An Evaluation of Jürgen Moltmann's New Political Theology in the Light of Nigerian Political Challenges John Umaru Rikka and Mairo Anthony1
Abstract Political theology involves theological involvement in political discourse, theological thoughts, and questions related to politics and public life. At this in the history of Nigeria, there is a need for religious folks to look inward at their religious parameters and paradigm to be involved in the political and public discourses of Nigeria. Therefore, this paper evaluates Jürgen Moltmann's ideas of political theology and draws lessons for clerics and lay leaders within the Nigerian context. This was achieved through descriptive and narrative (histo-narrative) and dialogical and critical evaluation of Jurgen Moltmann's political theology. Keywords: Political theology, theology, the Cross, and politics. Introduction There are contending situations with the Nigerian Church in her political theology role, including unawareness of political theology in our theological institutions. However, the movement for public theology among Nigerian theologians is an ongoing process, and this work contributes toward that. This paper evaluates Jurgen Moltmann's new political theology in The Cambridge Companion to Christian Political Theology from his article on "European Political Theology" and its relevance to the African-Nigerian political situation. It applies a brief histo-narrative, critical analysis, and dialogical approach within one of the Nigerian political challenges and derives relevance from Moltmann as a paradigm. Or can Moltmann's paradigm of political theology help analyze the current Nigerian political challenges?
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John Umaru Rikka is a PH.D. Research/Student of the Faculty of Religion and Theology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Mairo Anthony is a PH.D. Research/Student of the Faculty of Evangelical Theology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. 1