A Christian View of Stewardship: A Study of Daniel 6:1-4

Abstract

ABSTRACT The concept of Stewardship is at the heart of Christian life and practice. Yet, the contemporary society does not take the issue of stewardship seriously. God’s resources for human life are not properly taken care of. This paper is an attempt to draw attention to key stewardship principles embedded in Daniel 6:1-4 with the effect of contributing to the understanding and practice of stewardship from a Christian perspective. The historical-critical method of exegesis was used to study the selected text and stewardship principles were drawn from the results of the exegesis. These principles—including service and responsibility, accountability, and reward and punishment— are expected to deal with the issues of corruption, thievery, pilfering, negligence of duty, and the likes in the Ghanaian social, political and economic systems. The main thesis of the paper is that one’s faith must be expressed in the public sphere in response to issues of societal concern. Therefore, rather than privatizing their faith, contemporary Christians must encounter the public domain with their faith and in the process transform human society both spiritually and socio-politically. Keywords: Stewardship, Public Service, Corruption, Christian virtues, Faith