Politics, democracy, governance get Christological interpretations
The misinterpretation 
given to such words like politics, politician, democracy, leadership, government, governance, democratic leadership and political administration to let them appear questionable have been corrected in “The Basics of Christian Politics” through Christological interpretations.
The 82-page book by Richard Tamaranebi accomplished this through detailed definitions and systematic clarifications of these concepts with a God-centered approach. According to him, “Politics is God’s business. He is the author of democratic leadership. God is a democratic leader right from the beginning of creation. God the Creator is generous and interested in the affairs of men and their governments.
He institutes all governments and supports righteous rulers. He also punishes the wicked rulers with His arm of power”. In Chapter One, the author explains what politics is all about, clarifies the concept of God as democrat, author of politics, and politics as a ministry of God; and how God enthrones and ordains governments in the politics of various nations. This chapter gives various meanings of politics from scholars and lexicons but opines, according to the scriptures in Hosea 4:6, that, “my people die for lack of knowledge” and it is this lack of knowledge that drives Christians into feeling that politics is for unbelievers. Calling on churches to allow Christians to embrace politics, the author demonstrates that the new covenant Church is divided into eight functional departments (offices) in which God has shared His children into.
These are the Department of Apostles, Department of Prophets, Department of Teachers, Department of Miracles, Department of Healing,Department of Helps, Department of Administrations/ Governments and Department of Diverse tongues. In this chapter, the author observed that: “over the decades, the Church had been working with and celebrating more on the Departments of Apostles, Prophets, Teachers, Miracles, Healings and Tongues. In recent years, the Department of Helps which has to do with care and welfare of people are gaining a considerable attention, but the Department of Administrations which is totally about leadership and management of human and other material resources has been absolutely abandoned.”
Several verses from the Bible are cited to show what God expects from governments, these include Proverbs 29:2, Proverbs 29:18, 1 Timothy 2:1- 4, Romans 13:1-4 etc. Chapter two is on the need for Christians to participate in politics with emphasis on moral commitment to politics. This is because from the Catholics to the Reformers, Puritans, Methodist evangelists, Victorian evangelical social campaigners and Pentecostals, many believers throughout the centuries solidly stood for justice and freedom.
They have opposed tyranny and oppression. The basis of modern democracy comes from the biblical concept that we are all made in the image of God. Our Christian ancestors laboured for a democratic system and the rights that we have come to enjoy; we need to preserve the inheritance we have received from them.
Chapter three highlights the biblical qualifications for political leadership. They include religious qualifications, among which are fear god, trust the lord, submission to our lord Jesus Christ; then moral and ethical qualifications which involve truth, wisdom, being impartial, being a servant, being righteous and just, keeping god’s law, hatred to dishonest gain and bribes, hatred to covetousness, must have integrity, being faithful, humble and teachable, patient and having self-control etc. The biblical evidences of all these requirements were also mentioned in this chapter. In chapter four, “Christian politics in the 21st century – time for creative thinking and engagement”, the author opines that Christian politics must always be principled to enable Christians, nurture a Christian political consciousness through which political bond across states and national borders could be realized.
In chapter five, the author charged men of faith to be involved in politics, so that such men like Moses can free the people from the hand of a tyrannical government. To underscore the importance of men of faith being in politics, the author in this chapter sampled the opinions of men of God, including Pastor Enoch A. Adeboye, Apostle Chris Fearnot, Rev. Hananiah Zoe, Rev. GoddayAkpoloma, Pastor Attah Williams, Bishop David Oyedepo, Apostle Dave Richard and Pastor Cephas B. Ezekiel.
They are all in support of the view. An interview Pastor Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) world-wide had with CNN’s African Voices, 12th to 14th of February 2012, on CNN cited in this chapter, quotes him as saying: “The Believers of Christ can participate in politics as a civic responsibility. They can vote for candidates of their interest, and can be voted for as long as they are interested in representing the people of their constituency.
It is not a sin neither is it a crime for Christians to be in politics.” Similarly, President of the Ministry of Hope, Liberia, Vice President, West African Region, Revival Campaign for Democracy in Africa (RECADA) and former presidential candidate, Liberia Empowerment Party, Republic of Liberia in 2011, Rev Hananiah Zoe asserted that since it is God’s commandment from the beginning of creation for man to be in charge over all things on earth, every servant of God who has the desire for leadership can get involved in active politics. Furthermore, as a result of the similarities of view in this book and John-Mary Walligo’s article titled, “The role of the Christian Churches in the democratisation of Africa” which was published in the Missionary and Missiology in Africa Today, Tangaza Occasional Papers/No.1, this chapter reviews the article.
In the publication, it is stated that: “politics and democratization must be an integral part of Christian evangelism, because the Church was used as a frontier to disagree with the colonial master on their unruly way of governance and many of the churches became movements for nationalism and African consciousness. The more their leaders were imprisoned such as Simon Kimbangu of Zaire, Prophet Wade Harris of Liberia, NnamdiAzikiwe of Nigeria etc, the stronger the movement grew. Chapter six recommends the way forward by asking what African Christians will do together to gain domineering influence in national and international politics? In answer to this question, the author posits that it is high time Christians stood on their feet and be involved in political leadership in their various localities and nations.
This means that more Christians should be involved in politics to impact of good governance, those who work in the political offices should organize conferences nationally or internationally on politics. The author adopted the Modern Language Association (MLA) style of documentation in the research; however, the list of Works Cited should be checked. The abbreviations in some of the names are not permitted in MLA. The concept of Church premises and ballot box on the book cover is appropriate to the book’s central theme. Indeed, the book has succeeded in sensitizing African Christians on the need to actively participate in politics. It is worth acquiring by established and aspiring Christian politician.
- Nwagbo Pat Obi is of the National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO)
