The Doctrine of Soteriology from a Comparative Perspective

Although the doctrine of soteriology (salvation) is core to Christianity, it has divided ecclesiology for over five centuries, since the Protestant reformation of the sixteenth century. There is a misunderstanding on the role of grace and works of faith in the process of attaining salvation, especially between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants, particularly the Lutherans. The misunderstandings have been visible in the process of teaching and practice of this doctrine to their respective memberships; and many Christians are in dilemma in regard to work or not to work so as to earn salvation. The teaching on justification that leads to salvation deals with how both grace and works are involved in the process that leads to salvation. The use of the Hegelian dialect, in this article, helps us to find and propose a common way of understanding soteriology. It also guides us in understanding the teachings from the proponents of salvation by grace alone and from those who antagonistically propose that both God’s grace and a believer’s works play a role in God’s salvific plan in an individual. We therefore aim at finding a way of teaching Christians in our contemporary world in matters regarding soteriology from its doctrinal perspectives. It is anticipated that this will help in addressing the rift that obtains in the teaching of the doctrine of soteriology. Hence, this article will strive to shed more light on how one could receive justification in order to be in God’s salvific plan.

Christ’s Seer Office in the South Sudanese Context

Christ's Seer Office (CSO) has a hotchpotch of controversies encompassing it. Among these polemical trajectories that obtains in these controversies is the African’s prophetic office. This is certainly due to the close parallelism that CSO matches the prophetic office of Christ. In the South Sudanese context, some African communities view Christ as a magician, medicine practitioner, or a traditional healer. This misconception should not be taken lightly. It needs a deeper introspection from the African Christian theologians, as the concerned communities may abandon the church and revert to their ancestral shrines for worship. The Nuer in South Sudan has embraced prophet Ngundeng as their Christ just because of some similarities that exist between Christ’s Seer Office and Ngundeng. This article fully reconnoitered the two prophetic offices by comparing them by using the principle of Nexus mysteriorum and Analogia entis to enhance the Nuer understanding of Christ. In its findings, this article reveals Christ as a prophet; the whom all the Old Testament prophets prefigured in their speeches and actions. Moreover, the study concluded that Jesus is Nuer’s Ngundeng par excellence.

Sabbath Observance in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic

The study of the nature of the church1 is very significant to the body of Christ. Often, when this subject is introduced, Christians tend to ask: which is the true church and how can it be identified? Most churches claim to be the only ‘true church’ based on their teachings and this has continued to divide the body of Christ across the centuries. The Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church has maintained the physical observance of the Sabbath to be one of the marks2 of identifying the ‘true church,’ yet the church fathers described the church as One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. The SDA uses the Sabbath worship as a mark of identifying a ‘true church’ alongside the four attributes; and on the other hand, those churches that do not worship on Saturday regards the SDA’s emphasis of worshipping on Saturday as ‘worshipping the day’ rather than the almighty God. Besides this, misunderstandings have been encountered between the SDA and the so-called Sunday churches concerning the issue of what constitutes the true Sabbath. The study employs the dialogical-ecclesiological design in its bid to understand the contestations between the SDA and the ‘Sunday churches’ and in its building on the premise that dialogue is critical in our endeavor to find a new understanding and re-interpretation of the Sabbath, as one of the marks of a true church. The crucial question remains: can the observance of physical Sabbath be considered as one of the key marks of knowing the ‘true Church’?

Walking the Talk

This article sets out to celebrate the lifetimes of John Mararo Gachoki (1948-2021), an educationist turned cleric and scholar. As a scholar, he employed oral techniques in theo-socio-scholarly discourses, and stands out as a narrating public theologian. Mararo-Gachoki who died after a motor accident on Monday evening, 3 May 2021, was a fine scholar with at least four major publications. In these publications, the article argues, he appealed to the power of memory in his socio-scholarly works. With oral history methods coming in form of autobiographies, biographies, festschrifts, memoirs, novels playbooks, satire, caricature, mimicry, oral speeches, and in literary works that mock certain unpleasant communal realities, Mararo-Gachoki’s publications are a clear demonstration that modern scholarship has to factor on oral discourses. In its methodology, this article analyses critical materials that are relevant in reconstructing the memory of Mararo-Gachoki, as we focus on his pet theme: Walk the talk. In our socio-scholarly world, how can we demonstrate the challenge of walking the talk? How did Mararo-Gachoki walk the talk, in his service to God and humanity, and how does it inform the twenty-first century? What vital lessons can we draw from his lifetimes?

Combating Civil Wars in Africa

The Twentieth and twenty first centuries have been described as the age of anxiety. This is largely due to the many civil wars and conflicts that have been prevalent in our contemporary world, and especially with special reference to Africa which is the worst hit. In particular, armed conflicts been witnessed in Angola, Ethiopia Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan among others. Equally, civil wars have been witnessed in Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Sudan. Sadly, some of these States are at the verge of collapse due to the effect of these unfortunate civil wars and conflicts. Other countries that were affected by civil or ethnic conflicts, albeit at lower levels include: Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Malawi, Senegal, and South Africa. The latter has witnessed xenophobic attacks, especially in May 2008. Terrorism activities have also Increased, as it continues to create tensions among nations, religions, tribes and so on. To this end, this article seeks to explore the causes of civil wars and conflicts in Africa, that bleeds poverty on a mass scale. How can the church participate in curbing these wars and conflicts, and eventually usher-in sanity in these troubled waters? In its methodology, this article strives to redefine war and discusses the characteristics of modern warfare. Through an extensive review of relevant literature, the article has also attempted to explore the place of individual persons, the nation-states and the international network systems in combating civil wars; and lastly, it has endeavored to show the contribution of the church in wrestling out all forms of conflicts in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Child Friendly Environments in Norway and the Kenyan Contexts

The article explores the experiences of children within Norway and the Kenyan contexts. The main aim is to explore how a child-friendly context inspires honest behaviours. What ignited the interests in this comparative area is the study on 'civic honesty around the globe.' The article employs different techniques such as narratives analysis, observation, interview, and literature analysis so as to address the question under consideration. The findings presentthe subtle meaning of honesty from the Kenyan context and does not prepare children for honesty. Lastly, the article has made recommendations on the approaches that will ingrain the culture of honesty that is ideally inculcated in child friendly environments. Such comparative analysis will inform the future discourses, especially in the Kenyan context where Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) is taking shape.

Alcohol Abuse

The article sets out to examine the correlation between the drinking problem that has beset youth of Central Kenya and the oaths that were taken by residents in the region in the wake of the struggle for socio-political and economic independence (in 1950s). It is worthwhile to recall that the Mau Mau philosophy discouraged the abuse of drugs, and especially alcohol. It was the belief that the breach of oaths spelt calamity. The youth might disassociate themselves from beliefs of their fathers and forefathers. However, since most of them are Christians, nominal or practical, they should be awed because the bible has it that, ‘’. . . I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation . . .’’ (Deuteronomy 5:9). Characteristically, the communities in Central Kenya share many aspects of culture, especially beliefs and religious practices. For example, breach of oaths was a taboo. The article seeks to establish the connection between the high degree of alcohol abuse to the violation of oaths that the Mau Mau (freedom fighters) patriots took before and during the State of Emergency (1952-1960). Certainly, anything taboo was ominous. Mau Mau agitated for independence, and more importantly, the return of land, the bond that bound together the living, the dead and the unborn. Land was seen in our indigenous society as sacred and it was not to change hands in any way. Mau Mau took oaths to the effect that whoever breached it would attract catastrophe, including death. In view of this, the article would seek to establish if the drinking problem in the Mount Kenya (central) region is a consequence of breaching Mau Mau oaths.

Single Parenting and the Emotions of Adolescents in Secondary Schools Examining the Case of Eldoret Municipality, Kenya

The article sets out to demonstrate the influence of single parenting on the emotions of adolescents in secondary schools in Eldoret Municipality. It sets on the premise that the family is the basic functional social unit in determining the healthy growth and development of children. That emotional wellbeing of the child is significantly tied to the parenting styles and skills. In its methodology, it employs the descriptive study design. Computer programmes, both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analyses. The descriptive statistics used in analysis includes means, frequencies and percentages, whereas inferential statistics were t-test for independent samples and Chi-square tests; with results of the analysis showed that there was non-significant difference. Students from single parent families and those from two parent families do not differ in their emotional level t(279) =-.49,P =.626. It is theoretically informed by Erik Erikson’s (1982) theory of psychosocial development. The central argument of Erikson’s theories emphasizes on the importance of early childhood experiences on later growth and development of the child. Erikson (1968) hypothesized that the personality of an individual forms as the ego progresses through a series of interrelated stages. Each of these ego stages has critical period of development. Personality develops in a series of turning points, which he described in terms of dichotomous of desirable qualities and dangers. The study findings provided a basis for equipping teachers, couples, single parents, policy makers and organization dealing with children on psychological well-being and adolescents from single families and those from intact families.

Ecclesia Anglicana Conference of September 2020

As the first wave of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) was being experienced in Kenya since 13 March 2020, when a 27-year-old Kenyan woman became the first person to be diagnosed with it, some Anglicans in Kenya were contrariwise overcoming the shock, that went with it, as they undertook noble intellectual activities. As numbers went on soaring, and as some celebrated artists, scholars, clerics, and other cadres of society became early casualties of Covid-19, an Ecclesia Anglicana was boldly entering the ecclesiastical market-place with new rhythms hitherto unknown in Kenya’s historiography. In other words, a theo-ecclesial creativity was cooking in an African pot, and cooking well from the nethermost depths of the Ocean floor, rather than from the top stratums. While the revolutionary trigger was set on 6 August 2017, it had to await the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919 before it picked up its momentum. Put it differently, the momentum picked up astoundingly during Kenya’s Covid-19 lockdown, as two major conferences were successfully held during this chilling moment. The first major webinars’ conference was held on 26 August 2020; while the second one was held on 16 September 2020. Characteristically, the two conferences made a bold attempt at understanding the Anglican ecclesiology by cooking it from the local resources and spiced it up through the modern science and technology. Was it a protest against theo-intellectual lockdown cutting across the continent, a phenomenon where a casual observation shows that social and ecclesial leadership has largely attracted the less intellectually-inclined sons and daughters of the land? Methodologically, this article seeks to explore, and indeed make a survey of Ecclesia Anglicana and attempt to understand it beyond the founders’ perspectives, after interviews with some of them, and make an informed analysis. Second, this article will attempt to show how Ecclesia Anglicana is ushering in a new rhythm, as it beats the drums of science and technology, modern communication and social media platforms, and hopefully change the status quo for the better. It appears that nothing will slow down this rapid tempo; for if the pandemic has not, what else can do so? Third, the article will focus more on the 16 September 2020 webinar conference which, in my view, was the most climactic moment for Ecclesia Anglicana since 2017 when the idea was mooted and subsequently released to the public square for broader consumption. Will Ecclesia Anglicana help in building a more informed and/or an intellectually engaging Kenyan Anglican society?

Land Pollution in Kenya

Article 69 (d) of Kenya’s Constitution (2010) encourages public participation in the management, protection, and conservation of the environment. In the context of eco-theology, this article seeks to explore the efficacy of the Christian doctrine of creation in to curbing the evidential land pollution in Kenya. Basically, air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution are the three major kinds of environmental pollution in the world. The term land pollution means the degradation (destruction) of the earth’s surface and soil via human activities. Land pollution is a major problem in Kenya that is caused by various factors such as deforestation and soil erosion, agriculture, industry, mining, landfills, illegal dumping of waste, and construction activities. Some of its devastating effects in Kenya include: water pollution, soil pollution, air pollution, human health problems, decline of tourism, and so forth. Thus, land pollution poses a serious threat to all Kenyans, a phenomenon that serves to justify the necessity of this article. As a doctrinal response, this article endeavours to unveil the Christian doctrine of creation and how it can be utilised to curb the ongoing land pollution in Kenya. In its methodology, this article reviews the appropriate and relevant literature on pollution and eco-theological approach, the exegetical method, the legal-constitutional basis of addressing the subject, and the use of archival resources.