Emerging Religious Marketplace in Nigeria: A Quest for Interpretation

Abstract

In contemporary Nigerian society, the evolving trends in Christian religious culture suggest that neoliberal (social) mind-set is influencing certain practices in many Churches. The objective of this paper is to examine how the above mentioned contemporary culture influences current religious landscape. The sociological concept of commodification was adopted as a way of ‘reading’ this religious context. The research methodology combines theoretical and ethnographic approaches to this study. The research findings show that neoliberal mind-set is influencing how religious commodification shapes the characteristics of Nigerian Christian marketplace.

Key words: religion, marketplace, neoliberal mind-set and commodification.