The Development of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Yoruba (African) Indigenous Christian Movement: (185 American University Studies, Series 7: Theology & Religion)

Africa will have more than 325 million Christians by the year 2000, making it the most populous Christian continent in the world. In this book, Dr. Oladipo addresses questions about Christian dogma as believers continue to enlarge the boundaries of Christian proclamation. He points out that conversion in Africa is the result of African ability to enliven cherished Christian doctrines in their indigenous definition of the Christian faith. The book touches a raw nerve by illustrating that religious awareness is the indivisible entity unified by particular human efforts to grasp the totality of existence. The Development of the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Yoruba (African) Indigenous Christian Movement is unique and different, written in a spirit of mutual enrichment and transformation.

About the Author :
The Author: Dr. Caleb Oluremi Oladipo, from Nigeria, received his S.T.M. at Yale, and his Ph.D. at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he is now a lecturer in African Studies and the Department of Sociology.

Review :
One can speak with unbounded praise for this work. While it stands within the western Christian understanding of the Holy Spirit, it transcends the traditional western conception of the Holy Spirit. In this book, Dr. Oladipo shows that the essential categories of the Christian faith could be developed by using non-western religious metaphors and that Christianity is not inherently western. A superb work. (The Voice of Africa) Since 1817 the movement of the Independent (or Indigenous) Churches has increasingly become an indispensable aspect of modern African Christianity. It is estimated that in 1995 there are some 9,500 Independent Churches, in practically every African country. Among other things, many of them lay emphasis on Christian doctrines and practices that may have been neglected in the strictly missionary-founded Churches, such as their use of the whole Bible in preaching and teaching, liturgical liveliness, healing and exorcising services and the role of the Holy Spirit in their life. Dr. Caleb Oladipo's illumination on the Holy Spirit as understood by the independent Churches in Nigeria is a welcome contribution to our knowledge about the theology of these Churches. African peoples are very much aware of the spirit-world and this book sheds a lot of light on how they understand and experience the Holy Spirit in their cultural and religious context. Further, it raises important theological and practical questions on the dialogical meeting between African Religion and the Christian Faith. (Rev. Professor John Mbiti, University of Bern, Switzerland) African-Christian theologians have popularized terms like 'indigenization,' 'adaptation,' and 'contextualization' as models for developing Christian theology that takes the African worldview seriously. Dr. Oladipo has not only blazed a new methodological trail christened 'cross-fertilization' but has also made a bold attempt to use Yoruba 'ancestology' as a model for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. This scholarly work is a welcomed addition to the growing corpus of African Christian theology. As a pioneering work, the questions raised will generate lively debates, which will eventuate in a fresh way of theologizing among African Christian theologians. (Professor Osadolor Imasogie, President Emeritus Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary)