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

• Main Author: Daniel, William Harrison
• Published: University of Edinburgh 1993
• Subjects: 270
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.649101

The principal objective of this thesis is to examine the interaction, during the period from 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 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 an appropriate recognition of the local religious and cultural categories used by the Efik people to reject, receive, reformulate, and 're-present' the biblical message to others in the area. Conversely, we maintain that to assess properly 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.