📖 ABSTRACT/OVERVIEW
African Christian spirituality has often been characterised primarily through its charismatic, ecstatic, and communal expressions, with insufficient attention to contemplative, meditative, and mystical dimensions that also characterise significant streams of Nigerian Christian experience. This study explores the contemplative dimensions of African Christian spirituality in Nigeria, making an original comparative study across three distinctive contemplative traditions present in the Nigerian context. A comparative theological and ethnographic methodology was adopted across three case studies: the contemplative tradition within Nigerian Catholic religious orders and monastic communities; the Deeper Life contemplative prayer and fasting tradition within the evangelical Pentecostal context; and indigenous contemplative practices within African Instituted Churches in South West Nigeria. Extended fieldwork was conducted over 18 months including participant observation at 30 contemplative practice events, 60 in-depth interviews with practitioners, and theological analysis of formative texts and spiritual direction materials. Comparative analysis identifies both convergent and divergent features of contemplative practice across the three traditions. Convergent features include extended silence and stillness, embodied prayer practices, and creation engagement. Divergent features include understanding of divine encounter, spiritual direction frameworks, and the role of communal versus individual practice. Original theoretical contributions include a Nigerian Contemplative Spirituality Framework that synthesises insights from the three traditions, a Contextual African Christian Mysticism typology, and a set of constructive proposals for contemplative spiritual formation that enrich the predominantly charismatic dominant forms of Nigerian Christian practice. Expert validation by spiritual direction scholars confirmed the framework's originality and pastoral applicability.
Keywords: African Christian spirituality, contemplative practices, Nigerian mysticism, comparative study, spiritual formation
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