JOS JOURNAL OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

The problem of evil remains a central challenge in theology and philosophy. Atheists often appeal to evil through logical or evidential arguments to question God’s existence or attributes. The traditional view of God as loving, good, all-knowing, and all-powerful appears incompatible with the persistent reality of evil, particularly moral evil arising from human agency. This tension raises critical questions: If God did not create evil, where did it come from? If God knows about evil and can eliminate it, why does it persist? These questions have practical significance among the Tiv people of northcentral Nigeria. Traditional Tiv responses to moral evil, including Namakaa, Haakaa, Inyambuan, and Inyamora, failed due to cruelty, lack of legitimacy, or ineffectiveness. This study focuses on Swem, a sacred and widely respected indigenous institution, nationally recognized across Tiv-land. Unlike earlier methods, Swem is non-violent, culturally coherent, and promotes justice by holding Mbatsav and envious individuals accountable. This research addresses a gap in scholarship: the absence of a systematic philosophical–theological framework that treats Tiv indigenous institutions as normative moral resources. While Tiv cosmology has been largely documented descriptively, and classical theodicy remains detached from African indigenous thought, little interdisciplinary work has integrated Tiv justice systems into philosophical ethics or Christian moral theology. Using qualitative methods, library research, and field interviews, the study develops a contextual moral–theological framework in which Swem functions as a culturally grounded institution for addressing moral evil. Swem embodies Tiv intuitions about justice, responsibility, and moral order. By integrating Tiv categories with philosophical ethics and Christian theodicy, the research offers an interdisciplinary model for contextual theology. The study contributes to African Christian theology, contextual Christology, and moral philosophy by showing that indigenous justice systems can constructively engage moral evil while affirming both local ethical resources and theological principles.

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