Nigerian Pentecostal Theology in Global Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v7i2.29Keywords:
Nigerian PentecostalismAbstract
This paper discusses the nature of Nigerian Pentecostal theology and its contributions to intercultural theology, with particular reference to deliverance and success-oriented theologies. It suggests that Nigerian Pentecostal theologies resonate with the search for spiritual power in traditional piety. However, they are elaborated in forms that are consistent with global Pentecostal culture and modern modes of living, and are practical and progressive in orientation.
References
Adeboye E. A. (2007) Heaven on the Move. Lagos: C. R. M. Press
----- (2004) God the Holy Spirit. Ibadan: Adonai Press
----- (2002) Sermons of the 2001 Holy Ghost Services. Lagos: The Book Ministry
----- (1999) A New Beginning. The Holy Spirit in the Life of Peter. Lagos: C. R. M. Press
----- (1992) Child of Destiny. Lagos: C. R. M. Press
Adedeji, Yemi (2007), ‘Is there an expiry date for our Christianity today?.’ Festival News. The Official publication of the London Festival of Life, November, pp. 12-13
Adeleke, Andrew (2008) How to have a new beginning. London: Lighthouse Publishers, 2008
Adogame, Afe (2005),‘Dealing with Local Satanic Technology. Deliverance Rhetoric in the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry’. Paper presented at the CESNUR International Conference ‘Religious Movements, Globalization and Conflict: Transnational Perspectives’, Palermo, Sicily, June 2-5
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena (2008), ‘“Broken Calabashes and Covenants of Fruitfulness”: Cursing Barrenness in Contemporary African Christianity.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 37, pp. 437-460
----- (2006) African Charismatics. Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. Leiden: Brill
Ashimolowo, Matthew (2007) What is wrong with Being Black? Celebrating our Heritage, Confronting our Challenges. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers
Astley, Jeff (2002) Ordinary Theology: looking, listening and learning theology. Aldershot: Ashgate
Awolalu, J. Omosade (1979) Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites. London: Longman
Ayegboyin, Deji Isaac (2006), ‘A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching in the New Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria.’ Black Theology: An International Journal, 4.1, pp. 70-86
----- (2005), ‘“...But Deliver us from Evil...” The Riposte of the MFM and its Implications for the “Reverse” in Mission.’ Orita. Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies, 37, June & Dec., pp. 33-64
Bediako, Kwame (1996), ‘Types of African Theology’. In: A. F. Walls and Christopher Fyfe (eds.), Christianity in Africa in the 1990’s. University of Edinburgh, pp. 56-69
Burgess, Richard (2008) Nigeria’s Christian Revolution. The Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal Progeny (1967-2006). Carlisle: Regnum/Paternoster
Comaroff, J. and J. Comaroff (1999), ‘Occult economies and the violence of abstraction: notes from the South African postcolony.’ American Ethnologist, 26.2, pp. 279-303
Enwerem, Iheanyi M. (2003) ‘“Money-Magic” and Ritual Killing in Contemporary Nigeria’. In: Jane I. Guyer, LaRay Denzer and Adigun Agbaje (eds.), Money Struggles in Ibadan and Other Urban Centers in Southern Nigeria 1986-1996. Ibadan: Bookbuilders, pp. 189-205
Fisher, H. J. (1973), ‘Conversion Reconsidered: Some Historical Aspects of Religious Conversion in Black Africa.’ Africa, 43.1, pp. 27-40
Geschiere, Peter (1997) The Modernity of Witchcraft. Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville/London: University Press of Virginia
Giddens, Anthony (2001) Sociology, 4th edition (revised). Cambridge: Polity
----- (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity
Gifford, Paul (2008), ‘The Bible in Africa: a novel usage in Africa’s new churches.’ Bulletin of SOAS, 71.2, pp. 203-219
----- (2004) Ghana’s New Christianity. Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press
----- (1998) African Christianity. Its Public Role. London: Hurst and Co.
----- (1990), ‘Prosperity: A New and Foreign Element in African Christianity.’ Religion, 20, pp. 373-88
Graham, Elaine, Heather Walton, Francis Ward (2005) Theological Reflection: Methods. London: SCM Press
Hackett, Rosalind I. J. (1998), ‘Charismatic/Pentecostal Appropriation of Media Technologies in Nigeria and Ghana.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 28.3, pp. 258-77
Harris, Hermione (2006) Yoruba in Diaspora. An African Church in London. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Hefner, R. W. (1993), ‘World Building and the Rationality of Conversion.’ In: R. W. Hefner (ed.), Conversion to Christianity. Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 3-46
Hollenweger, Walter J. (1986), ‘Intercultural Theology.’ Theology Today, 43.1, pp. 28-35
Horton, Robin (1971), ‘African Conversion.’ Africa, 41.2, pp. 91-112
Hunt, Stephen (2000), ‘The “New” Black Pentecostal Churches in Britain.’ Paper presented at the CESNUR 14th International Conference, Riga, Latvia, August 29-31, pp. 1-17
Idowu, E. Bolaji, (1994) Olodumare, God in Yoruba Belief. New York: Wazobia (2nd edition)
Ifeka-Moller, Caroline (1974), ‘White Power: Socio-Structural Factors in Conversion to Christianity, Eastern Nigeria, 1921-1966.’ Canadian Journal of African Studies, 8.1, pp. 55-72
Ikenga-Metuh, Emefie E. (1986), ‘Critique of Explanations of Conversion in Black Africa.’ In: Emefie Ikenga-Metuh (ed.), The Gods in Retreat. Continuity and Change in African Religions. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, pp. 257-79
----- (1981) God and Man in African Religion. A Case Study of the Igbo of Nigeria. London: Geoffrey Chapman
Ilogu, Edmund (1974) Christianity and Ibo Culture. Leiden: E. J. Brill
Jenkins, Philip (2006) The New Faces of Christianity. Believing the Bible in the Global South. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kalu, Ogbu U. (2008) African Pentecostalism. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Land, Steven J. (1993) Pentecostal Spirituality. A Passion for the Kingdom. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press
Lindon, Thomas (1990), ‘Oriki Orisa: The Yoruba Prayer of Praise.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 20.2, pp. 205-224
Marshall-Fratani, Ruth (1998), ‘Mediating the Global and Local in Nigerian Pentecostalism.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 28.3, pp. 278-315
Maxwell, David (1999) Christians and Chiefs in Zimbabwe. A Social History of the Hwesa People c.1870s-1990s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Meyer, Birgit (1999) Translating the Devil. Religions and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
----- (1998a), ‘“Delivered from the Powers of Darkness”: Confessions of Satanic Riches in Christian Ghana.’ Africa, 65.2, pp. 236-55
----- (1998b), ‘The Power of Money: Politics, Occult Forces, and Pentecostalism in Ghana.’ African Studies Review, 41.3, pp. 15-37
----- (1998c), ‘“Make a Complete Break with the Past”: Memory and Post-Colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostal Discourse.’ In: Richard Werbner (ed.), Memory and the Postcolony. African Anthropology and the Critique of Power. London and New York: Zed Books, pp. 182-208
Odulele, Albert (2004) Amazing Testimonies of Almighty God. London: OVMC Ltd
Ojo, Matthews A. (2006) The End-Time Army, Charismatic Movements in Modern Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press
----- (1996), ‘Charismatic Movements in Africa.’ In: Christopher Fyfe and Andrew F. Walls (eds.), Christianity in Africa in the 1990’s. University of Edinburgh: Centre of African Studies, pp. 92-110
Okorocha, Cyril C. (1987) The Meaning of Religious Conversion in Africa. The Case of the Igbo of Nigeria. Aldershot: Avebury
Okoye, William (1993) Youth with a Purpose. Enugu: Gospel Communications International
Oludoyi, David Sola (2007) The Unexpected, the Inevitable! How to Handle the Storms of Life. Croydon: Baruch Press
Olukoya, D. K. (2005) Seasons of Life. Lagos: The Battle Cry Christian Ministries
----- (1999a) Violent Prayers to Disgrace Stubborn Problems. Lagos: The Battle Cry Christian Ministries
----- (1999b) Prayer Rain. Lagos: MFM Ministries
----- (1999c) Overpowering Witchcraft. Lagos: MFM Ministries
----- (1998) Wealth must change hands. Lagos: MFM Ministries
----- (1996) How to Obtain Personal Deliverance. Lagos: MFM Ministries
Olupona, Jacob K. (2003), ‘Book Review. Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba by J.D.Y. Peel.’ International Journal of African Historical Studies, 36.1, pp. 182-186
Oyewole, Olusola & Oluwole Ebofin (2000) Poverty must Die. Lagos: The Battle Cry Ministries
Parratt, John (1995) Reinventing Christianity: African Theology Today. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans
Peel, J. D. Y. (2000) Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press
----- (1968) Aladura: A Religious Movement among the Yorubas. London: Oxford University Press
Ray, Benjamin C. (1993), ‘Aladura Christianity.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 23.3, pp. 266-291
Ranger, Terence (2001), ‘Review. Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba, by John Peel.’ African Affairs, 100, pp. 653-656
Robbins, Joel (2004), ‘The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.’ Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, pp. 117-143
Sanusi, Leke (2004) None shall be Barren. A Testimony of a Couple’s Trials and Triumphs over Barrenness. Enumclaw, WA: WinePress Publishing
----- (2003) Goliath Killing Prayers. How to Overcome Every Giant in your Life. London: Oraword Publishers
Schreiter, Robert J. (2004) The New Catholicity. Theology between the Global and the Local. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books
Smith, Daniel Jordan (2001), ‘“The Arrow of God”: Pentecostalism, Inequality, and the Supernatural in South-Eastern Nigeria.’ Africa, 71.4, pp. 587-613
Ukah, Asonzeh (2008) A New Paradigm of Pentecostal Power. A Study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press
----- (2007), ‘Piety and Profit: Accounting for Money in West African Pentecostalism (Parts 1 & II).’ Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, vol. 48, Nrs 3 & 4 (September & December), pp. 621-648
Young, Josiah III (1993) African Theology. A Critical Analysis and Annotated Bibliography, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press
----- (2004) God the Holy Spirit. Ibadan: Adonai Press
----- (2002) Sermons of the 2001 Holy Ghost Services. Lagos: The Book Ministry
----- (1999) A New Beginning. The Holy Spirit in the Life of Peter. Lagos: C. R. M. Press
----- (1992) Child of Destiny. Lagos: C. R. M. Press
Adedeji, Yemi (2007), ‘Is there an expiry date for our Christianity today?.’ Festival News. The Official publication of the London Festival of Life, November, pp. 12-13
Adeleke, Andrew (2008) How to have a new beginning. London: Lighthouse Publishers, 2008
Adogame, Afe (2005),‘Dealing with Local Satanic Technology. Deliverance Rhetoric in the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry’. Paper presented at the CESNUR International Conference ‘Religious Movements, Globalization and Conflict: Transnational Perspectives’, Palermo, Sicily, June 2-5
Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena (2008), ‘“Broken Calabashes and Covenants of Fruitfulness”: Cursing Barrenness in Contemporary African Christianity.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 37, pp. 437-460
----- (2006) African Charismatics. Current Developments within Independent Indigenous Pentecostalism in Ghana. Leiden: Brill
Ashimolowo, Matthew (2007) What is wrong with Being Black? Celebrating our Heritage, Confronting our Challenges. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers
Astley, Jeff (2002) Ordinary Theology: looking, listening and learning theology. Aldershot: Ashgate
Awolalu, J. Omosade (1979) Yoruba Beliefs and Sacrificial Rites. London: Longman
Ayegboyin, Deji Isaac (2006), ‘A Rethinking of Prosperity Teaching in the New Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria.’ Black Theology: An International Journal, 4.1, pp. 70-86
----- (2005), ‘“...But Deliver us from Evil...” The Riposte of the MFM and its Implications for the “Reverse” in Mission.’ Orita. Ibadan Journal of Religious Studies, 37, June & Dec., pp. 33-64
Bediako, Kwame (1996), ‘Types of African Theology’. In: A. F. Walls and Christopher Fyfe (eds.), Christianity in Africa in the 1990’s. University of Edinburgh, pp. 56-69
Burgess, Richard (2008) Nigeria’s Christian Revolution. The Civil War Revival and its Pentecostal Progeny (1967-2006). Carlisle: Regnum/Paternoster
Comaroff, J. and J. Comaroff (1999), ‘Occult economies and the violence of abstraction: notes from the South African postcolony.’ American Ethnologist, 26.2, pp. 279-303
Enwerem, Iheanyi M. (2003) ‘“Money-Magic” and Ritual Killing in Contemporary Nigeria’. In: Jane I. Guyer, LaRay Denzer and Adigun Agbaje (eds.), Money Struggles in Ibadan and Other Urban Centers in Southern Nigeria 1986-1996. Ibadan: Bookbuilders, pp. 189-205
Fisher, H. J. (1973), ‘Conversion Reconsidered: Some Historical Aspects of Religious Conversion in Black Africa.’ Africa, 43.1, pp. 27-40
Geschiere, Peter (1997) The Modernity of Witchcraft. Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville/London: University Press of Virginia
Giddens, Anthony (2001) Sociology, 4th edition (revised). Cambridge: Polity
----- (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity. Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity
Gifford, Paul (2008), ‘The Bible in Africa: a novel usage in Africa’s new churches.’ Bulletin of SOAS, 71.2, pp. 203-219
----- (2004) Ghana’s New Christianity. Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press
----- (1998) African Christianity. Its Public Role. London: Hurst and Co.
----- (1990), ‘Prosperity: A New and Foreign Element in African Christianity.’ Religion, 20, pp. 373-88
Graham, Elaine, Heather Walton, Francis Ward (2005) Theological Reflection: Methods. London: SCM Press
Hackett, Rosalind I. J. (1998), ‘Charismatic/Pentecostal Appropriation of Media Technologies in Nigeria and Ghana.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 28.3, pp. 258-77
Harris, Hermione (2006) Yoruba in Diaspora. An African Church in London. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Hefner, R. W. (1993), ‘World Building and the Rationality of Conversion.’ In: R. W. Hefner (ed.), Conversion to Christianity. Los Angeles: University of California Press, pp. 3-46
Hollenweger, Walter J. (1986), ‘Intercultural Theology.’ Theology Today, 43.1, pp. 28-35
Horton, Robin (1971), ‘African Conversion.’ Africa, 41.2, pp. 91-112
Hunt, Stephen (2000), ‘The “New” Black Pentecostal Churches in Britain.’ Paper presented at the CESNUR 14th International Conference, Riga, Latvia, August 29-31, pp. 1-17
Idowu, E. Bolaji, (1994) Olodumare, God in Yoruba Belief. New York: Wazobia (2nd edition)
Ifeka-Moller, Caroline (1974), ‘White Power: Socio-Structural Factors in Conversion to Christianity, Eastern Nigeria, 1921-1966.’ Canadian Journal of African Studies, 8.1, pp. 55-72
Ikenga-Metuh, Emefie E. (1986), ‘Critique of Explanations of Conversion in Black Africa.’ In: Emefie Ikenga-Metuh (ed.), The Gods in Retreat. Continuity and Change in African Religions. Enugu: Fourth Dimension Publishers, pp. 257-79
----- (1981) God and Man in African Religion. A Case Study of the Igbo of Nigeria. London: Geoffrey Chapman
Ilogu, Edmund (1974) Christianity and Ibo Culture. Leiden: E. J. Brill
Jenkins, Philip (2006) The New Faces of Christianity. Believing the Bible in the Global South. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Kalu, Ogbu U. (2008) African Pentecostalism. An Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Land, Steven J. (1993) Pentecostal Spirituality. A Passion for the Kingdom. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press
Lindon, Thomas (1990), ‘Oriki Orisa: The Yoruba Prayer of Praise.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 20.2, pp. 205-224
Marshall-Fratani, Ruth (1998), ‘Mediating the Global and Local in Nigerian Pentecostalism.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 28.3, pp. 278-315
Maxwell, David (1999) Christians and Chiefs in Zimbabwe. A Social History of the Hwesa People c.1870s-1990s. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
Meyer, Birgit (1999) Translating the Devil. Religions and Modernity among the Ewe in Ghana. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
----- (1998a), ‘“Delivered from the Powers of Darkness”: Confessions of Satanic Riches in Christian Ghana.’ Africa, 65.2, pp. 236-55
----- (1998b), ‘The Power of Money: Politics, Occult Forces, and Pentecostalism in Ghana.’ African Studies Review, 41.3, pp. 15-37
----- (1998c), ‘“Make a Complete Break with the Past”: Memory and Post-Colonial Modernity in Ghanaian Pentecostal Discourse.’ In: Richard Werbner (ed.), Memory and the Postcolony. African Anthropology and the Critique of Power. London and New York: Zed Books, pp. 182-208
Odulele, Albert (2004) Amazing Testimonies of Almighty God. London: OVMC Ltd
Ojo, Matthews A. (2006) The End-Time Army, Charismatic Movements in Modern Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press
----- (1996), ‘Charismatic Movements in Africa.’ In: Christopher Fyfe and Andrew F. Walls (eds.), Christianity in Africa in the 1990’s. University of Edinburgh: Centre of African Studies, pp. 92-110
Okorocha, Cyril C. (1987) The Meaning of Religious Conversion in Africa. The Case of the Igbo of Nigeria. Aldershot: Avebury
Okoye, William (1993) Youth with a Purpose. Enugu: Gospel Communications International
Oludoyi, David Sola (2007) The Unexpected, the Inevitable! How to Handle the Storms of Life. Croydon: Baruch Press
Olukoya, D. K. (2005) Seasons of Life. Lagos: The Battle Cry Christian Ministries
----- (1999a) Violent Prayers to Disgrace Stubborn Problems. Lagos: The Battle Cry Christian Ministries
----- (1999b) Prayer Rain. Lagos: MFM Ministries
----- (1999c) Overpowering Witchcraft. Lagos: MFM Ministries
----- (1998) Wealth must change hands. Lagos: MFM Ministries
----- (1996) How to Obtain Personal Deliverance. Lagos: MFM Ministries
Olupona, Jacob K. (2003), ‘Book Review. Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba by J.D.Y. Peel.’ International Journal of African Historical Studies, 36.1, pp. 182-186
Oyewole, Olusola & Oluwole Ebofin (2000) Poverty must Die. Lagos: The Battle Cry Ministries
Parratt, John (1995) Reinventing Christianity: African Theology Today. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans
Peel, J. D. Y. (2000) Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press
----- (1968) Aladura: A Religious Movement among the Yorubas. London: Oxford University Press
Ray, Benjamin C. (1993), ‘Aladura Christianity.’ Journal of Religion in Africa, 23.3, pp. 266-291
Ranger, Terence (2001), ‘Review. Religious Encounter and the Making of the Yoruba, by John Peel.’ African Affairs, 100, pp. 653-656
Robbins, Joel (2004), ‘The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity.’ Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, pp. 117-143
Sanusi, Leke (2004) None shall be Barren. A Testimony of a Couple’s Trials and Triumphs over Barrenness. Enumclaw, WA: WinePress Publishing
----- (2003) Goliath Killing Prayers. How to Overcome Every Giant in your Life. London: Oraword Publishers
Schreiter, Robert J. (2004) The New Catholicity. Theology between the Global and the Local. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books
Smith, Daniel Jordan (2001), ‘“The Arrow of God”: Pentecostalism, Inequality, and the Supernatural in South-Eastern Nigeria.’ Africa, 71.4, pp. 587-613
Ukah, Asonzeh (2008) A New Paradigm of Pentecostal Power. A Study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press
----- (2007), ‘Piety and Profit: Accounting for Money in West African Pentecostalism (Parts 1 & II).’ Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif, vol. 48, Nrs 3 & 4 (September & December), pp. 621-648
Young, Josiah III (1993) African Theology. A Critical Analysis and Annotated Bibliography, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press
Published
2009-07-11
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Burgess, R. (2009). Nigerian Pentecostal Theology in Global Perspective. PentecoStudies, 7(2), 29-63. https://doi.org/10.1558/ptcs.v7i2.29
