Pope John Paul II speaks in "Ecclesia in Africa" (1995) of the necessity for the church to inculturate itself into the cultures of the African peoples. This book shows what makes inculturation in Africa a necessity. Against the background of a socio-empircal study it becomes understandable, why in the history of mission, from a European-religious perspective much remains misunderstood and causes distress until today. The author focuses on the 'way of Inculturation" showing how a "rooting of the Gospel in Africa" could be possible and sustainable. (Series: Biblical Perspectives for Annunciation and Teaching / Biblische Perspektiven fur Verkundigung and Unterricht, Vol. 7) [Subject: Theology, African Studies]

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.

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.

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.

This book explores the strategies and methods of the Protestant and Roman Catholic missionaries in Igboland and Igbo response during the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Using oral traditions, primary sources, and the author's life experience as a Christian convert and missionary, the text examines the missions' programs, missteps, and impact.

This book elucidates the dynamism of culture and how cultural expressions are often intertwined with religious expressions. The Catholic Church, while conscious of the profound cultural diversity within her membership, earnestly seeks to inculturate the gospel message in these cultures, for a better expressed, experienced, and lived Catholicism in the modern world. Relational and theological expressions of Eucharistic communion increase in wealth and meaning when Christians of different races and cultures are able to understand the global call to unity and interconnectivity in the world today. Relating the clear theological and relational aspects of Eucharistic communion to the traditional rituals of communion expressed in Igbo culture enriches both the encountered faith and lived culture. The rituals of communion in Igbo tradition studied in this book, namely, Emume Iwa Ọjị (Kola nut Ritual), Emume Iri Ji Ọhụrụ (New Yam Festival), and Ịgba Orikọ (Ritual Meal of Reconciliation), are still prevalent and valued among the Igbo people. These rituals pilot and determine the wellbeing of present and future generations of Igbo people. This integrative study of liturgy, faith, and culture, establishes the theological and relational aspects of both the traditional rituals of communion in Igbo culture and the Christian understanding of Eucharistic communion, for a truly inculturated Eucharistic theology.