Empire, Memory and Civic Formation: Comparative Perspectives on Greco-Roman, Biblical and Postcolonial African Models of Citizenship

By means of social memory theory and postcolonial analysis as interpretive frameworks, this article examines citizenship, civic formation, and corruption through Luke’s Gospel and postcolonial African political experience. Moving beyond approaches that explain corruption primarily as a failure of individual leadership or virtue, it asks: How are citizens formed to understand public office, political responsibility, and the expectations they place on leaders? How does collective memory shape what communities demand and tolerate? The article argues that Luke’s reversal traditions function as portable scripts through which communities under Roman rule could imagine alternative forms of civic life. Particular attention is given to Luke 22:25 and its rejection of euergetes, which challenges the benefaction system through which elites converted wealth into political status. Bringing this Lukan civic imagination into conversation with postcolonial Africa, the article examines how memories of colonial administration, independence, and liberation continue to shape citizenship and public expectations. It argues that corruption should be approached not only as a problem of leadership but also as a question of civic formation and social memory.