By Fr. Michael Nsikak Umoh
The Catholic biblical experts in Nigeria, under the aegis of the Catholic Biblical Association of Nigeria (CABAN) are set to hold their 16th annual Conference at the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Nigeria, the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), Abuja.
According to the President of the body of professionals, Sr. Professor Theresa Okure, SHCJ, the programme, scheduled to hold from 14th to 17th November, 2023, focusing on the theme, ‘War & Peace in the Bible’, will commence with the Holy Mass on the 15th.
When asked what informed the rather strange theme, Fr. Prof. Michael Udoekpo, the LOC Chairman, said “First of all (because) the topic has not been formally treated by CABAN in the past. So, it was quite attractive. Secondly, the painful scars of wars and search for peace in Nigeria, Africa, in the entire globe, cannot be ignored today. In this theme, CABAN intends, among other things, to attempt to discover how the two concepts, war and peace, play out progressively in the Bible itself.
“Granted that war has recently been brought to our door steps by the hopefully aborted invasion of Niger by the Tinubu lead ECOWAS, echoes of wars in Russia/Ukraine, Israel Gaza and other forms violence in African and in the globe are heard on our door steps daily. This traumatizes us, affects our health, economy, development and needed progress in African families, religious communities and society at large,” he further affirmed.
Among the experts expected at the Conference are John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, Sr. Prof. Theresa Okure, SHCJ and a host of others like Francis Adelabu, Clement Dioka, Philip Igbo, CMF, Luke Ijezie, Ifeyinwa Unigwe, Victor Onwukeme, MSP, Mary Jerome Obiorah, IHM, John Chike Nwanze and many more.
The LOC Chairman said that the Conference promises to be very intellectually engaging with about 28 papers to be delivered, because, “Religiously, CABAN believes that we need a progressive, life-centred and people-oriented approach to war and peace in the Bible. What do our people who assiduously read the Bible to find answers to their life problems find in it about war and peace?”
