Church, State & t h e E t h i c a l Imagination

South Sudanese have good laws on papers, but their implementations differ with what the lawstipulates. One of these good laws is the separation of religion and state. In Church, State andthe Ethical Imaginations, Zechariah Manyok Biar explores what lies behind discrepanciesbetween written laws and their implementations in South Sudan. He comes up with a newconcept of central value systems to see if it can explain factors that contribute toinconsistencies in implementations of legal provisions such as separation of religion andstate. Central value system is a conservation value composed of conformity, security andtradition.The author shows that this book is important in the sense that it introduces a conceptthat explains why South Sudanese have good written laws but rarely implement them asstipulated. The book will also help non-South Sudanese readers understand discrepancies inimplementations of legal provisions in their respective contexts. It is likely that bothconservatives and liberals employ conservation values of conformity, security and tradition toprotect whatever values they cherish. For example, liberals may require conformity from theirmembers to secure or protect the main values in their liberal tradition. Similarly,conservatives would employ central value systems to shield cherished conservative values. Itis probable that the conservation value constitutes a central value system for any person orgroup of any persuasion or school of thought. It resists penetration from new values trying tochange cherished values. In South Sudan, central value systems protect the values of powerand harmony. Theology in the context of South Sudan would thus be a theology of harmony.Its base is the Trinitarian God, eschatological in orientation and secular in responsibility. Theoriginality of this study is in demonstrating that conservation values form central values thatdirect how people react to values that they are uncomfortable with, regardless of whether theyare conservatives or liberals.