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Archbishop Joseph Olatunji Akinfenwa’s book, Passing the Baton: Religious Familism and Ministerial Succession in the Life and Genealogy of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther, adds to the growing scholarship on the life and times of Bishop Crowther.
The book particularly focuses on the continuity of the Christian faith by Bishop Crowther’s descendants, who Akinfenwa points out, continued their father’s legacy of Christian stewardship for the betterment of their community and the world at large.
The eight-chapter book starts with A Faith to Pass On, where Bishop Akinfenwa describes faith as a personal affair, before going to ask if it can be passed down to biological offspring.
He reveals that it is common among many cultures of the world for families to share religious experiences, adding that such common faith or religious experience, in many instances, translate into a family religion, or often become a mark of distinction or identity for the family.
The result of this, according to the author, is that the religion/faith becomes a family inheritance to be passed from one generation to another, “and this is the foundation for family religion, or of religious familism.”
With that explanation, Bishop Akinfenwa reveals why he chose Ajayi Crowther as the case study. He admits that Ajayi Crowther was able to pass his religious legacy down to his generation, and at a time when the world is becoming increasingly secular and permissive, and the traditional Christian religious familism that was the norm in earlier generation coming under attack, and with the issue of succession in many Christian organisations generating tension, then Ajayi Crowther’s success in this area made him the case study.
The second chapter, Crowther and Religious Familism: A Review, delves into the approaches to the history of Ajayi Crowther.
The third chapter, Background to Ministerial Succession and Propagation in Christian Families, highlights the current challenges in Christian religious organisations in the area of succession. It is a known fact that succession can create crisis in an organisation if not well-managed, and Bishop Akinfenwa uses this chapter to explain ministerial succession in the old and new testaments of the Bible.
The author returns to focus fully on the Life, Ministry and Legacies of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther in the fourth chapter, while the fifth chapter takes a look at Trials, Frustration and Death of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther.
On the issue of succession, Chapter Six dwells on Christian Influence and Ministerial Succession in Bishop Ajayi Crowther’s Family.
The author also examines the contributions of Crowther’s biological descendants to the Nigerian church and polity.
The final two chapters dwell on Crowther’s legacy today, as well as lessons to learn from his influence.
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The book is coming at the right time when the issue of succession is a strong one in Christendom.
In fact, in his foreword, Professor Jacob K. Olupona of Harvard University, Cambridge, USA, says Reverend Akinfenwa “rightfully cites countless examples of ministerial succession as written in the scripture, as well as those found amongst in the indigenous religious tradition of the Yoruba people where the priesthood is passed down from father to son.
Professor Olupona, however, says that “It is appropriate that sons and children of pastors are not guaranteed to be called to ministry. For one thing, it is true that for institutionalized Christianity, the call to ordination is fundamentally understood to be an agreement between individuals and God.”
The book is, therefore, recommended to churches, Christian institutions, universities and seminary libraries.
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