Christian Higher Education: The Gospel in the Context of Terrorism and Persecution

Education is central to any society’s civilization, growth, development, security, stability, and sustainability. That is why all progressive societies give it priority. Christian higher education meets these needs and beyond. It is rooted in God’s moral vision and perspective. Its primary aim is to inculcate moral and ethical values and knowledge, which can guarantee societal security and stability as well as foster skills and opportunities that are of benefit to the Gospel of the kingdom of God and human flourishing. This paper, therefore, primarily focuses attention on the issue of Christian higher education in the context of insecurity and instability. Keywords: education, ethnicity, politics, religion, corruption, self-interest, power, and intellectual virtues

Integrating Public Theology into African theological institutions’ curricula

The primary aim of this article is to argue that the curricula of many African evangelical theological seminaries are devoid of Public Theology. This lack has made it extremely difficult for the church in Africa to collapse the sacred-secular divide. As a result, our public faith does not tally with our private faith, beliefs and practices. The curriculum that our evangelical pastors get trained in lacking an important ingredient: Public Theology. As such it does not address and help its graduates to collapse the sacred-secular divide. Thus, although year in and year out our evangelical seminaries are turning out graduates, they are in much cases incapable of overcoming ethnic differences. They do not know how to reposition and transform their communities into vibrant Christian communities. They largely tend to have no clear-cut understanding of the public relevance of their Christian faith, talk less of helping their members to collapse the sacred-secular divide and become effective Christians in every sphere of public life and human endeavours. To address this abnormality in our African theological training, Public Theology needs to be introduced in our evangelical seminaries. In a continent a in transition with shaky moral and ethical foundations we can afford to continue turning blind eyes to the faulty lines of our theological education in Africa. African theological enterprise owes the continent a solution to some of the destructive and systemic structures of injustice, corruption and impunity. To address this salient problem, the article discusses the role of Public Theology in theological education; the challenge of theological seminaries in Africa; Why Africa needs integrative curricula; the urgent needs and the challenges of integrative curricula theological education; the parochial nature of theological schools: the sacred-secular divide; Why public theology is important for integrative curricula in theological education; the salient relevance of public theology to African educational integrative curricula; and concludes with a narrative of Nigerian seminaries modelling integrative curricula through public theology

"The Politics of Righteousness"

More and more Christian denominations across Africa are showing unprecedented interest in politics. It is critically important, therefore, to draw their attention to the need for those of them who are going into politics to model what godly politics entail. For we live in a continent where our religiosity has not stopped corruption in high and low places. Both Christian and non-Christian leaders at every level of our society tend to disconnect their faith and morality from their political activities. As a result, the masses in Africa are denied access to the common good and flourishing life or the respect for their human dignity and the right to earn a living as dignified human beings. Thus, they have not yet had the Africa God wants them to have and enjoy the realization of all their God-given potential as dignified human beings. To have the Africa God wants us to have, politics must be seen as a sacred (divine) affair. In other words, although politics is a divine responsibility, today, however, the average African politician does not seem to see any correlation between politics and their faith and spirituality. This is what has led many people to see modern politics as a dirty game or to associate it with deceitfulness. It seems that many African Christians who go into politics go with the notion that God has no interest in politics. As such, they are free to do whatever they want with the national resources at their disposal. Therefore, this article is primarily arguing that politics is a divine assignment and therefore it cannot be devoid of righteousness. This clarification is necessary because of the increased interest in politics that Christians in Africa are showing. If we must change the present wrong notion of politics, it is absolutely critical for Christian politicians in Africa to rediscover the Christian roots of modern politics. For instance, it was the belief in "the priesthood of all believers" that led to the discovery of the idea of modern democracy in the 17th century. This revolutionary discovery was led by John Calvin and his disciples. Consequently, the old status quo of rulership where a few people held the rest of society to ransom was changed to a government of the people by the people for/with the people. Democracy supplanted the old feudal system. Modern democracy all started with the Calvinists’ revolutionary belief in the biblical idea of “the priesthood of all believers.” So, in this article, I attempt to argue that to have the Africa God wants us to have and enjoy the realisation of our full potential as dignified human beings, all Christian politicians need to grasp the correlations between their faith, everyday life, and governance

The African Church as a Mixed Bag

The primary focus of this article is on the remnant nature and scope of the African church. Thus, I employ the biblical concept of a “remnant” to argue that the present demographical statistic of church growth in Africa does not translate to a concrete or tangible moral and ethical impact on society. In spite of the Southward movement of the centre of gravity of Christianity, the African church remains vulnerable like a remnant. It is in short supply of strong prophetic voices against enormous socio-economic, socio-political, and socio-religious injustices or corrupt practices at all spheres, including the church itself. The concept of a “remnant” is a key concept in the Old Testament (OT). It indicates a distinction between the “true” believers and the large bulk of outwardly religious people that does not abide by the basic requirements of being the people of God. I am using it in this article to make a comparison between the statistical evidence and the real impact on the society. Therefore, in the article I seek to argue that the African church statistics should not bluff us. Of course, looking at the multidimensional social, ethical, moral, economic, political and religious matters confronting the African continent even where the church seems to be in the majority, one cannot help but conclude that the African church is a remnant church. But, how can one convince a reader that African Christianity is a remnant faith when the current statistics is showing otherwise? For example, in 2020 the Center for the Study of Global Christianity published data that claimed, “[T]here are more than 631 million Christians that currently reside in Africa.” This figure accounts for 45 percent of the Africa’s population. Furthermore, the Pew Research Center postulated that, “By the year 2060, six of the top ten countries with the largest Christian populations will be in Africa.” In spite of this apparent growth of the church, this paper argues that the African church is a remnant. Taking the statistical evidence available at face value, it is ridiculous to say that the African church is a remnant. Of course, we can define a remnant as a few people who remain after a catastrophe or war has struck the larger group. In the sense that we are using this concept here, we are not only referring to numbers or quantity. Rather, we are concerned with both the quantity and quality. What are the evidences that the African church is a remnant? The paper seeks to answer this question by addressing the following issues: the African church and its remnant reality; why the African church still remains a remnant church in spite of its enormous numerical growth; and the need for a radical spirituality

Globalization and Terrorism: Corruption as a Case to Ponder

Abstract For good or for ill, amongst all the current scientifically known solar planets of the universe, the earth is the only habitable planet. This planet-earth-has incredibly changed. On the one hand, everything on it has been or is being globalized, including terrorism. Our world has concretely become a true "global village." That is why it is now possible for more people than ever to collaborate and compete in real time with more people on more different kinds of work from more different corners of the planet and on a more equal footing than at any previous time in the history of humankin

CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF PETER OBI’S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AS LABOUR PARTY’S (LP) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

The use of fallacious rhetoric in a bid to cajole gullible electorate is not unexpected as the 2023 presidential elections draw near. Consequently, this paper dubbed “A Critical Discourse Analysis of Peter Obi’s Acceptance Speech as Labour Party’s (LP) Presidential Candidate’ examines the use of language in political discourse. Norman Fairclough’s Relational-Dialectic Model which is rooted in Critical Discourse Analysis is the theoretical framework. It considers political discourse as three dimensional: texts (the objects of linguistic analysis), discursive practices (the production distribution and consumption of texts) and social practice (the power relations, ideologies as hegemonic struggles that discourses reproduce, challenge or restructure). This model is deployed to find out the formal features of Peter Gregory Obi’s speech in relation to language, power and ideology. The methodology involves word usage analysis, mostly personal pronouns, frequency of positive and negative words, the use of ideologies in the speech and Greek mythology. Based on these premises, certain excerpts from the text are first highlighted and then analyzed based in line with the viewpoints mentioned above. Having said this, findings in this paper reveal that the most dominant personal pronouns are “Our”, “I” and “We” which separately accounted for 29%, 19% and 19% respectively, showing that the LP Presidential candidate is calling more for collective responsibility than individual responsibility. Similarly, there were both negative and positive adjectives in the speech. The former accounted for 56.3% while the latter accounted for 41.7%. The descriptive adjectives were used to give more information and detail to both the political state of things and the heightened nature of negative politicking in Nigeria. The dominance of negative adjectives show that things have really gone from bad to worse because of the worsening cases of unwanted but entrenched capitalism while the positive adjectives tell the reader to wake up and fight for their country like the Greeks using their voters card in the coming elections. On the whole, it is concluded that the speech is typical of most political speeches mostly in terms of tone and approach; however, it is assumed, in the context of this paper, that there is a possibility that this speech addressed issues rather than attacked individuals. This is the gap this paper tries to fill; and therefore, it makes a case for issue-based campaigns going into the forthcoming elections

SISTEM MONITORING TANAMAN HIAS SUCCULENT MENGGUNAKAN ALGORITMA FUZZY LOGIC

Tanaman hias jenis succulent tergolong tanaman yang peka terhadap tingkat kelembapan tanah dan intensitas pencahayaan. Oleh karena itu, dibutuhkan suatu sistem pemantauan otomatis yang mampu beradaptasi terhadap dinamika kondisi lingkungan. Penelitian ini merancang dan membangun sistem monitoring tanaman succulent berbasis mikrokontroler ESP32 dengan pendekatan algoritma logika fuzzy sebagai metode penentu keputusan. Sistem memperoleh data input dari tiga sensor kelembapan tanah, sensor suhu dan kelembapan udara (DHT22), serta sensor pencahayaan (BH1750). Informasi ini diolah untuk menentukan kondisi penyiraman melalui pengaktifan tiga pompa air serta pengendalian lampu grow light secara otomatis. Fungsi keanggotaan dan aturan fuzzy dirumuskan untuk memetakan kondisi lingkungan ke dalam kategori linguistik seperti “kering”, “sedang”, dan “basah”, yang kemudian menghasilkan luaran terkontrol melalui proses defuzzifikasi. Hasil pengujian membuktikan bahwa sistem mampu merespons secara waktu nyata terhadap perubahan lingkungan dan mengatur penyiraman serta pencahayaan secara optimal sesuai kebutuhan tanaman. Sistem juga tetap berfungsi secara otonom meskipun terdapat kegagalan sebagian sensor, selama data utama masih tersedia dan valid. Dengan demikian, penerapan logika fuzzy dalam sistem ini terbukti efektif dalam meningkatkan efisiensi dan kemandirian perawatan tanaman hias secara otomatis

Kemandirian ekonomi masjid melalui pemberdayaan masyarakat dengan pemanfaatan lahan sekitar masjid untuk usaha hidroponik

AbstrakPengabdian kepada masyarakat merupakan salah satu bentuk kontribusi yang penting dalam mengembangkan potensi lokal dan meningkatkan kualitas hidup masyarakat. Hidroponik dipilih dalam kegiatan PKM ini bertujuan untuk membangun kemitraan antara Masjid dan masyarakat sekitar dalam mengembangkan usaha tanam pada lahan terbatas milik masjid. Selain itu, pengabdian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan ekonomi kreatif dan pemberdayaan masyarakat melalui metode pertanian modern. Pengabdian ini meggunakan tanaman sawi sendok (pakcoy) karena tergolong sebagai common market dan cepat tumbuh. Lokasi kegiatan ini di Masjid Kampus Nurul ilmi Universitas Borneo Tarakan (Maskam UBT), Masjid Hujan Assalam, dan Masjid Al-Miftah. Metode pelaksanaan meliputi sosialisasi, pelatihan/bimbingan teknis, implementasi, evaluasi dan monitoring. Metode hidroponik yang digunakan adalah sistem Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) dan dan sistem wick. Pengabdian ini mendapat respon positif dari ketiga masjid baik karena menggunakan masjid sebagai sentra aktivitasnya, juga guna meningkatkan kemandirian keuangan pengelolaan masjid, meningkatkan pemberdayaan dan pendapatan masyarakat disekitar masjid. Kata kunci: Hidroponik; masjid; pemberdayaan; ekonomi kreatif. AbstarctCommunity service is an important form of contribution to developing local potential and improving the quality of life in the community. Hydroponics was chosen in this empowerment activity to build partnerships between the mosque and the surrounding community in developing planting businesses on limited land owned by the mosque. Besides that, this service aims to improve the creative economy and community empowerment through modern agricultural methods. This activity uses spoon mustard (pakcoy) because it is classified as a common market and fast growing. The locations of this activity are the Nurul Ilmi Campus Mosque Universitas Borneo Tarakan (Maskam UBT), the Hujan Assalam Mosque, and the Al-Miftah Mosque. The implementation methods include socialization, training and technical guidance, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring. The hydroponic methods used are the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) system and the wick system. This service received a positive response from the three mosques because it uses the mosque as the center of its activities as well as to increase the financial independence of mosque management, community empowerment, and income around the mosque. Keywords: hidroponic; mosque; empowerment; creatif economy

Cultivating Climate Solutions: Agroforestry’s Potentials and Roles in North Kalimantan’s REDD+ Program

Agroforestry in North Kalimantan offers a promising avenue for balancing community livelihoods with carbon sequestration, crucial for the REDD+ initiatives. This paper examines the potential of agroforestry in North Kalimantan to support the REDD+ program, addressing both environmental sustainability and socio-economic development. Through field observations and interviews across four regencies and one city in North Kalimantan province, various agroforestry practices were identified, including improved fallows, alley cropping, scattered trees on cropland, living fences, and silvofishery. Challenges such as cultivation practices, post-harvest processing, market access, and financing were also explored. Three potential agroforestry models were proposed to enhance carbon capture while promoting local economic resilience. The paper underscores the importance of further research and community involvement to refine and expand these agroforestry approaches, offering hope for both local prosperity and global carbon reduction efforts