Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostalism: the Renewal of the Nigerian Catholic Church
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Duquesne University Duquesne Scholarship Collection Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fall 12-20-2019 Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostalism: The Renewal of the Nigerian Catholic Church Isidore Nkwocha Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/etd Recommended Citation Nkwocha, I. (2019). Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostalism: The Renewal of the Nigerian Catholic Church (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/1852 This Immediate Access is brought to you for free and open access by Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. CHARISMATIC RENEWAL AND PENTECOSTALISM: THE RENEWAL OF THE NIGERIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH A Dissertation Submitted to the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts Duquesne University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Isidore Iwejuo Nkwocha December 2019 Copyright by Isidore Iwejuo Nkwocha 2019 CHARISMATIC RENEWAL AND PENTECOSTALISM: THE RENEWAL OF THE NIGERIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH By Isidore Iwejuo Nkwocha Approved November 4, 2019 _________________________ ____________________________ Elochukwu Eugene Uzukwu, Th.D. Maureen O’Brien, Ph.D. (Dissertation Director) (Committee Member) ____________________________ Bogdan Bucur, Ph.D. (Committee Member) ____________________________ ____________________________ Kristine L. Blair, Ph.D. Marinus Iwuchukwu, Ph.D. (Dean of McAnulty Graduate School of (Chair, Theology Department) Liberal Arts) iii ABSTRACT CHARISMATIC RENEWAL AND PENTECOSTALISM: THE RENEWAL OF THE NIGERIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH By Isidore Iwejuo Nkwocha December 2019 Dissertation supervised by Professor Elochukwu Eugene Uzukwu, Th.D. This project is using Charismatic and Pentecostal theology and praxes to argue for the renewal of the Nigerian Catholic church. It avers that the praxis-oriented and experiential theology of the Charismatics and Pentecostals, which characterize them as Spirit-filled groups and churches are enabling the Nigerian Catholic church to realize the potentials of a Spirit-driven church through the renewal of her pneumatological, ecclesiological, and liturgical doctrines and practices iv DEDICATION This work is dedicated to Chukwu Okike Abiama the God of my ancestors and through him to my late parents Nwanna Celestine Nkwocha and Ahụrụchioke Celine Nkwocha and their Children and descendants. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I sincerely thank God the Father, who in Jesus Christ sustained me throughout this project through his empowering presence, the Holy Spirit. My heart-felt appreciation goes to my able moderator, professor Elochukwu Eugene Uzukwu, the human agent the Holy Spirit used to guide me through. His resilience, dedication and moderating skills and acumen made this work what it is today. My two committee members, Maureen O’Brien, Ph.D. and Bogdan Bucur, Ph.D. are great people. I thank them for the pains and time they took to read the work and made wonderful inputs. I’m indebted to the Rev. Gaea Thompson who patiently proofread the work making sure that all grammatical errors were dictated and corrected. The same goes to Fr. Dan Walsh CSSp, who proofread part of the work. I honestly thank my Spiritan family for financial support and encouragement. Lastly, I’m grateful to Chizobam Tonia Nwachukwu. Her academic advice, moral support and prayers were very helpful. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION............................................................................................................................ v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.......................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... xi Statement of the Problem and Scope of Study .................................................................... xi Project Contribution and Methodology ............................................................................. xv Chapter Synopsis .............................................................................................................. xvii CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................................... 1 CHARISMATIC AND PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ........................ 1 Baptism in the Holy Spirit .................................................................................................... 6 Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Empowerment for Mission ............................................. 7 Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Conversion Initiation.................................................... 11 Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the Gift of Tongues ....................................................... 18 Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Pneumatology of Experiential Encounter .................... 22 Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the Nigerian Charismatics and Pentecostals ................ 25 The Holy Spirit in the New Testament Teaching ............................................................... 32 The Holy Spirit in the Synoptic Gospels ......................................................................... 33 The Holy Spirit in Acts .................................................................................................... 35 vii The Holy Spirit in the Johannine Writings .................................................................... 37 Key Themes in Paul ......................................................................................................... 38 The Holy Spirit through the Centuries ............................................................................... 43 The Apostolic Fathers and Early Christian Apologists .................................................. 43 The Ante-Nicene Fathers................................................................................................. 46 The Post-Nicene Fathers ................................................................................................. 48 The Medieval Period ....................................................................................................... 53 CHAPTER TWO ...................................................................................................................... 58 CHARISMATIC AND PENTECOSTAL ECCLESIOLOGY .................................................... 58 Ecclesiology of Experiential Encounter .............................................................................. 61 The Church as the Redeemed Community ..................................................................... 75 The Church as Sanctified Community ........................................................................... 78 The Church as a Charismatic or Empowered Community............................................ 80 The Church as Healing Community ............................................................................... 82 The Church as Eschatological or Missionary Community............................................. 85 Ecclesiology of Experiential Encounter Vis-à-vis the Nigerian Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostalism.................................................................................................................................. 94 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................ 105 CHARISMATIC AND PENTECOSTAL THEOLOGY OF WORSHIP .................................. 105 The Charismatic and Pentecostal Worship of Experiential Encounter ........................... 106 The Charismatic and Pentecostal Style of Preaching ................................................... 127 The Charismatic and Pentecostal Style of Music ......................................................... 136 viii The Charismatic and Pentecostal Style of Prayer ........................................................ 142 Charismatic and Pentecostal Worship in the Context of the Nigerian Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostalism ......................................................................................................... 148 CHAPTER FOUR................................................................................................................... 159 CHARISMATIC RENEWAL AND PENTECOSTALISM WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF NIGERIAN WORLDVIEW ................................................................................................................ 159 Nigerian traditional Religious Experiences of God, Divinities, and Spirits..................... 161 God in Nigerian Traditional Religious Worldview ...................................................... 161 Divinities in Nigerian Traditional Religious Worldview .............................................. 164 Spirits, Ancestors, Human Mediators in Nigerian Traditional Religious Worldview . 169 Nigerian Traditional Concept of Soteriology ................................................................... 179 Nigerian Mode of Traditional Religious Worship ............................................................ 191 Nigerian Traditional Religious Prayer ......................................................................... 191 Nigerian Traditional Religious Music ..........................................................................