Theological Critique of Colonialism and the Reconstruction of African Christian Identity in Post-Independence Nigeria

This doctoral study presents a comprehensive theological critique of colonialism and its lasting impact on African Christian identity in post-independence Nigeria, proposing an original reconstructive theological framework for decolonised Nigerian Christian selfhood. Six decades after political independence, Nigerian Christianity continues to exhibit structural, theological, and institutional patterns shaped by colonial religious education, mission theology, and cultural suppression. Drawing on decolonial theory, post-colonial African theology, African religious philosophy, and critical historiography, the research employs a genealogical constructive methodology, tracing the colonial formation of Nigerian Christian identity through archival analysis of mission school materials, denominational founding documents, and colonial government church records, supplemented by thirty interviews with Nigerian theologians, cultural historians, and church leaders. The study identifies five colonial legacies structuring contemporary Nigerian Christian identity: epistemic dependency, cultural self-rejection, institutional mimicry, theological pietism, and racial ecclesiology. An original decolonial theology of African Christian identity is proposed that recovers African theological agency, affirms cultural heritage, reconstructs missional self-understanding, and articulates a prophetic engagement with post-colonial Nigerian society. The study makes original contributions to African theology, church history, and postcolonial studies, offering the most comprehensive theological genealogy of Nigerian Christian colonial identity formation yet produced. Keywords: decolonial theology, colonialism, African Christian identity, post-independence Nigeria, theological reconstruction