LAW, TABOO AND MORAL ORDER: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF OLD TESTAMENT ETHICS, MOSAIC LAW AND AFRICAN RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between law, Taboo, and moral order in Old Testament ethics, especially Mosaic Law and African religious experience. Mosaic Law signifies a covenant grounded in divine revelation to ancient Israel traditions, African religious moral system operates through taboo, common norms, and ancestral authority. Findings reveal that despite differences in textual versus oral transmission, Covenantal monotheism versus plural spiritual hierarchy. Both traditions function as a sacred aim at preserving community stability, community relations, spiritual harmony, and social justice. Mosaic Laws sustain respect, harmony, and divine sanction, while African ancestral taboos sustain cosmic balance through continual mediation and traditional enforcement. The study argues that taboo functions as sacred law, and Mosaic Legislation may be seen as a historically codified covenantal moral order. By bringing this with Old Testament theology into dialogue with African religious ethics, this research contributes to comparative moral theology, African hermeneutics, and postcolonial ethical discourse.