A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF CHRISTIANITY AND EKWULOBIA CULTURE, 1913-2013

SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: Religion And Human Relations

CONTRIBUTORS:

Ekwelibe, C. N.
Nmah, P. E.

ABSTRACT:

Since the coming of Christianity in Ekwulobia in 1913, Ekwulobia culture has had so many conflicts with it. These conflicts may not have necessarily arisen as a result of the westernized Christianity which was introduced by the European missionaries to Ekwulobia. The missionaries tended to forget that the culture and traditions of the people of Ekwulobia determine, to a very large extent, the way they have understood their faith. Some aspects of their culture and traditions were negated which led to double allegiance of faith and thus showed that Christian roots had not penetrated deeply and also had not taken flesh as good news among the people and its cultural environment. The aim of the study is therefore to examine the cultural environment of Ekwulobia and how Christianity affected the cultural, social and political environment in Ekwulobia and also look closely at the reasons why Christianity has not properly taken root within Ekwulobia cultural context. Information from secondary sources was used to augment those elicited through structured oral interviews. The researcher produced interview question papers and administered them in Ekwulobia to ascertain the cultural environment in Ekwulobia prior to the coming of Christianity. The researcher also interviewed both church leaders of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Pentecostal churches and the non-christians on the extent of the influence of Christianity on Ekwulobia culture and the reasons why all the efforts to have a deep touch of the Christian message in the lives of the people of Ekwulobia seemed to be shallow. The data collected were analyzed using the phenomenological approach, while the theory of inculturation, social theory of structural functionalism and symbolic interaction theory formed the theoretical framework. The result of the study showed that dialogue between Ekwulobia culture and the Christian message is the only way out for a deep penetration and deep root of Christianity in Ekwulobia Culture Area. The study concluded that the relationship may not be very cordial and so recommends that the church in teaching the principles of Christ should adopt Christ’s love, yet be focused and not compromise with their faith.