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This book explores in depth Ikpu-ala as a social justice value in the Igbo social justice system. The traditional social justice concept of ikpu-ala provides an important conceptual framework through which adult Igbo Christians can engage in a critical and conscious theological reflections upon how they can make the Igbo Christian community fully authentic and faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a process that will highlight the total transformation of the Igbo society, which began with the arrival of the missionaries in 1885. This reflection is based on the Igbo experience and understanding of Omenala, the Igbo moral code, in which the world of the material and the spiritual, while occupying distinct domains, nonetheless remain deeply intertwined. In this book, the author explores that for the Igbo community, the reality of theology has evolved as a distinct from of experience that is deeply connected with tradition for the sake of praxis (Don Browning, 1995). Consequently, the author not only sees Ikpu-ala as authentic Igbo social justice value but also considers it as something that can be integrated into the Christian social values without either destroying Igbos longstanding cultures or traditions. The author highlights two key lessons from the Igbo integration of ikpu-ala into Christian social justice: (1) that the Igbo Catholic Church should engage the Igbo culture and traditions in a theological interactive reflections for the incarnation of the Word among the Igbo Catholics, and (2) that Ikpu-ala, with its theological values, can assist the Igbo Catholic Church in the sacrament of reconciliation and so transform the twenty- first century Igbo Catholic into an integrated and authentic Christian.
This book is an attempt to explore the Igbo values of social justice in terms of social relationships. The philosophical concept of justice is broadened by the Igbo worldview, the core that shows how social relationships are the web of justice, which makes social connectivity indispensable and possible. The principles of these social relationships appear as obvious values of justice among the Igbo people and are examined in the light of Christian ethical values and their relevance explored in forging Christianity in the Igbo land. This book also acknowledges the difficulties involved in inquiring into the Igbo ethical values because of the integration of religious beliefs and ethical conduct and customs. Given the Igbo example of the Igbo-integrated life, justice simply becomes that inner compulsion that motivates the human in his/her relationships with others and with God. Consequently, the traditional Igbo people were able to build a harmonious, peaceful, and social order that ensured social justice in the Igbo communal and social interconnectivity. The author argues that the Igbo example can facilitate the growth of Christianity in the Igbo land.
Although Africa is today often seen, because of its large number of Christians, as the future hope of the Church, a closer examination of African Christianity, however, shows that the Christian faith has not taken deep root in Africa. Many Africans today declare themselves to be Christians but still remain followers of their traditional African religions, especially in matters concerning the inner dimensions of their lives. It is evident that, in strictly personal matters relating to such issues as passage rites and crises, most Africans turn to their African traditional religions. As an incarnational faith, part of the history of Christianity has been its encounter with other cultures and its becoming deeply rooted in some of these cultures. The central question remains: Why has the Christian faith not taken deep root in Africa? This volume is concerned with answering this question.
Interface between Igbo Theology and Christianity is a timely book that provides new scholarly thinking concerning the convergence of Christianity and Igbo Traditional Religion taking place in the Igbo culture area. This book, a fruit of multidisciplinary conversation among Igbo scholars and Igbophiles, offers concepts, themes, issues, and case studies with deep ethnographic details, some of which do not exist anywhere else in print. It is a major statement of how modern Igbo scholars, social scientists, philosophers, theologians, liturgists, and active pastors and parish priests, understand the intersection of Igbo Traditional Religion and Christianity in postcolonial Nigeria. The editors and authors of the chapters of this book draw from their wealth of experience to offer to students, scholars, researchers, community-based organizations and NGOs, and practitioners in interfaith dialogue a “must have” manual to engage in and develop mutual respect and trust among Christian denominations and between them and Igbo Traditional Religion. This book will serve as a blueprint for a deep dialogue among the Igbo in both city and rural settings, in the context of clan and community life context and in the Christian parish setting. The book will certainly appeal to numerous communities in Africa wishing to share similar local experiences and collective memories, but which do not have the channels to talk about themselves in scholarly writing.
It is not always a comfortable position to question the position of a good majority. However, it is known that the majority can sometimes be wrong or see things differently. It takes courage and a particularly critical mind to question the depth of the Christian Faith in a land seen as the future of Christianity in Africa. As a Priest with some pastoral experience both in Africa and in Europe, the Author is at home with the subject matter in this book. He accepts the fact of the growing numbers in the churches but questions the depth of conviction in the face of the problems arising from the clash of values between Christian Faith and Igbo Traditional Religion. He maintains that, if God saw enough reasons to create men differently and revealed himself differently to them, he - God accepts that men have different understandings of his relationship with them and that they may relate with him using what is available to them - their Culture and Tradition.
"When African scholars lament over the near destruction of African cultures, they do not reflect the reality of African women's historical traditions of empowerment and inclusion in pre-colonial/pre-Christian African societies, which were also lost in the same process of Western Christian cultural imperialism. Similarly, most male Church theologians writing or speaking about inculturation do not address the deeper cultural issues, which impact heavily on African women. ..... [from back cover]