Praying for Civil Authorities (1 Tim 2:1-7): A Contextual Study (Published)
Most exegetes regard 1Timothy 2:1-7 as a general command for Christians to pray for all people and kings or rulers. This paper will demonstrate how Paul exhorts the church in Ephesus to pray for all people, including kings, in order to fulfill God’s mission of bringing salvation to all humanity in the text under consideration. In the same vein, Christians in Nigeria must equally pray for themselves and civil leaders in order to exercise their mission in a country riddled with ills that dehumanize the image of God in the human person. To elaborate on the meaning of this passage, the grammatical structure of the text will be examined. This article argues that if 1Tim. 2:1-7 is read and understood, Christians in Nigeria would know that authority comes from God to humans, therefore they would appreciate and pray for civil authorities. Hence, the work uses contextual exegetical approach. This method combines rhetorical and literary analysis in the quest for theological meaning. Furthermore, it is a synchronic approach, this is because, it seeks to co-ordinate the different levels of meaning, the literary and theological, the historical and the hermeneutical with a view to drawing out the meaning and message of biblical text at the level of its composition and for today.
Citation: Jatau P.D. (2023) Praying for Civil Authorities (1 Tim 2:1-7): A Contextual Study, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.11, No.3, pp.16-38
Keywords: Authority, Christian, Civil, Nigeria, prayer
Praying for Civil Authorities (1 Tim 2:1-7): A Contextual Study (Published)
1 Timothy 2:1-7 is regarded by most exegetes as a general command for Christians to; pray for all people and kings or rulers. This paper will show how, in the text under consideration, Paul exhorts the church in Ephesus to pray for all people, including kings, in order to fulfill God’s mission of bringing salvation to all humanity. In the same vein, Christians in Nigeria must equally pray for themselves and civil leaders in order to exercise their mission in a country riddled with ills that dehumanize the image of God in the human person. The grammatical structure of the text will be examined to expound on the meaning of this passage. This article argues that if 1Tim. 2:1-7 is read and understood, Christians in Nigeria would know that authority comes from God to humans, therefore they would appreciate and pray for civil authorities. Hence, the work uses contextual exegetical approach. This method combines rhetorical and literary analysis in the quest for theological meaning. Furthermore, it is a synchronic approach, this is because, it seeks to co-ordinate the different levels of meaning, the literary and theological, the historical and the hermeneutical with a view to drawing out the meaning and message of biblical text at the level of its composition and for today.
Keywords: Authority, Christian, Civil, Nigeria, prayer
Christian and Muslim Students’ Perspective of Music in Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education, Wa, Ghana (Published)
Citation: Samuel Komla Gene (2022) Christian and Muslim Students’ Perspective of Music in Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education, Wa, Ghana, Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Vol.10, No.2, pp.14-28
Abstract: One of the academic disciplines in the Colleges of Education Curriculum in Ghana that are structured to equip a trained teacher to fit properly at the Early Childhood Education Centers and the Basic Schools is Music and Dance. Due to its nature, it plays a dual role as a course of study and also serves as a form of entertainment during other school programmes where student music groups perform to grace the occasion. However, the study of music seems to be a bane among the students of Nusrat Jahan Ahmadiyya College of Education, Wa. They are ambivalent about receiving music instructions, probably, as a result of their religious and cultural inclination. Based on the theory of the perception and emotion of music, the author puts forward how Muslim and Christian students respond to music. Data were collected through interviews and participant observation. It is realized that Christian students embrace all forms of music but Muslim students frown on art music and the playing of Western musical instruments. They however welcome and join Christian students in the performance of traditional music and also enjoy recorded Ghanaian contemporary music. The discourse concludes that due to Muslim students’ perspectives of music, the formation and organization of music groups on campus has become burdensome.
Keywords: Christian, Muslim, Perspective, perception and emotion
EFFECTS OF PORNOGRAPHY ON CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE: AN EMPIRICAL REVIEW (Published)
Keywords: Christian, Christian Marriage, Pornography
EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND NIGERIA’S NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (1840-1960) (Review Completed - Accepted)
The socio-economic conditions of Africa during the advent of the European and American Christian missions were deplorable and piteous. This was particularly the case with that part of the continent that was later named Nigeria by the British colonial authority. To help or not to help the people economically therefore became one of the greatest problems of the missionaries owing to the vastness of the area and the large population of the people occupying it. Nevertheless, the missionaries saw the socio-economic assistance to the less-privileged and poor natives as a missionary imperative. The solution was found in the system of indirect socio-economic assistance of the converts. This was inherent in the works of all the missionary groups that brought the Christian gospel to Africa. Thus, the Christian missions laboured to develop the Nigerian nation since the 19th century. The main thrust of this paper is to objectively evaluate the general impacts of the establishment of Christian missions in Nigeria on her people and nationhood. It is aimed at challenging the Christian leaders of today to re-appraise their commitment to the social aspect of the Church’s call. While using an analytical and descriptive historical approach to the study of the activities of the Christian missions in Nigeria between the 19th and the 20th centuries, this research has discovered that the contributions of the European and American missionaries who undertook pioneer missionary work in the country have been under-estimated in earlier historical records. The missionaries actually contributed immensely to the development of Nigerians individually and corporately in many areas including Education, Medicare, Agriculture and Commerce.
Keywords: Christian, Development, Education, Missions, National