Nathan Irmiya Elawa

Understanding Religious Change in Africa and Europe: Crossing Latitudes (eBook, PDF)

The Christianization of Jukun of Nigeria and Celtic Irish in Early Medieval Europe

• Format: PDF

Produktbeschreibung

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

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Springer International Publishing
• Seitenzahl: 183
• Erscheinungstermin: 15. April 2020
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9783030421809
• Artikelnr.: 59223379

Autorenporträt

Nathan Elawa born in Wukari, Nigeria studied Comparative Literature in English at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. After years in nonprofit, he completed two graduate degrees at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. In his doctorate, he examined religious change among the Jukun and Irish. He is also a musician.

Inhaltsangabe

Chapter 1. Crossing the Latitudes: Religious Change Among the Jukun and the Irish.- Chapter 2. General History of the Jukun with a Brief History of Early Ireland.- Chapter 3. Window into the Jukun Worldview: Understanding the Pillars of 'Wa'.- Chapter 4. Patrilineal and Patriarchy: Understanding Early Irish Kinship.- Chapter 5. Jukun understanding of Personhood.- Chapter 6. Early Irish understanding of personhood.- Chapter 7. Jukun Microcosm of the Ando (large homestead) Contrasted with Irish Muintir (large home).- Chapter 8. Larger Macrocosm: the Fintswen and the Tuath.- Chapter 9. External influences on Jukun and Irish Society and Religion.- Chapter 10. Reappraisal of Western Missions in Africa and its Diaspora and Romanization in Early Medieval Europe Contrasted.- Chapter 11. Religious Change, Indigenous Cosmologies and Christianity.- Conclusion.

Rezensionen

"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)