Encounterological competence: an effective missiological tool for Christian participation in Nigerian politics

IF 0.4 0 RELIGION Practical Theology Pub Date : 2023-11-07 DOI:10.1080/1756073x.2023.2271740
Benjamin Isola Akano
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Abstract

The call for Nigerian Christians to be actively involved in politics has gained momentum recently. Unfortunately, there is little focus on how Christians can appropriately engage their political space as Christ's witnesses. Encounterology is the interactions or encounters of the Christian faith, as witness, with other faiths. The writer argued that Christian politicians must be encounterologically competent to be the light amid the darkness of Nigeria's political space. Considering three perspectives of Christian relationships in a pluralistic context like Nigeria – isolation, assimilation and engagement, he presented engagement as a practical option for Christian politician to maintain their identity and remain effective in their holistic mission of bringing shalom to the world. As a Missiological tool, encounterology guides the Christian to have effective face-to-face, shoulder-to-shoulder, and back-to-back faith encounters with people of religious other who possibly have divergent ideas about politics and governance. He leveraged J. N. J. Kritzinger's seven dimensions of faith-to-faith encounter – personal agency, context analysis, ecclesial analysis, theology of religion, spirituality, practical project, and reflectivity, to explicate encounterological competence in the political space. Suggesting that politics is not for baby or weak Christians, he advocated that the leadership of churches and denominations must encourage and equip their members in this regard. He also advocated that theological schools must establish specific curriculums in this regard so that take theology beyond professional academy to the public arena.
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相遇能力:基督徒参与尼日利亚政治的有效宣教工具
呼吁尼日利亚基督徒积极参与政治的呼声最近愈演愈烈。不幸的是,很少有人关注基督徒如何作为基督的见证人适当地参与他们的政治空间。相遇学是基督教信仰作为见证人与其他信仰的互动或相遇。作者认为,基督教政治家必须具备应对能力,才能成为尼日利亚黑暗政治空间中的光明。考虑到在尼日利亚这样的多元化背景下基督徒关系的三种观点——孤立、同化和参与,他提出参与是基督教政治家保持其身份并有效履行其将平安带给世界的整体使命的一个实际选择。作为一种宣教工具,相遇学引导基督徒与其他可能对政治和治理有不同看法的宗教人士进行有效的面对面、肩并肩和背靠背的信仰相遇。他利用克里辛格关于信仰与信仰相遇的七个维度——个人能动性、语境分析、教会分析、宗教神学、灵性、实践计划和反思性——来解释政治空间中的相遇能力。他认为政治不是为幼稚或软弱的基督徒准备的,他主张教会和教派的领导必须在这方面鼓励和装备他们的成员。他还主张神学院必须在这方面建立具体的课程,以便将神学从专业学院带到公众舞台。
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来源期刊
Practical Theology
Practical Theology RELIGION-
CiteScore
3.10
自引率
25.00%
发文量
79
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