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The Oberi Okaime Christian Mission: towards a history of an Ibibio independent church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Extract

The Oberi Okaime Christian Mission has for long attracted the attention of scholars because of the way it developed a special script and even a language of its own. As early as 1937 the International African Institute was encouraging study of it. Today there is again a revival of interest in both the script and the language, and specimens of both as used in 1986 are included below, so as to put them once again on record some fifty years after they were invented. But these are not the primary focus of this article, the purpose oi which is to outline a history of the church, and by doing so to call attention to the wider phenomenon of Christianity in the context of Ibibio culture. The way Ibibio so readily took up Christianity after about 1910 has yet to be understood in detail, while the Spirit Movement in the region needs to be differentiated from such superficially similar movements as the contemporary Aladura or the earlier Garrick Braide movements.

Résumé

La mission Oberi Okaime: tendance vers une histoire d'une église indépendante chrétienne ibibio

Les Ibibios du Nigéria du sud-est ont embrassé le Christianisme et l'éducation occidentale avec un vif enthousiasme après 1910 environ. En 1927, un mouvement charismatique a balayé l'ensemble de la région ibibio du nord-est, zone marginale par rapport aux zones de missions principales. L'église indépendante issue de ce mouvement, connue plus tard sous le nom de Mission Oberi Okaime, utilise sa propre langue non ibibio avec son écriture et ses chiffres distinctifs; ceux-ci ont été ‘donnés' par inspiration aux chefs de l'église au cours d'une longue période de vie en solitaire et ont fait l'objet d'études antérieures. Cet article souligne l'histoire de l'église et reproduit quelques textes pour révéler la langue et l'écriture telles qu'elles sont actuellement utilisées.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 59 , Issue 4 , October 1989 , pp. 496 - 516
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1989

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References

REFERENCES

Corbett, J. S. 1977. According to Plan: the story of Samuel Alexander Bill, founder of the Qua Iboe Mission, Nigeria. Worthing: Henry E. Walter.Google Scholar
Ekit, Rev. R.c. 1965. Do You Know the Spirit Movement of 1927 in Ibibioland? Itu: Oberi Okaime Publications.Google Scholar
Hau, K. 1961. ‘Oberami Okaime script, texts and counting systems’, Bulletin de l'IFAN, vol. 23, Series B 1–2.Google Scholar
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