This thesis is a study of a Christian movement among the Igbo people of Eastern Nigeria from its origins in the Civil War Revival (1967-73) to the present. It argues that the success of the revival depended upon a balance between supply and demand. Colonial legacies, Western missionary endeavours, decolonisation, and civil war not only created new religious demands, they contributed to the formation of a missionary fellowship, able to exploit the disorder of Igbo society and the failure of existing religious options to fulfil traditional aspirations. The thesis shows that during its formative period the revival’s Pentecostal progeny also benefited from this missionary impulse, and the flexibility of Pentecostal spirituality, which enabled it to adapt to meet consumer demands. It examines the way the movement has evolved since the 1970s, and argues that the decline of its missionary impulse, combined with a paradigm shift from holiness to prosperity teaching, and a propensity to schism, have imposed limitations on its potential as an agent of transformation. Finally, it shows that during the 1990s, a further shift has occurred towards a theology of socio-political engagement, and examines the implications of this for the movement’s identity and influence in a pluralistic society.

This thesis contributes originally to pentecostal historiography through bringing a pre-eminent figure in early British Pentecostalism into the limelight showing how Pentecostalism in Belgian Congo was pioneered by him alongside local agency. Together they furthered its development in the southeastern Katanga and Kasai provinces. Central to W.F.P. Burton’s contradictory and complex personality was a passionate desire to see the emancipation of humankind from the spiritual powers of darkness believing only Spirit-empowered local agency would enduringly prove effective. This thesis unevenly portrays Burton’s Congolese years by parsing biographical landmarks alongside his persistent attempts to co-labour with local agency. Burton’s ambitions might have been circumscribed by his birth into a notable family. Burton though, lived with a faith which believed for Spirit intervention in church communities converting lives, bringing physical healing and transforming regions. In the maelstrom following Congolese Independence, Burton’s belief in his own brand of indigenisation made him an outlier even among Pentecostals. This thesis argues such pentecostal faith engendered an idealism which frustratingly conflicted with those not sharing it in the way he understood and pursued it. It thus serves Pentecostals (holding a similar faith) and historians by clarifying his ideals and revealing the reasons for his frustrations.

This thesis explores the use of Alasdair MacIntyre’s tradition based model of ethics as a heuristic tool in analysing the contextualisation of Christian ethics. Ethical contextualisation is thus understood as the interaction and synthesis of particular Christian moral traditions with the moral traditions they encountered in the different cultures where the Christian faith was established. This study focuses on the interaction of the Methodist moral tradition with that of the Fanti people of Ghana. The argument begins with the contention that morality in African cultures may be better understood as discrete traditions in the light of MacIntyre’s model. This claim is substantiated by a reconstruction of the Fanti (Akan) moral tradition in terms of its practices, virtues and ends. A detailed historical study of the interaction of the Methodist and Fanti moral traditions within Ghana indicates that a synthesis between these traditions has occurred at the level of leadership practice and virtue. The findings of field research conducted among Fanti traditional rulers and Methodist ministers suggests this synthesis is continuing, and probably extends to other areas of moral practice, and even to the heart of each moral tradition. Taken together historical and empirical research provide credible evidence that a Fanti-Methodist moral tradition is emerging out of the encounter between the two traditions.

Witchcraft and "exorcisms" have dominated African cultures and posed problems for African people. This thesis is a study of the current exorcistic ministry within a Pentecostal church in Ghana with reference to the Akan culture. The general opinion gathered from current anthropological studies on witchcraft is that the ultimate goal of exorcism is to become modernised. However, using interdisciplinary studies with a theological focus, the thesis departs from this, and contends that it is divinatory-consultation or an inquiry into the sacred and the search for meaning that underlies the current "deliverance" ministry, where the focus is to identify and break down the so-called demonic forces by the power of God in order to "deliver" people from their torment. It represents a further attempt to contextualise the gospel to African people. However, its preoccupation with demonisation and its exorcistic practices are found to bring Christianity into tension with the Akan culture, family ties and other religions. Therefore, to develop a properly safeguarded ministry of exorcism in an African context, the thesis examines contextualisation and suggests that it includes the integration of divinatory-consultation, which the thesis claims underlies the biblical concept of prayer, into African Christianity.

The notion of prophecy is a Leitmotiv, both in Scripture and in the Church. However, the popular form of prophecy that is witnessed in the Church today is the charismatic prophecy manifestations in the Pentecostal- charismatic movement. Although the latter is now billed as the fastest growing Christian movement in church history, and has brought to the fore the biblical notion of the charisms of the Holy Spirit, the subject of charismatic prophecy has received limited attention in Pentecostal studies. There is therefore a gap in knowledge. The present study is an attempt to address the lacuna; it is an empirical-biblical investigation of the nature and significance of prophecy in the Pentecostal- charismatic experience. The study presents a particular thesis: that charismatic prophecy, as observed in Pentecostal- charismatic congregational settings in the African context, is sacramental in its nature and parakletic in its functional significance. Thus, the charismatic prophecy experience is viewed as an intense moment of a participatory interface between the divine Spirit and the human spirit in which the divine Spirit infuses the human conscious dimension with revelatory impulses. The experience is parakletic in the sense that it edifies, encourages, and comforts the church in congregational settings.