Creativity and Change in Nigerian Christianity

In twenty-one illuminating chapters, the tenets and practice of Christianity in Africa and Nigeria are dissected in a path-breaking manner, covering theoretical issues in Christianity and change, practising pentecostalism and revivalism, performing and representing Christianity in arts and popular culture, encountering the Other, and Nigerian Christianity in other lands. It is a compulsory read for everyone.

"Creativity and Change in Nigerian Christianity is a long overdue work which brings together critical perspectives on the vibrant, creative, and dynamic nature of Christianity in Nigeria. Ogungbile and Akinade and their collaborators offer the reader a fascinating and probing interpretation of many issues in Nigerian Christianity as they have developed to this day. This book will remain an important reference for many interested in understanding the local and global dimensions of Nigerian Christianity."---Elias K. Bongmba Harry and Hazel Professor of Christian Theology and Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University Houston, Texas

"Studying the fifth largest Christian population in the world, this book covers a great variety of themes using a multiplicity of perspectives and methods. It offers not only in-depth insights into Nigerian Christianity but also into the unique position of Nigerians in World Christianity. Its reading is indispensable for all scholars of religion in Africa and of world Christianity at large."---Frans Wijsen Professor of Interreligious Studies Radboud University, Nijmegen The Netherlands

"It is impossible to understand African Christianity without extensive reference to the phenomenological, historical, and theological developments in Nigeria. We have in this volume an impressive collection in both breadth and depth by a mix of scholars in different fields of religious studies who have contributed to a study that readers will find incredibly important in the study of Christianity in Nigeria."---J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu Professor of African Christianity & Pentecostal Theology Dean of Graduate Studies Trinity Theological Seminary Accra, Ghana

"The late Ogbu Kalu had a profound grasp of African realities and uncanny scholarly insight into African Christian trends. In its careful exploration of the tantalizing complexities of Nigerian Christianity, Creativity and Change in Nigerian Christianity is a fitting tribute to his legacy. Its contributors probe critical and still unfolding dimensions of Nigeria's pulsating Christian story, notably its powerful and multifarious evangelical movements. These timely reflections remind us that Nigeria Christianity not only showcases some of the most profound challenges facing the church in Africa it also represents a powerhouse of spiritual dynamism and innovation that have a global reach."---Jehu J. Hanciles Associate Professor, History of Christianity and Globalization Director, Center for Missiological Research (CMR) Fuller Theological Seminary Pasadena, California

David O. Ogungbile, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Religion in the Department of Religious Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He was a Fellow at the Harvard University W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research (2007-2009).
Akintunde E. Akinade, who received his PhD in Ecumenical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, serves on the Editorial Board of The Muslim World, The Living Pulpit, Religions, and the Journal of World Christianity. He is now teaching World Religions and Christian-Muslim Relations at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar.