Religion and the Making of Nigeria

Religion and the Making of Nigeria
Author: Olufemi Vaughan
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 348
Release: 2016-11-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0822373874

In Religion and the Making of Nigeria, Olufemi Vaughan examines how Christian, Muslim, and indigenous religious structures have provided the essential social and ideological frameworks for the construction of contemporary Nigeria. Using a wealth of archival sources and extensive Africanist scholarship, Vaughan traces Nigeria’s social, religious, and political history from the early nineteenth century to the present. During the nineteenth century, the historic Sokoto Jihad in today’s northern Nigeria and the Christian missionary movement in what is now southwestern Nigeria provided the frameworks for ethno-religious divisions in colonial society. Following Nigeria’s independence from Britain in 1960, Christian-Muslim tensions became manifest in regional and religious conflicts over the expansion of sharia, in fierce competition among political elites for state power, and in the rise of Boko Haram. These tensions are not simply conflicts over religious beliefs, ethnicity, and regionalism; they represent structural imbalances founded on the religious divisions forged under colonial rule.

Religion and Politics in Nigeria

Religion and Politics in Nigeria
Author: Niels Kastfelt
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 1994
Genre: Christianity
ISBN:

A study of relations between Christians and Muslims in Africa, especially Nigeria and Tanzania and the effect of religions on many aspects of life and government.

Political Spiritualities

Political Spiritualities
Author: Ruth Marshall
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2009-08-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0226507149

After an explosion of conversions to Pentecostalism over the past three decades, tens of millions of Nigerians now claim that “Jesus is the answer.” But if Jesus is the answer, what is the question? What led to the movement’s dramatic rise and how can we make sense of its social and political significance? In this ambitiously interdisciplinary study, Ruth Marshall draws on years of fieldwork and grapples with a host of important thinkers—including Foucault, Agamben, Arendt, and Benjamin—to answer these questions. To account for the movement’s success, Marshall explores how Pentecostalism presents the experience of being born again as a chance for Nigerians to realize the promises of political and religious salvation made during the colonial and postcolonial eras. Her astute analysis of this religious trend sheds light on Nigeria’s contemporary politics, postcolonial statecraft, and the everyday struggles of ordinary citizens coping with poverty, corruption, and inequality. Pentecostalism’s rise is truly global, and Political Spiritualities persuasively argues that Nigeria is a key case in this phenomenon while calling for new ways of thinking about the place of religion in contemporary politics.

Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria

Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria
Author: Chima Jacob Korieh
Publisher: University Press of America
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2005
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780761831402

Religion, History, and Politics in Nigeria is concerned with the problematic nature of religion and politics in Nigerian history. The book provides a lively and straightforward treatment of the relationship among religion, politics, and history in Nigeria, and how it affects public life today. By adopting various cultural, historical, political, and sociological perspectives, the text's contributors provide an excellent introduction to the volatile mix of religion and politics in Nigerian history, as well as a range of strategic choices open to religious adherents. The complexity of the relationship among religion, history, and politics is organized around four themes: indigenous values and the influence of Islam and Christianity, colonialism and religious transformation, the religious landscape of the post-colonial period, and the rise of evangelism and fundamentalism. The volume provides an insightful guide to contemporary history, contemporary religion, and contemporary politics, enabling the reader to reach informed and balanced judgments about the role in religion in Nigerian history and politics. This opens the door for serious examination and debate, and will be excellent for use by the general reader and in political science, history, and religion courses.

Pentecostal Republic

Pentecostal Republic
Author: Ebenezer Obadare
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2018-10-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 178699240X

Throughout its history, Nigeria has been plagued by religious divisions. Tensions have only intensified since the restoration of democracy in 1999, with the divide between Christian south and Muslim north playing a central role in the country’s electoral politics, as well as manifesting itself in the religious warfare waged by Boko Haram. Through the lens of Christian–Muslim struggles for supremacy, Ebenezer Obadare charts the turbulent course of democracy in the Nigerian Fourth Republic, exploring the key role religion has played in ordering society. He argues the rise of Pentecostalism is a force focused on appropriating state power, transforming the dynamics of the country and acting to demobilize civil society, further providing a trigger for Muslim revivalism. Covering events of recent decades to the election of Buhari, Pentecostal Republic shows that religio-political contestations have become integral to Nigeria’s democratic process, and are fundamental to understanding its future.

Violence in Nigeria

Violence in Nigeria
Author: Toyin Falola
Publisher: University Rochester Press
Total Pages: 414
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781580460521

A comprehensive study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, notably its causes, consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. Violence in Nigeria is the most comprehensive study of religious violence and aggression in Nigeria, notably its causes, consequences, and the options for conflict resolution. After an analysis of the links between religionand politics, the book elaborates on all the major cases of violence in the 1980s and 90s, including the Maitatsine, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, and Katsina riots. Zones of religious tensions are identified, as well as general characteristics of violence in Nigeria; and issues in inter and intra-religious relations, relious organizations, and the states, and the main actors in the conflicts are explored in great detail. A product of extensive primary research, Violence in Nigeria makes a contribution to contemporary social and political history that no previous study has attempted, and it is written to appeal to specialists and non-specialists alike. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books dealing with the history of Nigeria, its people, their religion and politics.

Urban Ministry

Urban Ministry
Author: Harvie M. Conn
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 528
Release: 2010-01-26
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830878874

In this book Harvie M. Conn and Manuel Ortiz address the vital work of the urban church as they trace the history of the city around the world, examine the biblical basis for urban mission, unpack the multifaceted identity of the city and discuss particular issues and needs of urban leadership.

A Dangerous Awakening

A Dangerous Awakening
Author: Iheanyi M. Enwerem
Publisher: Ifra
Total Pages: 201
Release: 1995
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9782015342

Students of religion and interested observers of politics in Africa will cherish this book for providing a thorough analysis of the origin and politics of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). A Dangerous Awakening chronicles the religious clashes in Nigeria, and shows how religion has been used in the struggle for political power. Dr. Enwerem bases his study on interviews and unpublished memos, papers and letters not otherwise accessible to the public. This book is an invaluable contribution to the study of contemporary politics and religion in Nigeria Of the few Nigerians qualified to write on this important topic, Dr. Enwerem is the best... Reflective, thorough and mature, he has written a brilliant account of the most dynamic organization of Nigerian Christianity during the 20th century. The book teaches, challenges and provokes - qualities that define an outstanding work that will stand the test of time.