Abstract:
This article critically analyses the social implications of gospel merchandising among Nigerian
Christians today. The research method adopted for the work is the qualitative phenomenological
approach. Clerics of different Christian denominations in the country have maximised
the opportunity of mass patronage from citizens seeking solutions to their spiritual, social
and economic problems to merchandise the gospel and the associated religious elements.
How this religious development affects the Nigerian society is the task that this article tackles.
The article discovered that gospel merchandising has had both positive and negative
implications for the society. Whilst the phenomenon has provided opportunity for competitive
propagation of the gospel in the Nigerian society as well as employment for the unemployed,
especially the youths, it is observed that the same phenomenon has affected the society
negatively by encouraging the gangrenous social sickness known as corruption and by
influencing the general trend of diabolism and immorality in the society. The study
recommends, among other things, that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) should
cooperate with the government so that its war against corruption could be carried into the
church as it has been observed that the unwholesome phenomenon is also endemic in the
church in no small measure.
Description:
This research is part of
the research project
‘Hermeneutics and Exegesis’
directed by Prof. Dr Ernest
van Eck, Department of
New Testament and Related
Literature, Faculty of
Theology and Religion,
University of Pretoria.
