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Introduction

The Arab World contains many traditions that features its societies. Woman role was and is still in many Arab countries limited to being a mother and a household. For many decades, early marriage was the main feature of Arab society due to the long cultural roots and habits that consider the honor of the woman is to be a mother . Family is considered the holy principle for Arab societies whatever their religion .

In the recent years , the Arab world has been passed through many challenges and external pressures represented in globalization ,international and economic changes , opening to world cultures , decrease of welfare and decline of economic performance in many Arab countries which resulted in increase of unemployment, inflation and increase of poverty among most of Arab people.

In the past and near present , early marriage was considered an easy solution especially among poor people to face their hard life . Today , especially after increase of human rights concerns including more freedom and rights for woman , the early marriage started to decrease . however , the problem now is not only the early marriage in some Arab countries but the the main problem is the increase of married women that exceeded thirty years and sometimes they die before they marry .

The majority of the Arab populations live in cities working in industrial or service sectors. Today, Arab women are more educated and more likely to work outside their homes for personal and financial independence. These changes create a new image of woman and change her past traditional role as a mother and household.

The objective of this research is the studying of marriage issue in the Arab world because marriage is one of the key important factors that determine the social and economic present and future in the Arab countries. Both problems of early marriage and increase of average age of marriage of marriage are explained. Finally, a recommended solutions and actions are proposed in order to naturalize the two problems for decreasing the negative impacts and creation of better Arab societies.

Importance of Marriage in Arab Society

Family is the main concern in Arab societies. Family is considered the main social security system for young and elder people in Arab countries. Family and marriage are at the core of interest in majority of Arab communities because they are the legal and accepted way to make man and woman can live together , having relations and kids in legal and religious way which is accepted by their society.

Early marriage in Arab World

Early marriage is any form of marriage that takes place at age of 18 years. Early marriages are often associated with enforcement. Forced marriage is the marriage conducted without full consent of both parties and sometimes with a threat [1].From human rights point of view, early marriage is considered a violation of human rights conventions. In Arab societies- especially developing countries- early marriage, is considered a means of securing young girls’ future and protecting them. Wars and social problems may leads also to early marriage as in Palestine, where the intifada has led to earlier marriage.

Many countries in the world have declared 18 as the minimum legal age of marriage. However, more than millions of young girls are expected to marry in the next decade according to the international statistics. [1].

Early marriage has decreased in many world countries in the last decades. However, it is still common in rural areas and among poor people. Poor parents believe that early marriage will protect their daughters and save their future. Young girls are forced into marriage by their families while they are still children because they think that marriage benefits them and secure their financial and social future.

Early marriage violates children rights because it decreases their human development, leaving them socially isolated with little education, skills and opportunities for employment and self-realization. These conditions ultimately make married girls vulnerable to poverty .Early marriage is a health and human rights violation because it takes place within the context of poverty and gender inequality with social, cultural and economic dimensions [2].

Reasons of early marriage in Arab World

There different reasons of early marriage in Arab countries, some of these reasons are referred to cultural reasons , others are referred to economic reasons . Some of theses reasons are :High poverty rates, birth rates and death rates, greater incidence of conflict and civil wars, lower levels of overall development, including schooling, employment, health care and believes that early marriage is a means of securing young girls’ future and protecting them [3].

Effects of early marriage

In many Arab countries the problem of early marriage still exists. It’s important to understand that early marriage has serious health, economic and sychological effects that may lead to society failure and destruction of the main family role in the society .

When a young girls become wives they are required to do a many hard domestic duties, including new roles and responsibilities as wives and mothers. The young bride’s status in the family is dependent on her demonstrating her fertility within the first year of marriage when she is not physiologically and emotionally prepared [5].

Young wives are forced to be responsible for the care and welfare of their families and future generations while they are still children themselves. They have no decision making powers, restricted mobility and limited economic resources. Early marriage is a direct cause of woman poverty and wide age gaps between younger married girls and their spouses create unequal power relations between the young bride and her older and more experienced husband, resulting in husbands having total control over sexual relations and decision-making [4].

Young wives are often unable to make wise plans for their families and may be forced to select between one of two hard choices: either to tolerate husbands’ violence or to make crimes (killing them). AIDS epidemic increases in young women due to the combination socioeconomic, cultural and political factors that put young women at greater risk of HIV infection due to the lack of sexual knowledge and limited access to information and resources. Younger women may face unsuccessful marriages and divorce could happen as a result of lack of maturity, incomplete independence, limited time to get prepared for marriage and having kids, dealing with education/career building and family formation at the same time.

Feature of marriage in Arab society

There are some significant features of marriage in Arab countries . Those features are relatives marriage, urfi marriage , mutaa and messyar marriages . Urfi marriage is the most unaccepted marriage in many Arab countries because it dosen’t secures wives rights in case fo divorce or deny of their husbands of the marriage itself. Realatives marriage is the most common and liked in many Arab countries for keeping the families wealth (in case of rich family), or for familiarity and strong relations among poor families. Mutaa marriage is significant in north Asian Arab countries . on ther hand messyar marriage is significant in Persian countries .

In Egypt , marriage became a problem due to economic problems associated with high costs of marriage including dowry, homes, furniture and even foods. It is impossible for a young graduated youth to save the money for marriage without their families support or other sources. The impacts of marriage difficulties in Egypt has reflected seriously on the society and created new phenomena such as violence against women such as rape and dely of marriage age after 30s and sometime no marriage.

Women’s rights regarding marriage

According to the international human rights conventions, woman has the rights when entering, during and at the end of the marriage. When entering marriage, woman has the same right as a man to enter marriage only with full consent. A woman married under minimum age shouldn’t be considered legally married. Marriage must be registered in an official registry. If a woman marries someone with another nationality, she will not have her nationality automatically changed to that of her husband unless she chooses that [6].

During marriage, woman has the same rights and responsibilities as man. She has the right to equal access to health services, the right of protection from violence within the family. She also has the same rights as a man to decide freely about the number and spacing of children and to have access to information, education and means to exercise these rights [6].

Woman has the same rights and responsibilities as her husband towards children regardless of her marital status and family benefits. Change in woman’s husband nationality during marriage doesn’t imply that her nationality must be change. If woman is employed she must not be discriminated against on the grounds of marriage and maternity.

At the end of marriage, woman has the same rights as man when a marriage ends. Neither woman nationality nor that of her children shall automatically be affected by the ending of a marriage. Woman has the same rights and responsibilities as a man towards her children regardless of her marital status [6].

How to solve the problem?

The recommended solutions for improving marriage situation in Arab World are:

Using International pressure specially regarding woman rights stated in human rights conventions on Arab countries to follow the Women’s Conventions.
Following poverty reduction strategies
Making the required reforms of marriage and family laws to meet the human rights standards and monitoring the impacts of these laws on Arab societies.
Providing safety employment opportunities for youth specially girls and women affected or at risk of early marriage.
Ensuring the right to education and information for girls, including married girls.
Providing incentives to encourage families to educate their children.
Encouraging activities that change the attitudes and behavior of community and religious leaders – especially regarding early marriage, girls’ education and employment.
Developing rules that redefine acceptable ages of marriage and offer social and economic supports that allow parents and girls to delay marriage until suitable age.
Raising consciousness about child marriage consequences and impacts of increase of average age of marriage as well.
Promoting legal, and chosen forms of marriage
Supporting married young girls
Work cited
Stephen H. , “Early Marriage – Child Spouses “, Innocenti Digest no. 7, UNICEF , March 2007.
UNIFEM, “Forced and Early Marriage”, “URL:http://www.stopvaw.org/Forced_and_Early_Marriage.htmlMinnesota”, Advocates for Human Rights, August 2007.
Forum on Marriage and the Rights of Women and Girls, “Early Marriage and Poverty Exploring links for policy and program development” ,2003.
UNFPA, “The Promise of Inequality: Gender Inequality and Reproductive Health”, “URL:http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2003/english/ch2/index.htm”, 2005.
United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, ” A Choice by Right: Working Group on Forced Marriages Child Marriage Fact Sheet, 2000.
The International Women’s Tribune Centre Rights of Women, “A Guide to the Most Important United Nations Treaties on Women’s Human Rights”, New York 1998.

The present-day emphasis on religious pluralism has made more pressing than ever the call and need for a genuine interreligious dialogue. However, experience has shown that a genuine interreligious dialogue is always difficult if not impossible to come by not only in Nigeria but in other parts of the world as well. The reason for this is not farfetched. For me the most notable reason among others is the claim of superiority by some religions over others. This claim suffocates any efforts to any interreligious dialogue that is based on mutual and equal footing. Whether this claim will ever cease to be made is difficult to ascertain. Yet different religions in Nigeria as well as in other parts of the world need a platform with a value capable of generating a genuine interreligious dialogue. This paper argues that applying the value of African communalism into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa will help to achieve a genuine interreligious dialogue in this part of the world. This is true since according to Chukwuemeka Nze “The spirit of oneness predominant in African communalism precludes domination and impositionaˆ¦” [1] which is mainly what interreligious dialogue needs to be genuine. To flesh out this paper, I will first explore the concept of African communalism. Then, I will argue for its application into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa for a genuine interreligious dialogue.

The Concept of African Communalism

In Africa, members of the community to which an individual belongs, comprises not just the living but also the living-dead or the ancestors, and the unborn or the “yet-to-be-born”. [2] In this community, the guiding principle is the spirit of African communalism rooted in the realization of the fact that one needs the other members of the community for one to exist and have meaning in life. Hence, communalism is one of Africa’s greatest values, which emphasizes communal existence or living over and above individualistic mode of existence. It is an African cultural value or worldview where “the individual is a part of the community which is an organism.” [3] It is a concept that portrays African community spirit. For Simeon Eboh, “the traditional African communalism considers the individual and the community as a whole. One lives from birth to the grave, in an unbroken inter-dependence. Life is essentially cooperation and mutual co-existence. Every member of the community feels secure and fulfilled.” [4] Nze defines it as “the social life of the African which is founded on the African belief that all human beings are members of one family of mankind.” [5] Trying to portray this concept of African communalism, Bede Ukwuije argues for the importance of community and the place of individuals in African traditions. He says: “The community is very important in African traditions. Africans live in community. The individual person is a network of relationships.” [6]

The concept of African communalism can be seen in its South African expression -ubuntu, which basic norm “is that human existence is interconnected and communal.” [7] Like ubuntu, African communalism is expressed in this South African aphorism, “Motho ke motho ka batho”, which quoting Ramose, Heinz Kimmerle interprets as meaning: “to be human is to affirm one’s humanity by recognising the humanity of others and, on this basis, establish respectful human relations with them.” [8] This is to say that the human interconnectedness that is expressed in African communalism necessitates an interrelationship that is based on “mutual recognition and respect.” [9] The concept of African communalism can also be deduced from Innocent Asouzu’s complementary ontology of ibuanyindanda, which “seeks to grasp the idea of being as being from the preceding conditions of its complementary comprehensive interrelatedness.” [10] It is an ontology that creates “conditions that make for understanding among diverse peoples”, the lack of which makes any “meaningful discourse” or dialogue very difficult to come by. [11] This kind of worldview is not without its implications.

The Implications of African Communalism

One of the implications of African communalism is the fact that a person can only be a person because he or she lives and acts in a community. [12] In other words, it is a community that gives a person his or her identity. The “complementary” interrelatedness that is characteristic of African communalism makes it obvious that one is seen in others and others in one. Based on this interrelatedness, John Mbiti describes the relationship between an individual and his or her community. He says:

Only in terms of other people does the individual become conscious of his own being, his own duties his privileges and responsibilities towards himself and towards other people. When he suffers, he does not suffer alone but with the corporate group; when he rejoices, he rejoices not alone but with his kinsmen, his neighbours and his relatives, whether dead or living. When he gets married, he is not alone, neither does his wife ‘belong’ to him alone. So also the children belong to the corporate body of kinsmen, even if they bear only their father’s name. whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. The individual can only say: I am, because we are, and since we are, therefore I am. [13]

Worthy of note is the fact that as far as African communalism is concerned, no individual suffers or rejoices alone, but with the entire community. This is important because it will necessarily play out well when I will be arguing for the application of African communalism into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa for a genuine interreligious dialogue. Still following this outlook of African communalism and the human interconnectedness it characterizes, Stan Chukwube says, “One’s action is considered moral or immoral depending on how that very action enhances or impedes the welfare of others and the smooth functioning of the community. The concern of Ndigbo (Africa) is not how good or bad an act appears to the individual but how the community evaluates it.” [14] This could be seen in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart where Okonkwo violated the “Week of Peace” by beating Ojiugo his wife; an act that was seen as an abomination that “can ruin the whole clan”. He was made to pay a fine that was used to pacify Ani the “earth goddess” consequently reconciling him with his wife, with the whole community, and with Ani. [15]

The interconnectedness that is seen in African communalism implies that no individual person can make it or survive all alone. His or her survival depends on the survival of the community from which he or she draws his or her vital force. Kofi Asare Opoku seems to agree with this when he says: “The concept of communalism implies that the well-being of all is that which determines the good of each individual in the community, for the welfare of each cannot be considered without reference to the welfare of all.” [16] He illustrates this with the Akan art of a crocodile with two heads and two tails but with a common stomach. Though the crocodiles are inseparable from each other, the heads remain distinct. What each of the heads eats, enters into the common stomach, for the personal and collective good of the crocodiles. [17] Consequently, the preservation of the community is a sine qua non and an onus of every member of the community. V. Mulago, commenting on the relationship between the individual and the community and the responsibility of the individual members of the community in African communities says:

the family, clan or tribe is a whole, of which each member is only a part. The same blood, the same life which is shared by all, which all receive from the first ancestor, the founder of the clan, runs through the [veins] of all. Every effort must be directed to the preservation, maintenance, growth and perpetuation of this common treasure. The pitiless elimination of everything which hinders this end, and the encouragement at all costs of everything which furthers it: this is the last word in [Africa] Bantu customs and institutions, wisdom and philosophy. [18]

Owing to the interrelatedness, which is the underpinning principle of African communalism, every member of the community has the obligation to share with the others. Laurenti Magesa says: “Reluctance or utter refusal to share “with God, one’s ancestors, other persons in the community, and the community itselfaˆ¦destroys the ‘communitarian’ purpose of the universe and is immoral.” [19] Just as a fish cannot live outside water, an individual in African worldview knows that he or she has no meaning and no existence, once he or she is alienated from the community. His or her life can only be “grasped as it is shared.” [20] H. Sindima puts it this way: “We cannot understand persons, indeed we cannot have personal identity without reference to other personsaˆ¦. The notion of being-together is intended to emphasize that life is the actuality of living in the present together with people, other creatures, and the earth.” [21] The understanding that “all realities are in mutual complementary relationship with each other and can be so grasped as serving each other” [22] implies that an individual does not live solely for himself or herself. His or her existence must complement the existence of others in the community just as theirs complements his or her own. In fact, African communalism implies that the individual’s due and rights are respected; that he or she is mutually supported and encouraged in the spirit of “live and let live,” to fully, develop himself or herself. [23] Since no individual is considered superior to the other, everybody is carried along in communal decision-making. [24] The fact that the individual in African communal life is mutually encouraged and supported to fully develop himself or herself shows that African communalism encourages and supports, not uniformity, but unity in diversity. One could rightly say then, that in African communalism, the joy of living can only be realized when living denotes a life that is lived in mutual relationship. Asouzu articulates it this way:

The joy of being that is characteristic of being, in its deepest complementary ramifications, is not complete unless this joy is a shared act in the mutual transcendent experience of complementary unity of consciousness, which turns out to be the highest form of communal experience (onye aghala nwanneya) in its universal dimension. [25]

The complementary interrelatedness that is seen in African communalism implies that no individual member of the community is complete all by himself or herself. He or she is lacking something that needs to be supplied by the other. Asouzu refers to this lack in an individual as a “missing link” that requires “other missing links” for the realization of its being. He says, referring to the implications of the complementary ontology in African communalism:

The implications of this are that no missing link can uphold its being solely on its own. It can do this only with reference to the whole and in complementary harmony with other missing links whose legitimacy and determination are necessarily dependent on the type of union that guarantees their being. It is for this reason that one can say that to be is not to be alone (ka so mu adina). [26]

He goes on to add that “all missing links attain full authentication and meaning when considered within the framework of complementing units that serve each other mutually and necessarily.” [27] Indeed, in the spirit of African communalism, no individual would like to be alone, knowing that he or she would not succeed. The importance of complementary interconnectedness in African communalism is commonly expressed in many folk tales, adages, and proverbs in Africa. For example, the Igbos commonly say that when a thing stands, other thing will stand beside it (Ihe kwuru ihe akwudebe ya). If a person buries himself or herself, one of his or her hands will be out [28] (onye lie onwe ya out aka ya aputa n’elu ala). That is to say, a corpse cannot bury itself. P. Bock, quoting K. A. Opoku says: “Life is when you are together, alone you are an animal.” [29] Within the context of African communalism,

the relationship between the subject and the centre of its harmony turns out to be one that is complementary and not one that is fragmented, polarised and exclusivist. It is a framework where units do not relate to each other as discrete quantities oblivious of others. Here, to be is not to be alone (ka so mu di) but to be in mutual relationship of service in complementarity. [30]

The above citation implies that an individual can hold a different view or idea contrary to another member of the community, but he or she does not for that matter stop being in mutual relationship with the other. He or she knows that there is something lacking in him or her, “a missing link” in the words of Asouzu, which can only be complemented in a complementary interconnected relationship with the other. This why the ontology of ibuanyindanda or the complementary interrelatedness which is embedded in African communalism, “has the capacity to reach out to all possible relations most especially when the interests of stakeholders seem to vary because of their idea about the world and reality in general.” [31] Thus, African communalism rules out claims of any possession of absolute truth or knowledge of any type by an individual. In other words, no individual has an absolute possession of anything as to be independent of the other. This can be seen in an Igbo African adage which says: “If the right hand washes the left hand, the left hand will wash the right in turn” (Aka nri kwoo aka ikpa, aka ikpa akwoo aka nri).

The philosophy of African communalism implies that African Religion is communal in nature. It is a religion that is human-centered, rather than Theo-centric. It is overtly utilitarian not in the individualistic, but communal sense. [32] No individual is exclusively guaranteed life beyond. For a guarantee of life beyond depends on how well an individual lives here on earth in relationship with the other. In which case, life beyond is guaranteed not just to the individual alone, but the individual and the community. [33] For though, the individual is distinct, he or she is inseparable from the community. In African communalism and by extension African Religion, therefore, one could rightly affirm that to be is to be in relationship with the other. “This mode of mutual complementary relationship” according to Asouzu, “becomes most actual in day to day encounter with the opposite other. It is a form of relationship carried out in mutual dependence and inter-dependence, as service in complementarity, outside of which no human existence in its insufficiency is thinkable.” [34]

Scholars, especially African theologians, differ in their views as to whether one could talk of African Traditional Religion or Religions. Mbiti for example, is of the opinion that one can talk of African Religions in the plural due to the fact of the many African tribes with their distinct religious systems. [35] Bola Idowu, on his own part, argues for African Religion in the singular, owing to the fact that God is the true factor of religion and this factor is identical in all the religious systems in Africa. [36] Aylward Shorter avers that we should refer to African Traditional Religion in the singular, claiming that different African religious systems interact and influence one another to various degrees, while maintaining their distinctness. [37] Emefie Ikenga-Metuh doesn’t seem to take a side; rather, he offers a caveat not to lose sight of the similarities and dissimilarities in African Religion, in whichever side one decides to take. [38] What may seem to be a problem for some of these great scholars is indeed, an implication of African communalism. Just as the individual in African communalism is distinct but inseparable from the community, so are these various African Traditional Religions distinct but inseparable from the one and only African Traditional Religion of the African ancestor. The way the individual in African communalism lives in a mutual relationship with the other, although, he or she maintains his or her distinctness, so does each of these distinct African religions live in a complementary relationship with one another. Shorter is right then, in maintaining that these different African religions interact and influence one another to different degrees, in spite of their distinctness as noted above.

The philosophy of African communalism, therefore, rules out any claim of exclusivism in African Traditional Religion. For none of the distinct African Traditional Religions can exist exclusively of the others. In the spirit of African communalism and for the fact that African Traditional Religion is communal in nature, all the various African Traditional Religions enrich and complement one another. Even when adherents of one of these distinct African Traditional Religions are integrated into another community, for example, through capture in war, they are allowed to continue with their distinct religious practices. [39] In other words, the adherents of these Religions do not search for converts. However, if one prefers one religious beliefs and practices to one’s own beliefs and practices, one is free to willingly and without compulsion, convert to this Religion.

Based on African anthropology and its worldview, I think one can claim without fear of contradiction that Africans have a common ancestor. If this is true, then, one can also aver without contradiction that all the distinct African Traditional Religions have a common link to the African Traditional Religion of the first African ancestor. With their common link to the religion of the first African ancestor and owing to the fact that these distinct African Traditional Religions are communal in nature based on African communalism, African Traditional Religion is inclusive in nature. Since these different African Traditional Religions are distinct religions, though, they are inseparable from the others, one can rightly argue that in the spirit of African communalism, African Traditional Religion is as well, pluralistic in nature. When the above claims are tied together, one comes up with the affirmation that African Traditional Religion, due to the African communalistic worldview, is inclusively pluralistic.

The fact that in African communalism, the individual is identical with the community does not mean that the individual does not have his or her freedom. Harmony is the bedrock of African communalism. The same harmony according to Magesa, “is [the] agent of freedom and is meant to enhance it.” [40] Within the context of African communalism, good acts resulting from individual choices are rewarded just as bad acts are punished. [41] This shows that the individual, in spite of the emphasis on communal life, has his or her freedom. However, freedom, as far as African worldview and by extension, African Religion is concerned, is not a license or liberty for one to do whatever one wants. Rather, it is “what enables a person to be fully who he or she is.” [42] It is a freedom or autonomy that is exercised within a communal context.

Since African communalism is rooted in complementary interrelationships and mutual harmony, it provides a basis for true interreligious dialogue.

Applying African Communalism into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa for a Genuine Interreligious Dialogue

Ecumenical movement in Africa started precisely in Johannesburg in South Africa in 1904 with the Protestant churches that realized how much divided they were and started searching for a way to unify themselves. [43] Later on, some other Christian churches, like, Catholic and Anglican, joined. [44] The expansion continues today to embrace other religions other than Christianity. Most countries in Africa have now their own Ecumenical Bodies. But the result has not been great. As Zziwa says, “When one listen[s] to the contemptuous labels that several Catholic priests (let alone laity ! ) still use about their counterparts in Protestant Churches (and it’s probably mutual!), and when one sees the general indifference about ecumenism, then an ecumenist of feeble courage would easily give up his struggle.” [45]

One of the greatest problems Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa and indeed worldwide is encountering, which is hindering true religious dialogue is the claim of absolutism and exclusivism, which some Religions are making with regard to their religious beliefs and their efficacy in leading to salvation respectively. [46] For example, Pope Boniface VIII reaffirmed the claim of the Catholic Church of no salvation outside the church when he says: “We are required by faith to believe and hold that there is one holy, catholic and apostolic Church; we firmly believe it and unreservedly profess it; outside it there is neither salvation nor remission of sins.” [47] Even though the Catholic Church has dropped this idea since the Vatican Council II, there are still many clergy and Laity as Zziwa showed above who still cling to such mentality. The Protestant church through Martin Luther claims that “those who remain outside Christianity, be they heathen, Turks, Jews, or false Christians (Catholics) although they believe in only one true God, yet remain in eternal wrath and perdition.” [48] Some Muslims on their own side, based on some Qur’anic verses, claim that Islam is the only true Religion of God and refuse to tolerate anyone who professes other faith than Islam. [49]

These obstacles to true interreligious dialogue, which Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa encounter, will give way if the principle of African communalism is applied into these Bodies. In the first place, each of these Religious Ecumenical Bodies should be seen as the community where the individual Religions and Denominations belong. Just as in African communalism, the individual is distinct but inseparable from the community, so are these Religions and Denominations, distinct but inseparable from the Religious Ecumenical Bodies they belong to.

The philosophy of African communalism teaches the individual that there is a missing link, something lacking in him or her, which the other will complement. In the same way, applying African communalism into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa, will teach each individual Religions and Denominations that there is indeed a missing link, something lacking in her, which can only be complemented by the others. This realization will kill pride and set the platform for a genuine dialogue on equal and mutual relationship.

African communalism makes it obvious that one is seen in others and others in one; that what affects the individual affects the community and vice versa. In other words, African communalism makes it clear that no individual suffers or rejoices alone but with the community. Applying this into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa implies that each individual Religion or Denomination is seen in other Religions or Denominations; and that what affects each Religion or Denomination affects the others. No Religion or Denomination suffers or rejoices alone, but with the others. What this means is that Catholics for example, cannot see members of other Christian Denominations or the adherents of African Traditional Religion , Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and so on, as people who are condemned to damnation. Neither, can these, see Catholics as condemned people. To do this, would mean to see oneself, as doomed since the “self” is seen in the others and the others in the “self”. When members of each Religion or Denomination that constitutes the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa begin to see things in this way, then, the foundation for true religious dialogue is laid.

The philosophy of African communalism as we saw earlier, teaches that the moral rightness or wrongness of the action of an individual, does not depend on how good or bad that very action appears to the individual, but on far it “enhances or impedes the welfare of others and the smooth functioning of the community.” [50] In which case, it is the community that determines whether an action of an individual is moral or immoral. Applying this into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa implies that the moral rightness or wrongness of an action of a particular Religion or Denomination does not depend on how good or bad that action appears to the particular Religion or Denomination, but on how far the action “enhances or impedes” the well-being “of others and the smooth functioning of the community”. In other words, the destruction of lives and properties of Christians, by Islamic fundamentalists, is morally wrong, as long as it impedes the welfare of these Christians and the smooth functioning of the society or community. In the same vein, the destruction of shrines and traditional customs of African Traditional Religionists by Christian fundamentalists is immoral, as far as it impedes the well-being of these African Traditional Religionists and disrupts the smooth running of the community. On the contrary, the participation of Christians and Muslims for example, in the traditional festivals of African Traditional Religionists is considered morally right, in so far as it enhances the welfare of these African Traditional Religionists and promotes the smooth functioning of their community. If this kind of mindset that is embedded in African communalism is inculcated into the members of Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa, it will definitely enhance genuine interreligious dialogue in Africa.

The exploration of African communalism and its implications done above revealed that every member of the community is obliged to share with the other members of the community. His or her life is meaningful and understood in so far as it is shared. The refusal to share, not only disrupts the smooth running of the community, but also impoverishes both the individual member and the community, which is considered immoral. The application of this perspective into the Religious Ecumenical Bodies in Africa implies that every in

The Bible is full of inspirational concepts and full of revelatory truth. While the Old Testament points to Jesus of New Testament, it also contains basic doctrines that are established in the New Testament. Hence, words like kindness, faithfulness and mercy have their root in the Hebrew Bible. Hesed is “an interesting and fascinating Hebrew word that has a wide range of meaning.” The desire to study it makes one to learn a great deal about the characters and attributes of God as it relates to His kindness, faithfulness, goodness, mercy and steadfast love. Hesed was explicitly expressed in the Bible, most especially in the Old Testament. God revealed Himself to His chosen nation (Israel) through His personal attributes and characters (Jenkins,2011:1).

No discussion of hesed would be complete without mentioning its role in the interactions of Naomi, her Moabite daughter-in-law Ruth, and the redeemer Boaz. It is on this fact that this paper answers the following questions: What does the concept of hesed entails? What is the general overview of the Book of Ruth? How is hesed described in the book of Ruth? And what implications do hesed present to the Nigerian Christians? This paper therefore intends to discuss how hesed was embraced and expressed in the Book of Ruth.

THE CONCEPTS OF HESED

There is a beautiful and rich word in the Hebrew language that powerfully describes the faithfulness, mercy, steadfastness and loving-kindness of the Lord. This Hebrew word is transliterated into English as hesed (Maxey, 2012:1). Hesed (pronounced khesed) is not just a Hebrew word to be translated by exegete as simply “loving-kindness” or “mercy “, it is in fact an attribute of God. The hesed of God is a divine characteristic and is at the center of why God acts as He does in real space and time. (Belnap,2009,1)

Hesed as Jenkins(2011) asserted can be divided into the following three categories: family relationships, relational and religious (1). He went further to describe its occurrences in the Bible in the following words:

Hesed occurs in the family relationships categories seven times in the Old Testament, six times in Genesis, once in 1samuel and once in Ruth. Hesed occurs in nine times in a relational way in the Old Testament- once in Ruth, once in Psalms, once in Esther, once in Daniel, twice in Ezra, once in Job, once Psalms and once Zechariah. Hesed used in a religious category involves forty times in the Old Testament- four timed in Genesis, once in Exodus and Deuteronomy two times in 2nd Samuel, fifteen times in Psalms. Once in 1Kings, once in 2nd Chronicles, once in Job, three times in Isaiah, once in Jeremiah, and once in Ruth. (2)

The Bible also reveals that hesed is an attribute that children of God possess and they are commanded by God to emulate and develop it. Being made in God image, God’s people can emulate the divine attribute of hesed. While the idea of loving-kindness and mercy may seem to be only that of positive emotion, it will be demonstrated that Gods loving-kindness is a two-edged sword. Hesed can also mean a mechanism of judgment and accountability before God. People can be described as having the gift of hesed or having “no hesed,” or no loving-kindness. Hesed is both a Hebrew word and more importantly a Jewish theological concept. Hesed is found approximate 250 times in the Hebrew Bible, with about125 appearances in the Psalms alone. And while the word is not identified specifically as hesed in the Greek New Testament, the Old Testament concept of loving-kindness, mercy and selfless giving can be said to be the very heart of the New Testamnt Gospel. “For God so loved the world that He gaveaˆ¦” (Jn 3:16) (Emilio, 2012:4).

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK OF RUTH

The Book of Ruth is named after one of the main characters in the story. There are two books in the Bible that bear the name of a woman. These books are: Ruth and Esther. While Ruth was Moabites, Esther on the other hand was a Jewess. The Book of Ruth has the records of a Gentile woman who came to live among the people of Israel and became the great-grandmother of David, Isreal’ greatest king; while in the Book of Esther an Israelite woman was taking into the court of the Gentile king and became a queen who secured deliverance for her people (Cowle, 2008; 22). Also, Tiessen in his write up portrays the book of Ruth as “one of the most well-crafted pieces of literature in the Old Testament”. He submits that:

Despite its lesser status within the Jewish canon and the Christian Bible, the narrative of Ruth is well known. This popular familiarity is largely due to the engaging and challenging story the book offers: The tale of two women who overcome several formidable obstacles and succeed in preserving themselves and the family line, which eventually leads to the great King David (Tiessen,2010:1)

The name of Ruth is mentioned twelve times in this book which bears her name (Heijkoop, 1989:7). The meaning of this name is friendship. This meaning according to Harlow (1987) reflected in the relationship of Ruth with her mother in-law (Naomi), and other people that came along her way. Even though she was a stranger in a strange land she blended well with the people because being friendly was part of her (5).

This book of Ruth is in connection with the geneology of Jesus Christ as recorded in (Matt 1.5). Heijkoop (1989) also asserted that, “The book itself beautifully illustrates how the Holy Spirit gathers up family circumstances in a manner which quite naturally directs the mind and thoughts to a very important truth”(7). This special story in the Book of Ruth draws one’s attention to the most precious titles of the Lord Jesus Christ. The word “kinsman” as used here could be translated as “Redeemer” or “Avenger”. This little book of only four chapters has drawn tributes from very many, and it has even been described as ‘the Perfect Story.’ It is told simply and directly. Cundall and Morris (1968) in their own assertions described this book in the following words:

The book is a book about friendship. The devotion that Ruth shows to Naomi and the care that Naomi exercises towards Ruth run through the book. It is simple a tale of friendship. The three principal characters of the book are depicted as being mindful of their obligations to the family. Ruth does not forget her duty to Naomi, and consequently to Elimelech, Naomi seeks out a marriage that will preserve the name of her deceased husband while Boaz marries the Moabites to raise up the name of the dead (241).

It is better to see the book as a tale told because it is true and because it shows something of the relationship between God and man. The book of Ruth raises the question of whether or not Yahweh can be trusted. The incident suggests to Naomi that God had abandoned her or He is no more reliable. The author of the is unknown, but the last verse of chapter 4 points to the fact that it was written during the time of king David because the is where the list of Ruth’ descendants ends. (Harlow,1987; 6). The story according to Reid (2000), is told from a female point of view and certainly seems to commend Naomi and Ruth to believers (25).

HESED IN THE BOOK OF RUTH

The book of Ruth revolves around the concept of hesed. Hesed is an active concept and it is considered as an essential part of the nature of God. The word is frequently used to describe the gracious and merciful practices of God (Farmer, 1991: 96). Human beings, as said earlier are also expected to show hesed to one another. The Book of Ruth is about a stranger who had probably not encountered God personally but might have been hearing her mother in-law talked about that God. This gentile woman acted as an agent of God’s hesed when she showed hesed to Naomi. When Naomi thought that every hope was gone, this non- Israelite woman that brought hope by showing kindness to her mother in-law. In accordance with this, Farmer asserted:

Ruth’s speech in 1:16-17constitutes an act of hesed. By committing herself and her future to the Lord, Ruth becomes the means through which God will transform Naomi’s emptiness into fulfillment. The Lord will be able to work through the loving-kindness of Ruth to change a crises situation into an occasion for hope.

The Book of Ruth is a special book Christians should study and ponder well upon. It has an unhappy beginning, an uncertain middle and a happy ending. The tragedy that befell Naomi made her to forget that YHWH is still in control and that He can still bring redemption. This reflected in her statement:

8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me – even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons- 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has gone out against me!” 14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” ( Ruth:8-15) NIV

Naomi tried to convince the women to go back home She even reminded them of their mother’s house. She knew the weak spot of Moabite’s female. The existence of Moab was the result of willfulness of the part of Moab’s first mother, who at all costs had to have a relationship with a man and have children. (Gen 19:30-38) And the daughters of Moab had manifested the same willfulness (Heijkoop 31-33). Naomi directly blames YHWH for the tragic circumstances of her life. Believing that everything came from God. Her situation can be related to that of Job. Job accepted the misfortune that came upon him is from God. He said: “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?” (Job 19:21-22). NIV

Bruggeman, quoted by Tiessen explained the thoughts of job in relation to that of Naomi in these words:

“Job asks: Is God reliable? And Job, in his rage, entertains the option that Yahweh is not.” Naomi, like Job, is in the throes of tragedy and likewise expresses and entertains the option that Yahweh is not reliable. Notice that in 1:13b Naomi asserts that the hand of Yahweh is against her, and thus she excludes her daughters-in-law who also have experienced profound loss through the deaths of their husbands (4).

Naomi also pointed to her lonely position. A life without a husband and no children who would give her hope. All was God’s fault. Not only did Naomi try to keep her daughters-in-laws from joining her by depriving them of any hope of help, but she had also given them a total false picture of God, who actually is the husband to the widows and helper to the strangers. She indicated that God was responsible for all her misfortune, instead of admitting that she had brought those things upon herself by leaving God and His appointed place where they would have blessings (Heijkoop,36). She and her entire family chose to go to Moab neglected the place where they would have had the experience of God’s hesed as the Psalmist expressed: “Behold, the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him who revere and worship Him with awe, who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness, To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine” (Ps 33:18-19).

Naomi’s great effort to dissuade her daughters-in-law from accompany her seems strange, especially in view of her desire that they become true children of the Lord God of Israel. However, it seemed to be the only course she could take in view of her dire circumstances (Parker, 1980:144). While Orpah yielded to the advice of her mother in-law, went back to her own people and gods. Ruth clave to her, “And Ruth said, Urge me not to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts me from you (1:16-17).

The strong desire of Ruth to go with Naomi symbolized her commitment to her and her God. Ruth was neither obliged for expected to become her mother-in-law’s source of support. But once they were back in Bethlehem she was the one who went into the fields to glean the bits of grain that the harvests missed. Ruth indeed was a good daughter in-law. Her kindness was a total self sacrifice. She took the initiative in providing for their needs by suggesting that Naomi let her glean ear of corn. Gleaning, according to Parker (147) was a “special provision of God written into the law to provide for the poor, especially for strangers, widows, and orphans” (Lev. 19:9-10; 23:22; Deut.24:19). The practice required that owners should leave at harvest the corners of their fields and the droppings of the harvesters to care for the unfortunate groups of people.

The attitude of Ruth towards Naomi by volunteering herself to take care of her is an expression of hesed which actually belongs to YHWH. One would wonder how a gentile could display the attributes that God’s children should possess. Emilio responded in the following words:

How then did Ruth, a Moabitess, come by this divine trait which was originally given by God to the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? The answer to this mystery is not found in the Holy Bible. However the Talmudic explanation is of value and interest because it helps clarify the theology of hesed which is found in both the OT and NT. Simply put, the Sages held that Ruth was a direct descendent of Abraham by way of Lot. They teach that Ruth was the daughter of Eglon and the granddaughter of Balak who were direct descendents of Moab – the son of Lot and nephew of Abraham. Thus Ruth was an inheritor of the seed of lovingkindness which Abraham planted in Lot (Emilio, 2012)

The hesed that Ruth showed to Naomi made it possible for her to meet her “redeemer”. Ruth met Boaz and received unexpected praise and favour.

11 And Boaz said to her, I have been made fully aware of all you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to a people unknown to you before. 12 The Lord recompense you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under Whose wings you have come to take refuge! 13 Then she said, Let me find favor in your sight, my lord. For you have comforted me and have spoken to the heart of your maidservant, though I am not as one of your maidservants. 14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here and eat of the bread and dip your morsel in the sour wine [mixed with oil]. And she sat beside the reapers; and he passed her some parched grain, and she ate until she was satisfied and she had some left [for Naomi]. 15 And when she got up to glean, Boaz ordered his young men, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. Ruth 2:11-15

The writer of this paper has discovered that Ruth and Boaz are like-minded people. The similarities between them are emphasized. Reid (2000), enumerates their similarities as follows: Boaz praised Ruth for her kindness to Naomi (Ruth 2:11-12) and Ruth praised Boaz for his generous kindness to her (Verses 10, 13). As Boaz enters the field, he pronounced a kindly phrase, “The Lord be with you!”(verse 4). This suggests that Boaz is such a leader who values and respected his employees. The workers’ respond, “The Lord bless you!” Boaz is clearly a good, kind man; who is suitable for good, kind Ruth (41).

Studying this Book one will discover that God is at work even in the lives of his people. Ruth’s story reveals loud and clear that through the ordinary and unpredictable aspects of everyday life, one experience the reality of God’s care (Reid, 2000:25-28).

IMPLICATIONS OF HESED FOR NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS

Hesed in the book of Ruth is significant to the Nigerian Christians. It expresses how good and faithful YHWH is to His promises. He “remembered Naomi in her low estate” (Psalm 136: 23), even though she and her family brought the tragedy upon themselves. Many Nigerians’ Christians today run to Oversee countries because of the economical situation of their father land. Some of them are lost not remembering home again. The writer of this paper is of the opinion that there is still hope for Nigeria. The situation can still be better than what it is, if only Nigerian Christians can hope in God and trust Him absolutely.

Similarly, hesed in the Book of Ruth stresses both family and community loyalty. Naomi thought first of the welfare of her daughters-in-law. She always acted with their best interest in mind. Boaz was noble. Ruth was loyal. Kent, (1980) submits that the simple narrative also amply illustrates the Lord’s providential care. God is clearly at work in the lives of those open to Him (143). Nigerian Christians are to commit to one another so as to be of help to one another in terms of needs; an adage says “a friend in need is a friend indeed”

Also, as God expressed hesed (mercy) to His people, He expects them to reciprocate. God was ever faithful and devoted to His people (Israel) in the ancient time and He is still the same God of the contemporary times. In like manner does He expect faithfulness, total dedication and devotional life from the Nigerian Christians. The Christian leaders are expected to be faithful and dedicated to the position they are holding. They should be mindful of the welfare of their followers. As God is good and loyal to His promises, Boaz was good and kind to his followers so the Nigerian Christians should be good and loyal to one another. Also, Nigerian Christians should see God as a God of love and should demonstrate that love into their personal lives and ministries towards others. By doing this, Christians will be able to demonstrate to the world in words and deeds that their lives are grounded in the character of God who loves and desires to redeem the world through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that God can use anybody, no matter how rough the background may be. Willingness and readiness is what He desires. In like manner, Christians should pay sacrifice of taking other people’s problem upon themselves. They should be mindful of poor and the needy around them.

CONCLUSION

Hesed, is indeed a word denoting emotion but it is more a word of action. On the other hand, hesed is a gift from God, that is to say, God imparts a measure of His loving kindness to His children. And He expects all His children to express it to one another. Hesed, as used in this paper reveals the characters of three major people, Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. Many in this world have experienced the tragedy of Naomi and long for God to be present and active amidst situations where He does not always act in the way human beings expect. But absolute trust in Him will end in a happy way.

Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in government. In all organizations, where group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities, policies and practice. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort (Bhattathiri, 2001). Efficacious and effective management is not possible without in-depth knowledge of the organisation which is being managed. Organisational knowledge is absolutely critical to building, preserving and leveraging institutional excellence. It is like the air you breathe-you cannot measure it, touch it, or see it but you cannot survive without it (Prasad, 2004)).

The basic elements of management are always there whether we manage our lives or our business. In fact, management is used knowingly or unknowingly by everybody born as human being on this earth. We are all managers of our own life and the practice of management is found in every facet of human activity: schools, business, government, unions, armed forces, families and religious places. Thus, management has become an exciting and entertaining subject because it deals with setting, seeking and achieving objectives. It makes human efforts more productive. It brings order and effectiveness to the efforts of the people. It brings better equipment, plants, offices, products, services and human relations to our society. There is no substitute for good management and good management consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people.

Society is a collection of individuals and individuals constitute society. Every individual has several needs and wants but it is impossible for him to satisfy all his desires and wants with his own efforts alone. Thus, he joins hands with others and works in organised groups to achieve what he cannot achieve singlehandedly. Today, the society has large and complex institutions with many people working together. In other words, when a number of persons join together for the attainment of some common objectives, organisation comes into being. Whatever may be the nature and kind of the organisation, it cannot run successfully unless there is someone to manage its affairs. Management is an essential part of any group activity. It is the management which plans, organises, co-ordinates and controls the affairs of the organisation. It brings the human and physical resources together and motivates the people at work in order to create a cordial, congenial and harmonious environment in the organisation. To sum up, it can be said that an organisation is like an orchestra team. It is for the management to make music or a noise out of it. If there is an effective and efficient management, the result is sweet and melodious music; otherwise the result is chaotic and awful noise.

CONCEPT OF MANAGEMENT:

The concept of management is as old as the human race itself. It is a universal phenomenon. It is not merely the monopoly of business houses. It is a part and parcel of every kind of decision making. It is the marshalling of manpower resources and strategy for getting a job done. Management is multifunctional in nature. It is a set of techniques and functional processes employed to maximize productive utilization of human, physical and natural resources for the benefit of all in a healthy physical and conceptual environment. Men, material, money, machinery and methods constitute human and physical resources. The physical environment consists of temperature; noise, light, ventilation; the tools which are employed; the methods of work; the material employed; the sequence in which the work is performed and other physical aspects. The conceptual, or mental, environment is concerned with the attitude or frame of mind of individual worker in the given environment. The manager has to provide a positive and conducive environment where the worker gives his best to the institution.

Management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, working together in groups, efficiently accomplish selected aims (Koontz & Weihrich, 1998). It involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so that their activities are undertaken efficiently and effectively. Management puts ideas into action through and with people. Efficient management leads to productivity with peace, growth with harmony and brings out the best potential in people. Management creates harmony in working together, equilibrium in thought and action, goals and achievements, plan and performance, produce and market (Bhattathiri, 2001).

When people are motivated and inspired, they run their organisations efficiently and profitably, produce quality goods and services and keep customers and clients satisfied (Bodhananda, 2007). Lack of management can create chaos and cause mayhem, perplexity, wastage, delay, obliteration, losses and low sense of worth. Management is about managing self, people and situations. Manager has to show the path on which his workforce can excel and stay focused. Management’s task is to make people capable of joint performances and make their strength effective and make their weaknesses irrelevant (Drucker, 1998). It is the capability and capacity of the manager that can transform the situations to the best for all the stakeholders. If he is bestowed with the quality to judge the people and their talents then he can take them to the zenith of their performance. Management is helping ordinary people to produce extraordinary results (Someswarananda, 2005).

Management, today, goes beyond giving just direction or getting work done by people. Manager has to think beyond results; he has also to create and sustain performers by inspiring them. Manager’s job is two-fold (1) To translate the dream in terms of project; and (2) To produce performers. Workman’s job is to produce results – from planning to execution. And supervisor’s duty is to solve the problems of workmen (Someswarananda, 2005).

1.2 MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVES:

The word perspective has been derived from the Medieval Latin word perpectiva (ars) ‘science of optics’, from the verb perspicere which means ‘to look through’ (Oxford Dictionary). It implies a view or vista or a mental view or outlook of a person or an organisation. It also means the ability to perceive things in their actual interrelations or comparative importance (thefreedictionary.com). Management Perspectives provide an overview of the principles, skills, challenges and the other factors which the managers have to face today. These include the theoretical framework, ideas and techniques which can be applied to day-to-day work of an organization like planning, decision making, leadership, motivation, communication, human resource management, corporate social responsibility, change management and managerial skills and mantras required for effective and efficient working of the organization.

It is a proved fact that management is not an action in isolation; it is rather the impact of total environment in which the organization exists. Starting from the management in antiquity to the management in modern times, the different perspectives of management at different points of time can be summed up briefly as under in an integrative manner:

An Integrative Framework of Management Perspectives
(Source: www.cab.edu.np)
1.3 HISTORY OF MANAGEMENT THOUGHT:

Management has always been a part of the nature of man. In its crude form, it has been there from nomads to rulers of various kingdoms. Management as a field of study may be just 125 years old, but management ideas and practices have actually been used from the earliest times of recorded history. For example, 2,500 years before management researchers called it job enrichment, the Greeks learned that they could improve the productivity of boring repetitious tasks by performing them to music. The basic idea was to use a flute, drum, or sing lyrics to pace people to work in unison, using the same efficient motions, to stimulate them to work faster and longer, and to make even a boring work or job interesting and entertaining. While we can find the seeds of many of today’s management ideas throughout history, not until the last two centuries, however, did systematic changes in the nature of work and organizations create a compelling need for managers. Examples of management thought and practice can be found all through the history (Williams, 2009). This has been shown in the table below.

Table-1.1
Management Ideas and Practice throughout History
Time
Group
Contribution to Management Thought and Practice
5000 B.C.
Sumerians
Record keeping
4000 B.C.
Egyptians
Recognized the need for planning, organizing, and controlling
2000 B.C.
Egyptians
Requests submitted in writing. Decisions made after consulting staff for advice
1800 B.C.
Hammurabi
Established controls by using writing to document transactions and by using witnesses to vouch for what was said or done
600 B.C.
Nebucha
Production control and wage incentives
500 B.C.
Sun Tzu
Strategy; identifying and attacking opponent’s weaknesses
400 B.C.
Xenophon
Management recognized as a separate art
400 B.C.
Cyrus
Human relations and motion study
175
Cato
Job descriptions
284
Diocletian
Delegation of Authority
900
Alfarabi
Listed leadership traits
1100
Ghazali
Listed managerial traits
1418
Barbarigo
Different organizational forms/structures
1436
Venetians
Numbering, standardization, and interchangeability of parts
1500
Sir Thomas
Critical of poor management More and leadership
1525
Machiavelli
Cohesiveness, power, and leadership in organizations
(Source: C. S. George, Jr., The History of Management Thought, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1972)

Concept of management has undergone a sea change since its inception, as a formal subject, in the early 1900’s. From the set of principles evolved the scientific management theory of F. W. Taylor and it played a role as a prominent theory till 1950’s. Focus of management then shifted to decision theory. In 1960’s, systems orientation emerged. Change and contingency management of 1970’s was followed by new approaches to human relations and production quality in the 1980’s and archetype management in 1990’s. Journey of management thought is depicted briefly in the table below-

Table-1.2
Major Classification of Management Approaches and their Contributors
Pre-classical Contributors to Management Thought
Name
Contribution

Robert Owen

Proposed legislative reforms to improve working conditions of labour

Charles Babbage

Advocated the concept of ‘division of labour’; devised a profit-sharing plan which led to the modern-day Scanlon Plan

Andrew Ure and Charles Dupin

Advocated the study of management

Henry R. Towne

Emphasized the need to consider management as a separate field of study and the importance of business skills for running a business.

Major Classification of Management Approaches
Major Contributors

Classical approach

Scientific management

Frederick W. Taylor, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth and Henry Gantt

Bureaucratic management

Max Weber

Administrative management

Henri Fayol

Behavioral approach

Group influences

Mary Parker Follet

Hawthorne studies

Elton Mayo

Maslow’s needs theory

Abraham Maslow

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGregor

Model I versus Model II values

Chris Argyris

Quantitative approach

Management science

–

Operations management

–

Management information system

–

Modern approaches

The Systems Theory

–

Contingency Theory

–

Emerging approaches: Theory Z and Quality management

William Ouchi

(Source-https://sites.google.com/site/early-approaches-to-management)

Under various approaches, management was described from different points of view largely depending on the perspective and background of the management thinker. Koontz identifies eleven approaches to the management concept, which are as follows:

The empirical approach states that we can understand what management is by determining what contributed to success or failure in specific cases.

The interpersonal behaviour approach is based on getting things done through people and therefore, management is centered in understanding relationships (psychology).

The group behaviour approach emphasizes the behaviour of people within groups and thus tends to rely on sociology, anthropology, and social psychology. Often this interest in-group behaviour patterns is named ‘organizational behaviour’.

The cooperative social system approach (organizational theory) combines elements of the interpersonal and group behaviour approaches into a system called the organization where the primary purpose is co-operation.

The socio-technical system approach adds to the previous approach the dimension of technical systems. It is believed that the machines and methods have a strong influence on the social system and that the task of the manager is to ensure harmony between the social and technical systems.

The decision theory approach believes that management is characterized by decision making and therefore a systematic approach to decision-making essentially outlines management.

The systems approach to management, like biological systems, views management’s role within an assemblage of subsystems, inputs, and processes within an environment, all of which are interconnected and/or interdependent. This may not be a different approach but is a holistic view of management, providing place for elements of the other approaches to be incorporated.

The management ‘science’ approach believes that problems can be described within a mathematical model – basic relationships – in such a way that the goal may be optimized.

The situational approach states that, management action depends on the situation taking into account the influence of given actions on the behaviour patterns of individuals and the organization. This is a practical approach, which hints at the art (viz, science) of management.

The managerial roles approach is based on research by Mintzberg as to the roles (functions) managers fill.

The operational approach is an attempt to combine elements of all of the above-mentioned approaches, taking what is applicable, discarding that which is not, and developing an approach to management that indicates the complexity and variedness of what is expected of the manager (Koontz, 1980).

However, all these approaches are lacking in one aspect or the other. Concept of management has evolved over the years and is an ongoing process; it changes and improves as the environment changes. The discipline of ‘management’ is just 100 years old. By and large, it is a product of industrial revolution. Hence, its intellectual traditions are rooted in engineering and economics. Later it was influenced by psychology, sociology and other related disciplines. During recent years, yoga, meditation and spirituality have also started influencing the field of management (Sharma, 2006). During the 1990’s, the evolution of spirituality and management theories converged and triggered a bold interest in formulating spirituality based theories and research within the academic management domain, resulting in the formulation of a new discipline (Rojas, 2005).

In the present epoch, internationally operated organisations are stirring towards holistic approach to management. Holistic approach takes under its ambit the whole organisation, systems, people and culture. Holistic approach can bring better results for modern organisations to deal with complex issues in global environment, because according to Aristotle, whole is more than the sum of its parts (Abbasi, Rehman and Bibi, 2010)

1.4 MANAGEMENT TODAY:

People who are making judicious use of available resources and effectively managing to earn high profits and returns are not sure if it’s worth it. They feel defeated in spite of being successful. The reason is that money is being minted through unethical and immoral means. Industrialists today are doing the right things for their ventures but not necessarily doing things the right way. Indian companies are in a state of flux, more bewilderment, conflict and tension persists in its working and less emphasis is on the issues of productivity, motivation, principles, morals, ideals and ethics. The reason for this state of affairs is too much dependence on western models of management. The management philosophy emanating from the west is based on the lure of materialism and on a perennial thirst for profits, irrespective of the quality of the means adopted to achieve that goal (Bhattathiri, 2001).

There is a spurt in corporate scandals since the focus of most business houses is to earn more and more money. Almost every year, it seems, some scandal envelops a Fortune 500 company and causes a new spasm of public distrust of big corporations. This year’s occurrence probably should not be surprising; in the competitive marketplace, the temptation to cut ethical corners can be hard to resist (Zipkin, 2000). Corporate, do not stop to think and contemplate the effect of their greed on the stakeholders. There is insatiable hunger for success at any cost. In their unquenchable desire for number one position, corporate are becoming ruthless, forgetting their duties towards the society at large. The world today is so corruptible, gullible and materialistic that many corporations and nations operate without a soul conscience. The capitalistic bottom-line of maximizing profits has become the benchmark for purported success, pervading international, regional, national and organizational levels (Noor, 2004). Management has been reduced to a handmaid of profiteering. The maximizing of profits becomes the ultimate goal, to the exclusion of all other considerations (Gupta, 2000). We are aware that with its axis on privatization and liberalization, national and world economic order is gradually becoming market oriented and globalised. Capital is today’s integrating factor. Those who have or can access to resource stand to benefit from this economy while others are being marginalized (Xavier, 1999).

Corporate houses that are becoming aware of their ethical and social responsibilities towards the society are only following the mandatory responsibilities. Contemporary research has found that while around three quarters of major Australian companies believe it is the responsibility of their boards to set an appropriate ‘tone from the top’ and monitor organizational performance against a formal code of conduct, 84 percent of the companies that has promulgated a code of ethics reported that they did not actually monitor compliance with it (International Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting 2005, KPMG, Australia). This is also the case of companies in many developed as well as developing economies. There is awakening of moral and ethical responsibilities but much more needs to be done at the local and global level. Lately, however, corporate America seems to be doing more than just paying lip service to standards of management behaviour. For all the controversy surrounding the Firestone/Ford tyre recall, and the questions it raises about the potential for corporate wrongdoing, a growing number of big companies are enacting strict ethical guidelines and backing them up with internal mechanisms to enforce them. While some consider the changes little more than window dressing, there is no doubt that change is afoot (Zipkin, 2000).

In the present era, corporate sector desires to own workers not humans. Materialism has crept into the roots of the corporate world. Materialistic management has done more harm than good. The capitalist has grown richer, man has been reduced to a hired wage-earner and the consumer has been placed at the mercy of the materialistic manager. There is no sense of belonging, no harmony, no co-operative organisation, no fellow-feeling and the least common approach and perspective (Gupta, 2000).

1.5 NEED TO RECONNECT TO THE ROOTS:

There is more to management than just earning profits and more to the role of a manager than achieving the organisational objectives. He has to become the watch dog to see that nothing detrimental is done by the company at the cost of the stakeholders. He has to stay connected to the roots of his religion and culture while performing his job. Sharma (2001) argues that for a management system, to be effective, it has to be rooted in the cultural soil of the country, where it is practiced. Many communities and countries in the world are now trying to discover and explore their own system of management, which includes accounting and financial management, human resource management, corporate governance, and also CSR (Muniapan, 2008).

Not only eastern world but the western world of business is also realizing the need to reconnect to the roots of their religion and culture and to infuse their working with morals and ethics. Management thinkers, all over the world, are developing models of management by imbibing insight into their scriptures. These models are becoming powerful catalysts for transformation. A leadership and management paradigm that transcends narrows chauvinism, neo-conservation and jingoism, with a universal, egalitarian and magnanimous approach, is needed (Noor, 2004). Also models are being framed on world leaders with a semblance of altruistic inclinations. To really understand leadership, we need to put our ear to the ground of history and listen carefully to the ragas of human hopes, desires, and aspirations, and the follies, disappointments, and triumphs of those who led and those who followed them. As per the Confucius proverb, a man who reviews the old so as to find out the new is qualified to teach others.

Management needs to be sprinkled with ideals of religion. For the sustainable development of the enterprise the need is to look for long term benefits of all stakeholders, not base decisions for short term benefits to the individuals. The best way out in the situation, is to take shelter under the teaching of the scriptures. In our faith based vision we see God at work in the world and in all creation moving mankind towards a world of justice, peace and love. This is social humanism. Management being a worldly enterprise and part of creation has to position itself in alignment with this divine purpose, our policies and mega plans are to be attuned to this divine plan over percent and active in creation (Xavier, 1999). Various studies have been carried out to study the effect of interplay between management and religion and results depict positive outcome. In a study conducted at the European University Viadrina, Frankfurt by Tan and Vogel (2005), it was noted that trustworthiness increases with religiosity and people with higher level of religiosity, are more likely to trust and be trusted in their relationships. In a doctoral study conducted by Werner (2006) found that religious beliefs (Christianity) play an important role in SME business behaviour in both the UK and Germany (Uygur, 2009).

Since management is primarily concerned with managing people, managers needs to take guidance of specific magnitude of man-management such as believing and being open to people and their ideas, acknowledging them in various roles of life, serving and loving them. Need of the hour is to develop managers with focus on human excellence comprising competence, conscience and compassionate concern along with academic and technical competencies. The prevalent limited view of education with an exclusive focus on academic excellence and technical competence is fraught with dangers as we can produce people who are advanced intellectually or competent technically but in the meantime remain emotionally underdeveloped and morally and spiritually immature (Xavier, 1999).

Ryuzaburo Kaku, Chairman, Canon Inc. in 1988 envisaged the corporate philosophy to begin a new phase in the 50 year old company’s evolution. He expressed this philosophy as “the achievement of corporate growth and development, with the aim of contributing to global prosperity and the well-being of humankind.” This is the idea behind kyosei. According to the concept of kyosei, a corporate should make every effort to create wealth by fair means and, in terms of the distribution of profits; it should play a very active role as a company that assumes global social responsibilities. The view, that kyosei limits competition is way off the mark. Although it is crucial to eliminate unfair competition, kyosei can be seen as being a prerequisite to fair competition between independent corporations. The idea of kyosei was also adopted by the Caux Round Table (CRT), founded in 1986 and named after the Swiss town of Caux where it began meeting. It is an informal group of business leaders from Europe, U.S. and Japan who had the converging experience that corporate business can, without losing performance, act as a tool to provide a better service to society when the goal of serving the common good is not forgotten, let alone rejected. The group wrote its own guidelines for corporate ethical standards based on the Japanese concept of kyosei, which Mr. Ryuzaburu Kaku, chairman of Canon Inc. and most prominent participant in the CRT, translated as “living and working together for the common good.” The other key word was “human dignity,” without which the “common good” can disintegrate into despotism. In fact, both keywords, “common good/kyosei” and “human dignity”, could be found in the document of the MCCR (Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility).

Peter Drucker also stressed that religion can have a positive influence on the world of work and, indeed, on the world at large. “Society needs to return to spiritual values-not to offset the material but to make it fully productive,” he asserts that we need to reconnect to religion to imbibe compassion and empathy in corporate relationships. Drucker continues, “It needs the deep experience that the Thou and the I are one, which all higher religions share.” The concept of “whole self” is catching up with the corporate world. Religion is considered by many to be a constituent component of human anthropology. The change in orientation by executives and consultants fit well with the present experience economy paradigm, which demands distinctive personal experience for the customers based on endemic human qualities such as human values. Ideally, then, organizational models which allow the whole person to come to work are sought as a means to empower employees and possibly in turn for those employees to meet unique and personal demands of the customers. For example, Mitroff and Denton (1999) held that companies that have a spiritual dimension and allow the whole person to come to work have employees with higher loyalty, lower absenteeism, and greater creativity (Miller and Ewest, 2010).

People working in the corporate sector all over the globe do not want to segregate their life but wish to live a holistic life and bring their whole self to work, including their faith. This concept has been termed as the ‘Faith at Work Movement or Spirituality and Work Movement’ by David Miller. The worldwide economic crisis elicited in 2008 has strengthened this concept.

Religion is present in the workplace as per the researchers and academicians. The need is that they provide the business professionals with a set of universal religious manifestations to allow business professionals to understand, measure, and as appropriate adjust the policies pertaining to the spiritual environment of and impacts on their organization.

Max Weber was one of the first thinkers in the modern times to depict the interconnection of religion and management in 1905 but his observations of the affect of religious values on marketplace activity were suppressed due to organizational and economic structures and normative practices but now his ideas have resurfaced. The business world is recognizing the need to integrate faith with work because it encompasses issues such as ethics, leadership, diversity, human rights, and globalism and managers and employees can benefit both corporately as well as personally.

1.6 MANAGEMENT AND OTHER RELIGIONS:

The concept of modernization without westernization is catching up with management thinkers, especially in the eastern world. Need is to act globally while staying rooted to the local values, norms and culture. Corporate world in the eastern region is going under the safe haven of religion. All the religions encourage serving the society, promoting the people’s well being and safeguarding the natural resources. Buddhism lays emphasis on ethics, virtuous behaviour, morality and precept. It advocates purity of thought, word, and deed. Christianity is centered on the life and teachings of Jesus from the New Testament. Its teachings call for ethical, spiritual, and just behaviour. Taoism advocates imbibing of three gems of Tao i.e. compassion, moderation, and humility. Islam believes that followers should strive to attain religious and moral perfection. Confucianism focuses on human morality and right action. It is a system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought. Hinduism preaches: have no personal interest in the event but carry out the duty as the duty of the lord and do not be affected by the results.

1.6.1 Management and Hinduism:

Indian economy is today the cynosure of the whole world because of its consistent growth which is leading to augmentation of interest in India, and its culture. As Western world attempts to better understand Indian culture, they may as well unearth that India’s ancient scriptures present insight into cultural customs and values and develop lessons for the corporate world to effectively use in and outside India. It has been reported that many of the top business schools in the United States have introduced “self-mastery classes” using Indian philosophy to help students improve their leadership skills. One of the more popular and useful of the ancient texts is the Bhagavad Gita. Using contextual analysis, this paper explores the leadership implications found in this classic text, and offers present day managers useful advice, regardless of their cultural orientation (Rarick and Nickerson, 2009).

It was felt by the Indian Management thinkers that the western models needed certain modifications for implementation in the Indian Environment. Western model advocated the concept of knowledge worker whereas Indian model calls for the concept of wisdom worker. Depending completely on the western model might lead to success with stress and tension while in Indian model of management, success is accompanied with harmon

The general definition of education is the transmission and learning of cultural technique by a group of individuals that is able to satisfy its general needs, to protect each other against the hostility of physical and biological environment, and to work and live together peacefully. These all techniques are usually called culture, and a human society could not survive without its background of custom and culture. This concept can be applied in civil and primitive society; the primitive society is characterized by the role of education finalized to guarantee the immutability of the cultural techniques. On the other hand, in a civil society the education gives the opportunity to face new and mutable situations. At this point we can define two different forms of education: the one, which simply transmits the technique of work and behavior to maintain the natural immutability of human beings, and this concept is related to moral and religious education. The second form interests the role of education into a civic society. Its aim is to forge the individuals’ personalities by giving them the capacity to correct and improve their own education. This civic form of education analyzes the human being’s process of forming his own culture, and even the education becomes the aim and the goal of the entire process. For this reason, education has always been an important theme in political and social background. Since ancient age philosophers and scholars wrote about the main principles and general foundations of public and private education in a state. Famous emperors such as Charles the Great who attributed importance to the role of education into his empire, even if he was not a cultured king, considered education a relevant instrument for creating an homogeneous ruling class loyal to the empire and capable to create a unity for the formation of cultural traditions and customs. Therefore, education is a natural part of human beings’ development; it allows individuals to acquire some basic and relevant skills in attitude and mental thought that staying in animal stage they are not able to learn. The aim of this essay is to define the right definition of education in political theory field through the main and significant works of Plato and Rousseau, and to analyze its importance in the social and political common good.

As it is mentioned before, both Plato and Rousseau have elaborated different ideas regarding the same topic of the role of education, the pedagogy, the formation of perfect philosopher-king and good social figure in their own conception of society. This essay wants to begin an analysis by comparing and contrasting the political and philosophical theories of there two thinkers.

First of all, Plato’s Republic has defined more as an educational treatise rather than a political book (Rousseau 57); in fact, Plato’s philosophy is concentrated on ethics, he is interested in what and “how is the best to live” (Meckenzie 88). According to Plato, education is the base of the philosophical education of guardians and future citizens of the ideal city of the Politeia. Plato elaborates a new kind of education in line with the Socratic philosophy; in fact, the main speaker of dialogues in the Republic is Socrates himself, who embodies the philosophical soul and figure of which should be the skills and characteristics of the perfect philosopher-king. The conception of education in the Republic is explained through the philosophical concept of the Myth of the Cave; it is not a case that Plato decided to present education in the way of the myth. In ancient cultures, in particular in Greek culture, the myth indeed had been considered a kid of tale with a underlying meaning that through the heroic deeds of gods and semi-gods should have convey a specific learning for human beings. According to Arthur A. Krentz of Luther College in his Play and Education in Plato’s states: “The Myth of the Cave is presented as a metaphor of education (paideia, 7.514a) but it may also serve as a model of the role of an educational mentor, such as Socrates. Thus we can compare Socrates to the free, philosophical wise man who reenters the nether-world of the dark caveaˆ¦ in order to attempt to rescue those who live in this shadowy worldaˆ¦” With this quotation, we can understand that Plato-Socrates wants to outline a fixed model of elite education regarding to those people who are by natural inclinations more talented to cover the role of the guardian. In the Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, in the paragraph of The State as an Education Entity is expressed how Plato considers Education the core of his Republic alike the research of the meaning of justice. In fact, Plato is firmly persuaded that if guardian and future children are educated through Socratic philosophical ideas, the pursuit of the Public Good becomes the principle at the base of the just City-State. Therefore, the passage that the other spokesmen have to understand before starting the investigation of justice is “what is the best education for philosopher-kings and in what does consist it?” In the opinion of Ariel Dillon “the ability to know is always within a man-faltering, but useful only depending on whether it is focused on the truth (518e)aˆ¦ anyone could be a philosopher with the right trainingaˆ¦the purpose of the philosopher-kings’ education is eventually teach children how to distinguish right from wrong showing them the whole truth”. The knowledge and development process that philosophers undertake from the cave to the new world is long and difficult, but they are motivated by the inner truth that they own to achieve the common good for a just state. After the release from the cave where human beings are imprisoned and forced to see projected figures on the wall, philosophers start they path out of the cave; they will encounter the powerful light of the Sun and they are blinded by it, but afterwards a period of familiarization with the external world they acquire the truth and the capacity to become the real philosopher king and guardian. According to Arthur A. Krentz “the aim of the educational process is the fostering of the growth and development of the learner toward the ultimate objective of the individual’s contribution to a good society and the vision of the Good itself.” Plato has a altruistic vision of education in fact as Ariel Dillon states in her article Education in Plato’s Republic: ” [the philosophers] must escape the cave, be educated in the good through philosophy (512c), and then return to the cave to rile and enlighten others (519d).

Moreover, in the VII book of Republic Plato begins a long digression about what consists the philosophers’ education “the child belongs to the state and its education is the responsibility of the state” (Republic, 2, 376). Children have to be trained to become good philosophers through a complex and completed process of formation. This education consists in different disciplines, which the philosophers have to acquire to become good governor of this ideal state. Philosophers have to practice music, gymnastic, mathematic, geometry, astronomy and in particular the technique of philosophical dialectic. Plato acknowledges that the discipline of the philosophical dialect if the only one, which convey the philosopher the instrument to deeply know the real truth and the capacity to convey it toward other people. This type of education can be considered the previous idea of pedagogy, which will be in the 18th and 19th century elaborated by Rousseau as new psychological and philosophical discipline. Socrates, indeed, elaborates an innovating pedagogical technique called maieutics method of teaching, which consists in helping the child to formulate his own thoughts by aid of the teacher through a methodological process of dialectic dialogue. In the Republic Plato-Socrates presents a theory that education and play should be strictly connected; in fact, Socrates affirms that philosophers-kings should be perform their training without any kind of forcing, but instead with playing. In fact, as Ariel Dillon writes: ” Socrates says that the best education should be more like play than work (536d)aˆ¦students should come to the truth on their own rather than by force (536e)” As with the maieutics technique, Plato-Socrates wants to explain that the philosopher has to achieve the last and high meaning of the truth by a complex formation. In fact, during the entire dialogue, but in particular in the one with Glaucon and Adeimantus he applies this dialectics to lead them to the final meaning of justice and consequently truth.

As it has been analyzes before, Plato compares the conception of justice and truth with the theory of philosophers’ education in order to create the ideal city-state. Therefore, the education and political theory are two parts of the same project, and there are connected and dependent each other. In fact, Plato-Socrates considers education as a fundamental formation of learning without which the city-state could not own a group of governors interested in the common good rather than in their own private needs.

Therefore, education in politics and political theory has a necessary role. However, the idea of education elaborated by Plato in the middle of 4th century BC was subjected to changes and development, even because of the historical, political and social transformations. In the 18th – 19th century, Rousseau was one of the main philosophers and thinkers who paid attention to the education problems, elaborating a modern view of pedagogy in his famous book Emile. The Rousseau’s Emile is a brief treatise, which deals with the pedagogical problem; in this book Rousseau’s aim is to recreate the human beings’ spontaneous nature, which they had as quality during their primordial and primitive existence (State of Nature), into the society. Rousseau wants to give back a human measure to society and culture. Emile is an educational formation in which the final goal is to achieve a free and happy development of human nature. Rousseau’s philosophy is made by important concepts such as the feeling of pity and the amour the soi, and around these ideas is elaborated the pedagogical formation of human beings. The entire book is a detailed analysis of individual’s formation from the birth to the entrance in the civil society. Rousseau argues the behaviors and feelings for each ages of the man, giving an explanation and presenting the right model to follow in order to acquire the best education; he is interested in the pedagogical formation and development of the child who is embodied by the figure of Emile. Rousseau starts his first book with the phrase: “God makes all things good; man meddles with them and they become evil.” With this phrase Rousseau points out his negativity toward the civic society made by human beings, underlining the goodness of the Nature and God’s things. He continues: “We are born weak, we need strength; helpless, we need aid; foolish, we need reason. All that we lack at the birth, all that we need when we come to man’s estate, is the gift of education” (52) In the third section of the book I, Rousseau expresses the impossibility to a public education, mentioning briefly that the public institute does not and cannot exist because there is no more the concept of country and patriot; these words should be deleted from the modern vocabulary. (57) He quotes the Plato’s Republic as an example of public education: “If you wish to know what is meant by public education, read Plato’s Republic. Those who merely judge books by their titles take this for a treatise on politics, but it is the finest treatise on education ever written. In popular estimation the Platonic Institute stands for all that is fanciful and unrealaˆ¦Plato only sought to purge man’s heart.” (57) Rousseau is more interested in the natural education and formation of individual than his acquisition of education in society and civil context; for this reasons, he states: “the natural man lives for himself, he is the unit, the whole, dependent only on himself and on his like” (56) in contrast with the idea that he elaborates regarding the citizen: “The citizen is the numerator of a fraction, whose value depends on its denominator” and this denominator are “the social institutions, those best fitted to make man unnatural.” (56) Rousseau in the first book of his treatise deals with Emile’s first age and his childhood; in the second book the second age of the childhood and the feel and awareness of the suffering, he continues analyzing the adulthood and the first contact with the society, in the fifth book are described the relations with the other sex and the conclusion of the treaties.

Rousseau defines the tree types of education: natural pedagogy, the pedagogy of things and the men’s pedagogy, and he declares that only the harmonic relation amongst them could make the individual “well-educated”. Rousseau affirms that the first kind of education that the child should learn is the negative education: “therefore, the education of the earliest years should be merely negative. It consists, not in teaching virtue or truth, but in preserving the heart from vice and from the spirit of error.” (107) Rousseau states: “the law of necessity soon teaches a man to do what he does not like, so as to avert evils which he would dislike still more.” (152) The fourth book is the most significant for the explanation of the main concepts of Rousseau’ s philosophy such as the amour de soi and the compassion. Rousseau explains that our passions are the main principles of our self-preservation; it is a ridiculous and absurd destroying these passions because are given by God so humans should not contradict the His will. (176) According to Rousseau our natural passions are very limited, but they are the instruments of our freedom and they maintain us; he writes: “the only passion which is born with man, which never leaves him as long as he lives is self-love; this passion is primitive, instinctive, it precedes all the restaˆ¦self-love is always good, always in accordance with the order of nature.” (178) The self-preservation elaborated by Rousseau consists in the total and absolute self-love of human beings above everything, and this love is the one feeling, which can preserve individuals. (179) To this concept depends the idea of compassion; in fact, Rousseau argues that during the adolescence the individual is weaker and closer to the emotions and passions of fellows. This weakness makes man sociable with other people. The adolescent feels the need to share his condition of suffering and to support others; this pity is the first emotion of relation that human being’s heart feels.

In conclusion, by the analysis of the main conceptions of Plato’s and Rousseau’s philosophical theory about education we can assume that both had considered education and the pedagogical formation as an important part of the developing process for human beings; Rousseau in particular reclaims the Plato’s ideology of educational treatise, but he does not present the education strictly connected with the political and social estate of society. Rousseau is more interested in how the humans lost their natural qualities as amour de soi and compassion, which he had in the State of Nature rather than underlining the type of best education that the group of governors have to pursue and achieve in order to reach the Common Good as Plato elaborates in the Republic. Therefore, the role education in the civil and political society can be considered relevant for citizens and governors? At this question we could answer that both governors and citizens should be trained to acquire a pedagogical process of formation in order to realize together the common good without any personal interests as Plato argues in his treatise. On the other hand, it is true that the education of human beings should be more comply with their natural and sensitive feelings, but people should be accustomed to live in contact with other fellows and conformed to the right education for a civil society in which they have to belong.

Work Cited

Plato, Republic. Penguin Classics.2007. Print

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile. GLF Editori Laterza, 1953. Print

Meckenzie, Mary Margaret. Plato’s Moral Theory. Journal of Medical Ethics,1985, 11, 88-91. JSTOR

Krentz, Arthur A. Play and Eucation in Plato’s Republic. Luther College. Paideia: Philosophy of Education. Web. http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Educ/EducKren.htm

Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, Plato: The State as an Educational Entity. Web. http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Pa-Re/Plato-427-348-B-C.html

Dillon, Ariel. Education in Plato’s Republic. Santa Clara University Student Ethics Research

Conference May 26, 2004.Web

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/dillon/education_plato_republic.html

There is no gainsaying that Christianity has a strong background in morality. What is not completely obvious and to which much scholarly work is being done and continue to be done is the extent of moral premium that Christians place on moral values of other religious traditions. This paper intends to show how such Christian claim inhibits profound interreligious dialogue. It argues that Christianity is not the sole custodian of morality. It is the view here that such Christian moral claims need not be necessarily placed as superior in dialogue with other religious traditions. Other religions have values from which Christianity could learn. Such disposition will create better ground for interreligious dialogue that enhances personal and interpersonal morality. The research shall be guided by the following: questions what moral values could be learned from religious pluralism? How does this help the Christian understanding of love, human dignity and Christian ethics? It is perceived that Christian moral interaction with other religions would certainly lead to increased religious vitality and would reduce perceived Christian arrogance and ignorance of other religious traditions. Overall, it is from this background that this paper will seek to interpret moral paradigm in religious pluralism.

Introduction

The denial of religious pluralism is in a way an affirmation that there exist other religious traditions. Moreover, the postmodern age has brought a lot of innovations into the world. Among these innovations is the study of humanity and religion. It affirms the position that a realistic understanding of our contemporary contexts implies that religion is not one, but there are religions. Religion as a theological category must therefore open up dialogue with its environment and people. Reverend Marcus Braybrook affirmed that, “‘each faith has a precious gift to share with the world,’ because each conveys a message that is both unique and universal.” [1] This dialogue of theological experience must seek to address the people’s moral past, present, and their future in such a way that it will create vibrancy and meaning. Religion as theological category is not a historical narrative, it is a lived, living and yet to live history that should be context driven and able to accommodate other disciplines for its task and goal.

A realistic understanding of our contemporary contexts then will entail a reconstruction of religious moral principles as theological method and content, especially the period from Vatican II to date. These challenges will guarantee a constant shift in position in order to accommodate the growing demand and yearning of how these theological tasks could and should be engaged today. Relationship is important in religion; this is what makes religion meaningful to us. God himself exists in relationship. The relationship of the trinity is the essence of the God head. For religion of the Christian Church to remain relevant in the face of these challenges, it must open up itself to accommodate the different experiences that are involved in the process of interreligious dialogue.

Moreover, religious traditions of Africa, Asia and elsewhere are in no way inferior to the Abrahamic religions of which Christianity stands out as the main pillar. This is an affirmation to the fact that these religious traditions by their tenets have had enduring answers to the profound mysteries of the human condition. Moreover, in the context of religious plurality, dialogue as affirmed by pontifical council for interreligious dialogue: dialogue and proclamation entails, “all positive and constructive interreligious relations with individuals and communities of other faiths which are directed at mutual understanding and enrichment in obedience to the truth and respect for freedom.” [2] In line with this reflection, it means therefore that “these religious traditions should be approached with greater sensitivity on account of the spiritual and human moral values enshrined in them. They commend our respect because over the centuries they have borne witness to the effort to find answers to those profound mysteries of the human conditions.” [3] In affirmation, Cantwell reasoned, “the awareness of multiformity is becoming vivid and compelling.” [4] Moreover he argued, “We (Christians) have marched around aliens Jericos the requisite number of times. We have sounded the trumpets. And the walls have not collapsed.” [5] It means that those aliens too, have some values that have been fortifying their cities. Thus there is a need for Christians to engage these other religious groups in a meaningful dialogue to quell down the hostilities that separates them in their understanding of God. Wilfred Cantwell in his treatment of Religious pluralism outlined three problems that borders on comparative-religious study as intellectual, moral and theological.

The aim of this paper will be to treat the moral aspect and show that Christianity is not the chief custodian of morality. The argument will hold that other religious traditions too has some form of moral values of which Christianity could learn through the interpersonal relationship with such religions. The question would be what moral values could be learned from religious pluralism? How does this help the Christian understanding of love, human dignity (Christian ethics)? Interestingly, Mark Chaves &Philip S. Gorski asserts that “although religious pluralism is not identical with religious competition, pluralism has commonly been treated as an indicator of competition, and analyses of the relationship between religious pluralism and religious participation have been the primary source of evidence in favour of the idea that religious competition leads to increased religious vitality.” [6] Christian interpersonal relationship with other religions would certainly lead to increased religious vitality and would also reduce the Christian arrogance and ignorance of other religious traditions. This would promote a pluralist disposition rather than the often perceived exclusivist Christian attitude. Martin Buber spoke of the “the basic movement of the life of dialogue” as “turning towards the other.” [7] Without meeting face-to-face and entering into a conversation with an adversary on equal terms-subject to subject -the process of dialogue would be impossible. Jesus himself in conversation with the Samaritan woman insist that the time come when worship will not be restricted to any particular place, but when true worshippers will, “worship the father in spirit and truth”(Jn. 4.23). By this he opened up the horizons and avenues to grant credibility to all religions. Pope John Paul II, also give this express recognition of the presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of the members of other religious traditions when he spoke of their, “firm belief” as being “an effect of the spirit of truth operating outside the visible confines of the mystical body” [8] A pneumatological perspectives and convictions seem to be the way forward in crafting a model for Christian interpersonal relationship with other religions. John Paul II in Redemptoris missio insists that “Spirit presence and activity are universal, limited neither by space nor time.” [9]

Because of scope and limitation, I will limit my analysis on Islam and African Traditional Religion. Although, I am also aware that even in ATR, there are several “African functionalist approach” to moral issues; however, I will limit my paper to Tiv religious practices as paradigms for interreligious dialogue.

The format shall be, Introduction, Overview of religious pluralism as Theological Enterprise (Vatican II to Date), Issues of morality as a theological task in today’s world, Exclusive Christian Morality, Moral paradigms in Islam , Moral paradigms in African Traditional Religion (ATR), Barriers to ethical relation between Christianity and other religions, and finally, a Conclusion/suggestions.

Overview of religious pluralism as Theological Enterprise (Vatican II to Date)

The period between Vatican II to date has brought a significant shift to the church’s understanding of herself to other religious traditions. This shift has also marked a turning point to issues of dialogue and appreciation of religious pluralism. Jacques Dupuis testify that,”the council’s perspective was pastoral rather than doctrinal.” [10] He argued, “the council quite deliberately had no intention of making such a choice.” [11] The intention, on the contrary, “was to rally the highest possible majority on the council floor in favor of a change of attitude of Christian, and the church toward the members of other religion.” [12] It was with this understanding that the Roman Catholic traditions saw the need to adopt theological reflection to local circumstances, began receiving official support with the Vatican II; where in the decree on the churches’ missionary activity (Ad Gentes no.22), [13] and also pastoral constitution on the church in the modern world (Gaudium et Spes no.2). [14] All of these documents show that such adaptation received explicit appropriation. In the subsequent years, the missionary theology of Pope Paul VI developed this thought, especially in his address to the Bishops of Africa in 1969 and in the apostolic exhortation, on evangelization in the modern world in 1975 ( Evangelii Nuntiandi no.2-3) [15] . Here the Pope insists that the church must strive to proclaim the gospel to all peoples, and to seek by every means to study how the church could bring the Christian message to modern man. The Pope expressly stated that, “the split between the gospel and culture is without a doubt the drama of our time, just as it was of other times. Therefore every effort must be made to ensure a full evangelization of culture, or more correctly of cultures.” [16] All these efforts by the church were geared to show that morality as theological tasks and its engagement for today’s world demand a radical shift. Moreover, this shift that took place in the Roman Catholic Church during the Vatican II which addressed the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world created a space for religious pluralism to flourish. This was started with the affirmation of the freedom of conscience and freedom of religions of all people by Pope John XXIII (Pacem in Terris) [17] and the acceptance of interreligious dialogue as an avenue for evangelization by Pope Paul VI (ecclesiam suam) [18] which became the road map for dialogue. Nostra Aetate [19] provided the shift in relation of the Church to non-Christian faith. It opens with acknowledging the common foundation of all religions (No. 1) , and it also affirms other religion as having doctrine, moral and sacred rites (No. 2). In essence, it affirms that no one religion has monopoly about human revelation and God. Marinus Iwuchukwu testifying to this position said, “Nostra Aetate presents a road map towards effective interreligious dialogue and a firm theological assumption of a de jure religious pluralism for the church and all Christians.” [20] Thus in the words of the Holy Father, Pope John XXIII, “it was time to open the windows of the church to let in some fresh air.” [21]

Consequently, John Paul II who came after these previous popes took this advice very seriously. In the pontifical council for Interreligious Dialogue: Dialogue and proclamation [22] , he reflected on orientation about interreligious dialogue and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Redemptoris mission, [23] Pope John Paul II assures non-Christian of the love of God made manifest in Christ (No.3); raises questions and answers on the universal salvation in Christ (Inclusive pluralism) (No. 12-20). He also recognizes the Holy Spirit as the principal agent of mission (Nos.21-32). Marinus in his praise of John Paul’s II efforts argued that, “John Paul II, in his pontificate advocated better harmony and cordial engagements among world religions in search of a more peaceable world and he firmly believed in advancing the propagation of the gospel by engaging other religions of the world in healthy interreligious dialogue.” [24] This shift between Vatican I and II created a significant growth and development mostly in the Roman Catholic Church theology. As could be seen above, express indications of the church’s willingness to dialogue with other non-Christian religions became clear with post Vatican II. All these efforts are geared towards the church’s willingness to dialogue and appreciation of other religious moral values and traditions. Thus, “Vatican II became first in the conciliar history of the church to speak positively, albeit guardedly, about other religions.” [25]

On the contrary, this opening of the window seems only to be letting in little air into the church’s understanding of her faith in line with other cultures. The fact of religious pluralism de jure is yet to gain acceptance in the Christian church cycle. Their acceptance seems to be on the de facto levels. In practice, exclusivists and inclusivists approaches seem to be towering higher in the church than religious pluralism. Thus the contemporary theologians under the umbrella of post-colonial theologians are still knocking for the doors to be open as well. They insist that ‘system theology’ which was colored by Western ideology and categories must be decolonized and pluralized so that systematic theology will strive and flourish. In African and Islamic contexts, this flourishing could only be found through the model of inculturation (contextualization) and doctrines. It means that the basis for this shift must be built on the lived experience of the people, and not on church’s theological pronouncements. The church has done much in theory; but much needs to be done at practical level. Significant importance is the moral appreciation and values of other religious traditions. The church in many respects still sees herself as the sole custodian of morality, and other religious traditions have to learn from her. This kind of understanding is inimical to the true spirit of dialogue and religious pluralism. The church must open herself to learn from these other traditional moral values.

Issues of morality as a theological task in today’s world

In the light of the above, morality as a theological task has made it imperative that theology must develop large ears and open her eyes to the realities around. Realities that are born out of lived experience of a particular cultural context, and that theology must be decolonized in order to fit the pluralist project. Robert Young observes, “deconstruction’ is a deconstruction of the concept, the authority, and assumed primacy of, the category of ‘the west.” [26] Morality as Monolithic and monoculture context of the west which dominated the universalized approach to theology has become unproductive and meaningless to other cultural contexts. The contemporary theologians have become very critical of the ready-made theology of the west that was imported and transported to many cultures of the world. In place of the above, and the future of Christian morality, they propose two positions: “pluriversality and Identity” [27] . In praise of this position, Mignolo who is considered one of the leading figures of postcolonial thought said,

[t]he celebration of bi-languaging is precisely the celebration of the crake in the global process between local histories and global designs, between ‘mundialization’ and ‘globalization, from languages to social movements, and a critique of the idea that civilization is linked to the ‘purity’ of colonial monolanguaging. [28]

Here he explores further the colonial epistemic difference through the possibility of a bilingual or bi-langauging epistemology as the way forward in the study of theology in contemporary contexts. This project is vital because it will create location which is the production of moral knowledge, culture and religion. Thus for Mignolo, it means we have to speak from the colonial difference in order to give voice to the margins-subaltern voices through the process of bilanguaging (plurality). All his efforts were to create location and identity for local histories to become avenues for doing theology in contrast to global designs of the west. Closely related to the postcolonial thought are the liberation theologians. They understood theology not as self-transcendent, but as being in solidarity with the poor and the oppressed. In fact Liberation theology attributes a hermeneutical significance to the experience of the oppressed. This experience of oppression affects how morality is read, interpreted, and applied. The African theologian also is faced with the task of retrieving moral cultural values and interpreting them in the light of lived experience. Fiorenza maintained that this experience serves as “retroductive warrant.” [29] According to Fiorenza and Galvin, a ” warrant is retroductive to the extent that it offers the most feasible and comprehensive explanation of the phenomenon, accounts for unexpected and unanticipated phenomena, and enables the scientific endeavor to move on in practice.” [30] It was precisely from this background that Gustavo Gutierrez who is widely regarded as the father of Liberation theology kick-started the agitation to challenge theology on the plight of the poor and the oppressed. He rejects the idea that theology is a systematic collection of timeless and cultural transcending truths that remains for all generations. He concludes by saying that, “the attempt of Liberation theology to reflect on the experience and meaning of faith based on the commitment to abolish injustice and build a new society must be verified by the practice of that commitment itself.” [31] Thus he warns that “liberation theologians must be careful not to fall into an academic self-satisfaction of acquiring ‘new’ vision of Christianity.” [32] Segundo who came after him, became more systematic in treating this matter. He took off to free the subject matter through the instrument of “Hermeneutical cycle.” [33] In his words, “Hermeneutical cycle is a way of ushering in theology that would take their cue from flesh-and-blood of human beings to fashion the kingdom of God out of the human materials of our great but oppressed continent.” [34] He questions the absolutist position of faith, he contends that the whole concrete content of faith and all the attitudes and beliefs in which it is embodies are dependent on the relative context in which they occur. For him, “the problem of Catholic theology begins when one tries to define the precise content of these revelatory processes.” [35] He maintains that Christian option does not absolutize a value or a doctrine but rather it is an educational process dealing with values. All these efforts are to promote universal salvation in Christ as against there is no salvation outside the church “extra ecclesiam nulla Salus” that was previously held by the church. This made the church to shift her position about human salvation. All these efforts are not to promote ‘religious indifferentism’ or ‘syncretism’ but to promote inclusivist pluralist understanding of religions.

Exclusive Christian Morality

The fact that all humans are created in the image and likeness of God, makes all humans morally good. Exclusive Christian stand on morality therefore does not make her position supreme. It means that Christian morality by itself cannot define adequately the moral view of a pluralistic world. Right of existence of other religions, morality and religious values must to a very large extent have to contribute and compliment Christian moral values in a way of interpersonal relationships. Peter phan in his celebrated book affirms this when he said, “being monoreligious is going to become ever rarer in postmodern age.” [36] He insists that, “Instead, migration, globalization, and postmodern thought have created a situation where boundaries are porous and most people will be genuinely religious only if they live interreligiously.” [37] Basic to postmodernist epistemology, Phan insist “is respect for and celebration of particularity and “otherness” in all dimensions of human life, from race and ethnicity to gender to religion to culture. Diversity and plurality, which otherness implies, are seen not as curses to human flourishing to be exorcised or as threats to human unity to be suppressed.” [38] Thus he opined that culturally, socially and religiously, “church must not only respect but also incorporate into its own life and worship the teachings and practices of other religions in order to be enriched and transformed by them.” [39] Edward Schillebeeckx, a Dutch theologian, in his understanding of religious pluralism and dialogue asserts that,

Because modernity has given rise to multiplicity of world-views and institutions, and it is no longer the case that one, specifically Christian, view of the world is given social endorsement, the world has become a kind of market place in which different and divergent views of the world and mankind are on sale, from which one can choose. [40]

For him, “the problem is no longer the one formulated at the level of the earlier awareness of the problem: Is Christianity the one true religion, or is it a better religion than all the rest? … The problem rather is how can Christianity maintain its own identity and uniqueness and at the same time attach a positive value to the difference of religions in a non-discriminatory sense?” [41] Thus he argued that it was not possible that any one religious tradition or faith could exhaustively accommodate all that is good and valuable from God. His religious pluralism seems to be theocentric. God is the center and all other religions participate in his being with equal proportion for their being and goal. No religious tradition can claim monopoly of God’s knowledge and participation. He concludes that “multiplicity of religions is not an evil which needs to be removed, but rather a wealth which is to be welcomed and enjoyed by all.” [42] He affirmed “[t]here is more religious truths in all the religions together than in one particular religion.” [43] Thus he affirms the need for dialogue and even incultulation.

Moral paradigms in Islam

The quotation of Aliosa Inyumba, former head of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, Kigali, September, 2006, aptly describe the importance of dialogue. This has addressed the conflict between Christianity and other religions. He said, “[I] it is a very difficult thing to enter into dialogue with someone who has no respect for you as a person, being quite happy to see you dead. And yet without renewed dialogue, you cannot put an end to the suspicion that perpetrates the conflict.” [44] Christianity has over the years occupied the position that it is the only religion that has all answers on issues of morality. African Traditional religion and Islam have been branded as religious groups that have only to learn about morality of Christian tradition. This is an erroneous and ill-informed conception. That fact remains a closer study of these two religious traditions also revealed that Christianity also has a lot to learn from them on moral matters. John B. Cobbs and Ward M. McAfee attests that “it is possible for Christians to learn from other religious traditions and their wisdom. And that it is also possible to formulate the Christian faith in the light of what they learnt from other religions.” [45] Christians are called to rethink their faith in the light of the challenges posed to them by other traditions. In the light of these, dialogue becomes inevitable. The emphasis is not to reject what is distinctive in the Christian message but to “enrich one another through our differences.” [46]

In his treatment of Christianity and Islam McAfee argues that both Christianity and Islam have much in common. To him, both traditions proclaim one God and share insights on communal values (life of prayer and practice). Both “teach common humanity and respect for it.” [47] To this he affirms that “traditions no longer have the luxury to refuse invitation to dialogue.” [48] He insists that “we must develop the wisdom to see both what Christianity and Islam share in common and areas where we must agree to disagree.” [49] McAfee is of the opinion that “we need a better theology capable of both encouraging peaceful dialogue and resisting our own assumptions that we should dominate.” [50] He advised for the removal of log in one’s eyes before seen the splinter in the other. He cautioned that violence should not be associated with Islam alone, historically, “‘each of these three faith traditions’ was birthed in a time of great social upheaval.” [51] Christianity is not immune to history of violence; it has its fair share of religious and social upheavals of its time. Overall, McAfee concludes that the Christian self-righteousness and contempt for Islam is profoundly inappropriate.

Moral lessons that could be shared between these religions are based on the fact that “[t]he message of Muhammad’s revelations was one of both divine authority and social justice.” [52] The social justice issues dominated the teaching of Islam as propounded by Muhammad. Islam egalitarian is underwritten by the hajj, the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca. McAfee explained, “on this pilgrimage, each Muslin is to be clothed in a simple white garment so as to eradicate any and all distinctions during this holy congregating of the Muslim community.” [53] Moreover, the message of Jesus was one of radical equality and so was the tendency of Muhammad’s reform in his time and place.

Another great moral lesson Christian could learn from their Muslim brethren is the moral character of the jihad. Jihad is the most misunderstood word in the Muslim faith, however, it has a moral lesson if properly understood. John W. DE Gruchy contests that “[t]he origin of jihad is the need to establish an egalitarian and just political orde

In this report I am going to tell about the life of a good Muslim in 21st century. Basically in this report I discuss that what are the current issues through which Muslims suffer and what should they do according to Quran and Sunnah to over come from all of these issues and how they can be a good Muslims how can they spend life as a good Muslim in 21st century we discuss all it here in the lights of Hadees and Sunnah Muslim should follow Islamic point of view to better understand their lives and follow the proper path according to the shariyat because this is only way through which we can please ALLAH and take reward from. Islam is the only one who gives us understanding about good and bad deeds and through following the Quran this understanding developed in us and we are able to become good Muslims in this modern time of 21st century.

Shedding Complexes and Avoiding Violence

Only some may know the reality about Muslims and Islam, but the image of Muslims every where is not good. Islam and Muslims has been projected as a threat to peace. Some perceive it as a threat to their personal security. we Muslims have these perceptions about ourselves as we are not as we ought to be, i.e., as Muslims are described in Quran and Sunnah each of these perceptions has some connection with truth, but it’s not true as it stands.

Developing an excellent ummah in 21st century

In our journey to develop an excellent ummah that can be exemplary to all the people of the world we need to look inward of the major challenges within the Muslim societies today.

Violence within the Muslim societies and countries around the world

We should acknowledge that there are many problems in the ummah which must have to be resolved. It ranges suicide bombing through “terrorist attack” on innocent Muslims and non-Muslims around the world. The problem of violence with in the ummah must be resolved by Muslims we must work together in a concerted effort to create a peaceful society in the context of 21st century global world.

Sectarian conflict within Muslim societies

It is very bad that the whole world is watching that how Muslims killed the other Muslims. The sectarian violence involving Sunni Shiah conflict must be resolved Muslim leaders throughout the world must begin to preach on the universal message of Islam. It should never reach the level of violence and killing which we are seeing today

Low educational level of Muslims worldwide today

Muslims worldwide are facing the challenges of being uneducated and ignorant ummah we see many Muslims that have very low education achievement because Muslim parents are not sending their children to school due to poverty and lack of realization of the importance of education If this trend continues we will see the majority of Muslims will be on the lowest in the society

Mohammad a 21st century prophet:

The teachings of Muhammad (SAWW) changed the life of Arab but that was not just for the nation before 21st century but also for us to follow the Islam and Sunnah and the teachings of Islam even prophet Muhammad (SAWW) character changed the person Umar Ibn Al- Khattab who preaches the idol made of dates he become the leader of whole Muslim due to teachings of Muhammad (SAWW)

We the Muslims believe that the teachings of the Muhammad are not just for the one time but we can take benefit from these teachings even though we are living in 21st century we can represent a good nation through follow the teachings of Islam

21ST Century Muslim leadership

Muslims in the 21st century facing lots of challenges not only here but also in West we always rely on our past scholars but now we have many different challenges which we have to face and try to find out another ways to overcome this we have a great problem of knowledge and terminology. The translation is not only just translation of words but we should see the realities in it which comes from the religious reference.

The way we translate the concept of Islam is wrong and the notion, terminology is also wrong I really think that if there is challenge for us in 21st century here and everywhere is to be able ( and its not something that just come from the scholar it can be come from every single Muslim it is

Some thing which is very essential in our religion that our religion is just not the religion of elites it is the religion of every single mind & single heart to come back to understand our terminology and the priorities of our religion Islam

Great problems of Muslims of 21st century

The problem is the psychological crisis based on the lack of knowledge and lack of deep understanding of Islam because the whole process of this religion is all about liberation of all kind of alienation the first enemy is your own ego the second is perception through which we see world from our own viewpoint that is lack of humanity.

Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) saying is:
“Ifshus Salam baynakum”: spread peace among yourselves, between yourselves, with the people everywhere.

Because the highest objective of Islam is peace among all Muslims.

Muslims should get rid of Haram

The Muslims of 21st even in every century are smart enough to understand that what the concept of Haram in Islam there is many things which we should avoid for example:

Turning away from remembering god

Using gold or silver utensils

Black magic

Swindling & fraud

Altering a dead person will

Murdering or wounding another or severing one of his limbs

Drink alcoholic beverages

Stealing

Spreading corruption and evil ways

Taking Riba so onaˆ¦

These all things are Haram in Islam and the Muslims if they want to represent themselves as a good in front of world or especially in front of ALLAH one should leave these types of acts because of these acts Muslims can be out from the boundaries of Islam which will be very big punishment from Allah

Follow Halal

Halal is the thing or an action which permissible to use or engage according to Islamic law If we want to be a good Muslim we should always try to eat and do Halal things Muslims should earn from the Halal way according to shariyat not in means of cheating and fraud because for Halal in Quran there are strict laws.

The Prophet Muhammad, Sall-Allahu alayhi WA sallam, said: ‘Seeking Halal earning is a duty after the duty.’ In other words working to earn a Halal living is itself a religious obligation second in importance after the primary religious obligations like prayers, fasting and hajj.
“O ye who believe! Eat of the good things wherewith we have provided you, and render thanks to Allah if it is (indeed) He whom ye worship” (2:172)

ALLAH likes Halal things and ordered Muslim to eats Halal and does all Halal things. As I show in above heading that Allah doesn’t like Haram acts. In 21st century there are lots of Haram things which from Muslims addicted so if we want to b a good Muslim in 21st century we prove our selves as a good Muslim to avoid these things in the modern world.

In Surah 5:5 of the Quran, it is written: “The food of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] is lawful for you as your food is lawful for them.”
Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet (Saw) said:
“O People! Allah is al-Tayyib (Pure), and He only accepts that which is pure! Allah has commanded the believers what He has commanded the Messengers, for He said, ‘O Messengers! Eat from the pure foods, and do right,’ and He said, ‘O you who believe! Eat from the pure and good foods We have given you.’”
Being a good Muslim

The typical Muslim will be always honest in abiding the laws & principles of Islam. to praying five times prayers which is the basis that we know that there is only one GOD who is Allah and Muhammad(SAWW) is the last prophet of Allah

A good Muslim not only follows the Islam by him self but also teach about it and force to follow by his fellow beings and understand that it is necessary to fasting 30 days in the month of ramzan. A good Muslim always lowers his gaze while talking to others especially to the women and keeps distance with stranger women other than his wife daughter mother sister. A good Muslim follows brotherhood and feels the emotions of other Muslims. Quran tells us that a good Muslim should perform HAJJ at least once in his whole life.

But now the Muslims are busy in many bad activities and now the Muslims of 21st century are far away from the teachings of Islam shariyat and Sunnah they just live their present life by forgot they this life is not long-lasting it will be end soon they should understand the life after death which is long-lasting and which is thousand times better than this present life.

The charm the luxuries and the entertainment of this of this world make Muslims blind they don’t understand that they are doing wrong things.

Allah’s Messenger (SAWW) said:
“If any one of you improves (follows strictly) his Islamic religion then his good deeds will be rewarded ten times to seven hundred times for each good deed and a bad deed will be recorded as it is.”
[Sahih Bukhari – Book #02, Hadith #40]
Muslim youth in 21st century

As the 21st century come to an end we have to look through that what we have done and what we loose in responding to Quranic challenges to create a good society because is also seeking the one who is the ideal of entire humanity because our prophets also wants to see that what are the results of their hard work in terms of spreading Islam and too full fill the Allah’s desire this is such an tough task and in this regard Quran reminded us continuous that

“A man receives but only that for which he strives; that his endeavors will be judged, and only then will he receive his recompense in full.” (53:39-41)

Due to which Muslims has to strive to earn their final reward in full. How to maintain momentum in strive to remain a true Muslim. Muslim youth who is the main target of modernization that was taking place an uncontrollable pace In the Muslim world.

Two decades 1960 & 1970 independence of the two nations Asia and Africa created the new national identities The period was ripe for considering the role of the past heritage, religious, moral and cultural, in the new age of rationalism and secularism. and the nation developed in modernization without give importance to Islam this is the act of non Muslims they developed church instead of developing mosque and madarsa to spread Islamic teaching which is unfair to the Muslims due to which Muslims also struggle to spread Islam through our leaders

Through marriage and parenthood Islam seeks to impart moral education. even the young girls also face greater challenge in maintain their moral tact when they out in society there are very little understanding the ways in which Muslim girls existence because any girl do hijaab people consider her as old fashion but that girl shows Islam towards us and she lives according to Islam.

Our leaders should arrange programs for the youth to understand them the meaning of Islam and make recommendations to implement to create the awareness of Islam among youth to be a good Muslim.

“May Allah guide us of all the path of prosperity submission to the will of God”
CONCLUSION

In this report I discusses about the life as a good Muslim 21st century and through the research I recognized that in the modern world of 21st century the Muslims have to do hard struggle to be a good Muslim In front of Allah and to please Allah through follow Islam Quran Sunnah and in the lights of Hadith and should get rid of bad things as soon as possible and spread Islam to create awareness of Islam not to worry about the people because once you reach that destiny Allah will your hands and give you reward in the term of JANNAT.

Introduction

This essay, will be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of culture in the process of development. As it will be demonstrated, culture can both be a catlystic agent just as it can be a stumbling block for development process. Whether we like or not,we have to understand that culture plays an indespensable role in the way people respond to diferent development policies.Thus according to Spackman,in what he called “Postmodern appraoch” , an economic policy that leads to sustainable development opt to take into account a psychological angle also known as development with a focus on personal needs and growth; secondly, it should consider a spiritual dimension given that this trend constitutes the deepest root of human existence . Such policy he added will provide “legs” and not “clutches” .This policy is also referred to as People Centered Development (PCD) in short. (Speckman2007:24-25). The aim of this essay however is not to discuss which policy is the best but the advantages and disadvantages of culture on development process and,for the sake of this paper , I have decided to base my discusion on five important elements. These are: Sexism and Patriarchy; the impact of Lobola (dowry) on Development; African understanding of knoweledge, the understanding of Culture visavis of different deseases mainly HIV and AIDS and finally, culture and environmnet.

What is culture?

According to the Oxford Dictionary (1999), Culture is defined as “arts and other manifestations of human itellectual achievement regarded collectively.the custums institutions and achievemtnet of a particular nation people, or group.”(Oxford Dictionry, 348:1999). For an Africans the topic concerning the impact of culture and development progress is crucial because on one hand, we are eager to keep our culture of which we are proud of but on the other hand, as a leader, we are compelled to guide people toward a sustainable development. (Speckman2007:44).

Christianity as a culture: From the definition provided above, one may also suggest that culture is not only what our ancestrors left to us which were transmited to us through oral traditional. After our grand parents had converteed to Christianity they somehow adopted a new culture that we inherit.In other word, I wsh to argue that Christianity itself and the way we adopt it contitute “culture” which deserve a special attention while discussing the isue of the impact of Culture and Development. For instance, some Zulus will say I don’t practice ancestros worship because I am a Christian. In order words, this implies I don’t practie that cultural practice because I have adopted another one. Thus the topic: “christianity and Deveopment”.

What is development? : Acording Oxford Dictionary, (1999) simply one maysimply say that Development is “a specified state of growth or advancement.” (We will argue that s mant African scholars such as Kalenkole and Mbiti have argued Africans are very religius people and yet remained poor.” (Oxford Dictionary, 1999:392).

What is the relation between Culture and Development?

Historically speaking, Schech and Haggis(2002) argue that the origins of the notion of development in the sense of promoting social progress lie in the same set in the nineteeth century as which are associated with the origins of the concept of culture . They added, “Indeed culture and development sometimes mean almost the same thing until discourses of development planning and cultural specificity diverged in the ealry decades of the present century.” (Schech and Haggis, 2002:5). Thus in Africa, specifically in South Africa, given the place ocupied by culture, one may argue that if we are projecting for a sustainable development, it is indispensable to scrutinize both the strenghts and the weaknesses that cuture can bring about and, when possible try to challenge critically some of our cultural practices and believes that appear to be as an obstruction to Development.But at all time, we first have to be conscious that we can not impliment efficient development policies while ignoring the presence of culture. Larry Yost nd Hugh Tracy were right in their eighth principle of Community Development Work when arguing the importance of involving the local leadership ‘since the ultimate responsability for continuing development rests with the local citizen’ (Yost and Tracy: 1997;21).

Beside that, either one is an economist or traditionalist; we all heartily and sincerely endorse the striving for economic development. In other words, Economic development expresses one of our fundamental hopes and aspiration. Moreover, in its report published in 1996, the UNDP (United Nations Development Program), defined human development as” the endeconomic growth a means.” (Human Development Report 1996). (http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1996/).

Disadvantages of Culture:

Speaking about the disadvantages of culture on development, one may argue that sometime people because of their ignorance or lack of knowledge can deny even what is indispensable for their survival on the basis of their cultural beliefes. Thus, as it has been argued by Spackamn, people need to be empowered as toward decision making.And, in my view, any theologian and any educated person who cares about the Development of Africa should think critically about the impact of “culture.According to Spackman, culture can have positive impact on development just as it can have negative repercussion on development. Thus, this situation often plunge us into a dilemma because on one hand we are eager to keep our culture of which we are proud of but on the other hand, as leaders, we are compelled to lead people toward a sustainable development. (Speckman2007:40-44),

Impact of Sexism ad patrirchy on development

As mentioned before, this paragph will be discussing sexism in Africa and its impact on development. I will demonstrate how sexism and patriarchy have contributed all along many years to the oppression of women and, consequently this situation has also lead to the oppression of men and the impoverishing of Africa.

Definition of Sexism: According to Cambridge Dictionary, Sexism is the belief that the members( in this case women) of one sex are less intelligent , able skillful, less accepted/valued by God than the members of the other sex. Especially that women are less than men are. (Cambridge Dictionary2005:1166).

Mercy Amba Oduyoye argues that Women’s status in most societies is far lower than that of men. In her view, this situation is due to cultural stereotype specified under attributes and responsibilities. (Oduyoye, 2007:22).Beside that, even the way the Bible has been often interpreted has immensely contributed to women oppression.

In most African society, at the death of parents in most only male children will inherit and never a girl.Thus in African society and all over the World, there is a tendency to consider a boy more valuble than a girl.when there is shortage of income in the familly, often it isthe girl who has to interrupt her studies in favor of the boy. Secondly, though a woman is said to be a partner, in most decision making, either within the society or within the familly practically, she does not have much to contribute if not nothing. In other word she is just there as an auxilliary to her husband. Once divorced, a woman loses respect and finds herself despised if she does not quickly remarry. The whole education has been in preparation for marriage, so a failure here is a total failure. No woman is destined to stay single if so she has done something wrong. (Oduyoye, 2007:22). Apart from sexism found in the culture, we also find that even the way Bible has been interpreted does not encourage women’s emancipation. To use Nyangweso words, ‘Marriage is endocentric. This is a universal experience that cries for reexamination.'(Nyangweso2007:61). From the Hebrew Testament to the New Testament, the position occupied by women is often portayed to be lower to that of men. Thus, Oduyoye argues that “gender stratification has distorted the quality of human relations and it continues to deny the parity between women and men to accept female and male as equivalent expression of being.” (Nyangweso2007:62).

How then do sexism and patriarchy impact negatively on African’s development?

By oppressing women, some men think that they will monopolize the power and order will be established. However, a careful observer will agree with me that by oppressing women, men are doubly oppressed. First, men are deprived from the closest source of support. As when woman and man have equal access to education and make their economic decision together, this can boost their economy. In the previous decades we saw that in some part of Africa like Senegal, women were not allowed to attend school and this in my view was oppressive toward a man as he has by himself to provide not only for himself but his wife and children whereas a woman well educated will have access to better job and financial resources. And this will solve not only her financial problem but also will be able to raise the household income. (Oduyoye, 2007:22).By doing so the man is secured from working doubly. And more interesting, a husband will have peace of mind knowing that after his death his wife and children will not be mistreated by the rest of his family. Women’s contribution was not really valued in terms of Development .That is why pne may ague that sexism constitute a stubling block as women are considered as passive agents in the process of the development whereas ,if they were to be valued, their input should have boosted our Development. I dare to say that taking as reference to our modern time where men and women appear to ocupy the same position and deliver the same service.Thus tooday we have Nurses, Doctors, Enginneer, Political parties Leaders such as DA in South Africa and so on.In one word, one may say that African Development will not progress untill all of those who are oppressed by sexism and partiacrhy are free. Thus the UNDP’s statement (Unitied Nations development Programme), ‘Gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to achieving for inclusive, democratic, violence-free and sustainable development in Africa” and therefore a condition to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)’. www.undp.org/porvety

The impact of our religious and social beliefs on development.

Land and devolpment: Culture has a huge impact on land development. Werner Sombart argued that ‘any economic system is nothing but a manifestation of the existing culture. And, a culture exists because of a certain spirit.’ (12).Thus in section I wish to discuss some of both positive and negative impacts of Culture on Agriculture and environmnet in general given its role in Development. Speaking about African culture and development, it is important to understand that knoweledge as a crucial component of technology raises some pertinent questions in Arfrican culture. Its cultural construction raises questions like: What value is placed on different forms of knowledge? (And by whom)Who has access to, or access to exploit knowledge? Consequently, individual are not free to engage in research given that only a certain group of people has access to that field.Often, it is found that our Culture imposes some practices that don’t encourage development. For istance, in some areas where the tradition is still highly observed, we find that there are some places which are reserved strictly for ancestors worship as well as some restrictions to cultivate some products. This can be a challenge when the government want to develop a such area either in terms infrustructrure, roads or practice an Agriculture which will benefit many.Often, when the Government insists and go against the will of the resident of that area, it is found that the project is never successful given that as the ABCD methods states a true development project, has to be initiated by people and with people. (Class notes)

Impact of Lobola on development: Beside the issue of land, another pertinent issue in our modern time which arises from culture to be discussed is the issue of Lobola and weding ceremonies .Today, in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa, the issue of Lobola present a stumblig block to development for different individuals. Originally, Lobola was meant to express a link between the two families. According to one of my South African friends, lobola was ‘like” a gift of appreciation to the best familly. Howerever, as time goes on, this practice has changed its aim and has tendency to become a business whereas life does not always allow it. Consequently, most couple ends up in debts.Speaking about development, this practice does hinder financially the new couple from achieving other goals such as education of quality of both their children and themselves because they can not afford it.In the future, this situation affect both the familly and the Nation as we can only produce a service of quality if we have rceived an education of good quality. Furthermore, any carefull observor, will argue with me that the economical situation doe no more allow to feast for a long period.Thus to enforce the new couple into endless parties and ceremonies just in the name of culture is irrespective to what is defined as Sustainable Development as According to The United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, “development is sustainable if it meets the needs of the Present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”.Here the point I am trying to make is that there are many cultural practices that may seem to be fastidious whereas they don’t encourage savings. (http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1996/)

Deseases, Culture and Development: Today, no country in the World is unacquainted of HIV and AIDS. According to the report generated by the UNDP in 2007, South Africa was experiencing the most severe AIDS in the World. 5.7 millions of People living with HIV and almost 1,000 AIDS’ deaths occuring every day. In its efort to fight this deasease, South African Goverment together with Who (World Health Organization) spent millions of Rand in order to support people who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

(http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm) One of the reasons why this desease continue to spread extremely beyond major is our behavior due to our cultural beliefs and practices .Some of the practices to consider here are levirate mariage and poligamy. Levirage mariage implies that when the father of the house dies, his brother has to replace him. And, often this happen inspite of the wish of the wife of the desease.Consequently, this practice perpuates the spread of HIV in case one of the new couple is already infected. Apart from levirate mariage, polygamy which is accepted in most African Culture like Zulu culture for instance is another obstacle.Furthermore, beside levirate mariage and Polygamy, the way our tradition conceives and deals with deaseses such as HIV and Aids and many others such as Swine Flu, Cholera and so on often end in disastrous result. On 30th of November 2006 for instance, the SACC adressed its concern about a traditional healer who claimed to have cured 500 HIV-positive people with the use of herbs which acording to the invistigation done it was just a way of attracting people to draw their attention to traditional medications.( http://www.mg.co.za/article/2006-11-29-church-council-outraged-over-aidscure-claim) Beside that, some traditional healer do often suggest method which rather than leading to the cure encourage the spread of HIV. This, being because they have another understanding of the disease. Some believe that by sleeping with a virging girl they would get rid of the desease , others argue that the use of Condoms is not in accordance with our culture.I remember in my culture that there is an odd say “ntawurya umunwa wugaye “meaning “no man can eat the mouth closed” implying that a man could never have sex and stop the semens from entering the female private part.Others will go even further by arguing that condoms are Western’s assert used to spread the desease among Black People in other to exterminate them. Consequently, these believes have been the cause of death of many talented and energetic young people indispensable for the development of Africa. Thus while encouraging our young generation to assume the continuity of our Culture, we should be keen to think critically about certain practices that hinder the Development of our people. Beside that, each African should endeavour to reduce the cost of supporting people living with HIV and AIDSas it has huge repercussion on national economy.

Impact of HIV on Development

South African Government spends millions of rand each month to fight the desease and especially in the support of people living with HIVand AIDS by providing ERVs and other medications including the distribution of free condoms.These huge amount of funds which are used to support people living whith HIV and AIDS constitute a big lost as there should be used to support many other projects such as Education, scientific research,the fight against Women oppression and crime, and different studies that may help to kep our Environmnent from degradation and many other projects which in return will contribute to the Development process. By criticizing the investment in the fight against HIV and AIDS, I am not arguing that it worthless project.I do believe that People who are infected and affected by HIV and AIDS are still people who deserve dignity and support. This being because first of all, they remain human like others and, most of them are indispensable for our Development. However, the point I am trying to make is that the support of people living with HIV and AIDS is very costy .Therefore, wherever possible we should be willing to divorce ourself from any practice that favor the spreading of HIV and AIDS in this case certain cultural pratices and believs mentioned above.

Impact of Christianity on Development.

Speaking about the church as one aspect that has shaped our culture (cfr introduction), While speaking about Development and Culture, it might look easy to criticize what had been passed on to us by our forefathers. One of the reasons is because; these cultural practices appear to be too old. Some of them are not even in practice today.They are just part of our history though we claim them to be part of our culture .And; often we just refer to them when it suits us as a way to defend our manhood, political argument and so on for instance. However, if we will have to engage critically, I think we should speak more about what appears to be a burning issue. Thus in my view, it is essential while discussing culture and development not to leave aside Christianity. This being as discussed before, the way we practice Christianity can constitute a culture.Though it is universally known that Chrisitianity is a religion, I wish to ague that Christian life is itself a culture. Thus, just as one can engage critically with his/her culture, we should also be bold to discus some of the impacts of Christianity on Development.

Positive impact of Christianity on Development: One of the positive impacts of Christianity for us as African is that it has free us from diferent ancestoral practices which don’t encourage development. This is for istance the total dependency on spiritual agencies and forgeting that we are the custodians of the earth.Beside that, Christianity does encourage hard working. Thus looking unto Jesus, Paul (He who does not work should not eat). And, today, some churches have sort to preach the prosperity Gospel. This kind of Gospel has some good aspects of development in a sense that it does encourage people to know that it is their father’s will that they may prosper (verse).Some individuals argue that one of the reason why Europ is more developed than africa is because we as African put the spiritual realm first and undermine our ability to create.This is often explained by the fact that in Europ, during the modern period, Europe develop dramatically especially in terms of technology and economy.

Negative impact of Christianity on Development

Though one may say that Christianity enclose numberous positive aspects for development, one has also to be aware of the negative impacts that Christianity can revert on Development and often due to the way, we interpret the scriptures. Often, church leaders do teach that we have to live a poor life. We have to look on things above. We should not keep our tresearues on earth here roast and will eat them. Thus, a missinterpretaion of such verses has leaded some of believers to be satisfied with their porvety and therefore hinder them from seing any need for development. Beside that, another negative aspect of Christian teachings is its impassibility visavis to issues regarding development and politic.Scholars in nowadays came to the conclusion that such attitude reveals ignorance given that the church operates within the society and whaterver strikes the society also strikes the church (Simangaliso….). It is therfore good time that the church starts to engage with not only spiritual issues but also social issue.

Conclusion

In Conclusion, this essay has discussed the impact of Culture on Development. I have demonstrated how some facets of culture such as partiacrchy, sexims and Chrsitainity do impact both positively but most largely negatively on Development progress.Most extensively; I have discussed how culture in Africa has hindered the development process. I came to the understanding that there is no culture which is universal and there is no culture which is eternal. Consequently, each cultural practice should be understood from its historical and socialogical context and applied in contemplation with the current political, social and economic situation.

Reference
Ife,J.(2002), Community Development,(2nd edition), Pearson ,Sydney Australia NIV Bible
Nyangweso.,M 2007,FemaleCircumcision, Maryknoll, New York :Orbis
Oduyoye, Mercy Amba, 1986.Hearing and Knowing: Theological Reflections on Christianity in Africa,Maryknoll:Orbis.2001
Simangaliso, R, 2005, Theology and Education, the role of the Church in education for social transformation: A Methodist contribution, Cecil Renaud Library Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Speckman MT, 2007, A Biblical Vision for Africa’s development ?, Cluster Publication

Church council outraged over Aids-cure claim

http://www.avert.org/aidssouthafrica.htm
www.undp.org/porvety
http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr1996/
Schech,S and Haggis,J.(ed)(2002) Development: A Cultural Studies Reader ,Publisher Blackwell
Yost,L and Tracy,H(ed).(1997) (class notes)

The letters sent between Abelard and Heloise discuss many controversial characteristics of their time period. They converse about sex, virginity, a woman’s role in the society, and punishment which in turn shows the ethics, religious views, and morals of their time. In contrast to these topics it also portrays the problems the church and society had when faced with these ideas that did not follow along according to the Bible. The ethics and rules of living were heavily connected to the church in Abelard and Heloise’s time unlike modern times. In this society the clergy was the most respected albeit feared power in the land. As such people were expected to follow and adhere to everything said in the Bible. They were supposed to live their lives accordingly to the Bible. Any knowledge was supposed to be used to further exemplify God and never to be used to refute God, his rules, or his teachings. If it were to be used as such then people were as saying heresy and excommunicated from the church and scorned by others. Every aspect of this time period and society were centered around the church. In this highly restricted society the letters sent between the two lovers allows us insight into the topics of the sanctity of virginity, sex once married, the penalties for sex without marriage, and the roles women were expected to play without any complaints or persuasion in the society of Abelard and Heloise.

The sanctity of virginity was a great prize during Abelard and Heloise’s time, around the twelfth century. It was prized and held to high esteem but for the wrong reasons. Many believed the longer a woman held onto her virginity the closer she would become to God. Abelard reckons that, “The more God is pleased by the abstinence and continence which women have dedicated to him, the more willing he will be to grant their prayers.”(123) Men of this society believe virginity should be in devotion to God but Abelard believed it was to please society that many women did it, not to please God. While Heloise does agree she says “Men think being pure of flesh, a virgin, is a virtue.” She also believes that that virtue comes from the soul not from the body. Being a virgin was considered something we as humans do to please God when in fact it is actually more of a spiritual or religious trait. Society only placed a value upon outward appearances as a virgin but allowed lustful temptations to be thought as long as it was not acted upon. Abelard considered virgins not pure if they thought dirty because the body and soul are one and the same. Society respected the display of virginity but cared little if a person actually believed in what they were doing or if a person actually wanted to do what they were doing. Not only were people curious about virginity but they were also clueless about the relationship once sex is permitted after marriage. Many believed God has allowed sex once one is married to the one they have married. Even though Abelard does believe this he still feels animosity while having sex with his own wife especially “during the days of Our Lord’s Passion” (147). Although sex is to be allowed after marriage the church did have rules as to when a couple could be together. Sex altogether is accepted during Abelard and Heloise’s era but it hinted at as being bad since the church must regulate it. Since the church can say when it alright and not alright to have sex then this associates that there must be some type of evil or ungodliness regarding sex. Abelard never admits that he agrees with what the rabble think of him and Heloise he does say that the people think “it was desire, not affection which bound you to me, the flame of lust rather than of love” (116). Abelard does not know why he has transgressed what he has, taking Heloise’s virginity and having sex on holy days, so like any person he has to place the blame on someone or something else so he blames it on the emotion of lust which leads him to give up his love of Heloise though she still loves him.

Due to their society ingraining in them the ever powerful rule of God, Abelard and Heloise expect God to punish them for their sins. Abelard accepts God’s punishment without any hassle and does not question it. Heloise on the other hand goes on to say that all the laws of being equal under the eye of God were reversed when it came to their judgment. Heloise is confused because God did not punish her and Abelard while they were committing the sins of sex before marriage but instead decided to punish them after they became married. She considers it reversed because while they did the bad deed no bad befell them but once they had obeyed God’s rule the punishment fell upon them harshly. Heloise complains to Abelard about how harsh God’s punishment is on them but Abelard believes it was all part of God’s will. He believes that Heloise was sent to him by God to cause him to be castrated forcing him closer to God. This shows that in this society people were confused and had very different views on God’s punishment but even so they did accept it.

Throughout their letters Abelard is quick to remind Heloise about her place in society reinforcing the role women played in this society. The most obvious role of women in this society was that women were secondary to men. Heloise further reinforces this patriarchy upon herself when she notices Abelard places her name first on the letter before his own. Heloise tells him that it should not be so and that she is inferior to his since she is a women and as such his name should come before his (127). Abelard does agree and states that that is the natural order of the world. As common practice in this society women are underneath men and wives are expected to always, always serve their husbands. A women has many other expected roles too. Above all, and the most degrading of all she is expected to be good in bed. Another expected role from a women is to always make her husband happy. Many times Abelard says things like a good wife makes her husband a happy man. All in all society only want and believe a woman should make a man happy, love him, and serve him. Even with all of this women can still be viewed as evil or corruption in this society. Heloise says “men are most easily brought to ruin through their wives” (131) Heloise never objects to the views Abelard projects onto her or other women in this society. Heloise perfectly shows way of thinking of a typical women in this society. She says that she will change her clothes, her mind, and her body all to prove Abelard as the one owner of her body and will. She even goes on to say she wants nothing but Abelard and that she “looked for no marriage-bond, no marriage portion… I prefer love to wedlock and freedom to chains” (113). She would give up her life and everything she has for Abelard.

These letters above all else show the corruption and the influence of man upon the church of God. Heloise states that if man does not offend or deny the opinions of clergy men they will receive the highest of praise. Any form of thinking that disrupts or goes against what the church is preaching is branded as heresy and usually leads to the threats on the person’s life or even the death of the person. Many people decide which verses and tenets of the Bible to follow and ignore the ones that do not benefit them in the short or long run. The clergymen in Abelard and Heloise’s era and our era flaunt their wealth even though the Bible tells about modesty they choose to ignore it. Abelard thinks this is wrong in the churches of his time. Another fault that is prominent in this society but not thought upon as evidenced in the absence of Abelard’s thoughts upon it is racism. Abelard says Ethiopian women are not as pretty as white women but they are better in bed. And he also says that the color of the Ethiopian women are a “disfigurement” (140).

The discussions had through letters between Abelard and Heloise about virginity, sex, marriage, God’s punishment have allowed us sight into the twelfth century’s morals, ethics, and it truly highlights the problems within the church that have continued on until this modern day. While virginity is cherished, sex after marriage is allowed by the Bible, the punishment of God is expected when a sin is committed, and the roles of women are enforced in this society there are many flaws. Virginity is prized only on the outside, sex is allowed after marriage but still regulated by the church, punishment is expected but viewed differently by each person, and society treat women second to men. Even though Heloise questions God’s punishment and is confused about it she never once questions her role in society she accepts it. This goes to show how strong a society can impact a single person.

Stephen Pattison article entitled Some Straw for the Brick: A Basic Introduction to Theological Reflection introduces a model of theological reflection called “critical conversation”. In this model the conversation is between three parties, namely the students own faith presuppositions, the particular situation/context being looked at and the Christian tradition. Pattison is by no means suggesting that the critical conversation model is the only model of theological reflection. He has chosen it because it’s derived from others forms of theological reflection and lists seven advantages to it. ( pg. 139).

According to Pattison, purpose of this model of theological reflection according is to help people think through and analyse their own experiences, the issues and the situations that they face and in so doing the practical theology gets underway. As far as Pattison is concerned the critical conversation has more to do with asking the right questions than arriving at the right answers. He also appears to suggest that theological reflection has less to do with academic ability than with inventiveness and imagination, creativity that seeks to discern patterns in a particular situation.

Why critical reflection one might ask? Pattison’s answer to that question is as follows:

a). It helps us to bring about an understanding of human and religious experience in contemporary society whether superficial or complex. He suggests that, more complex the situation, require a depth in the conversation by drawing resources from other secular knowledge base, i.e. or Christian theology.

b). It connects belief and practice to everyday life.

c). Prevent people from making false assumptions.

d). Helps one to grow deeper in faith and appreciation of theology.

Theological reflection must become the filter of the ministry of the church. Critical reflection serves as a critical tool for the purposes of practical theology

It is active enquiry, .dynamic, deep searching and open ended. Not intended to produce universally acclaimed answers by everyone and in every places in all cases. Theological reflection should not be seen as relevant to all people in all situations because of the different contexts. It is worth pointing out that theological reflection undertaken by individuals may well reveal more about the person and their perspective than it does about a secular situation or Christian theological tradition. To avoid that Pattison recommends that individuals be self-critical when doing theological reflection on their own. Theological reflection should be done as a group exercise instead. Helen Cameron illustrates the importance of this through her group work with TAP. Clearly this important point is articulated by all the other writers whose work form part of this review. Theological reflection in group setting is conducive to a deep and enhanced critical conversation likely to produce aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦aˆ¦Any enquiry must aim at enriching the individual but crucially must be for the benefit of the Christian community. Such an outcome is bound to give new meaning and new orientation to the ministry of the church as has been the case throughout the church’s history.

The weakness of this model of theological reflection is that it can be too subjective as it appeals to people’s particular theological bias, temperament and cultural leaning. Relativism, idiosyncratic are.. mutually interrogative method can lead to further questions, does not provide eternally valid answers which can be applied to everyday life. Asking questions and engaging in critical conversation is not an adequate way of conceiving theological reflection. Pg. 142 (limitations) Also the conversation may no be academic enough. One other criticism to be said about Pattison’s model of theological reflection is that it assumes everyone can do it. The fact of the matter is not everyone has the skill Ballard page 2.

Elaine Graham Elaine Graham etal recognises that the subject of theological reflection has been research extensively resulting in the production of numerous publications. However for her and fellow writers their article entitled Method or Mystique in Theological Reflection: Methods offers a challenge to the vague manner theological reflection is viewed. They point to the fact “received understanding of theological understanding are largely under- theorised and narrow, and too often fail to connect adequately with biblical, historical and systematic scholarship” (pg.1). As such they aim to help the reader “engage in patterns of theological reflection that are richer in the source they draw on more rigorous and more imaginative.

Their introductory chapter gives a history outline of the discourse. We have an account, of understanding practical/pastoral theology as a discipline concerned with practical training which is broader and understands theology as critical reflection in a variety of settings. Graham etal, sites Donald Scon who argues for a shift from theoretical knowledge, technical rationality and scientific precision which is all theoretically and not practically based consequently eroding public trust of experts. According to them, professional knowledge of expertise is only acquired in a particular context or situation that is implicit and problem based. Furthermore the learning takes place by responding with flexibility to situations, willingness to be a proactive learner and risk taking. (pg. 4) This view that knowledge comes by experience is also shared by Kolb in his book on model of experimental learning. (pg. 5) As such theology ought to be understood as a process rather than product. Christian practice, alongside systematic biblical and historical theology is crucial to theological reflection. In their view such engagement with these traditional Christian resources is weak. It is to this interrelated problem of traditional Christian resources that Theological Reflection: Methods reverts.

My third article for review is entitled Characteristics of Theological Action Research by Helen Cameron etal. The article comes from the book written by her and others called Talking about God in Practice. In it a methodology of research called Theological Action Research is introduced. TAR is a brain child of Action Research Church and Society made up of two teams that are ecumenical and interdisciplinary chosen. The team members are all theological practioners and researchers, made up of a team from Heythrop and the other team from outside.

ARCS objectives are realised when dialogue goes on in each team and also across the teams. The teams demonstrate willingness to share good practice and ideas of theological research between teams. As a model TAR has four stages called a cycle of theological reflection and are the following; experience, reflection, learning and action. The methodology require that each stage of the cycle is carefully examined and documented using its action research process and social sciences methods of collecting data. Theology plays a key part in all the stages of the practice right from the beginning to the very end. That also includes the shared reflections of the practitionrs and researchers.

We can conclude that the lessons learnt are the following:

Theological reflection and theology is directed at life situations in every human experience whether be a believer, church community including those who confess to be atheists. According to Metz, as he made reference to Karl Rahner’s a critical observation of Vatican II. “God is a universal theme, a theme concerning all humanity or it is simple no theme at all”. (pg 57 M.K). Rahners ascertion is an attempt to address an abserd belief which was sectarian and excluded others in taking part the faith dialogue/God. It is also true to say that when theology becomes self-absorbed by ignoring the world’s reality of human suffering, poverty injustice etc. it loses its purpose.

The theological reflection model looked at in this review appear narrowly focused ataˆ¦aˆ¦. with a particular racial group, principally white European and middle class. We live in a diverse aˆ¦.. The church is a reflection of society that is multicultural, ethnic

Robert Kinast in his article on the subject makes the same point that theological reflection is a threefold movement, which begins with the lived experience,