Overview

This publication seeks to challenge established thinking about the causes of violence in Northern Nigeria. It explores immediate and long-term effects of that violence through reflection, study, and survey of previous research. The fundamental argument within is that ethnic, political and religious violence has affected Christian perspectives and core values and thus has hampered efforts towards just peacemaking. Langham Monographs is an academic imprint that serves evangelical scholars from the Majority World by disseminating their work widely in an affordable and accessible format.

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9781907713156

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Reviews

Sunday Agang has written a book that is not only very well researched, balanced, insightful, and well written, but has produced a work that is rare in doctoral dissertation-it is courageous, humane, and deeply moving. It is broader in scope than most reports on ethnic, political, and religious violence emanating from Nigeria. The basic thesis is that ethnic, political, and religious violence has affected Christian perspective and values and therefore has hampered efforts towards just peacemaking. It urges us to think more deeply about the nature of violence and its extent, which has left Nigeria as a crippled giant. Far from bringing a new era of peace and prosperity, the end of British rule opened the gates to chaotic violence. This book explores the dynamics of this chaos, and what a genuinely Christian theology and praxis can do for Christians as they seek to ameliorate the situation. It is not only a ne academic study, but also a study that could make a contribution to justice and peace making. Professor Colin Brown Senior Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA Sunday Agang's work focuses on analyzing the impact of violence on the gospel vis-a-vis the role of Christian theology and Christology, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, in Northern Nigeria. He argues that violence is a moral problem that challenges the core of the nature, presence and power of the gospel in any environment. Thus he uses a number of reflections from scholars in the global north, especially Jurgen Moltmann and Walter Wink (and their interpreters) to revisit the politics of Jesus and the theology of nonviolence as articulated by the great practitioners: Leo Tolstoy, M. Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu. Moltmann's interpretation of Jesus and the reign of God provide him with a pathway for articulating a Christian response to violence while Wink's analysis of power (naming, engaging and unmasking of power in the New Testament) enables him to analyze the ethics of power in Northern Nigeria. His study begs the question how much transformative potential could be embedded in a single privileged discourse. Should we not combine all the discourses as cameos in the quest for a viable solution? The Late Professor Ogbu Uke Kalu, Former Henry Winters Luce Professor of World Christianity and Missions, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, USA Excellent argument: the violence has major impact on the people. The violence is not simply caused by Muslim-Christian hostility, but more by power-grabbing, authoritarianism, and economic injustice by those in power. They try to blame it on religious hostility, but it is more caused by political and economic concentration of power, denial of rights of others, and greed for power and money. Therefore the solution needs to be justice, checks and balances, and transparency. I recommend that the proposal that Christian and Muslim people should unite together in pushing for justice and checks and balances and transparency. The concluding chapter says that. It's a major idea and should be highlighted and dramatized for publication. Professor Glen H. Stassen, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA

Sunday Agang has written a book that is not only very well researched, balanced, insightful, and well written, but has produced a work that is rare in doctoral dissertation-it is courageous, humane, and deeply moving. It is broader in scope than most reports on ethnic, political, and religious violence emanating from Nigeria. The basic thesis is that ethnic, political, and religious violence has affected Christian perspective and values and therefore has hampered efforts towards just peacemaking. It urges us to think more deeply about the nature of violence and its extent, which has left Nigeria as a ""crippled giant."" Far from bringing a new era of peace and prosperity, the end of British rule opened the gates to chaotic violence. This book explores the dynamics of this chaos, and what a genuinely Christian theology and praxis can do for Christians as they seek to ameliorate the situation. It is not only a ne academic study, but also a study that could make a contribution to justice and peace making. Professor Colin Brown Senior Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA Sunday Agang's work focuses on analyzing the impact of violence on the gospel vis-à-vis the role of Christian theology and Christology, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, in Northern Nigeria. He argues that violence is a moral problem that challenges the core of the nature, presence and power of the gospel in any environment. Thus he uses a number of reflections from scholars in the global north, especially Jürgen Moltmann and Walter Wink (and their interpreters) to revisit the politics of Jesus and the theology of nonviolence as articulated by the great practitioners: Leo Tolstoy, M. Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu. Moltmann's interpretation of Jesus and the reign of God provide him with a pathway for articulating a Christian response to violence while Wink's analysis of power (naming, engaging and unmasking of power in the New Testament) enables him to analyze the ethics of power in Northern Nigeria. His study begs the question how much transformative potential could be embedded in a single privileged discourse. Should we not combine all the discourses as cameos in the quest for a viable solution? The Late Professor Ogbu Uke Kalu, Former Henry Winters Luce Professor of World Christianity and Missions, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, USA Excellent argument: the violence has major impact on the people. The violence is not simply caused by Muslim-Christian hostility, but more by power-grabbing, authoritarianism, and economic injustice by those in power. They try to blame it on religious hostility, but it is more caused by political and economic concentration of power, denial of rights of others, and greed for power and money. Therefore the solution needs to be justice, checks and balances, and transparency. I recommend that the proposal that Christian and Muslim people should unite together in pushing for justice and checks and balances and transparency. The concluding chapter says that. It's a major idea and should be highlighted and dramatized for publication. Professor Glen H. Stassen, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA

"Sunday Agang has written a book that is not only very well researched, balanced, insightful, and well written, but has produced a work that is rare in doctoral dissertation-it is courageous, humane, and deeply moving. It is broader in scope than most reports on ethnic, political, and religious violence emanating from Nigeria. The basic thesis is that ethnic, political, and religious violence has affected Christian perspective and values and therefore has hampered efforts towards just peacemaking. It urges us to think more deeply about the nature of violence and its extent, which has left Nigeria as a ""crippled giant."" Far from bringing a new era of peace and prosperity, the end of British rule opened the gates to chaotic violence. This book explores the dynamics of this chaos, and what a genuinely Christian theology and praxis can do for Christians as they seek to ameliorate the situation. It is not only a ne academic study, but also a study that could make a contribution to justice and peace making. Professor Colin Brown Senior Professor of Systematic Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA Sunday Agang's work focuses on analyzing the impact of violence on the gospel vis-�-vis the role of Christian theology and Christology, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, in Northern Nigeria. He argues that violence is a moral problem that challenges the core of the nature, presence and power of the gospel in any environment. Thus he uses a number of reflections from scholars in the global north, especially J�rgen Moltmann and Walter Wink (and their interpreters) to revisit the politics of Jesus and the theology of nonviolence as articulated by the great practitioners: Leo Tolstoy, M. Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Desmond Tutu. Moltmann's interpretation of Jesus and the reign of God provide him with a pathway for articulating a Christian response to violence while Wink's analysis of power (naming, engaging and unmasking of power in the New Testament) enables him to analyze the ethics of power in Northern Nigeria. His study begs the question how much transformative potential could be embedded in a single privileged discourse. Should we not combine all the discourses as cameos in the quest for a viable solution? The Late Professor Ogbu Uke Kalu, Former Henry Winters Luce Professor of World Christianity and Missions, McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois, USA Excellent argument: the violence has major impact on the people. The violence is not simply caused by Muslim-Christian hostility, but more by power-grabbing, authoritarianism, and economic injustice by those in power. They try to blame it on religious hostility, but it is more caused by political and economic concentration of power, denial of rights of others, and greed for power and money. Therefore the solution needs to be justice, checks and balances, and transparency. I recommend that the proposal that Christian and Muslim people should unite together in pushing for justice and checks and balances and transparency. The concluding chapter says that. It's a major idea and should be highlighted and dramatized for publication. Professor Glen H. Stassen, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA"

Author Information

Sunday Bobai Agang is the Academic Dean of one of Africa's premier theological seminaries, ECWA Theological Seminary Jos, Nigeria (JETS). Sunday holds a BA (JETS), MDiv (Palmer Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), and PhD (Fuller Seminary, Pasadena, California, USA). He has published several articles on various theological issues as well being a regular contributor to Christianity Today. An ordained minister with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) as well as a member of the Institute for Global Engagement, he is founder and chair of the International Foundation for Entrepreneurial Education (IFEE) and co-founder and Vice President of Gantys Aid to Widows, Orphans and Needy (GAWON). Sunday Bobai Agang is a just peacemaking advocate.

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