OHAZURUME - Unizik Journal of Culture and Civilization

Various scholars have written volumes of work on activities relating to Christian missionary enterprise in Igboland. Some scholars are of the opinion that the Christian missionaries did not make adequate use of the Old Testament during their apostolic work. They propose that one of the major reasons for the establishment of African Initiated Churches (AICs) was the failure of the Christian missionaries to use the Old Testament in addressing certain issues of great concern to Africans. However, this research is of the opinion that the Christian missionaries absolutely did not neglect to use the Old Testament in addressing some issues of great concern to the indigenous people. The research proposes that the Christian missionaries applied and utilized the Old Testament passages in areas they considered it necessary. Examples are on certain issues regarding slave trade, human sacrifice, killing of twins, among others. The problem of this research is that volumes of literature have been written on Christian missionary enterprise and rise of African Initiated Churches (AICs) with specific reference to poor use of the Old Testament by the Christian missionaries. The need for this research becomes imperative to correct certain impressions, opinions, views and postulations of some scholars who wrongly accuse the Christian missionaries of not making adequate references to the Old Testament during their evangelism activity in Africa particularly Igbo territory. The study relies on secondary sources of data collection which includes; mainline books, book of readings, journals, unpublished project works among others. The study finds out that Christian missionaries utilized the Old Testament during their evangelism activity in Igboland for the common good of the indigenous people.

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