Academic literature on the topic 'Christianity – Nigeria'

There have been two key difficulties concerning the study of indigenous rituals, religious conversion and change among the Igbo of South-eastern Nigeria, both before and after the missionary upsurge of the mid-nineteenth Century. First is the inadequate awareness or lack of reflexivity by some scholars regarding the resilience of the Igbo indigenous religions. Second is the neglect of oral sources and the overdependence on missionary archives. This thesis draws on field research on the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria (PCN) and the Ogo society in Amasiri. The research method follows a triangulation research design which incorporates an ethnographic methodology. This involves participant observation and interviews, thus allowing for a set of guidelines that connect theoretical paradigms to strategies of inquiry and methods for collecting empirical data. Within the Amasiri clan it is expected that every male will be initiated into the Ogo society as a means of attaining manhood as well as incorporation into the adult group. Refusal to be initiated into the society amounts to ostracisation and a loss of social relevance. The thesis examines the establishment, growth and impact of Christianity among the Amasiri clan in its different phases (colonial and post-colonial eras) - 1927-2008. It demonstrates the interaction between Amasiri indigenous religions and Christianity, in order to show how and to what extent the Ogo society has endured over time. The thesis analyses specific beliefs and ritual practices of the Ogo society and Christianity, paying close attention to the resultant tensions as well as the dynamic of acquired and lived religious identities. In view of the complex patterns of interaction between Christianity and the Ogo society, the thesis explores the following questions: What makes the Ogo society an integral part of the socio-religious life of Amasiri and what powers and identity does it confer on initiates? How are these predominantly indigenous cultural features, expressed within Christian spirituality? What effect does the construction and negotiation of religious identities have on the interaction and co-existence of Christians and members of the Ogo society? Furthermore, three themes were central to this research: the first is the gender dynamic of initiation processes into the Ogo society. The second is the pattern of religious change, identity and politics of Christianity and indigenous cultures. The third is analysing the need for and limits on effective dialogue between Christians and members of the Ogo society. The thesis raises a crucial question, whether religious conversion is partial or total repudiation of indigenous cultures. These analyses propose a viable means of negotiation between Christianity and the Ogo society in Amasiri. It sets the stage for a dialogue between Christianity and the Ogo society, a dialogue that takes the indigenous context seriously.

The process of Idema reception and development of Christianity was initiated by British Methodist missionaries in 1924. Such a process requires a cultural transformation through which Christianity is re-shaped to suit the Idema need, custom and traditions thereby regaining the lost cultural cohesion which the Idema need to adapt Christianity and spread it among themselves. Chapter one introduces the reasons for the choice of this study and the aims, purpose, and methodology of the research. It calls attention to the need to see the Idema as subjects of religious change and not merely as objects of evangelisation by overseas missionaries. Chapter two commences with the consideration of Idema ethnicity in which the problem of the origin and development of ethnicity is briefly addressed. Having defined Idema ethnicity, the chapter considers some cultural rites of passage common to all Idema namely: birth, marriage, death and burial. This leads to a discussion of Idema theology in Chapter three, in which it is defined, explained and compared to other types of primal African theology. Chapter four focuses on the overall history of how the Idema made contact with Christianity, and their reaction to the Methodist missionaries and their early activities. Chapter five begins one of the central arguments of this thesis, focusing on the spread of Christianity in Idema and the use of education as an agency of evangelism and church growth. The methods and aims of Methodist mission education in Idema and the messages that were passed on are critically examined and evaluated. Chapter six represents the heart of this thesis, focusing on contextual factors in the reception and development of Christianity in Idema, with particular reference to Bible translation. The chapter evaluates how the New Testament was translated, and argues that the problem of inculturating Christianity into Idema life and culture has not been sufficiently looked at either scientifically, ethnographically, linguistically, historically or culturally.

The Christian Church has undergone a process of institutional transformation since its establishment almost two thousand years ago. This transformation has changed an originally fluid and charismatic organisation into an hierarchical one, with its leadership (Roman Catholic) entrusted only to the ordained clergy. This type of Christian Church brought to Nigeria by the early catholic missionaries has both its advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages is the increasing membership of the Roman Catholic community and the increased production of indigenous priests. However, the strategy of early missionary evangelisation marginalised the role and effectiveness of the Catholic laity in Church activities. Thus, the management of the Church as an organisation is wholly in the hands of the ordained. However, the continued worldwide decline in the recruitment and number of priests, and the unfavourable priest-to-laity ratio - particularly in Nigeria - both indicate a need for a change. Furthermore, the influence of both celibacy and contemporary social factors (for example, the unwillingness to enter a life-long relationship that priestly and religious life demands), and the innovation which the Second Vatican Council advocated all cast doubt on the viability of the continuation of the status quo. These issues, therefore, make - greater, involvement of the Christian faithful in Church management and leadership inevitable, particularly in those countries like Nigeria where the demand for priestly ministration is on the increase, and the laity are increasingly willing to use their pneumatic gifts within the Church. These (pneumatic gifts) are the spiritual and other gifts received by baptised members, and include preaching, administration and prophecy. It is the manner of the laity's involvement on the universal and arch/diocesan levels that are explored in this thesis. The thesis also examines the major factors that contribute to the shortage of priests, and candidates for priestly and religious life, and explores the arguments for and against the continuation of the existing ecclesiastical law of clerical celibacy. Some recommendations are suggested that could ensure that the Roman Church continues to be relevant in the contemporary time to Catholics everywhere both on the universal and arch/diocesan levels. For the archdiocese of Lagos, Nigeria, the need to reorganise the archdiocesan structure is highlighted, as is the possibility of introducing some 'new' ministries particularly to involve the many pneumatically gifted laity is offered. Finally, it is argued that if the initiatives engendered by the Second Vatican Council were followed through, the conclusions and recommendations arrived at in this thesis are inevitable, and the Roman Church could either generously initiate these changes now or allow the changes to force themselves upon the Church in the future.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007.<br>The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on month day year) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis advisor: Richard Lennan<br>Thesis advisor: Dominic Doyle<br>Religion is central and vital for an Igbo person. No Igbo person exists in isolation from his/her community. An indigenous and traditional Igbo society is communal; it does not entertain any sense of individuality. But the coming of the missionaries broke into this communal bond with a new religion that threatened the traditional society when it began to exalt the individual soul. The Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, in his book Things Fall Apart, portrays a situation in which an African indigenous missionary (Mr. Kiaga) succeeds in separating a son (Nwoye) from his African parent (Okonkwu) so that the son can become a Christian and be saved. But alone? As the son leaves his parents’ house for the mission compound the missionary quotes the Bible, “Blessed is he who forsakes his father and mother for my sake…” Achebe’s story depicts a situation in which the family is utterly divided as a result of the parents’ or their children’s conversion to Christianity. At this point, things fall apart. The pivotal core of the traditional Igbo society cannot hold again. The majority of the missionaries saw African religion from within their Western understanding and concluded that it was heathen, anti-Christian, and repulsive. African societies started to disintegrate when traditional religion was attacked. A rift occurs between the family and the extended family. Instead of bringing reconciliation and understanding, Christianity in this case brings division. This is because converts were instructed to leave everything behind, including families, for the sake of the gospel. But the Igbo Traditional Religion looked at life in a holistic way. There was no contradiction between sacred and profane, hence many people were horrified when the first converts wanted to set themselves apart, away from other members of the community. This is why inculturation is important, as it enables the Igbo Christian to see and experience life in a holistic manner without doing needless violence to cultural values. The failure of the early missionaries to inculturate the cultural values of the people is the conundrum. The result raises some theological problems. In the attempt to ascertain a balance, most times, the Christians in Africa, particularly in Igboland, find themselves oscillating between Christianity and African Traditional Religion (ATR). The need for a reconciliation is long overdue. It is best given a lasting, concrete and a dialogical chance through inculturation<br>Thesis (STL) — Boston College, 2018<br>Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry<br>Discipline: Sacred Theology

The details of encounters between religious groups in multireligious African contexts and the intricacies of living, belonging, and identifying within such milieux have hardly been explored. In Yorùbáland, the cultural region of the Yorùbá people—and the geographic context of this thesis—the fine grain and vast array of possibilities of interreligious encounter between Christians, Muslims, and adherents of African Indigenous Religions remains largely undocumented in terms of detailed, quality accounts. While most regions of West Africa and even Nigeria exist with a dominant religious tradition, Yorùbáland is a microcosm of the wider region’s multireligious composition, with Christianity, Islam, and African Indigenous Religions all playing prominent roles. The Yorùbá ‘spirit of accommodation’, a phrase often used to describe how Yorùbá culture not only tolerates, but also embeds and synthesises the religious ‘Other’, has created a unique multireligious environ and is undoubtedly one of the optimum contexts in the world to study interreligious encounter within a single ethnolinguistic area. Comprised of fieldwork and research conducted from 2009-2014, this thesis works toward addressing the aforementioned gap in scholarship with two ethnographic case studies of people who simultaneously belong and/or identify with multiple religious groups and traditions in the predominantly Yorùbá city of Ogbómòsó, Nigeria. The first case study examines a new religious group known as the Ogbómòsó Society of Chrislam (OSC). Interreligious encounter in this instance features a group that intentionally combines elements from Christian, Muslim, and indigenous Yorùbá religious traditions, creating dynamic examples of multiple religious belongings and identities. The second case study examines multiple religious belonging and identity at the annual Ogbómòsó Egúngún festival. Interreligious encounter in this instance features 12 individual narrative accounts focusing on each individual’s religious belonging and identity throughout key points in their life. Beyond its important ethnographical contributions, the thesis offers methodological and theoretical insight into approaching religious belonging and identity as complex and fluid processes, rather than static and singular events. It argues that approaches that only allow for the possibility of classifying people in single, discrete categories masks the varied, dynamic, and complex belongings and identities of people in the lived world, many of who live across and within multiple religious groups and traditions.