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Gospel and Culture: Nigerian Pentecostalism As a Case Study for African Contributions to Intercultural Theology

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Gospel and Culture: Nigerian Pentecostalism As a Case Study for African Contributions to Intercultural Theology Gospel and Culture: Nigerian Pentecostalism as a Case Study for African Contributions to Intercultural Theology by Maureen Ugochi Ononiwu A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Graduate Centre for Theological Studies of the Toronto School of Theology. In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Theology awarded by Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto . © Copyright by Maureen Ugochi Ononiwu 2020 Gospel and Culture: Nigerian Pentecostalism as a Case Study for African Contributions to Intercultural Theology Maureen Ugochi Ononiwu Master of Theology Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto 2020 Abstract This study proposes Nigerian Pentecostalism as an appropriate case study on proper engagement between the gospel and culture. The aim is to show that insights from the faith practices of Nigerian Pentecostalism can lead to further understanding of the relationship between gospel and culture. The implication of this research concerns the field of intercultural theology. Building upon past scholarship on the intricate relationship between gospel and culture, this thesis contributes to the ongoing conversation on the subject, which aims to examine how intercultural dialogue between Western and non-Western forms of Christianity can shed insights on the relationship between gospel and culture. The particular ways in which Nigerian Pentecostalism can contribute to this dialogue is an area that has thus far not been fully explored. This research is a contribution towards filling this gap. The study suggests that as Christianity becomes increasingly centered in the global South (and Eastern hemisphere), the Church in the global South (or non-Western world) presents fresh theological insights to the Western Church as it struggles to define its identity and witness in an increasingly secular and post-Christian context. In particular, the research will illustrate some of the specific ways in which the Christian voices from the South; Nigerian Pentecostalism in this case, can enrich the theology and mission of our post-Christian Western context – hopefully serving as a resource for both the academic and wider faith communities. ii Acknowledgment This research is dedicated to the memory of my beloved dad: Late Chief Engr. George Ononowu The Aka na pkusu 1 of Abba May 24, 1949 - December 15, 2017 iii CONTENTS Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………1 Methodology………………………………………………………………………………5 Procedure………………………………………………………………………………...7 Chapter One: The Contemporary Western Church Context………………………………..9 1.1 The Priority of Intercultural Theology in the Context…………………………………...9 1.2 Contextualization………………………………………………………………………...12 1.3 Attributes of the Context in Relation to Gospel and Culture………………………….…15 1.3.1 Modernism and Postmodernism…………………………………………...18 1.3.1.1 Modernism……………………………………………………....18 I.3.1.2 Postmodernism…………………………………………………..21 1.3.2 Scientism…………………………………………………………………...22 1.3.3 Secularism………………………………………………………………….25 1.3.4 Individualism………………………………………………………………27 1.3.5 Pluralism…………………………………………………………………...29 1.3.6 Renewed Interest in Spirituality……………………………………………30 1.4 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….……32 Chapter Two: Biblical Mandate for Proper Cultural Engagement…………………………34 2.1 Biblical Rationale for Intercultural Theology…………………………………………....35 2.2 Contextualization - Countercultural Model of Gospel-Culture Engagement……………37 2.3 Insights from Biblical Gospel-Culture Engagement……………………………………..38 2.3.1 Genesis…………………………………………………………………….39 2.3.2 The Exile…………………………………………………………………...40 2.3.3 The Injunction of Christ……………………………………………………42 iv 2.3.4 The Exhortation of Paul to the Early Church………………………………42 2.4 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….44 Chapter Three: Nigerian Pentecostalism as Case Study for Gospel-Cultural Engagement.46 3.1 Nigerian Pentecostalism as Significant to Intercultural Theology & Contextualization...48 3.2 Nigerian Pentecostalism as a distinct Form of Pentecostalism…………………………..52 3.3 Key Points in the History of Nigerian Pentecostalism…………………………………...55 3.3.1 The Context of Modern Nigerian Pentecostal Origins…………………….58 3.3.2 Key Points in the Growth of Modern Nigerian Pentecostalism……………60 3.4 Nigerian Pentecostalism in Relation to Gospel-Culture Engagement…………………...65 3.4.1 The Primacy of the Bible…………………………………………………..66 3.4.2 The Work of the Holy Spirit……………………………………………….70 3.4.3 Prayer, Healing, and Deliverance………………………………………….71 3.4.4 Welcoming and Participatory Community………………………………...74 3.4.5 Worship and Witness………………………………………………………76 3.4.6 Civic Engagement………………………………………………………….79 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………83 Summary of Chapter One………………………………………………………………..83 Summary of Chapter Two………………………………………………………………..84 Summary of Chapter Three………………………………………………………………85 Implications for the Western Church Today……………………………………..………86 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….92 v INTRODUCTION How might attributes of a theology which arises from an African Church context inform the increasingly post-Christian North American Church context? This is the question I plan to explore in this paper, using the Nigerian Pentecostal Church as a case study on intercultural theology to examine the possible insights the spirituality and faith practices of a Church in the global South might present to the contemporary Western Church (specifically the Church in North America), in engaging the increasingly post-Christian ethos of its culture. The intricate relationship between gospel and culture is a reigning subject in contemporary theological discourse. The contemporary Western Church is struggling to find its place in society as it faces an unprecedented waning in ecclesiastical participation and cultural influence.1 “Canada has changed considerably in the last 50 years from a country that was widely Christian in belief and practice to one that is significantly more secular.”2As Stuart Murray puts it, the Western church is currently “experiencing cultural turbulence as the long era of Christendom comes to an end.”3 In other words, the Church in the West is in a post-Christendom era. According to Murray, post-Christendom means that the influence of Christianity on public debate and personal belief and behavior has diminished.4 Many theologians now recognize that with the end of Christendom and the accompanying marginalization of the Church, Christians in the Western culture are being challenged to welcome fresh ways of being Church and engaging in mission. 1 Bradley Truman Noel, Pentecostalism, Secularism, and Post Christendom (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2015), 1. 2 Noel, Pentecostalism, Secularism, and Post Christendom, 51. 3 Stuart Murray, Post-Christendom: Church and Mission in a Strange New World (Carlisle [England]: Paternoster, 2004), xv. 4 Murray, Post-Christendom, 5. 1 2 During the last decade, some theologians are beginning to identify intercultural dialogue between Western and non-Western forms of Christianity as an opportunity to glean fresh ways of doing Church and mission. William Shenk has espoused that the Churches in the West “urgently need resources for responding to the challenges of evangelizing their own culture, which regards itself as post religious” and that these resources may well be found outside the West.5 According to Walter J. Hollenweger, for Christians and theologians (especially those in dominant cultures such as the West) to be true to their calling, “they must ask themselves whether or not there are cultural media outside their own tradition which can serve as the raw material and tools for doing theology.”6 Intercultural theology presents fresh insights for the Western Church in engaging culture for two significant reasons: First, the inflow of immigrants in the last decades, many from the Southern and Eastern countries, into the West, has diversified the Church’s landscape in terms of ethnicity and culture. In essence, the mainline Western Church is being challenged from within by not just secular philosophies but also by ethnic minority Churches.7 Second, the past century has seen the gravity of global Christianity increasingly shifting from the West, southwards, to Africa and Latin America, and eastwards to Asia. As Joel A. Carpenter surmises, “today Christianity is a global faith, but one that is more vigorous and vibrant in the global South than among the world’s richer and more powerful regions.”8 And Africa is playing a key role in this story because it presents, as Carpenter and some intercultural theology proponents have pointed 5 William R. Shenk, “Recasting Theology of Mission: Impulses from the Non-Western World,” in Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity, ed. Robert L. Gallagher and Paul Hertig (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009), 131. 6 Walter J. Hollenweger , “Intercultural Theology,” in Intercultural Perceptions and Prospects of World Christianity, ed. Richard Friedli et al (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2010), 21. 7 Richard Burgess, “Practical Christianity and Public Faith: Nigerian Pentecostal Contributions to Intercultural Theology,” in Intercultural Theology: Approaches and Themes, ed. Mark J. Cartledge and David Cheetham (London, UK: SCM Press, 2011), 145. 8 Joel A. Carpenter, “Preface,” in The Changing Face of Christianity: Africa, the West, and the World, ed. Lamin O. Sanneh and Joel A. Carpenter (NY: Oxford University Press, 2005), vii. 3 out, “the most dramatic case of rapid growth, local variation and culture-transforming influence.”9 Andrew
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