Reception of the Gospel of John among the Isawa of Northern Nigeria and the Qiang of Western China, 1913–35

Abstract

This article examines the early mission history of the reception of the Gospel of John among two very different people groups, the Isawa of northern Nigeria and the Qiang of western China. It considers the similarities in their pre-Christian religion in terms of monotheism, messianic expectation, and self-understanding as children of Israel in order to theorize theological reasons for the positive reception of John’s Gospel. It concludes that John’s Gospel is the ideal place to start reading with monotheistic groups.