THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL VALUES ON ALADURA CHURCHES IN EKITILAND (SOUTH-WESTERN NIGERIA)

Jegede, Gabriel Gbenga

Department of Religious Studies

University of Ado-Ekiti, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

e-mail: gbemigajegede.unad@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The kernel of inculturation theology in church history scholarship is that Christianity has demonstrated throughout history that it has always found expression and has the capability of being spread in other cultures.  Ekiti in South-western Nigeria is not an exception.  Many scholars agree that Africa’s religious insights and cultural values have a lot in common with that of the Bible. This paper is therefore an attempt to assess the level of inculturation between Christianity and some cultural values in Ekiti.  The emphasis in this paper is on divination and communalism (akodi system).  Such dialogue is more noticeable in the African Indigenous churches which have been given the nomenclature – ‘Aladura’ in Ekitiland.  Notable among the Aladura Churches are: Celestial Church of Christ, Cherubim and Seraphim Society, The Church of the Lord (Aladura) and Christ Apostolic Church.     It expounds the influence of Ekiti cultural values such as divination and communalism (akodi) on the varieties of spirituality in the Aladura Churches.  It discusses how the level of inculturation in these churches is being used to solve human existential problems.        It also discusses the social and ecological impacts of the Aladura Churches in Ekiti.  The paper concludes that Christianity enjoys wide acceptability in Ekitiland due to its ability to adapt to the traditional values of the ethnic group.

Keywords:  Aladura, Churches, Cultural Values, Impact, Ekitiland.