TITLE:
Poverty and Corruption in the New Testament Perspective
AUTHORS:
Olusola Igbari
KEYWORDS:
Poverty, Corruption, Contemporary and African
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.3 No.8,
August
30,
2016
ABSTRACT: In recent times, scholars have engaged themselves with these two words “poverty” and “corruption” most especially in relation to what Africans experience on their way to economic emancipation e.g. Nigeria and Kenya. There had been a struggle between poverty and corruption. The bible also is not left out in this struggle. Poverty and corruption as we know the two today are not only African problems. They are universal phenomena. It is generally true to say that whenever there are extreme poverty and corruption everywhere, all the miseries that come with poverty and corruption, majority of the cases show a black face, an indigenous person, a caste, an orphan, a widow, woman or young person who is jobless and so on. The two cuts across all races, religion and cultures. By implication they are described as endemic in any human existence. The greatest evidence of poor people in Africa is lack of opportunities, lack of political power and voice to be global player in the world where economics defines success. Hence, this paper examines how poverty is related to corruption and vice versa. It also examines the New Testament perspective and assesses poverty and corruption in the contemporary experiences in Africa. This paper also suggests some ways out of the woods to ameliorate these challenges that almost cripple the dignity of humans which confront Africa in the 21stCentury.