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

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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.

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 storyThe 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 diplomatFull of vivid color and emotion and in parts, controversiala 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, professor emeritus, Kent State University
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, City College, City University of New York

Author Bio

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.