1.1 Introduction
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who is the focal point of the Christian faith. It is the world's largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, known as Christians. Christianity can continue living in any culture, but every culture will have a definite beliefs, values, or practices which say the opposite to Christianity and for that reason must be put aside. The universality of the gospel necessitated a difference between Christianity and culture. The Jewish stressed on peripheral uprightness by obvious compliance to rules had to be put aside, for salvation is obtained by faith alone, apart from works. The Gentile practices of idolatry and immorality also had to be rejected as contrary to one's calling in Christ.
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
In the past, the church has applied great effort to recognize with modern day culture without becoming either inaccessible from it or indistinguishable to it. The church has endeavor, with different degrees of success, to relate to modern culture without creating a counter-culture and without being obsessive by secular culture. Pointless to say, the church has not always succeeded in walking the tight rope between these two boundaries. In the early church at Jerusalem, the Jewish culture was muscularly disparate to Christianity. The furthermost jeopardy was posed by the Judaistic Christians who wanted to enforce the Jewish culture on the Gentile supporters. When Christianity was declared in the midst of the Gentiles, we saw the fight which the churches had in keeping the world out of the church. As bigger antagonism from Rome was persistent against the Christians, this jeopardy diminished for a period.
Before the advent of Christianity into Esanland in the first decade of the twentieth century, the Esan society was a well organised society with a viable social structure, social institutions and cultural values. The Esan people occupy the Edo Central Senatorial District of Edo State Nigeria. It is made up of five (5) Local Government Areas viz:- Esan West, Esan Central, Esan North-East, Esan North-West and Igueben, with Ekpoma, Irrua, Uromi, Ubiaja and Igueben as Headquarters respectively. It is made up of thirty (30) clans; Ekpoma, Egoro, Opoji, Irua, Ewu, Uromi, Ugoha, Ubiaja, Ukhuesan, Emu, Ohodua, Ewatto, Ewosa, Ewohimi, Ekpon, Ebelle, Okalo, Amahor, Iria, Ugun, Ujiagba, Ogwa, Igueben, Ugbegun, Idoa, Uzen, Orowa, Udo, Onogholo and Ukhun (Okogie 29).
Some Esan people however resisted changing their names and have ever since not been any less Christians. A good example is the researcher whose father did not change her tradition name at baptism. Till today, she bears her traditional name. Apart from these, the Esan people’s cherished culture such as respect for elders, communal life, ancestral worship amongst others were distorted in the name of western civilization which was encouraged by the Christian faith.
In this research, Christian values are defined as those ideals or principles which Christianity cherishes. In this presentation, my aim is not to dwell on the unique worth of Christianity or its values. These are well-known and appreciated, especially in Nigeria society. My main concern is to relate and evaluate this worth in terms of a definite culture, namely, Nigeria ensemble of values. The choice of Nigeria is obvious for an Nigeria writer. It becomes attractive and obvious, too, once we identify Western, including American, culture, which Benin is, rightly or wrongly, identify with Christianity. That is, since Western culturehas been perceived in Benin land as synonymous with Christianity, Nigeria culture as a recipient of Western culture bears the influence or weight of Christianity on its own culture.
The missionaries came to Benin land in the later part of the 19th Century, where they met a pattern of life not all of which ran counter to Christian principles. The spread of Christian influence was backed by such elements as the size of the area, the complete absence of roads and means of communication, as well as other harsh environmental circumstances which inhibited free movement of the early missionaries to all corners of the area. These facts may have accounted for the less universal preponderance of the Christian influence on the host culture. Such claims as these may be seen as too lofty in view of the allegation of mass caving in of Nigeria culture to the invading European culture. But the assumptions that local culture and Christian values were polarized and conflicting and that Christian values dislodged their host counterparts can be maintained only with notable qualifications, for it must be remembered that the host culture was traditional and natural, that is, it was unadulterated, original or God-given. It approximated in part, and accorded with Christian values and to that degree was not in conflict to them. Equally important in this regard is the similarity in human nature which tends to minimize among differences among human groups. Nonetheless, since grace builds upon nature and nature exists in Benin land as elsewhere, there is much of enormous positive value in Nigeria traditions and religious consciousness.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Christianity on the Cultural Values of Esan People.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed that the effect has been a more distinctive and permanent manifestation of the legacy or influence of Christianity, which is the invisible and unofficial striving to live in conjunction with both the Christian and the traditional life. Thus, the individual Christian in his subconscious and in moments of crisis clings tenaciously to, or relapses without conflict or qualms, into traditional life.
But credit must go to Christianity for the tremendous impact it has had on the advancement of knowledge and learning in Benin: the opaque scales that blindfolded the people have been pulled down. All now know that all men are equal before God, and probably this new thought has been the motive force behind the struggle for Nigeria unity. Ignorance and superstition have been put to flight after contact with Christianity. And this is an invaluable achievement indeed.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Christianity on the Cultural Values of Esan People. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To examine the negative and positive impact of Christian religion on the cultural values of the Esan people;
- To ascertain the relationship between Christian religion and Esan culture;
- To determine the bearing of Christian religion to Esan culture; and
- To make useful recommendations in addressing the conflict between Christian teachings and Esan cultural values.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Does Christianity religion have any bearing with Esan culture?
- Do you think Christian religion is a better religion compare to Esan culture?
- How did Christianity influence the Esan culture?
- What is the negative and positive impact of Christian religion on the cultural values of the Esan people?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
Hypothesis One
- H0: Christian religion does not influence Esan culture
- H1: Christian religion influence Esan culture
Hypothesis Two
- H0: There is no relationship between Christian religion and Esan culture
- H1: There is relationship between Christian religion and Esan culture
1.7 Significance of Study
The findings will help in teaching us the relationship between Christianity and culture. It will expose to the Christian the importance of cultural heritage within the Benin kingdom, and also it will show us whether culture and Christianity work hand in hand.
This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.
1.8 Scope of Study
The scope of the research is focused on the Impact of Christianity on the Cultural Values of Esan People in Edo State.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Organizational privacy: Limited Access to the selected auditing firm makes it difficult to get all the necessary and required information concerning the activities
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Christianity: Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who is the focal point of the Christian faith. It is the world's largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, known as Christians.
Religion: Other words that are used for religion are "faith" and "belief system". Altogether, followers of religioncan be known as religionists. Some people follow more than one religion at a time. The largestreligions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Sikhism and Judaism. There are many other religions.
Culture: Culture is defined as the social behavior and norms found in human societies. Culture is considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies.
