Identity Crises and Indigenous Religious Traditions : Exploring Nigerian-African Christian Societies.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of figures -- Acknowledgements -- List of abbreviations -- Glossary -- Introduction -- 1 Historical and socio-political background -- Initiation societies in Africa -- A brief historical origin and location of Amasiri -- Religious landscape of Amasiri -- Indigenous organisational structures -- 2 Ritual processes and the Ogo society -- Ritual phases and the Ogo society -- Preliminality (separation) -- Liminality (transition) -- Postliminality (incorporation/integration) -- 3 Implications of initiation into the Ogo society -- The Ogo society: arts, music and masquerades -- The Ogo society and gendered relationship -- 4 Locating the United Presbyterian Church (UPC) within local and global landscapes -- Mapping the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria (PCN) -- Mission expansionism: The PCN at Amasiri -- Local agency and mission -- Interface of ritual within the PCN -- 5 Religious conversion: transition and transmission -- Western mission and discourses of religious change -- Conceptualising conversion -- Dynamic of conversion to Christianity -- Religious conversion and relationship -- 6 Negotiating culture and identity -- First phase (1927-1944) -- Second phase (1945-1970) -- Third phase (1970-1990) -- Fourth phase (era of Charismatisation and Pentecostalisation, 1990-2008) -- Conflict: the Ogo society and Christianity -- Conflict resolution -- 7 Towards dialogue: Christianity and the Ogo society -- Engaging the two models: dialetic and dialogic -- Factors for dialetic approach to culture -- Dynamic of the dialogic model -- Dialogue: Christianity and cultures -- Dialogic model: key implications -- 8 Theoretical reflections on the Ogo society -- Ritual and symbol -- Ritual and myth -- The Ogo society: culture, identity and power -- The Ogo society and concept of community.

Appendix: research methodology -- Bibliography -- Index.

This book highlights the complex identity crises among many Christians as they negotiate their new identities, religious ideas and convictions as both Christians and members of Nigerian-African societies. Demonstrating how complex religious identities and practices of Nigerian-African Christians can balance mission-influenced Christianity with indigenous religious traditions and identities, this book recognises the importance of appropriating the powers of indigenous cultures, ingenuity and creativity in the construction and preservation of community identities.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.