Understanding Religious Change in Africa and Europe: Crossing Latitudes
The Christianization of Jukun of Nigeria and Celtic Irish in Early Medieval Europe
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Beschreibung
This book examines and compares the religious experience of an African group with a European one. It offers an ethnographical investigation of the Jukun of north central Nigeria. The author also organically weaves into the narrative the Christianization of the Irish in a comparative fashion. Throughout, he makes the case for an African Christianity connected to a Celtic Irish Christianity and vice-versa -- as different threads in a tapestry.
This work is a product of a synthesis of archival research in three continents, interviews with surviving first-generation Christians who were active practitioners of the Jukun indigenous religion, and with former missionaries to the Jukun. On the Irish side, it draws from extant primary sources and interviews with scholars in Celtic Irish studies. In addition, pictures, diagrams, and excerpts from British colonial and missionary journals provide a rich contextual understanding of Jukun religious life and practices.
The authoris among the emerging voices in the study of World Christianity who advocate for the reality of "poly-centres" for Christianity. This perspective recognizes voices from the Global South in the expansion of Christianity. This book serves as a valuable resource for historians, anthropologists, theologians, and those interested in missions studies, both scholars and lay readers seeking to deepen their understanding of World Christianity.
Nathan Elawa’s book is a timely and welcomed intervention on the scholarship of African Religions that locates Jukun religion in the historical, theoretical, and methodological studies of African religions. Elawa brings together several generations of scholarship into dialogue without “sacrificing” the specificity of Jukun religious life and his own astute creative interpretation; an amazing achievement.
-Elias Kifon Bongmba, Editor of The Routledge Companion to Christianity in Africa
In this thoughtful study, Nathan Elawa argues that while religious change is a given, local dynamics vary according to historical particulars and cultural context. Using cross-cultural examples of the Christianization process, with gratifying attention to indigenous religion and culture, he advocates for a more polycentric and experience-based approach to Christian expansion in different regions. This approach is undergirded by the author’s helpful distillations of significant trends in studies of African religions and of World Christianity.
-Rosalind I. J. Hackett, PhD, Chancellor’s Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN USA
This book examines and compares the religious experience of an African group with a European one. It offers an ethnographical investigation of the Jukun of north central Nigeria. The author also organically weaves into the narrative the Christianization of the Irish in a comparative fashion. Throughout, he makes the case for an African Christianity connected to a Celtic Irish Christianity and vice-versa -- as different threads in a tapestry.
This work is a product of a synthesis of archival research in three continents, interviews with surviving first-generation Christians who were active practitioners of the Jukun indigenous religion, and with former missionaries to the Jukun. On the Irish side, it draws from extant primary sources and interviews with scholars in Celtic Irish studies. In addition, pictures, diagrams, and excerpts from British colonial and missionary journals provide a rich contextual understanding of Jukun religious life and practices. The author is among the emerging voices in the study of World Christianity who advocate for the reality of "poly-centres" for Christianity. This perspective recognizes voices from the Global South in the expansion of Christianity. This book serves as a valuable resource for historians, anthropologists, theologians, and those interested in missions studies, both scholars and lay readers seeking to deepen their understanding of World Christianity.Features an ethnographical investigation on the Jukun of north central Nigeria Examines and compares the religious experience of an African group with a European one Synthesizes archival records from both colonial and missionary sources with contemporary oral interviews
Autor*in
Nathan Irmiya Elawa
Themen in »Understanding Religious Change in Africa and Europe: Crossing Latitudes«
British Colonialism, Missionaries in Nigeria Christian Missions in Africa Christianity in Nigeria Inculturation of Christianity in Africa Insider’s Perspective and Christianization in Africa Irish and Romanization Irish Christianization Jukun Religion and Christian Missionaries Religions of Nigeria Religious Change in Europe and Africa
Stimmen zu »Understanding Religious Change in Africa and Europe: Crossing Latitudes«
“Alawa grew up among first-generation Jukun converts, and among others who were within living memory of earlier converts. His personal commitment is noticeable throughout, making this book a rather unusual combination of academic research and a lively journey for uncovering his own spiritual roots. … medieval historians will find much in this book that will be of use, especially in challenging conventional scholarly paradigms for investigating conversion and in offering new and nuanced perspectives, informed by the author’s erudition and experience.” (Roy Flechner, Early Medieval Europe, Vol. 30 (3), 2022)
“Scholars investigating processes of conversion and socio-cultural transformation will welcome Nathan Elawa’s ambitious examination of Christian missionary encounters with indigenous religions in medieval Ireland and twentieth-century Nigeria. … A lesson worth remembering in many contexts.” (Nova Religio, Vol. 25 (4), May, 2022)
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