Michael P. Adogbo argued that religion and culture are intrinscally interwoven in the Urhobo mindset. Addressing similar phenomenon generally among Africans, Musimbi K. A. Kanyoro stated that African Christian ‘often walks with one foot in African religion and culture and another in the church and Western culture.’ This phenomenon which Kanyoro argued that could be destructive if not well managed is the main issue examined more specifically in the context of culture and religion among Urhobo Baptists. The approach of the Delta State Baptist Conference (DSBC) to this reality among the Urhobo Baptists has created religious/cultural dichotomy in their funeral rites which this research addressed by examining two key questions: First, Could an Urhobo Baptist be faithful to the Baptist faith the way it is articulated in the DSBC policies, in view of Urhobo cultural identity during funeral ceremonies? Second, Could DSBC hold to its policy on burial rites and at the same time be relevant within the Urhobo society? My experiences as a pastor among Urhobo Baptists enabled me to evaluate symbols and functions of Urhobo funeral rites in the context of some ethnographic, anthropological, and hermeneutical theories examined in this study. A major discovery is that Urhobo Baptists hold on to certain key aspects of Urohobo funeral tradition evaluated in this study in spite of their conversion to the Baptist faith. Similarly, to the Urhobo Baptists, as analysed later in the thesis, the purpose of Urhobo funeral rites does not contradict the Baptist faith. These led to the major argument in this thesis that integration of certain vital aspects of Urhobo funeral rites into the Baptist funeral process is possible, valuable and advantageous for discouraging dual funeral faith practices among Urhobo Baptists.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:579292 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Ajagbe, Samson |
| Contributors | Jeyaraj, Daniel; McGrail, Peter |
| Publisher | University of Liverpool |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/9435/ |
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