ABSTRACT In recent years, the religious dimension of life has become a central issue in develop-ment discourse, but it has been generally ignored or dismissed by development policy-makers. Recent events, however, suggest that religion has become an important force in the world. Religion shows no sign of diminishing in public importance as some de-velopment theorists have universally claimed. In fact, in Africa, religion constitutes the foundation of upliftment and transformation of lives. In ...
ABSTRACT For the Krobo, death is considered a calamity. They say, gbenɔ yi mi wa (death is wicked), so ke i na amane tsoɔ i ko wo he la (if I had seen ‘death tree,’ I would have set fire to it). Similar concepts about death can be found in some NT communities. An example was the Johannine community confronted with the problem of justifying death in the community of eternal life (11:37) and how the death of believers is to be understood and faced in this life. If Jesus is truly present, ...
ABSTRACT Paul in Eph. 4:1-16 exhorts the believers to maintain the unity that has been initiated by the Holy Spirit through the redemptive and reconciliatory work of Christ. He identifies the essence of the unity to be rooted in the existence of a sevenfold uniform creedal ele-ments shared by the believers. Each believer has received a gift according to the measure of Christ’s grace. Christ has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as leadership gifts to the church, wi...
ABSTRACT Ghana has not been left out of the worldwide outburst of Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. Its impact has been felt on Ghanaian Christianity today. The African Independent Churches (AICs) popularly referred in literature as sunsum sore (Spiritual Churches) which emerged in the 1930s is one strand of Ghanaian Pentecostalism. It has undergone renewals, changes and developments over the years. This thesis investigated the Musama Disco Christo Church (MDCC) and Apostles‟ Revelation Soc...
ABSTRACT For many decades, sacred spaces have become an indispensable part of individuals and collective spirituality. The Roman Catholic Church is not left out in this form of spirituality. The Grottos have become places where some Catholics and also, nonCatholics go to ‘wait upon the Lord’ and to seek spiritual nourishment, growth and breakthroughs in their lives. This study has examined one of such sacred spaces, particularly, the Sacred Heart of Jesus Grotto in Jerusalem No.2 in the N...
ABSTRACT In recent years, the religious dimension of life has become a central issue in development discourse, but it has been generally ignored or dismissed by development policymakers. Recent events, however, suggest that religion has become an important force in the world. Religion shows no sign of diminishing in public importance as some development theorists have universally claimed. In fact, in Africa, religion constitutes the foundation of upliftment and transformation of lives. In eff...
ABSTRACT After several debates on whether or not women should be ordained in the Presbyterian Church Ghana (PCG), the church eventually ordained women into the clergy and assigned them roles. However, in performing their roles the ordained women ministers are faced with some challenges which are based on socio-cultural, theological and psychological factors. This thesis sets out to investigate the reasons for the scarcity of information about the post ordination activities of women as clergy ...
ABSTRACT There seem, in the 21st century, to be a new generation of women leaders who are playing major leadership roles, such as becoming pastors and establishing their own churches. Previous women’s leadership was confined to leading women, children and groups within their churches. This research seeks to investigate the factors influencing the changing status of women in the Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches. It also examines the leadership roles of Pentecostalist women. The research ...
ABSTRACT Sacred space is common to almost every religion in the world. A sacred space is a place set apart from a secular space for holy use. In this study, two classifications of sacred spaces have been given, the natural and the man-made, but this study is focused on the man-made sacred spaces. Particularly, the study seeks to examine the Ghanaian Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches’ understanding of sacred space regarding their places of worship. This is against the backdrop of the prolifer...
ABSTRACT The Nima/Mamobi Muslim communities for several years has a traditional method of counselling prospective Muslim couples in the community, however due the challenges of this method there is an introduction of formal premarital counselling centres . This is basically what has aroused the researcher‟s interest. The aim of this research is to highlight the roles of Imams, Muslim scholars, Aluwanka, and relatives of the bride as traditional premarital counsellor and that of Hajia Memuna...
ABSTRACT A key issue worthy of academic attention in the study of the Muslim experience in the postindependence Ghana is the proliferation of new religious movements. These new religious movements found their way in Ghana in consequence of Ghana’s diplomatic relations with some Islamic states such as Egypt and Libya from North Africa, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran from the Middle East. For the first time. Muslims in the post-independence Ghana came in touch wi...
ABSTRACT The Church of Pentecost (CoP) is one of the fastest growing churches in Ghana. In the last decade, the church has encouraged ministers to undertake theological studies to reach an in-depth understanding of the tenets of faith. However, two aspects need more attention: the study of a ‘specific’ hermeneutical approach to the readings of Scripture; and an exegetical study of the ‘pneumatological’ New Testament texts, widely employed by CoP ministries in their teaching and preach...
Abstract The study is about discipleship in Mark 10:35-52: a model for leadership development of clergy in the Church of Uganda (Anglican). In this thesis I engage with three contextual models that have impacted on the leadership development of clergy in the Church of Uganda (Anglican) namely: the Ganda model of kingship, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) model and the East African Revival (EAR). Kingship models reflect oppressive codes of patronage and authoritarianism which have influenc...
ABSTRACT A number of Church documents and Church leaders have underscored the need for couples to undergo adequate preparation before they receive the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The Pontifical Council for the Family in its document, “Marriage Preparation”, stresses the necessity for dioceses to publish a Directory/Document and establish a Commission for Marriage Preparation and the Pastoral Care of the Family. Pope Francis in his encyclical letter, Amoris Laetitia, acknowledges that the...
ABSTRACT This thesis, Islamic Reform in Ghana: The roles of selected Islamic scholars and movements, explored the concept of Islamic reform in Ghana through the analysis of the religious roles of Shaykh Abubakar Musah Baribari, Shaykh Nuhu Jihad and Shaykh Dr. Amin Bonsu that aimed at curbing the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah. Specifically, the study examined the measures put in place by these selected Ulamāh (Islamic scholars) to help combat the underlining factors influencing the dege...