“A Missiological Critique of the World Council Of
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“A MISSIOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES’ NOTION OF JUST PEACE: ITS IMPLICATION AND CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCE FOR OVERCOMING VIOLENCE AND PEACEBUILDING IN THE MULTI-RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY OF JOS, NIGERIA” By Lesmore Gibson Ezekiel Submitted in Fulfilment of the Academic Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Practical Theology) At the School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg Supervisor: Professor Roderick Hewitt December 2015 i Declaration As required by University regulations, I hereby certified that this thesis has not been presented for the award of a degree or diploma in any University or any other institution and also affirm that to the best of my knowledge, the thesis is my original work and contains no material previous published or written by another person, except where due reference is made within the text of the thesis. ------------------------------------------------------- Lesmore Gibson Ezekiel December 2015 As candidate’s Supervisor, I hereby approve this thesis for submission ------------------------------------------------------- Professor Roderick Hewitt December 2015 ii Dedication This work is dedicated to all people regardless of religious persuasion, ideological proclivity, cultural affinity, social status and political affiliation strive and intentionally work for the cause Justice and Peace all around the world. iii Acknowledgements My gratitude goes to God of life who has enabled me to go through this journey in good health and sound mind despite the challenges encountered. My profound appreciation is to my soul-mate, the love of my life, my dearest wife, Rhoda for her resilience, courage and inspiration during the cause of this academic exploration. She remains an invaluable gift to me. While I was away you taught and guided our little angels; Aquila Rubitambe Asipita Lesmore Jr, Priscilla Vesuran Oyiza and Ma’ai Yeri Adeiza Gibson Jr. You and the little angels (our children) are deeply appreciated. My sincere thanks go to my unrelenting and inspiring supervisor, Prof Roderick Hewitt, who has demonstrated unexplainable devotion and commitment during the cause of this research work. We began the journey strong and ended stronger. He guided and mentored me throughout the journey. I will forever be grateful to him. I will always remember his inspiring but tough statement: “Blessed are those who expect nothing for they will not be disappointed”. Thank you immensely. Special thanks also go to Dr Chammah Kaunda, a Post-Doctoral student at UKZN for his strategic support along the way. My words of thanks go to the World Council of Churches (WCC) for providing funding support for this academic project. I most sincerely mention, Rev. Dr. Dr. Dietrich Werner, who was the Global Coordinator of WCC Ecumenical Theological Education Programme for his tireless efforts to ensure that from the limited financial resources within the WCC ETE Programme that funding support was provided to me and other candidates elsewhere. Not only that, you facilitated my going to the Ecumenical Institute Bossey, Switzerland for both my research and to pursue an advance master degree programme in ecumenical studies, which I successful completed. I am truly thankful. My appreciation to the entire community of School of Religion, Philosophy and Classics of the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg campus and Lutheran Theological Institute for the support system provided during the cause of this work. I am thankful for the bursary received from the University. Thanks to Ms. Catherine Murugan for her tireless administrative work within her docket of higher degrees to ensure that things go smoothly. I wish to express special thanks to Mr. Moses David for the editorial work done on the entire text to ensure its readability iv and reasonability. Thanks to fellow doctoral student, Pastor James Miriago for assisting in some logistics. My special thanks to relatives and friends for their support and encouragement. Worthy of mention are; my aged parents, baba Ezekiel Shekara Rubotuba and mama Liana Auta Ezekiel, my brother Nirus and his family, Engr Per Enggaard Haarh and his family, Rt. Rev. Dr. Musa Filibus and his family, Rev. Dr. James Reynolds and his family, and countless others. I am grateful. Thanks to PROCMURA team for the support I received as a member of team. Lastly, my special gratitude goes to all the personalities that graciously accepted to serve as participants for the key informant interviews. Your contributions that came as observations, suggestions and opinion were well received and incorporated into the whole work, and also made it a success. v Abstract The study employed missiological lenses to critique the emerging ecumenical notion of Just Peace as an ideological concept, and also examined its contextual relevance and ecumenical implications as potent theory for overcoming violence and fostering sustainable peace in a multi- religious and multicultural Nigerian Society. The Just Peace concept and process was adopted by the WCC at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation that was held in Kingston Jamaica in May 2011 as a global ecumenical pedagogical approach for equipping and empowering churches in their missional engagements to overcome violence and build peace in human society. The objective of the research was mainly to critique the Just Peace concept through investigating the extent to which churches in Jos, Nigeria have understood and appropriated the concept in their process of responding to the conflict in their communities. In cognisance of the global challenge in the quest for justice and peace, Just Peace, ecumenical concept of WCC was examined in order to determine its contextual relevance towards building a just and peaceful multi-religious and multicultural context of Jos, Nigeria. In doing justice to the foregoing, the research embraced three ideological theories which formed the theoretical framework upon which the research project was constructed. Konrad Raiser a German global ecumenist and former General Secretary of the WCC offers a missio-ecumenical framework that focuses on ‘a Culture of Life: Reconsidering Peace and Justice’ and William Tom Dickens, a professor of Religious Studies with special interest in inter-religious dialogue offering a covenantal framework that promotes peace among people of faith that embraces the Abrahamic tradition. To reinforce the two euro-centric theories, a third theory emerging from African context was employed, ‘Ubuntu’. In a nutshell, the Culture of Just Peace canvassed in this research compels people of all faith traditions to deliberately perceive and discern rightly that justice and peace are free and priceless gifts of the Almighty God and must not be commoditized or politically transacted in any way or in any form. The Culture compels Christians and Muslims and indeed all people of faiths to question the authenticity and validity all religious teachings suspected to be perverted and divisive that have the propensity to instigate disregard and disrespect for the religious “other”, with the sole aim of building a peaceful and religiously cohesive society for all, and in consistent with the fundamental principles and philosophies of the various religions embedded in the vi sanctity of human life. Being religious cohesion does not in any way negate the principles of diversity but invites people of different religious affiliation to perceive and recognise that other religions other than theirs affirms life. vii GLOSSARY OF THE ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AACC – All African Conference of Churches ACTS – African Christian Textbooks AIC – African Instituted Churches AIT – Africa Independent Television ANCA – All Nations Christian Assembly APRM – Alternative Peace Road Map BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation CAN – Christian Association of Nigeria CBOs – Community Based Organisations CCIA – Commission of the Churches on International Affairs CCN – Christian Council of Nigeria CEPAN – Centre for Peace Advancement in Nigeria CLAW – Church of the Lord Aladura Worldwide CNAC – Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion CNN – Cable News Network CPFN – Christian Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria CoB – Church of the Brethren COCIN – Church of Christ in Nations CWME – Commission on World Mission and Evangelism CRCN – Christian Reformed Church in Nigeria viii CRUDAN – Christian Rural & Urban Development of Nigeria CSN – Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria CSOs – Civil Society Organisations DEM – Dictionary of the Ecumenical Movement DOV – Decade to Overcome Violence ECCN – Evangelical Church of Christ in Nigeria ERCC – Evangelical Reform Church of Christ ECWA – Evangelical Church Winning All EEF – Ecumenical Education Fund ESO-C&S – Eternal Sacred Order of the Cherubim and Seraphim ETE – Ecumenical Theological Education EWER – Early Warning Early Response EYN – Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria FACM – First African Church Mission FBOs – Faith Based Organisations FCS – Fellowship of Christian Students FCCN – Fellowship of Churches of Christ in Nigeria FCS – Fellowship of Christian Student FECCIWA – Fellowship of Churches of Christ in West Africa FGN – Federal Government of Nigeria FOMWAN – Federation of Muslim Women of Nigeria ix FRN – Federal Republic of Nigeria HEKAN – Hadaddiyar Ekklesiyar Kristi A Nigeria IED – Improvised Explosive Device IEPC – International Ecumenical Peace Convocation IMC – International Missionary Conference IMC – Interfaith Mediation Centre JIBWIS – Jama’atul Bidiah Ikamatu Sunna JNI