Publisher's Synopsis
One of the most popular, widespread indigenous religious initiative in West Africa is the Celestial Church of Christ. This study examines the incipience, contemporary growth and development of the church, especially the period following the demise of the founder. It sets out to see how the routinization of charisma planned by the founder has been enforced, or what steps have been taken to institutionalize this development. The tendency of the church towards globalization is also examined. In describing, analyzing and interpreting their belief pattern and ritual structure, the study shows how and to what extent the church situates traditional religio-cultural matrix within the context and continuum of African Christianity. The study concludes that while the church maintains their identity as a Christian church sui generis, they have also created a synthesis of belief-ritual forms as a new rationalization, a new ordering of their religious cosmos.
