader issues that affect the socio-political and economic life of African people and the church.

Informations

Publié par	Langham Creative Projects
Date de parution	14 mai 2013
Nombre de lectures	11
EAN13	9781907713842
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0045€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Foundations for African Theological Ethics offers an accessible and thoughtful guide to thinking about ethics in Africa. The approach is both biblical and practical and deals with many of the current challenges for Christianity in Africa. I can’t imagine a more timely topic and James Nkansah-Obrempong is just the person to write it. This is an ideal text for theological students, pastors, and especially for lay Christians who wrestle with God’s calling in contemporary Africa. Readers will be impressed both by the range of topics covered, from ecology and economics, to work and poverty, and by the clear and readable presentation of the method and biblical foundation for thinking and acting ethically.
William A. Dyrness
Dean Emeritus and Professor of Theology and Culture
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA
One of the greatest enemies of the modern African society is that it has tended to let her good things die out while it borrows from elsewhere wholesale. A more balanced approach to life in Africa would be “to maintain what is good in her, borrow the valuable from elsewhere and subject it all to the authority of Scripture”.
This work passionately points us to some fundamental African values we must cherish, alerts us to some possible pitfalls if we borrow from the West wholesale, and establishes the Biblical foundation for establishing a truly African Christian ethics for the continent.
The work is not just left at the general principles of acceptable African Christian ethics but moves on to show how those principles apply to some concrete matters as we serve the African society, noting that such things as peaceful families and communities, strong economies and good governance will bring the change needed in the Africa of today.
With so many things going wrong in Africa while there is so much good to build on for much greater Africa, I can only wish that many will take time to read this work. Our inter-personal, inter-tribal and inter-ethnic conflicts contradict what the African society is traditionally, what it should be in view of Christian influence based on Scripture, and the good to emulate from elsewhere, especially the West. It is not enough to pray for better Africa. We must work at it. Reading this piece will stimulate the reader to that end. God bless Africa and help all of us to promote a culture of love and community and not one of self-interest and endless conflicts!
Samuel M. Ngewa
Professor of New Testament
Africa International University, Karen, Kenya
The book, Foundations for African Theological Ethics by Reverend Professor James Nkansah of Africa International University (AIU), Karen, Kenya is a master piece in current African theological ethical discourse. The author started off with a great burden which states: I have come to the painful reality of lack of materials on ethics that integrates the African social, religious, cultural, and moral values with biblical and theological values. He succeeded in integrating the cultural, moral, and social values from three contexts—Africa, Western and Biblical.
This book is well researched, well thought through, systematically organized and beautifully written. Though small in comparison, it contains all that is necessary for an African Christian, and indeed, any African to have a solid foundation in African Theological Ethics. As a theologian and social ethicist myself, this very author fascinates me with his style and approach which has effectively laid a solid foundation in theological ethics for African Christians. As I read this book through, I found it refreshing, informative, creative, innovative and yet critical of the products of theological ethics in Africa. The author synthesized and systematized his theological ethical reflection by drawing a lot from three very important traditions and sources, namely, African, Western and Biblical. The author demonstrated vast knowledge of these three great traditions. He also demonstrated his scholarship and skills in constructing a theological ethical foundation for use by Africans. With this synthesized, systematized and constructed theological ethical base, he then turned to use it to address, evaluate, analyze and critique the social ethical issues emanating from the pairs of select social factors as applied in Africa, the pairs of: politics and governance; economics and poverty; work and unemployment; righteousness/justice and morality; ethnicity and reconciliation; ecology and care of creation; culture and family and Biblical law and African Legal systems.
The significance of this book lies in its theological ethical methodology. The author rooted his synthesis, systematization and construction of theological ethics from the three traditions in the Triune God. The nature, attributes and the moral character of God are the primary foundation of theological ethics. This is what makes morality and ethics of character superior to all ethics at the level of outer acts and deeds.
I recommend this book to university and theological students, pastors, and all those who are interested in theological ethics discourse in Africa.
Yusufu Turaki
Professor of Theology and Social Ethics
Director of the Centre for the Study of Religion, Church and Society
Jos ECWA Theological Seminary, Jos, Nigeria

Foundations for African Theological Ethics
James Nkansah-Obrempong

© 2013 by James Nkansah-Obrempong
Published 2013 by Langham Monographs
an imprint of Langham Creative Projects
Langham Partnership
PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langham.org
ISBNs:
978-1-907713-16-3 Print
978-1-907713-85-9 Mobi
978-1-907713-84-2 ePub
James Nkansah-Obrempong has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
James Nkansah-Obrempong.
Foundations for African Theological Ethics
1. Christian ethics--Africa.
2. Africa--Religious life and customs.
I. Title
241-dc23
ISBN-13: 9781907713163
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and a scholars right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth, and works referenced within this publication or guarantee its technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

Converted to eBook by EasyEPUB
Contents

Cover

Introduction

Defining some key Terms

Part 1

Foundations for African Theological Ethics

Chapter 1 The Anthropological, Social, and Religious Foundations of African Ethics and Morality

Introduction

The nature of African morality and ethics

African moral values as bases for character development

How character is developed

The significance and implications of African ethical and moral values for Christian ethical reflection

Conclusion

Chapter 2 Foundations of Western Morality/Ethics

Introduction

Religious and philosophical traditions and western morality

The legacy of Protestantism and enlightenment

The nature of western ethical and moral values

The influence of philosophical thought on western ethical theories

Deontological or non-consequential approaches to morality

Teleological or consequential approaches to morality

Utilitarian theories of moral reasoning

Character and virtue ethical theories/approaches

The relationship between the foundations of African and western ethics

Significance and implications of the findings for Christian ethical reflection in Africa

Conclusion

Chapter 3 Human Nature and the Moral Life

Introduction

African views of human nature and its impact on morality

Western views of human nature: the idealist and humanistic views of human nature and their impact on morality

The Biblical views of human nature

The implications of biblical view of humanity for morality

The corruption of sin in the “inward being” makes the moral life impossible

The indwelling sin in the human body makes the moral life impossible

Conclusion

Chapter 4 Foundations for Biblical and Theological Ethics: Old Testament

Introduction

The foundations of biblical and theological ethics

The nature and character of Old Testament ethics and morality

Biblical ethics was grounded on the authority of God’s laws/word not in