Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature

In African literature, Christianity has long been represented as a foreign religion, associated with the history and ongoing legacies of European colonialism and mission. But in recent decades, writers have begun to engage with it in more complex, ambivalent, and at times liberatory ways that are re...

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ग्रंथसूची विवरण
मुख्य लेखक: van Klinken, Adriaan
स्वरूप: Online
भाषा:अंग्रेज़ी
प्रकाशित: Penn State University Press 2025
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ऑनलाइन पहुंच:ONIX_20251017T093940_9780271100463_3
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author van Klinken, Adriaan
author_browse van Klinken, Adriaan
author_facet van Klinken, Adriaan
author_sort van Klinken, Adriaan
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description In African literature, Christianity has long been represented as a foreign religion, associated with the history and ongoing legacies of European colonialism and mission. But in recent decades, writers have begun to engage with it in more complex, ambivalent, and at times liberatory ways that are reflective of the religion’s tremendous growth and diverse transformations across the continent. Adriaan van Klinken addresses this literary shift in the context of Nigeria, a major center of literary production and Christian growth on the continent. Through close dialogue with works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Okey Ndibe, Chinelo Okparanta, and others, van Klinken probes the lived and imagined experiences of Catholicism, Evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism across Nigeria in the wake of decolonization. Taking Nigerian literary writers seriously as social and religious thinkers, van Klinken puts their novels into conversation with the works of major African theologians, philosophers, and social theorists. By foregrounding the creative theologizing that fiction writing participates in, this book demonstrates how these literary texts—beyond merely representing and critiquing sociopolitical realities—also take part in envisioning the alternative worldmaking potential of Christian traditions in the Nigerian context.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1672562025-10-18T05:04:09Z Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature van Klinken, Adriaan Literature: history and criticism Literary studies: from c 2000 thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general In African literature, Christianity has long been represented as a foreign religion, associated with the history and ongoing legacies of European colonialism and mission. But in recent decades, writers have begun to engage with it in more complex, ambivalent, and at times liberatory ways that are reflective of the religion’s tremendous growth and diverse transformations across the continent. Adriaan van Klinken addresses this literary shift in the context of Nigeria, a major center of literary production and Christian growth on the continent. Through close dialogue with works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Okey Ndibe, Chinelo Okparanta, and others, van Klinken probes the lived and imagined experiences of Catholicism, Evangelicalism, and Pentecostalism across Nigeria in the wake of decolonization. Taking Nigerian literary writers seriously as social and religious thinkers, van Klinken puts their novels into conversation with the works of major African theologians, philosophers, and social theorists. By foregrounding the creative theologizing that fiction writing participates in, this book demonstrates how these literary texts—beyond merely representing and critiquing sociopolitical realities—also take part in envisioning the alternative worldmaking potential of Christian traditions in the Nigerian context. 2025-10-18T05:04:08Z 2025-10-18T05:04:08Z 2025-10-17T07:49:35Z 2025 book ONIX_20251017T093940_9780271100463_3 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/106521 9780271100463 9780271100395 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/167256 eng World Christianity open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/106521/1/9780271100463.pdf Penn State University Press 10.5325/b.20259638 10.5325/b.20259638 e4e05b94-0f85-49a1-ba66-543b1dd40087 9780271100463 9780271100395 240 University Park, PA open access
spellingShingle Literature: history and criticism
Literary studies: from c 2000
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general
van Klinken, Adriaan
Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature
title Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature
title_full Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature
title_fullStr Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature
title_full_unstemmed Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature
title_short Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature
title_sort decolonizing christianities in contemporary nigerian literature
topic Literature: history and criticism
Literary studies: from c 2000
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general
topic_facet Literature: history and criticism
Literary studies: from c 2000
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general
url ONIX_20251017T093940_9780271100463_3
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