Conspectus : The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary

Craig Keener is one of the most influential Biblical Scholars in contemporary conservative Christianity currently serving as FM and Ada Thompson Professor of the New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary. Keener is an extensively published author; at my last check, he has ‘authored 24 books, five of which have won book awards in Christianity Today’ (Keener 2018). The publications include major multivolume and sometimes voluminous academic commentaries on New Testament Backgrounds, the Gospels of Matthew, and of John, Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles to the Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians and Galatians. In addition to numerous journal articles, Keener has also used his writings to address important contemporary issues such as divorce and remarriage, miracles, and knowing the ‘mind of the Spirit’. He is himself a Pentecostal minister, and thus eminently qualified to bring his wealth of expertise not only in Biblical scholarship, global intercultural theological education and practical ministry to bear on an aspect of one of the foremost subjects currently facing Christians and the academy.

Many readers of the Book of Ecclesiastes have concluded that Qohelet (the ‘Preacher’) teaches that life ‘under the sun’ is meaningless or worthless. The aim of this paper is to show why that assessment is mistaken. In the first place, if life is as Qohelet describes it—as enigmatic and fleeting, most often frustrating, uncertain, incomprehensible, beyond human control, and subject to evil—then it makes sense to ask, as he did, what is to our advantage and good for us to do? To support this claim, Qohelet’s axiology―his view of the kinds of things that are good or valuable, what it is that makes them valuable, the kinds of value there are, and the relationship between ‘good’ and ‘right’―is clarified and described from a theological perspective. The analysis reveals that life ‘under the sun’ now requires prudence, and the most prudent thing to do is to fear God and obey his revealed moral will. This is not only the essence of wisdom; it is the only value that has implications for our present life and the afterlife. The paper also shows that Qohelet’s axiology is consistent with the teachings of Genesis 1−3, Deuteronomy 6, and the New Testament. It concludes that Qohelet deeply cares about our good, well-being, and happiness, and that the ultimate source of that care is ‘one Shepherd’, which makes it impossible to think that life is meaningless or worthless.

This journal article offers a Wesleyan theological framework based on a renewed Wesleyan notion of the political image of God in humanity for political engagement in the Ghanaian context. First, the essay considers the meaning of the notion and its biblical and theological basis. Second, the essay offers two reasons for recovery, that is, the effects of sin, and the non-integration of the notion into Wesley’s evangelical theology. Third, the process of recovery is stated and implemented— drawing politics into Wesley’s order or way of salvation. Fourth the contours of a Wesleyan theology of politics, based on the renewed and restored political image in humanity is formulated and applied to the Ghanaian context.