Abstract
The notion that suffering cannot be part of the Christian life has become pervasive in contemporary Ghanaian Christianity. Proponents of the Prosperity Gospel teach that suffering such as poverty, disease, failure, and hardships are not part of God’s plan but rather signs of lack of faith and even sin. Their preaching re-packages retributive theology, which characterizes many books of the Tanak. However, the personal and social experience of the silence of God before “unjust” suffering has generated texts—such as Psalm 73, the book of the prophet Habakkuk, and above all the book of Job—which express a challenge to this commonly held theology and to any reassuring theology. In Ghanaian Christianity, where God is identified with prosperity, miracles, success, wealth, absence of pain, disease, and death, the health, social, and economic crises provoked by the COVID-19 pandemic present a hermeneutic challenge and a biblical-theological question. Where is God in human suffering? Against this background, the article proposes an intercultural and pragmatic reading of the theological debate between Job and his friends, between experiential and retributive theology, to reconstruct a new image of God, capable of offering hope to Ghanaians in the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Notes
- 1.
Nicoletta Gatti and George Ossom-Batsa, “’Feminization’ of Poverty: Prosperity Preaching and Job 24:1-17.” Ghana Journal of Religion and Theology 8.2 (2018): 55-57.
- 2.
Joseph Fosu-Ankrah, “Pandemic, Prophets and Policies: Religio-satirical Framing of Fear in the Midst of Corona in Ghana,” Religious Matters (May 25, 2020); https://religiousmatters.nl/pandemic-prophets-and-policies-religio-satirical-framing-of-fear-in-the-midst-of-corona-in-ghana/
- 3.
On March 12, 2020, Ghana recorded its first two cases. Since then the government of Ghana has taken several steps to contain the spread of the disease. See http://presidency.gov.gh/index.php/briefing-room/speeches; for updates on the health situation, cf. https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/.
- 4.
Samuel Aniegye Ntewusu and Samuel N. Nkumbaan, “Fighting COVID-19: Interventions from Ghana’s Traditional Priest, “Religious Matters (March 13, 2020); https://religiousmatters.nl/fighting-COVID-19-interventions-from-ghanas-traditional-priests/
- 5.
See, for example, Kingsley E. Hope, “Ghana: Pastor Arrested for Flouting Ban On Church Service,” Ghanaian Times (March 29, 2020); https://www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh/pastor-arrested-for-flouting-ban-on-church-service/; APA News, “COVID-19: Ghana Pastor Jailed for Defying Ban (April 18, 2020); http://apanews.net/en/news/COVID-19-ghana-pastor-jailed-for-defying-ban-2.
- 6.
Ghana Statistical Service, 2021 Population & Housing Census: General Report—Volume 3C: Background Characteristics (Accra: GSS, 2022), 72; George Ossom-Batsa., “Engaging Religion in a Holistic Development”, in Religion and Sustainable Development. Ghanaian Perspectives, eds. G. Ossom-Batsa, N. Gatti and R.D. Ammah (Rome: Urbaniana University Press, 2018), 14-15.
- 7.
Cephas N. Omenyo, Pentecost Outside Pentecostalism. A Study of the Development of Charismatic Renewal in the Mainline Churches in Ghana (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 2006); cf. Joseph Quayesi-Amakye, “Prophetism and Development? Past and Present of Ghanaian Phenomenon”, in Religion and Sustainable Development, 259-262.
- 8.
For an understanding of the origin and development of Pentecostalism in Ghana, see J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, African Charismatics. Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana (Leiden: Brill, 2005), 10-18.
- 9.
For a detailed discussion on worldviews, see Ernst Conradie, “Views on Worldviews: An Overview of the Use of the Term Worldview in Selected Theological Discourses,” Scriptura 113 (2014): 1-12; Richard E. Trull, Jr., “Discerning Worldview: Pedagogical Model for Conceptualising Worldview Distances”, Missiology 43 (2015): 429-441.
- 10.
Paul Gilford, “Prosperity: A New and Foreign Element in African Christianity,” Religion 20 (1990), 375. See also Gatti and Ossom-Batsa, “‘Feminization’ of Poverty,” 50-53.
- 11.
“Researchers must concede that this pandemic is beyond science and that only reformation of attitude in mind about God and his powers as creator and owner of creation in its totality should be the way to go.” Eric K. Amoh, “Coronavirus: Is God Punishing Humanity for Our Iniquities? Joyonline (March 29, 2020); https://www.myjoyonline.com/opinion/coronavirus-is-god-punishing-humanity-for-our-iniquities/
- 12.
Cf. Hans W. Debrunner, A History of Christianity in Ghana (Accra: Waterville, 1967); Alphonse Elsbernd, The Story of the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Accra (Accra: Catholic Book Centre, 2000).
- 13.
Brigid M. Sackey, “African Worldviews”, in Africa in Cotemporary Perspectives. A Textbook for Undergraduate Students, eds. Takyiwaaa Manuh and Esi Sutherland-Addy (Accra: Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2013), 151-154.
- 14.
George Ossom-Batsa, “Ritual as Mechanism for Securing Life and Averting Evil,” Acta Theologica 28.1 (2008), 143-160.
- 15.
For a detailed analysis of the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ and its development in Africa, see A. Heuser, ed., Pastures of Plenty: Tracing Religio-Scapes of Prosperity Gospel in Africa and Beyond (Study in the Intercultural History of Christianity, 161; Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main, 2015); Joseph Quayesi-Amakye, Christology and Evil in Ghana. Towards a Pentecostal Public Theology, (Amsterdam: Rodopi B.V, 2013), 35-36.
- 16.
Cf. Quayesi-Amakye, Christology and Evil, 27-63.
- 17.
Joseph Quayesi-Amakye, “Prophetism in Ghana’s New Prophetic Churches,” Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association 35.2 (2015), 164-165.
- 18.
Getrude Ankah Nyav, “Covid 19: Christians Must Seek God’s Face for Healing—Akufo-Addo,” Daily Graphic, (March 19, 2020); https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/politics/ghana-news-COVID-19-christians-must-seek-god-s-face-for-healing-of-ghana-akufo-addo.html; Adom Online, “COVID-19: Bawumia Leads Muslim Leaders In Breakfast Prayer” (March 20, 2020); https://www.adomonline.com/COVID-19-bawumia-leads-muslim-leaders-in-breakfast-prayer-video/
- 19.
Ghanaweb, “Coronavirus: Ghana to Observe National Day of Fasting and Prayer” (March 22, 2020); https://www.ghanaweb.com/ghanahomepage/newsarchive/coronavirus-ghana-to-observe-national-day-of-fasting-and-prayer-900847
- 20.
Getrude Ankah Nyavi, “No Government Official Will Die of Coronavirus—Duncan-Williams’s Prayer,” Daily Graphic (March 19, 2020); https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/no-government-official-will-die-of-coronavirus-duncan-williams-s-prayer.html
- 21.
Fosu-Ankrah, “Pandemic, Prophets and Policies.”
- 22.
Nana Yaw, “Eagle Prophet reveals the real cause of the deadly Coronavirus,” Ghanabase (March 17, 2020); https://www.ghbase.com/eagle-prophet-reveals-the-real-cause-of-the-deadly-coronavirus-video/
- 23.
Legitimization of same-sex marriage and secularization were indicated by many Charismatic/Prophetic Leaders as the main “causes” of high rates of infection and death in Western Countries: see, for example, Amoh, “Coronavirus.”
- 24.
Ghanaweb, “Coronavirus Has Exposed Ghanaian Prophets—Preacher Mocks” (March 25, 2020); https://www.ghanaweb.com/ghanahomepage/newsarchive/coronavirus-has-exposed-ghanaian-prophets-preacher-mocks-904213; Fosu-Ankrah, “Pandemic, Prophets And Policies.”
- 25.
Great Ampong (Isaiah Kwadwo Ampong), “Coronavirus;” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EduNrGL5OwE
- 26.
Evans Annang, “I Prophesied About Coronavirus but Couldn’t Pronounce the Name—Owusu Bempah” (May 5, 2020); https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/local/i-prophesied-about-coronavirus-but-couldnt-pronounce-the-name-owusu-bempah/znrn7cg
- 27.
Donald Ato Dapatem and Chris Nunoo, “This Aren’t Normal Times,” Daily Graphic (March 20, 2020), 3, 7.
- 28.
Cf. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, “Dealing with a Spiritual Virus: Whither the Prophetic?” Religious Matters (March 13, 2020); https://religiousmatters.nl/dealing-with-a-spiritual-virus-whither-the-prophetic/
- 29.
Cf. Nicoletta Gatti and Alexander Salakpi, “The Word of God and the COVID-19: Intercultural Reading of Job’s Questions to God,” in Christianity and COVID-19. Pathways for Faith, eds. Chammah J. Kaunda, Atola Longkumer, Kenneth R. Ross and Esther Mombo, Routledge New Critical Thinking in Religion, Theology and Biblical Studies (London—New York: Routledge, 2022), 46-56.
- 30.
L. Alonso Schökel and J.L. Sicre Diaz, Giobbe. Commento teologico e letterario (Roma: Borla, 1995), 13.
- 31.
John J. Collins, “The Friends of Job and the Task of Biblical Theology,” Interpretation 70.3 (2016): 288-289.
- 32.
Joel S. Kaminsky, “Would you Impugn my Justice? A Nuanced Approach to the Hebrew Bible’s Theology of Divine Recompense,” Interpretation 69 (2015): 301
- 33.
Gutiérrez, On Job, 27.
- 34.
See Kaminsky, “Would you Impugn my Justice?” 301-302; Carol A. Newson, The Book of Job: A Context of Moral Imagination (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 90-91.
- 35.
Norman C. Habel, The Book of Job (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1985), 61; Gutiérrez, On Job, 21-38.
- 36.
Gustavo Gutiérrez, On Job. God-Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2003), 93.
- 37.
Elaine A. Phillips, “Speaking Truthfully: Job’s Friends and Job,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 18.1 (2008): 34; Jean Radermakers, Il libro di Giobbe: Dio, l’uomo e la Sapienza (Bologna: EDB, 1999), 50-51.
- 38.
Phillips, “Speaking Truthfully,” 34.
- 39.
Cf. Kathleen M. O’Connor, “Lamenting Back to Life,” Interpretation 62.1 (2008):34-47.
- 40.
Gutiérrez, On Job, 25.
- 41.
Cf. Walter Brueggemann, “A Shape Of Old Testament Theology, I: Structure Legitimation,” CBQ 47 (1985): 29; Tod Linafelt and Timothy K. Beal, God In The Fray: A Tribute To Walter Brueggemann (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998).
- 42.
Alonso Schökel and Sicre Diaz, Giobbe, 192.
- 43.
Radermakers, Il libro di Giobbe, 77; Hartley, The Book of Job, 240-241.
- 44.
Gatti and Ossom-Batsa, “’Feminization’ of Poverty,” 43-72.
- 45.
Dickson Chilongani, “Prosperity Gospel in Africa: A Response from the Book of Job,” AICMAR Bulletin 6 (2007): 61; cf. Ying Zhang, “Reading the Book of Job in the Pandemic,” Journal of Biblical Literature 139, no. 3 (2020): 607-612.
- 46.
G. Ravasi, Giobbe (Commenti Biblici; Roma: Borla, 1991), 9-14; W. Iser, Der Akt des Lesens. Theorie ästhetischer Wirkung (UTB 636; München: W. Finch, 1976), 54. 73-78
- 47.
Collins, “The Friends of Job,” 300.
- 48.
Gutiérrez, On Job, 27.
- 49.
J. Gerald Janzen, Job (IBC; Atlanta: John Knox, 1985), 98.
- 50.
Brueggemann, “A Shape for Old Testament Theology, I,” 44; Chilongani, “Prosperity Gospel in Africa,” 69-70.
- 51.
Roger Bergman, “The Book of Job and Belief in a Just World,” Journal of Religion and Society 10 (2014): 258-264
- 52.
Walter Brueggemann, “A Shape for Old Testament Theology, II: Embrace of Pain,” CBQ 47 (1985): 399
- 53.
Gatti and Ossom-Batsa, “‘Feminization’ of Poverty,” 57-61.
- 54.
Pope Francis, “Evangelii Gaudium: Apostolic Exhortation on the Proclamation of the Gospel in Today’s World” (November 24, 2013); http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazione-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html#Concern_for_the_vulnerable
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Ossom-Batsa, G., Gatti, N. (2023). Ghanaian Prosperity Preaching. In: Kaunda, C.J. (eds) World Christianity and Covid-19. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12570-6_14
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