The Significance of John Hick’s Soteriological and Ethical Criteria for a Religiously Pluralistic Nigeria

Abstract

John Hick’s pluralistic hypothesis is an attempt to reconcile the divergent conceptions of the ultimate Real in the post-axial religions. However, one phenomenon the religions have in common is the transformation of the adherents from ‘self-centeredness’ to ‘Reality-centeredness’. He used the Christian term, ‘soteriology’ to describe this common function. In his own words, “Religious traditions and their various components … have greater or less value, according as they promote or hinder the salvific transformation.” The evidence of salvific transformation is ethical, “…the ideal of generous goodwill, love and compassion.” In this article, the soteriological and ethical criteria are applied to major faiths in Nigeria. In doing this, it was observed that of the three major religions in Nigeria—African primal religion, Islam and Christianity—only the latter two are among the ‘post-axial’ religions considered by Hick. These are soteriologically concerned. The primal religion was classified as ‘pre-axial’, which concerns itself with “…keeping the life of the community in an even keel and the fabric of the society intact”. But the Yoruba concept of Ìwà (being/existence, character) is used to illustrate the ethical criterion. The chapter argues that applying Hick’s soteriological and ethical criteria to the religions in Nigeria has two practical advantages for Nigeria. First, it will serve as an antidote to the common observation that although Nigerians are very religious, the corollary ethical effects of the religiosity are lacking. Second, the attention will be focused on developing and applying the soteriological and ethical criteria to the Nigerian situation rather than finding relevance in solutions offered by power-seekers for the ethno-religious crisis.