Christian Teaching on Corruption: A Response of the Church to the Upsurge of Corruption in Ghana

Abraham Ofoe Agbenu ORCID iD, John Kwaku Opoku ORCID iD & Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor ORCID iD

Issue: Vol.11 No. 7 2025 Issue Article 4 pp.380 – 389
DOI : https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20251174 | Published online 29th  July, 2025.
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Corruption has been a major deterrent to the socioeconomic development of Ghana. Several anti-corruption measures have been initiated by the government to curb the menace from the time of the country’s independence till date. However, incremental surveys conducted and ratings on corruption in the last decade show a continuous escalation of the canker in the nation. Considering the high percentage of the Christian population (71.3%) in Ghana, the Christian Church becomes a key stakeholder in the affairs of the country. Therefore, the study examined the Biblical teachings on the act of corruption and the response of the Church to the problem in the quest of the nation to win the battle against corruption. From the study, it was discovered that the Bible frowns on the givers and receivers in the act of corruption and further cautions that corruption brings calamity to society, especially in the administration of justice. Similarly, the Church in Ghana has condemned the involvement of citizens in the act of corruption. Christian leaders have further proposed the need for the State to establish anti-corruption policies and prosecute persons found guilty of the act. However, the key role that the Church is playing in this quest is still not clear. The study, therefore, recommended the need for the various Christian denominations to intensify their teachings on issues of morality. The paper contributes to the discussion on maintaining ethical and moral values in the Church and Society.

Keywords – Christianity in Ghana, The Church, Biblical Teaching, Corruption in Ghana

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Abraham Ofoe Agbenu recently completed his PhD at the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi Ghana. He is also a Tutor at the St Francis College of Education, Hohoe, Ghana. His research focuses on Religion and Society. He holds a BA in Biblical Studies from the All Nations University, Koforidua, Ghana, and an MPhil in the Study of Religions from the University of Ghana, Legon.

John Kwaku Opoku is an Associate Professor at the Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He is a Catholic Priest at the Catholic Archdiocese of Kumasi. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology and Health (Radboud Universiteit-Nijmegen).  His areas of specialization are Pastoral Theology, Bioethics, and Religion and Health. He is also a member of the European Centre of Research Training and Development (ECRTD), United Kingdom.

Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor, PhD, is an Associate Professor, New Testament and Mother Tongue Biblical Hermeneutics, Department of Religious Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.

Agbenu, Abraham Ofoe, John Kwaku Opoku, and Jonathan Edward Tetteh Kuwornu-Adjaottor. “Christian Teaching on Corruption: A Response of the Church to the Upsurge of Corruption in Ghana  .” E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies 11, no. 7 (2025): 380–89. https://doi.org/10.38159/erats.20251174.

© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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