SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Religion And Human Relations

CONTRIBUTORS:

EGWUONWU, O.J
Nmah, P.E

ABSTRACT:

Pentecostalism in recent times has become a crucial phenomenon exerting a great influence on the religious, social and cultural life of the Igbo. This is traceable to the social and psychological conditions that prevailed in Igboland during and after the Nigeria-Biafra war. Most of the existing literature on Nigeria-Biafra war seems to be focused on the economic and social consequences of the war with little or no serious attention given to religious implications of the war particular the outbreak of Pentecostalism. Furthermore, the Nigeria-Biafra war appear to be majorly seen by historians from the perspective of the international diplomatic ties between Nigeria and the international communities, without looking inwards to the religious sides of the civil war. It is on the strength of the above lacuna in relation to Nigeria-Biafra war and Igbo Pentecostalism that this research work was conceived. The research is a qualitative one which made use of primary and secondary research designs. Interview, observation and historical methods formed the primary data while textbooks, journals, archival materials, magazines, national dailies and internet materials formed the secondary data. The data were analyzed historically, descriptively analytically and phenomenologically. The study is anchored on a number of theories like the empirical theory of divine intervention as was propounded by Thomas Aquinas and the human needs theory. The study observed that disillusionment, poverty and depression that naturally followed the war could not be resolved by the programme of reintegration, reconciliation and reconstruction but rather it enhanced evangelization and Pentecostal growth in Igboland. Like the post slave trade, the post Nigeria-Biafra war saw a follow up from Pentecostal Churches that tried to heal the wounds of the war. It is also the finding of this study that Pentecostalism offered hope, absolute reliance on the divine will on matters of marginalization, selfish debates that compounded the tragic conflict.