ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the provenance and growth of indigenous neo-Pentecostalism among the Igbo people of eastern Nigeria. It draws upon research conducted in Igboland between 1998 and 2004, and uses oral histories to gain access to the past. A consistent theme in Kalu's scholarship was the extent that African patterns of response to Christianity are determined by primal religious structures. The arrival of the Apostolic Church during the early 1930s marked the beginning of Pentecostalism in Igboland. The Civil War Revival followed the contours of Igbo history and proceeded in several distinct stages. The primary reason for the revival's success lay in its missionary impulse, which was kindled within the Scripture Union groups during the war. The success of the revival depended partly upon its ability to trigger conversions. Igbo neo-Pentecostalism emerged from the womb of the Civil War Revival.
