EXPLORING RHETORICAL STRATEGIES IN SELECTED SOUTH EASTERN PENTECOSTAL CHURCH SERMONS

Abstract

When Christianity arrived on the shores of Nigeria, the dominant denomination that exerted influence and spread into every nook and cranny of the nation was the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican church. The 19^th century which marked the era of colonial rule across the shores of Africa also birthed the Roman Catholic and Anglican movement that gained ground in different parts of Nigeria, particularly the South Eastern parts. The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion that pioneered Christian worship in the East had a unique mode of worship that is solemn, with an exact organized system across every branch, centred around Dogma and the traditions of the earlier founding fathers of the respective churches. While the Catholic church paid meticulous attention to the Church of Rome and its liturgical mode of solemn worship, the Anglican Communion followed the structure and directive of the church of England. What is notable, however, is the striking similarity between both systems of worship as the Anglican church is a direct offshoot of the Roman Catholic church. However, the Roman Catholic church gained a firmer ground and foothold in the Eastern parts of Nigeria. As a result of this, every attempt to establish Pentecostalism on the shores of South Eastern Nigeria proved a gargantuan task. This went on until the mid-seventies when the Evangelical cum Pentecostal movement came to take firm hold in Eastern Nigeria through the ministry of the scripture union. This paper explained and elaborated how and ways the Pentecostal pattern of prayers and that of orthodox churches differed in many ways and the different contexts and rhetorical strategies that were used to achieve their different goals.