Original Research

Critical prophecy and political leadership in biblical, African and Islamic worldviews

P.O. Abioje
Koers - Bulletin for Christian Scholarship/Bulletin vir Christelike Wetenskap | Vol 75, No 4 | a107 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koers.v75i4.107 | © 2010 P.O. Abioje | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 26 July 2010 | Published: 26 July 2010

About the author(s)

P.O. Abioje, Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, Nigeria

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Abstract

This article examines the socio-political influence of prophecy in traditional African and the biblical perspectives, in order to challenge contemporary African religious men and women to serve as the conscience of society. There is hardly any doubt that political leaders are usually prone to abuse of their positions and they need to be reprimanded and lampooned. A discussion on Islam is included, because, together with Christianity, it dominates, to a large extent, socio-political and economic leadership in Africa. It is the view of many scholars that neither Christianity nor Islam have been applied sufficiently to political leadership in Africa to have an impact on mass socio-political and economic welfare, although some heroic individual exceptions are noted. The materials were gathered through a literature study. The study is comparative in the sense that it compares prophecy in traditional Africa with what is obtained from the Bible and the church as we know it today. The study recommends critical prophecy in the two dominant Old Testament religions, namely Christianity and Islam, and in African Traditional Religion, for improved political leadership and development in Africa.

Keywords

African Traditional Religion; Christianity; Divination; Islam; Leadership; Critical Prophecy

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