Christianity In Nigeria Research Articles

Name Calling and Vulgarity as Threats to National Peace and Security: The Case of Language of Virtual Community

This paper analyzes comments by readers of an online article in The Punch Newspaper entitled “CAN crisis deepens”, the crises that threaten to rock the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN. It aims to show how name calling and vulgarity as a trademark of language use in the virtual community can pose a threat to national peace and security. Some of the comments that trailed the article deviate from civility, break the conversational and politeness maxims, extend the frontiers of the discourse at hand and inundate it with name calling and vitriolic language. The method used in this paper consists of highlighting the comments and analyzing this discourse using Grice’s Cooperative Principles and Politeness Principles of conversation. The paper concludes that public discourse among the netizens (members of virtual community) has the tendency of degenerating into expletives, discourtesies and disparagement because the public space is a faceless one; hence the comments which have deviated from the norms of civilized discourse pose a threat to religious peace and harmony among Christians in Nigeria and by extension to national peace and security.

Christian – Muslim Relations in Nigeria: The Problems and Prospects

Inter-religious relations imply possible and practicable cordial relationship that exists between religions in a society. Its instrument is interfaith dialogue aimed at cordiality, togetherness, tolerance and acceptance that will be the true sign of a new era in the religious history of humanity. On both international and national levels, attempts have been and are still being made to establish dialogue or good relations between Muslims and Christians with a view to avoiding the mistakes of the past, and creating a better world, and a better Nigeria for the present and future generations. The paper explores the remote and possible causes of the present widespread problems in Christians and Muslims relations in Nigeria; and to reflect on the possible impact on the Nigerian nationhood. Basic findings of this study show that Nigeria.s stability, democracy, and national cohesion are threatened by extremism and conflict arising from Islamic and Christian fundamentalism is believed to be predicated on the Nigerian political and economic malaise and social dislocation of recent decades. The paper recommends and concludes that all religious adherents must embrace Inter-religious dialogue which demands religions nurture, faith, trust, dialogue, communication, reconciliation, and mutual understanding of one another thus guaranteeing communal good for Nigerians.Key Words: Inter-religious; Nigeria Christian; Muslim

Old Wine in New Bottle

It is a fact that human culture is dynamic. This dynamism is often occasioned by the flow of human movement juxtaposed with environmental circumstances. In the process of social changes it is very difficult for any culture to retain its pristine character. In view of this conclusion, this article will explore how Yoruba culture has been able to demonstrate its resilience and dynamism in the aftermath of its encounter with Christianity, introduced by Western missionaries. The activities of the missionaries, in one way or another, undermined the culture of the Yoruba people. The article will also highlight how Yoruba culture has been able to re-engineer and renegotiate its character in the process of its dialogue with Christianity. It will further show that in spite of the attempt by Christianity to stifle Yoruba culture it has become resurgent in a new form, as manifested in Aladura Christianity. Therefore, the factors that helped elements of Yoruba culture to survive in the contemporary expression of Christianity in Nigeria become the central focus of this article. In-depth interviews and participant observations were utilized to gather data for the article. The data collected was subjected to a detailed descriptive analysis, which in turn gave rise to the overarching conclusions in the essay.

Christianity in Nigeria before Pentecostalism

Many previous works on Christianity in Nigeria had mostly emphasized the successful parts of the mission efforts rather than the whole gamut of attempts, successes, failures and African innovativeness that largely characterized the mission stories. This paper however historically examined in synopsis the mission activities of the missionary groups that made entry into Nigeria and how the religion was eventually slated for indigenization by the Nigerian Christians to aptly express their worldview and perception. Some relevant literatures were used to gather historical facts about the topic. Logical reasoning and historical method were used in treating findings and in reconciling the information and evidence in the literature. The paper surveyed the following: European entry into Africa, Christian entry into Nigeria, (western and southern Nigeria), the missions established and how these missions were breeding diverse African nationalists and charismatic personnel who suggested that Christianity should be expressed in the African way. Christianity in Nigeria had gone through a lot of stages and the roles of these stages are very fundamental in the telling of Christian history in Nigeria. Mission Christianity though brought Christianity to Nigeria could not present a befitting Christianity that match the worldview of the people. Western missionary personnel enjoyed a great deal of hospitality when they came in the 19th Century. Nevertheless, Indigenous Christian practices garnished in Pentecostal expressiveness and liturgies appeared to be the distinguishing traits and hopes of Nigerian Christianity in the long run. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n2p121

Inter-Religious Dialogue: The Nigerian Experience, by Prof. Murtala A. Bidmos. Abuja, Panaf Publishing 2006. 161pp. ISBN 978-37049-4-X

The title of this book is well thought out, accurate and nicely concise, but it unfortunately fails to capture and represent the contents. It will be hoped by any enlightened reader that a book on the Nigerian experience of inter-religious dialogue will not fall short of offering useful information on the journey so far in Nigeria with regards to inter-religious communication. A book containing such useful information would have provided a worthy and rewarding readership that is expected of Bidmos in his Inter-Religious Dialogue. Yet, this book is more qualified than any other in the market to shed light on at least one of the – if not major – then, at least, major peripheral factors militating against peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria.

Richard Burgess, Nigeria's Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal Progeny (1967–2006) (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008), pp. xxii + 354. £24.99.

Richard Burgess, Nigeria's Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal Progeny (1967–2006) (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008), pp. xxii + 354. £24.99.

Dealing with Local Satanic Technology: Deliverance Rhetoric in the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries

ABSTRACT The 1980s and 1990s, an era of ‘oil doom’ and successive military dictatorship, marked a political and socio-economic watershed in the history of the Nigerian polity. Concomitant with this phase of abysmal collapse of social, economic, and political institutions was an unprecedented resurgence and rapid proliferation of new religious movements, particularly new Christian movements with Pentecostal and charismatic persuasions. In the wake of political crises and failing economies, religious communities also provided significant channels for expressions of frustration as well as avenues where claims as an alternative source of problem-resolution were negotiated and legitimized. This paper explores how this religious development marked a significant turning point in the history of Christianity in Nigeria; with its religious geography assuming a more complex and diversified posture through Pentecostal/charismatic forms of Christianity. One main thrust of African Pentecostal religiosity is the preponderance of deliverance and spiritual warfare rituals in their cosmological tradition. Using the example of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) founded in Lagos in the 1980s, the paper examines its demographic expansion, its belief in, and appropriation of, spiritual warfare and deliverance rituals in Africa and the African diaspora. It shows how the MFM, through its preoccupation with the epistemology of demons and the extensive appropriation of warfare rhetoric, has carved out a niche for itself in African Pentecostal discourse in both local and global contexts.

New Dimensions in Nigerian Women's Pentecostal experience: The Case of DODIM, Nigeria

ABSTRACT The place and role of women in Christianity have been marked by dynamic experiences in Nigeria. It is suffice to note that the gender paradigm at the advent of Christianity in Nigeria is no longer tenable. This is due mainly to the influence of culture as a potent negotiating tool for women in the church. Presently, women have gained remarkable visibility in the church in Nigeria through roles including presiding clergy, church founders, choir leaders and church council members to mention a few. However, a new dimension to the experience of women in their interaction with the divine is the Daughters of Deborah International Ministry, Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria. The ministry provides avenues for women from the three broad divisions of churches in Nigeria to access the divine. These classifications of churches are: Orthodox/Mission, African Independent, and Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. DODIM as the ministry is known creates forum of meetings for women from these different churches in a non-structural setting. Again, these forums are managed by women for women focussing mainly on women issues. This provides a rare opportunity for women solidarity, networking and experience sharing in Christianity. Methodology for this paper will be phenomenological with interviews and participant observations as tools of research. This paper attempts to contribute significantly to literature on women in religion in Nigeria.

Religion and Marriage in the Book of Ruth: The Implications for Contemporary Nigeria

This paper made a survey of the Old Testament book of Ruth with special interest in the marriage between Ruth and Boaz. The work considered the positive impact of this marriage for the Judeo-Christian world especially as manifested in the personalities of King David and Jesus Christ who of course came from the lineage of Boaz and Ruth. The menace of discriminations among contemporary Christians in choosing marriage partners can be stopped through the proper understanding and internalization of the message of the book of Ruth on marriage. This understanding is necessary for the effective and sincere practicing of Christianity in Nigeria bearing in mind that it is the same God that created mankind in his own image.

Critical analyses of church politics and crises within the indigenous Christianity in Nigeria

Politics, disloyalty, oppression, tussle for leadership power and divisions seemed to have characterized the indigenous Pentecostal churches in Nigeria particularly in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Historically, the underlining factors for the occurrences in the Nigerian indigenous Christianity in recent times could be traced to doctrinal practices, leadership problems, different interpretations and manipulations of prophetic gifts and sundries. Today, some church pioneers have been alleged of playing double standard through their actions in the running of church affairs. Some also have accused of false biblical teachings resulting at times to fake prophecies and revelations. These attitudes have negative implications on church growth and on church membership

On the Bodies of Women: the common ground between Islam and Christianity in Nigeria

This article explores the common ideological ground between Islam and Christianity in Nigeria, in the ways in which gender and sexuality are configured in relation to women's bodies. The latter constitute key sites for the inscription of social norms and practices inherent in particular interpretations of religion. We proceed by examining the interplay between religion and politics in historical context and in specific concrete instances. While the religious right among Muslims and Christians share the view that women's bodies are sexually corrupting and therefore in need of control, this perspective is also found in secular institutions. At the same time Christians and Muslims are strongly opposed to controls on women's bodies that may lead to either religious group being identified as ‘the other’. The linkage made between women's bodies and ‘public morality’ produces diverse forms of gender inequality. The moralising of political economy that these processes entail complicates the terrain on which challenges to the politicisation of religion and its gender politics need to be sustained.

Nigeria's Christian Revolution the Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1967–2006) – By Richard Burgess

Nigeria's Christian Revolution the Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1967–2006) – By Richard Burgess

Nigeria's Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1967‐2006) – By Richard Burgess

Nigeria's Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1967‐2006) – By Richard Burgess

Nigeria's Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1976-2006)

Nigeria's Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1976-2006)

Commemorative Textiles and Anglican Church History in Ondo, Nigeria

The history of the Anglican Church in Nigeria, beginning with its establishment by European missionaries and continued by Nigerian clergy, reflects changing ecclesiastical concerns, which have been discussed in the considerable literature on the history of Christianity in Nigeria. This paper takes a different approach to Anglican Church history in the town of Ondo, in southwestern Nigeria, by focusing on four different commemorative anniversary cloths commissioned by two Anglican churches in Ondo and by the Anglican Diocese, Ondo, from 1925 to 2002. These cloths reflect the different concerns of church leaders during the times when they were made as well as the manufacturing techniques used in their production. This analysis of the four anniversary cloths differs from other studies of commemorative textiles as it details the extensive negotiations that went into the decisions made by particular church leaders, both in the design and commissioning of these cloths from textile manufacturers first in the UK and then in Nigeria. These Anglican Church cloths suggest the ways that cloth was used by church leaders and members both to depict the historical travails of the Anglican Church in Ondo and to express their different and, at times, conflicting opinions and experiences. They were also used to attract new members, who were impressed by the prestige imparted to the wearers of these innovative cloths. This focus on commemorative textiles as historical record thus provides a means of understanding church history from an African perspective.

Muslims and Christians in Nigeria: An economy of political panic

This essay offers an alternative analysis of Muslim – Christian relations in Nigeria, rejecting a ‘clash-of-civilizations’ approach as both too generalized and politically self-serving. A more nuanced analysis might focus on the social variables in the different sites of conflict and on the underlying factors, both historical and current. It is argued that, for the most part, Muslims and Christians have lived peacefully alongside each other in Nigeria for a century now.

Christianity and Islam in Nigeria Since 1980: The Challenge of Heritage.

This paper highlights the role of Islam and Christianity in Nigeria since their introduction. Practiced with much tolerance, these religions mediated and regulated societal tensions that were capable of disrupting the stability of the nation and good neighbourliness. Using the current traumatizing impact of religious violence in recent times, especially from the 1980s, the paper laments, that these religions have not only lost their diplomatic and tolerant character but have tended to fulfill Margery Perham's prophesy that “independent Nigeria would be fraught with strife because of many religions”. It is argued here that Nigerians can turn this challenging moment into a mere reference point in our history if we can return to the practice of classical Christianity and Islam which are based on peace and love. Indeed, these religions were among the most active supporters of good governance and were committed to the provision of social amenities. The paper submits that rather than using frustrated Nigerians to cause chaos, religious leaders and organizations should mobilize their adherents for radical improvement in the welfare and wellbeing of Nigerians. SOPHIA: An African Journal of Philosophy Vol. 9 (1) 2006: pp. 14-18

Muslims and Christians in Nigeria: Attitudes Towards the United States from a Post-September 11th Perspective

Research Article| May 01 2004 Muslims and Christians in Nigeria: Attitudes Towards the United States from a Post-September 11th Perspective Irit Back Irit Back Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East (2004) 24 (1): 213–221. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-24-1-213 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Irit Back; Muslims and Christians in Nigeria: Attitudes Towards the United States from a Post-September 11th Perspective. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 1 May 2004; 24 (1): 213–221. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-24-1-213 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsComparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East2004 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Christian churches in Ilorin, Nigeria: a brief historical survey

This paper provides a brief historical survey of the establishment of Christian churches in the state of Ilorin, Nigeria. After examining the early resistance to the spread of Christianity in Nigeria, the paper reviews the history of the first and second generations of churches in Nigeria. The paper then surveys the social impact of church and mission in Ilorin, including the religious and educational aspects all of which contributed to the improvement of the educational standards in Nigeria, even among the Muslim schools. The paper concludes that most of the innovative and positive ideas introduced through the church schools were readily adopted by the Muslim schools, once they saw the advantages that were to be derived from them.

Sharia and Christianity in Nigeria: Islam and a 'Secular' State

Sharia and Christianity in Nigeria: Islam and a 'Secular' State