The encounter of Christianity with traditional African IBO religion : a study Chinua Achebe`s "Things fall apart"

Abstract

This research work examines the encounter of Christianity with Traditional African Ibo Religion in Nigeria, as recounted in the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. This particular work is a novelty because it has attempted to do a study of religion through a novel, which is seen primarily as a fictional narrative. But going by the maxim that it is not all novels that are fictitious, this thesis set about studying how two religions, Traditional African Ibo religion and Christianity, related with each other and what happened when they met in a battle for the minds and souls of the people. Moreover, this particular novel in question provides a perspective of what happened in the Ibo society of Nigeria, albeit, in a subtle way using imaginary characters, when Christianity, with the assistance of Colonialism, entered the hinterland of the nation. Using the historical, narrative, analytical and critical methodologies, this research scrutinized the novel thoroughly in studying this encounter and came out with a number of findings which could help in future encounters of religions, especially as the world is now a place in which religions are bound to come into contact with one another quite often and in variety of ways. Among the findings that were reached by this research is that, the whole encounter was marred by monologue, injustice and intolerance, and, at the same time, the methodology of approach was wrong and inhuman. In the light of this, the research recommends a four fold method of phenomenology, tolerance, dialogue and criticism, which could be referred to as Phenotodiacritism in all future encounters of religions, especially in the Globalized world of today, and it also affirmed that religion, as a phenomenon, could be studied through a novel in a field which could be called Novelogy of Religion, just as we have Psychology, Sociology etc of religion.