Nigerias Christian Revolution The Civil War Revival And Its Pentecostal Progeny (1976 2006)

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 31 (2009) 105-160

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Richard Burgess, Nigeria’s Christian Revolution: The Civil War Revival and Its Pentecostal Progeny (1976-2006) (Carlisle, UK: Paternoster, 2008). 347 pp. $40.99, paper.

Politically, the period 1967-1970 was an important landmark in the history of Nigeria as the country waged a debilitating civil war, which eventually ended in January 1970 when hunger, diseases, blockage and isolation forced the secessionist Republic of Biafra (i.e., Eastern Nigeria) to capitulate and abandon its quest for self-determination. Interestingly, amidst the hardship of the civil war, an evangelical revival ensued among certain educated young people who were connected to the Scripture Union, an international evangelical Bible reading ministry to young people. Under its leader, Bill Roberts, a Briton, who stayed during the civil war, an inter-denominational community of young people gathered at the headquarters of Scripture Union, regularly throughout the war. T eir activities of Bible study, prayer, discussion, and evangelism stimulated a long-lasting revival that continued into the 1970s. In this important book, Richard Burgess explores, in historical perspective, this evangelical revival and its subsequent growth into the new independent Pentecostal churches from the early 1970s. The author further explores the nature of the revival and the ensuing Pentecostal experiences of the actors against the backdrop of the socio-political and economic developments in the country and within the broader global processes of modern- ization and globalization.

Constant movement and evacuations during the Civil War facilitated a missionary impulse in the Scripture Union, hence the revival spread on a non-denominational basis to both rural and urban areas. The missionary impulse eventually created tensions within Scripture Union as this emphasis had indirectly provided, to the youths, more space, freedom, and personal initiatives outside the central control of the organization. The ensuing tensions eventually contributed to the formation of autonomous Pentecostal fellowships and orga- nizations in the 1970s.

The revival message and its emphasis on personal conversion were evangelical, but the associated charismatic experiences eventually stimulated Pentecostal progeny. Largely “the revival ﬂ ourished because it adapted successfully to new and challenging contexts” of the disruption and social dislocation of the Civil War; conversely, “as a transnational orga- nization, Scripture Union acted as a globalizing force” (p. 101) that strengthened the indig- enous initiatives of the revival.

The centrality of conversion and the idiom of the new birth, which the revival empha- sized as an evangelical parlance, partly provided means for Igbos of Eastern Nigeria, as a marginalized people, to resolve their collective identity crisis through their absorption into a dynamic missionary fellowship that exploited the disorder and disruption caused by the civil war to forge formidable new religious movements, where they became major partici- pants and thereby received some kind of social relevance in the country. Secondly, the revival was a grassroots movement from below that eventually challenged the dominance of the mainline churches, mainly the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. The emerging independent churches provided patronizing altenativies against the organizational inﬂ exi- bility and unresponsive spirituality of the existing churches to cope with the stresses of the war. Lastly, the crisis of the Civil War and the attendant human suﬀ ering stimulated a quest for practical solutions thus making the problem-solving approach of the evangelical

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Book Reviews / Pneuma 31 (2009) 105-160

revival and the independent Pentecostal churches appealing during and immediately after the civil war.

Tese Igbo neo-Pentecostal churches constituted an indigenous movement but soon pro- liferated in the early 1970s as every leader sought to assert his or her leadership within a very competitive space. It responded well to local concerns for healing, success, search for power to enhance life, and prophetic assurances of the future. By the late 1970s, it has become part of the global Charismatic movement when it was inﬂ uenced by certain exter- nal forces.

One of the strengths of the book is how the author used personal testimonies, correspon- dences, diaries, archival documents, etc., to portray the lived experiences of the actors and the personal aspects of the revival. The author emphasized the fact that the growth of the Pentecostal movements in Nigeria is connected with the experiences of certain individuals. However, too much was squeezed into few pages by presenting the growth of Igbo neo-Pentecostal churches from the mid-1970s to 2006 in only a chapter, thus neglecting the labyrinths as these movements grew. The book also failed to link neo-Pentecostal movements in Eastern Nigeria to the rise of similar and bigger religious movements in Western Nigeria.

Overall, Nigeria’s Christian Revolution provides a comprehensive regional perspective of the growth of Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism in Eastern Nigeria, thus it is an important contribution to the growing literature on the history of Christianity. It is also worth reading by scholars interested in religious change in Nigeria.

Reviewed by Matthews A. Ojo

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