cover image: 13 Fa'avae: A Samoan Theory of Crime from the

20.500.12592/4jipjmg

13 Fa'avae: A Samoan Theory of Crime from the

20 Aug 2024

The theory utilises a cultural practice of building the foundation - fa’avae - of a Samoan house, to explain the causes of crime and to articulate a crime prevention strategy from the nuances of the word fa’avae. [...] In other words, it must consider the role of Samoan culture - fa'a Samoa, represented by the family - aiga and the role of the Christian faith as foundations, strengthened by the recent amendment to the Constitution, which identified a trinitarian formula emphasising the importance of the principles found in the three nuances of fa’avae (Amosa 2020). [...] At the same time, it demonstrated how the issue of unfair dismissal was not resolved by the customary ways of the fa’aSamoa, a clear indication that the relationship between the foundations of Samoa, the church and fa’aSamoa have become unstable. [...] For Forrester (2004), a public theology attends to the Bible and the tradition of faith; simultaneously, it attempts to discern the signs of the times, and understand what is going on in the light of the gospel. [...] Christian public theology must thus ‘seek the welfare of the city’ before protecting the interests of the church and its claims to preach the gospel and celebrate the sacraments.

Authors

Tracy Creagh

Pages
11
Published in
Australia

Table of Contents