Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 29:1 (Mar 2020)
Article: Theology Of The Prophet Amos: A Paradigm For Addressing Ghana’s Socio-Political And Religious Challenges
Author: Frederick Mawusi Amevenku

Conspectus 29:1 (March 2020) p. 93

Theology Of The Prophet Amos: A Paradigm For Addressing Ghana’s Socio-Political And Religious Challenges

Frederick Mawusi Amevenku

and

Isaac Boaheng1

Abstract

Amos is often considered one of the most important prophets, mainly for his uncompromising message about social justice and God’s righteousness. This article examines the theology and social ethics of the prophet Amos, who ministered to Israel during the reigns of King Jeroboam II of Israel and King Uzziah of Judah. In Amos’s time, materialism was prevalent, hedonism and selfishness increased, and social disparity intensified. This condition necessitated his theology of social justice and true worship of Yahweh.

This paper, through a critical analysis of data extracted from textbooks, theses/dissertations, and scholarly articles, compares the context in which the prophet prophesied with the Ghanaian context— intimately associated with poor governance, fraud and corruption, abuse of power, social injustice, religious hypocrisy, misallocation of resources and self-centredness. While admitting that Ghana’s current socio-religious climate is not wholly similar to that of ancient Israel, the paper identifies similarities between the present Ghanaian context and that of Israel of Amos’s time, and points out how Amos addressed the challenges. This then becomes a basis for drawing lessons for church and political leaders in addressing socio- economic challenges in Ghana.

Keywords

judgement; justice; prosperity; righteousness; sovereignty.

Conspectus 29:1 (March 2020) p. 94

1. Introduction

Positively, the history of ancient Israel in the 8th century BCE was characterized by peace and economic growth and consolidation. This positive situation, however, affected Israel negatively as the people forgot their roots and did what they liked. Israel, as we shall discuss shortly, began to bear the common fruits of prosperity— pride, luxury, selfishness, and oppression. Sunukjian (1983:1425) describes Israel’s situation as follows:

Commerce thrived (8:5), an upper class emerged (4:1–3), and expensive homes were built (3:15; 5:11; 6:4, 11). The rich enjoyed an indolent, indulgent lifestyle (6:1–6), while the poor became targets for legal and ec...