Abstract
Every traditional society had inherent indigenous patterns through which its values and morals were maintained. The world has become a global village where through the powers of the ICT, almost everything is crossing borders. The walls of ethical values and morality seem tottering, even as societies adjust and readjust through institutions in the fight back to equilibrium. Religion remains a propelling instrument in this endeavour. For the Sabbath Church in Nigeria, and as obtained in Igbo worldview too, values entail sacred spaces held in awe, which can as well be de-sacralized, and re-sacralized. Consequently, the Sabbath Church, an African Instituted Church, through its robust theology on sin and sin offering has developed some principles for the evaluation and restoration of value and values.
This paper focuses on the Sabbath Church’s liturgy on ethical values and morality. When the peace and harmony of the society is distorted consequent upon a breach of the law, how does the theology of the Sabbath church advocate and guide into the restoration of the order? Adopting a historico-theological approach, this paper goes beyond unveiling sin and sin offering in the Sabbath church doctrinal practices, to advocate for a hyphenated home-grown ideology in defining and sustaining the values of a society. It contends that a sweeping generalization on ethical procedure across cultures would end up breeding formless and empty individuals and societies.
Author Information
Chigozie Nwaka, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria
Paper Information
Conference: ECERP2019
Stream: Religion – Mysticism
This paper is part of the ECERP2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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