Confronting the Concepts of Truth in Igbo land from Christianity and the indigenous Spiritualities (original) (raw)
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Religious Ambivalence In Igboland: A Synthesis Of Christianity And Igbo World View
2014
Whenever Christianity is professed, there is a constant dialectic arising from its relationship with the cultural presupposition and practices of the cultures where it is located. A philosophical look at the Christianization of Igboland shows that the response of the Igbo to Christianity has been as interesting as it is ambivalent. On one score, there is the success story of the phenomenological movement of the vast majority of Igbo population to Christianity. Church buildings and related institutions have displaced former sites of powerful local deities and reserved sacred places, forest and groves. However, turning to the other side of the coin, one finds a bewildering array of ambivalent practices, a mix-up of Christian elements and traditional religious beliefs and practices among professing Igbo Christians. Guidance through dreams and visions, miraculous healing, prayer that expects immediate and concrete answers, and so on now constitute the main features of Igbo Christian pra...
Religious: Jurnal Studi Agama-Agama dan Lintas Budaya Journal of Religious and Cross-Cultural Studies, 2023
The Igbo people of Nigeria have historically maintained a rich and dynamic spiritual tradition. The advent of Christianity introduced new dimensions to their spiritual landscape, leading to significant shifts in religious beliefs and practices. This study aims to explore the complexities and transformations in the Igbo spiritual landscape following the encounter with Christianity. It seeks to understand how the Igbo people navigate the coexistence of indigenous spirituality and Christian beliefs, and the resultant socio-cultural and religious dynamics. Employing a literature review and historical analysis, this study systematically examines scholarly works and historical records to unravel the complex interplay between Igbo indigenous spirituality and Christianity. The study found that the Igbo's flexibility in spiritual choices facilitated their rapid conversion to Christianity, influenced by practical advantages such as effective medicine, economic benefits, and efficient foreign social structures. However, this transition also entailed a mental shift, marked by the perception of the Christian God's superiority following military defeats against foreigners. The study highlights the intricate interplay between indigenous spiritualities and Christianity within the Igbo context. It underscores the role of practical factors, cultural adaptation, and perceived spiritual efficacy in shaping religious transformations. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of religious syncretism and the evolving nature of spiritual beliefs in multi-religious societies.
Inculturation as Dialogue, Igbo culture and the Message of Christ
Exchange, 2008
African theology has known some remarkable personalities who during recent decades dominated the scene, embracing John Mbiti, Ngindu Mushete, Eboussi Boulaga, Jean Marc Ela and Ka Manä. Th ey used various approaches to uncover the roots of African Christianity, to define its essence, and to demonstrate its relevance for worldwide Christianity. Chibueze Udeani, who as a Roman Catholic theologian is working in Germany, realises that, writing the present book, he builds on their spiritual and academic expertise. Yet, he goes in another direction. He quits the routes followed by his fellow-theologians to develop his own approach to penetrate to the essence of African Christianity. He confines his study, however, to the Igbo culture, which, with respect to both its area and population, comprises 27 percent of Nigeria. Although the author does not indicate so clearly, it might be possible that he regards the Igbo culture as pars pro toto for Africa in general, since this culture is, in spite of its giving a contrary impression, very imperfectly rooted in Christianity. Th erefore Udeani's point of departure is not to create space for an own implementation of the meaning of being an African Christian, but to investigate why there is a deficiency: 'a closer examination of Christianity shows that the Christian Faith has not taken root in Africa. Many Africans today declare themselves Christians, but as before, they remain followers of the African traditional religions in matters concerning the inner dimensions of their life. It is evident that in strictly personal matters relating to such issues as passage and crises of life, most Africans turn to the African traditional religions' (p. v). In his sketch of the Igbo culture and his delineation of the history of Western rule and the influence of mission accompanying it, Chibueze Udeani evocatively demonstrates how he came to his observation. Igbo culture went through a period in which it lost its original balance when, around 1840, it for the first time came into contact with both Western culture and the culture of the missionaries. Th e Igbo culture was torn apart by internal struggles, in which continuously people were blamed to be guilty of this process. For that reason Igbo culture was full of confusion and lacked the tranquillity for giving a balanced and thoughtful reaction to the message of the gospel, so that it would receive a legitimate place in its spiritual and social worldview. In addition, Christianity, coming from the West, did not see the Igbo culture as a social unity that deserved serious theological exploration, but as a bundle of 'superstition, idolatry, devils' mischief, magic, fetishism, animism, polytheism, ancestor worship, offspring/product of unenlightenment and blooming imagination' (p. 81). Th e missionaries believed that the solution to this problem was to erase everything
EXPOSITION ON IGBO RELIGION AND DEMONSTRATION OF GOD'S EXISTENCE
The way God is conceived and portrayed in any religion is a reflection of the world-view and beliefs of the culture that gave birth to that religion. For every religion, without exception is the product of a culture and part of that culture. Islam for example, is the product of the Arabic culture and an integral part of the culture of the Arabs, Christianity is the product of the complex Jewish-Hellenistic-Roman culture and an integral part of the culture of that complex culture, Hinduism is a product of the Indian Culture and an integral part of that culture. Confucianism and Taoism are products of the Chinese culture and integral parts of that Culture; Igbo traditional religion is the product of African culture and an integral part of it and so on. No religion can be separated from the cultural worldview that gave birth to it. Culture is an epistemological determinant, for it is the framework within which a people live their lives and interpret their life experiences. It serves as the lenses through which people look at reality and interpret it. This explains why it is impossible for the people of one culture to have identical worldview and values as those of the people of other cultures, because they look at reality and interpret it through different cultural lenses. This also explains why different religions have different conceptions of God; each according to it's culturally-conditioned view and interpretation of reality. A man of one culture can therefore understandably find it difficult or impossible to accept the conception of God by another culture, because he does not look at reality through the cultural lenses of that culture, nor does he consequently share its world-view. History bear witness that there is no culture or people without a world view and that it is difficult to come by two groups of people who have identical world views. Even within one group, different segments or individuals may have different worldviews consequently; we have as many world views as there are cultures and groups of people. There is the Western world view, the Eastern Asiatic world view, the Christian view, the African Traditional world view, etc. Different people often make use of the word " word view " in their daily conversations. But ask them to define what they mean by it they find it rather very difficult and elusive. Let us therefore attempt a working definition of world view. According to C.A Mbagbu Enerib Onuoha defines it thus:
One of the beautiful things about this well-researched work is the recognition by the author that the enterprise of Christology, just like the business of theology in general, is never an I-alone-istic affair. Rather, it is one which the person concerned can only do better standing on the shoulders of those who, before him\her, had worked in the field of Christology while at the same time holding hands with contemporaries who are doing the same today. All these being done within and not without the Church, the Body of the same Christ, who is the subject of the study. Little wonder, then, an elaborate review was made by the author, before making his original input, of some well-known models of Igbo Christology like Healer, Chi, Ancestor, Victor, etc. He equally tried his hands at listing not only the sources of Igbo Christology which include, among others, the Scripture, Igbo Traditional Religion, Igbo myths, proverbs and parables, the historical experience of the Igbo people, but also went ahead to underscore the relational character of the same Igbo Christology.
Igbo traditional religion : Towards a renewed understanding
2017
Salvation is a very important aspect of religion. This stems from the fact that the quest for salvation is at the heart of all religions (Adelakun 2011). This study agrees with Goring (1995:455) that salvation relates to ‘the deliverance of human kind by religious means from sin or evil, the restoration of human beings to their truest state and attainment of eternal blessedness’. This understanding is hung on the belief that all religions strive towards restoring humans to their truest state which leads to eternal blessedness. This restoration could be a ‘saving’ from all things that constrain both the human body and soul in forms of poverty, physical dangers, sicknesses, sin and its effect, hell and any other thing that militates against the well-being of humans in the present life and the life to come. The usages of sōteria in the New Testament therefore have multifaceted meanings (Marshall 2004).
Trends in the religious beliefs of the Igbomina since the twentieth century
2018
Religion has always been an integral part of every human society. However, one of two things has happened to man‟s religion in any given situation: modification with adaptation or extinction. The first may be said to have been the fate of religion throughout the world, of any religion. There is no living religion that has not taken into itself elements from other religious cultures. This study examines trends in the religious beliefs among the Igbomina people over the years. Acknowledging the indispensability of religion like in any other human society as well as the God-factor phenomenon in all their multifarious activities, their traditional religious beliefs include: the existence of Supreme Deity associated with incomparable attributes; intermediaries; spirit world comprising of innumerable forces of both goodness and evil; moral order and the transient nature of the mundane world. Much later came Islam and Christianity, respectively, with "new" beliefs and teachings. ...
Every society, in order to have any stability and meaningful development, peace and orderly progress, usually requires that its members adhere to an articulated set of values which provides a sense of group identity for them. For the Igbo, as in many parts of Africa, it is religion, albeit traditional religion, that provides most of the bases for the values and stands them out with a distinctive identity. There is no doubt that the traditional religion on which the Igbo societies were based gave meaning and significance to the lives of people in those societies. But those values have been thoroughly affected by historical factors, by encounter with Europeans and their Christian religion with its accompanying new systems of living. Howbeit, if a new religion has assumed major significance in the lives of a people, then it is very necessary to assess the nature of its activities and progress in order to establish the genuineness of its predominance and to see how far it has allowed it...
INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM AND THE IGBO TRADITIONAL RELIGION IN TIME PERSPECTIVES
Indigenous knowledge system refers to the upheld belief system of the people as stipulated by their culture. Thus, every cultural practice in the world has their own indigenous knowledge system which is peculiar in theory and has featured prominently in their various facet of their life. Among the Igbo people of south eastern Nigeria, the indigenous knowledge system is enshrined in their traditional religion prior to the fundamental influence of colonialism and Christianity. It is of interest to note that importance of traditional religion in any organized society could not be over emphasized, making its practice to be accepted as a way of life of any man. The indigenous religion was all encompassing as practiced by the Africans before the advent of the foreign religion. Therefore, it appears that the single most dominant variable in shaping the people’s heritage and world view, just like in other most parts of Africa is religion. Religion has no bounds in terms of race, place, time, sex, race or colour. All peoples across ages embrace and practice one form of religion or the other. This pride of place accorded traditional religion in Igbo land notwithstanding a great deal of controversy which revolves around very normative concepts of superiority, inferiority, efficacy, and desirability of traditional religious practices. This study, informed by the analyses of both primary and secondary sources, attempts to reconstruct the indigenous knowledge system in relation to the Igbo traditional religion and see if any other religion has an edge on indigenous religion.
The heritage of Igbo religion.docx
This world has been noted as the world of men with women being appendages to men. For some, women are simply properties of men, slaves of sex and objects of entertainment for men. They are referred to as the weaker sex with an ability that does not extend beyond the inner courtyards of the family. This is completely foreign to the traditional Igbo mind, a confused and infused misinterpretation of the real value and place of women, who live in their world without the interference of the male counterpart in a culture that situates its central priority, life, on the laps of the woman. The juxtaposition of the modern world culture of syncretism, where according to , the woman almost sublimates into the men posits a lot of social problems. Betz (1979) states a heretical and syncretistic gnostic gospel of St. Thomas: