Igbo Culture and the Christian Missions 1857-1957: Conversion in Theory and Practice

by Augustine S.O. Okwu

Overview

Igbo Culture and the Christian Missions 1857-1957: Conversion in Theory and Practice uses historical perspective to explore strategies and methods of the Protestant and the Roman Catholic missionaries in Igboland and the Igbo response during the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. The subtitle of this book points out the objective, premises, and thrust to the reader. Using oral traditions, primary sources, and the present writer's own life experience both as a Christian convert and a missionary co-partner in the evangelization enterprise, the text examines the missions' programs and missteps, as well as their impact on the people. Appropriate for both specific and generalized audiences, this book will appeal to readers interested in cultural sublimation and in the overall Christianization efforts in Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761848851
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	11/09/2009
Pages:	348
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Augustine S.O. Okwu, earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is a former Nigerian-Biafran ambassador and an emeritus professor of history at the State University of New York; director of Africana studies and professor of African history, Bloomfield College New Jersey; and director of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Naugatuck Valley Community College, Waterbury, Connecticut. He was a co-worker of the Roman Catholic missionaries in Igboland. He has published several articles in learned journals in Europe and the United States of America.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 List of Maps and Tables
Chapter 2 Preface
Chapter 3 Abbreviations
Chapter 4 1. Igboland and the Origin of the Igbo
Chapter 5 2. Immediate Post-Slave Trade Period 1808-1849
Chapter 6 3. Foreign Prisoners in Igboland 1800-1886
Chapter 7 4. Attack on Igbo Culture 1885-1899
Chapter 8 5. Missionaries and Chapel-School Apostolacy
Chapter 9 6. Catechist-Teachers and Evangelization
Chapter 10 7. Sisters, Women-Education and Social Services
Chapter 11 8. Spiritans' Crisis
Chapter 12 9. Owerri Diocese and Secondary School Apostolacy 1948
Chapter 13 10. Epilogue: Postscript
Chapter 14 Sources and Bibliography
Chapter 15 Index

Editorial Reviews

A splendid account of the missionary programs among the Igbo, cast in vivid detail, against the background of the indigenous culture. While most studies on the subject concentrate mostly on the transformation of indigenous societies by foreign male evangelists/educators, this author, in addition, deftly integrates the multifaceted role of the Irish Holy Rosary Sisters into the absorbing story…The reader is irresistibly draw into the world of the octogenarian author, a convert to Roman Catholicism, a former RC teacher and government administrator, and a seasoned diplomat…Full of vivid color and emotion and in parts, controversial…a book that should be on the bookshelf of students and scholars, as well as the general reader, interested in the subject of social change.

Felix K. Ekechi

Okwu, whose well-established intellectual reputation and global experiences are vividly apparent in this study, has a first-hand knowledge of the transformed world his research focuses on. The missionary church impact on Africa, and the ongoing vibrancy of the new order particularly in Igboland, continues to raise academic and policy tremors still being keenly felt. This book is an excellent and timely addition to this important debate!

Professor P. Chudi Uwazurike