Roman Catholicism versus Pentecostalism: The nexus of fundamentalism and religious freedom in Africa

Felix E Enegho

doi:10.4102/ve.v41i1.2019

Abstract

oday’s Christians in the age of secularism and other kinds of ideologies struggle to make their impacts felt as they assiduously labour to plant the gospel in the hearts and minds of many. Amid their struggles and worries, they are often confronted with other challenges both from within and outside. The aim of this research was to assess the Roman Catholic Church and her struggle in the midst of other Churches often tagged ‘Pentecostals’ in the areas of fundamentalism and religious freedom in Africa and most especially in Nigeria. Pentecostal theology was aligned with Evangelism in their emphasis on the reliability of the Bible and the great need for the spiritual transformation of the individual’s life with faith in Jesus Christ. They emphasise personal experience and work of the Holy Spirit and therefore see themselves as a selected few, who are holy, spiritual and better than others. Some of them even claim to have the monopoly of the Holy Spirit. This researcher was one scholar who holds the view that there was no church more Pentecostal than the Catholic Church which has survived for more than 2000 years under the influence and direction of the Holy Spirit. But for the sake of this research, there was the categorisation of the Church into Catholicism and Pentecostalism. Here, the researcher focused on the challenges to faith witness and evangelisation posed by the rise of Pentecostalism in Africa and particularly in Nigeria. This research adopts a combination of socio-historical and narrative approaches. The data gathering technique was the main source made up of books, unpublished materials, journal articles and Internet materials.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research has relevance to Church History, Dogmatic Theology and Practical Theology. While from the interdisciplinary perspective, the work has relevance in Psychology and other fields in the Social Sciences. The research does not call for a change in traditional discourse, but rather to build on the existing status quo.

Highlights

The Catholic Church in Africa and in our world has continued to fight in all spheres of life to make the Gospel of Christ entrenched in the lives of many
It is imperative to admit here that when issues of evangelisation are mentioned within Catholicism, it is not so easy to forget the role played by the foreign missionaries who left their comfort zones in Europe, North America and other parts of the world in order to plant the good news for the enlightenment of Africans about Christ and by doing so fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus that those who believe in Him must go into all the world to preach His message to every human being on this earth
This article focuses on the challenges to faith witness and evangelisation posed by the rise of Pentecostalism in Africa and in Nigeria

Summary

Introduction

The Catholic Church in Africa and in our world has continued to fight in all spheres of life to make the Gospel of Christ entrenched in the lives of many. Pentecostalism is a response to such cerebral Christianity, and wherever it has appeared, the movement has defined itself in terms of the recovery of the experiential aspects of the faith by demonstrating the power of the spirit to infuse life and the ability of the living presence of Jesus Christ to save from sin and evil This is even more so in Africa where religion is a survival strategy, and where spirit possession with its emphasis on direct divine communication, intervention in crises and religious mediation are central to religious experiences. In most parts of the African continent, Charismatic renewal movements, where they have been tolerated along with such ministries to the possessed and oppressed, have helped historic mission denominations to recover from the haemorrhage they used to suffer by the drift of their members into Pentecostal churches.

Conclusion

Data availability statement