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Patterns in mission preaching: the representation of the Christian message and Efik response in the Scottish Calabar Mission, Nigeria, 1846-1900

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DanielWH_1993redux.pdf (72.86Mb)
Date
1993
Author
Daniel, William Harrison
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Abstract
 
 
The principal objective of this thesis is to examine the interaction during the period 1846-1900, between the Christian preaching of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the local response of the Efik people in the Cross River basin of present day South-Eastern Nigeria. The historical development of mission preaching in Calabar, as well as its theological background is established. The interpretation of the mission's proclamation by the Efik people in terms of their local religion and culture is treated. The history of Christian proclamation and local response in the region is thus explored through the following categories of cultural interaction: the representation, rejection, reception, and reformulation of the mission message.
 
The work is an attempt to get beyond crude stereotypes in academic literature of mission preaching as merely a destroyer of indigenous culture. The thesis contends that mission preaching and local response were more diverse than previous scholarly work suggests, and that the sources for this study demonstrate how the Efik people were active agents in the transmission of Christianity within the region, rather than passive recipients. It argues that the nature of the mission's evangelism cannot be properly understood without a proper recognition of the local religious and cultural categories used by the Efik people to reject, receive, reformulate, and "re-present" the biblical message in the region. Conversely, we maintain that in order properly to assess the contribution of the Efik people in the interpretation and transmission of emerging Efik Christianity, it is necessary to establish the form, the content, and the extent of mission preaching.
 
In order to test these hypotheses, this work documents the actual patterns of preaching and response "on the ground" through attention to primary sources. The thesis is divided into three sections. The first section, offers a historical treatment of the origins and expansion of the United Presbyterian Mission in Calabar, and how its message was represented. In the second section, the development of United Presbyterian preaching is analysed from a historical and theological perspective. The third section undertakes a historical exploration of Efik response to the mission message, as interpreted through features of local religion and culture.
 
A conclusion is offered in which a number of findings are summarised. The diversity of mission preaching at Calabar is maintained. Sources depict a more complex relationship between preaching for conversion and social change than has been generally thought. The role of ex-patriate missionary preaching in both evangelism and social change was scaled down considerably as the century progressed, particularly after the introduction of the vernacular translation of the Bible and in light of the increasing colonial presence. This prompted Efik Christians to take more initiative in the interpretation and expansion of a distinctively indigenous Christianity throughout the Cross River area.
 
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1842/27861
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