The Impact of Religion, Culture and World View of the People of Cross River State on the Slow Growth of Seventh-Day (SDA) Church Mission in the State (Published)
The research looks at the impact of religion, culture and worldview of the people of Cross River State on the spread of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cross River State. To realize this, three (3) point purpose of the study was considered, data were collected from the field-work and the study employed statistical, sociological, historical and theological methods in analyzing its data. From the investigation conducted on this study, it is apparent that the following are the major factors impacted on the slow growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cross River State, namely: Religio-Cultural Factors and Church Growth; Socio-Economic Factor and Church Growth, and Religious Factors and Church Growth. This recommended church organization can be understood through the adoption of the under-listed missiological approaches: Incarnation, Inculturation, and Contextualization of the gospel, in addition to Inclusive Community Paradigm in reaching out to the people of Cross River State.
Keywords: Culture, Religion., church growth., worldview
Religious Responses to the 21 August 1986 Lake Nyos Gas Disaster, Cameroon (Published)
Religion sits alongside other factors to determine the capacity to understand, respond and recover from Disaster. Following the occurrence of the Lake Nyos disaster and as it became clear that the horrifying natural episode marked a turning point in the lives of the hardest-hit communities, religious leaders and their faithful brought a faith perspective to the explanation and response to the event. This article focuses on these religious reactions to the Nyos disaster, and draws on published research, oral sources and previously unexplored archival sources. After presenting the pre-disaster religious landscape of the area, it first investigates religious explanations to the origins and impact of the event. Second, it explores ritual practices that were observed in response to the disaster. Finally, it highlights how the disaster was used as a justification for Christian social action and proselytization among survivors. In the conclusion, I make the case that the religious faiths in the Lake Nyos disaster area explained and responded to the event in ways that were couched in religious terms.
Keywords: Christianity, Disaster, Indigenous Religion, Islam, Lake Nyos, Proselytisation., Religion., Ritual, Social action, Theodicy
The Traditional Mbaise Society: Perspectives on Igbo Scio-Cultural History, 1500-1900 (Published)
This article examines aspects of the socio-cultural institutions and practices in the context of traditional Mbaise society and culture. The process of evolution and growth of Mbaise society was predicated on a number of institutions and practices which had socio-cultural, political, economic and religious implications. Appreciating the fact that social development is a vast area in socio-cultural history, the paper concentrated on the family structure, marriage institutions, religious beliefs and practices. Traditional Mbaise society was endowed with these great institutions and others which Christianity sought to wipe out, though without success. The impact of Christianity and other western influences notwithstanding, the paper argues that these institutions generated ideas, values, and norms which crystallized into the Mbaise identity and cosmology. Against the backdrop of the popular opinion held by the western writers to the effect that pre-colonial African societies were not part of world history and civilization (and hence incapable of initiating change), we argue further that this negative and bias narrative about pre-colonial African societies is now very anachronistic and no longer worthy of intellectual attention by scholars of both African and European persuasions
Keywords: Africa, Christianity, Mbaise, Religion., Socio-cultural, Tradition, history
Christian Values and African Culture: An Evaluation (Published)
This paper attempts to examine the influence of Christian values on African culture. As a matter of fact African holds certain things to be of great value, e.g. large family, respect for old people, and believe in the existence of gods, e.t.c. It is these values that gave Africans a distinct cultural personality and enable us to make some contributions to the society. The Christian religion on the other hand means for the African fundamental changes in many of his cultural values. The paper argues that the influence of Christianity has caused certain customs and beliefs to be discarded or modified, at the same time it has caused others to be retained by one level of society while on another level new alternatives are being accepted. We argue further that Christian influence on culture has been selective. It has not been systematically complete or effective, for example in the area of human sacrifice, the slave trade, and the killings of twins have been discarded and old and new ideas have been amalgamated in the sphere of religion. Hence the position with one foot in Christianity and the other in tradition poses a serious dilemma for both Christianity and tradition in Africa.
Keywords: African Culture, Christian God, Deities, Religion., Values
RELIGION AND NATION BUILDING: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS (Published)
From time immemorial the desire to build a just, orderly, peaceful and progressive society has been uppermost in the minds of Nigerian leaders. But due to external influences on them, their mission and vision continue to remain a mirage. These influences coupled with high level of corruption, poverty and selfishness, lack of contentment heightened their problem. This made the Nigerian leaders derail from their avowed vision and mission with the result that at the end of a leader’s tenure little or no progress would have been made. Corruption, poverty, selfishness and other social vices would be on the increase. Hence, the goal of nation building is not achieved. This is causing grave concerns to well-meaning members of the society. Religion’s stern qualities of sincerity, honesty, selfless service to humanity, contentment among other qualities appears to be a better alternative for building a progressive and a sustainable society. The methodology adopted for the study is the qualitative phenomenological approach whereby data were collected from both primary and secondary sources and treated analytically and descriptively. The findings of the study validate the fact that a progressive society anchored on the afore-mentioned qualities is essential for building a progressive Nigerian society. The study further discovered some vital innate qualities in religion that make for sincerity of purpose, contentment and selfless services irrespective of internal and external factors.
Keywords: Nation Building and Nation, Religion.