Marriage and Life After Death: A Model of Regenerative Inculturation

By Anthony Onyekwe

In Africa, the emphasis on family, marriage, and offspring suggest that there is a kind of an unwritten ancestral law that imposes on every male the duty of begetting a son. The reason is because the core of African soteriology is centered on offspring. The predicament of the childless couples, therefore, stems from the desire for immortality and salvation that culminates in the admission of the dead into the ancestral world. This quest for salvation and immortality constitute social, emotional, psychological, and spiritual problems for Christian as well as non-Christian childless couples.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jan 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781499093353

Anthony Onyekwe

Anthony Onyekwe is a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu Nigeria. He was ordained in 1995. He holds a bachelor’s degree in both Philosophy and Theology from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome, a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Tennessee USA, a Master of Advanced Studies in Theology and Religious Studies, a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) and a Doctorate degree in Theology and Religious Studies from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. Presently, he is working as an Associate Pastor in St. Ann Catholic Church Bartlett, TN, USA.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface

General Introduction

Motivation

The Contributions Made by African Theologians to Resolve the Problems of Infertility and Ontological Mortality

Methodology

An Overview of This Work

PART I

Understanding the Role of Offspring and the Problem of Childlessness in the Igbo Culture: An Ethnographic Approach to African Worldview

INTRODUCTION

Chapter One: The Igbo View on the World, the Human Person, and the Human Community

Introduction

1.1. Cosmology and Worldview

1.1.1. Belief in Supreme Being

1.1.2. African Traditional Religion – a Godless Religion?

1.1.3. Concepts of God (Chukwu)

1.1.4. Deus Otiosus (Remote God)

1.1.5. Worship of God

1.2. The World of the Spirits

1.2.1. The Nonhuman Spirits

1.2.2. The Earth-Goddess (Ala-Goddess)

1.2.3. The Sky-God – Igwe

1.2.4. The Sun-God (Anyanwu)

1.2.5. Thunder and Lightning (Amadioha)

1.2.6. The God of Strength (Ikenga)

1.2.7. The God of Destiny (Chi)

1.2.8. Bad Natural Spirit

1.3. The Human Spirits

1.3.1. The Ancestors

1.3.2. Conditions for Becoming an Ancestor

1.3.2.1. Good Moral Life

1.3.2.2. Old Age

1.3.2.3. Kind of Death

1.3.2.4. Funeral Rites

1.3.3. Stages of Ancestorship

1.3.4. The Cult of Ancestors

1.3.5. The Roles of Ancestors among the Living

1.3.6. The Evil Human Spirits

1.3.6.1. The Akalogeli – Wandering Spirits

1.3.6.2. Ogbanje – Born to Die

1.3.6.3. Witches

1.3.6.4. The Use of Charm and Medicine Men

1.4. The Human Person

1.4.1. The Human Person in Igboland

1.4.2. The Human Person – a Relational Being

1.4.3. The Dignity of the Human Person

1.5. The Human Community and Igbo Morality

1.5.1. Omenani in Traditional Igbo Morality

1.5.2. The Ala-Goddess as the Custodian of Moral Code

1.5.3. The Significance of the Cult of Ancestors in

Traditional Igbo Morality

1.5.4. The Duty of Okpala – Family Head – in Maintaining

Peace and Justice

1.5.5. Morality from Communal Perspective

1.5.6. The Notion of Sin

1.5.7. The Relationship between Sin and Evil

1.5.8. Removal of Abomination – Ikpu Ala

1.5.8.1. The First Stage: Confession by the Offender

1.5.8.2. Second Stage: Purification and Sacrifice

1.5.8.3. The Third Stage: Reconciliation

1.6. Conclusion

Chapter Two: The Igbo View on Time, Death, and Life after Death

Introduction

2.1. The Concept of Time

2.2. The Concept of Death

2.2.1. Perception of Death in Igbo Culture

2.2.2. The Mythical Understanding of Death in Igbo Culture

2.2.3. Origin of Death

2.2.4. Death in Relation to God as Life-Giving

2.3. Life after Death

2.3.1. African Notion of Life after Death and Immortality

2.3.2. The Igbo Understanding of Life after Death and Immortality

2.3.3. Reincarnation

2.3.3.1. What Do the Igbo Mean by the Word: Ilo Uwa?

2.3.3.2. Malevolent Ogbanje

2.3.3.3. The Purpose of Reincarnation

2.4. Conclusion

Chapter Three: The Igbo View on Procreation and Marriage

Introduction

3.1. Child-bearing and Marriage

3.1.1. Concept of Traditional African Marriage

3.1.1.1. Marriage and Obligation

3.1.1.2. Procreation Essence of Marriage

3.1.1.3. Marriage a Communitarian Act

3.1.2. Process of African Marriage

3.1.2.1. Initiation/Puberty Rite

3.1.2.2. Inquiry (Ohia-Ajuju)

3.1.2.3. Engagement

3.1.2.4. Bride Wealth

3.2. Fertility and Childlessness

3.2.1. Infertility and Childlessness across Cultures a Short

Overview

3.2.2. Infertility and Childlessness in Igbo Culture

3.2.3. Causes of Infertility and Childlessness

3.2.3.1. Infertility from God

3.2.3.2. Ogbanje/Abiku

3.2.3.3. Witches and Infertility

3.2.3.4. Spiritual Marriage and Water Spirit (Mermaid)

3.2.3.5. Sexual Promiscuity and Sin

3.2.3.6. Broken Communion with the Ancestors

3.2.3.7. Charms and Rituals

3.2.4. The Effects of Infertility and Childlessness

on the Couples

3.2.4.1. Dissatisfaction with Life

3.2.4.2. Marital Breakdown

3.2.4.3. Low Self-Iimage

3.2.4.4. Relapsing from Christian Faith to Superstitious Practices

3.2.4.5. Fear of the Future

3.2.5. Traditional and More Recent Responses to

Childlessness

3.2.5.1. The Human Approach/Third-Party Approach

3.2.5.2. Levirate Marriage

3.2.5.3. Male Daughter

3.2.5.4. Woman Marriage or Female Husband

3.2.5.5. Trial Marriage

3.2.5.6. Child Adoption

3.2.5.7. Polygamy as a Solution to Childlessness

3.2.5.8. Healing and Pentecostal Approach to Childlessness

3.2.5.9. Modern Approach/Reproductive Technology

3.3. Critical Evaluation

3.4. Conclusion

PART II

A Christian Perspective on the Destiny of the Human Person, Fertility, and Marriage

Introduction

Chapter Four: Christian View on the Human Person, Death, and Life after Death

Introduction

4.1. The Human Person and Human Destiny

4.1.1. The Constitution of the Human Person

4.1.2. Dimensions of the Human Person

4.1.3. The Destiny of the Human Person

4.2. Christian Theology of Death

4.2.1. Death as Death of Body and Soul and a Consequence of Sin

4.2.2. Is Death a Stage or an End?

4.3. Life after Death

4.3.1. Judgment

4.3.2. Heaven

4.3.3. Hell

4.3.4. Life of Immortality

4.3.4.1. Natural Immortality or Immortality of the Soul

4.3.4.2. Contingent Immortality

4.3.5. Salvation

4.3.6. Criteria for Salvation: Personal and Sacramental Constituents of Salvation

4.3.6.1. Justification, Grace, and Merit (Good Works)

4.3.6.2. Faith in Jesus as Criterion for Salvation

4.4. Conclusion

Chapter Five: Christian View on Marriage and Fertility

Introduction

5.1. Christian Concept of Marriage

5.1.1. God’s Plan for Marriage

5.1.2. Procreation and Conjugal Love

5.1.3. Some Characteristics of Christian Marriage

5.1.3.1. Marriage as a Covenant

5.1.3.2. Marriage as a Vocation

5.1.3.3. Marriage as Sacrament

5.1.3.4. Marriage as the Sign of Christ’s Love

5.1.3.5. Marriage as an Eschatological Sign

5.2. The Properties of Marriage

5.2.1. Fidelity

5.2.2. Unity

5.2.3. Indissolubility

5.3. The Coming into Existence of Marriage

5.3.1. Consent

5.3.2. Consummation

5.4. Marriage and Fertility

5.4.1. Children as Gift from God

5.4.2. Parenthood: Procreation and Education

5.4.3. Artificial Reproduction

5.4.3.1. Artificial Insemination

5.4.3.2. Donum Vitae and the Church’s Teaching on Artificial

Reproduction

5.5. Conclusion

PART III

Christian Marriage and Childlessness: Toward a Regenerative

Model of Inculturation in the

Igbo Context

Introduction

Chapter Six: Regenerative Model of Inculturation

Introduction

6.1. Comparing Igbo and Christian Core Beliefs on Life after Death, Marriage, and Fertility

6.1.1. Salvation

6.1.2. Divinization of Human Person

6.1.3. Intercession for the Dead

6.1.4. Fertility and Marriage

6.1.4.1. Sacredness of Marriage

6.1.4.2. Ratification of Marriage

6.1.4.3. Procreation

6.1.4.4. Dissolution of Marriage

6.1.4.5. Polygamy

6.1.4.6. Conjugal Love

6.2. Toward a Model of Inculturation

6.2.1. From ‘Christianization’ to Inculturation

6.2.2. A Review of Different Paradigms

6.2.2.1. Adaptation, Accommodation, Indigenization

6.2.2.2. Africanization

6.2.2.3. Contextualization

6.2.3. Theological Understanding of Inculturation

6.2.3.1. What Is Inculturation?

6.2.3.2. African Theologians on Inculturation

6.2.3.3. Inculturation and the Universality of the Gospel

6.2.3.4. Inculturation as Reenactment of Pentecost Experience

6.2.3.5. Ethical Implication of Inculturation for Africans

6.2.3.6. Challenges in the Formation of Igbo/African Theology

of Inculturation

6.2.4. The Model of Regenerative Inculturation and

Its Components

6.2.4.1. Reappropriation

6.2.4.2. Revision Component of Regenerative Inculturation

6.2.4.3. Perfection Component of Regenerative Inculturation

6.3. Contours of an Inculturated Approach to Marriage and Childlessness in the Igbo Context

6.3.1. Life as Vital Force

6.3.2. Reincarnation

6.3.3. Cult of Ancestors

6.3.4. Solidarity

6.3.5. The Philosophy of Ogo bu Chi Onye

6.3.6. The Philosophy of Nwa bu Onyinye Chukwu

6.3.7. The Philosophy of Nwa bu Nwa Oha

6.3.8. Ogo bu Chi Onye: a Paradigm of Regenerative Inculturation of Traditional Igbo Marriage

6.4. Conclusion

General Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to all the people who contributed in different capacities toward the success of this work. First, I am very grateful to God for his guidance, protection, and blessings. I am deeply indebted to my local ordinary, Rt. Rev. Dr Calistus Onaga. Also, I will ever remain grateful to you Rt. Rev. Dr Terry Steib, bishop of the Diocese of Memphis. I am grateful to Prof. Dr Thomas Knieps for his contributions to the success of this work. I have not forgotten you Msgr. Thomas Kirk and the parishioners of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Jackson, Tennessee for your love and kindness. I remain grateful to you Msgr. Anthony Obiakoizu Iloanusi, Fr. Herbert Ene, Fr. Francis Chiawa, Fr. Izunna Okonkwo, Fr. Ejike Mbaka, and Fr. Malachi Ezeonu.

I wish to express my deepest appreciation to the family of Daniel and Caroline Merwin, for your resolute friendship and hospitality. I remain grateful to my mother – Mrs Roseline Onyekwe – and my siblings – Ikechukwu, Chukwuka, Chizoba, Ngozika, Chinenye, Ifeoma, and Izuchukwu – for your spiritual and material support. Sr. Prudence Oriaku, I cannot thank you enough for your phenomenal support and encouragement. I am very grateful to Sir Linus Ojimba and Roselyn Udokoro (Adaigbo) for your encouragement. My indebtedness goes to Rev. Fr. Russ Harbaugh, Rev. Fr. David Orsak, and the members of St. Ann Catholic Church, Bartlett.

And also to all my friends whose names were not mentioned I am very grateful.

Anthony Onyekwe

PREFACE

Involuntary childlessness is lived by many couples in the western world as a traumatic experience with major and often longstanding implications for the partners’ psychological and personal well-being. In cultures, however, in which biological fertility in se has a high value, the occurrence of childlessness puts additional strain on couples, especially on women who often fall prey to massive social discrimination. In Sub-Saharan Africa the traditional belief systems based on the continuity of lineage consider childbearing to be the primary function of women and their ability to have children as a determinant factor for their economic and social status. As a result of existing social and gender norms, women are blamed if a couple remains childless, whatever the real causes may be. The consequences are often appalling and range from distress, depression and lowered self-esteem over social stigma, open ridicule, isolation and economic deprivation to physical violence, threats from the husbands and the husbands’ family, rejection, abandonment, and divorce.

Anthony Onyekwe addresses the problem of unwanted childlessness among the Igbos in Nigeria. Being himself a pastor coming from the south-east of the country, he has been confronted in his ministry with the immense suffering of Igbo women. But he has also become aware that this human tragedy is caused and reinforced by a traditional African belief system that places a very high premium on offspring. Moreover, this vision is hardly acceptable from a Christian point of view. The issue thus lends itself to conjure up the much-discussed difficulty of how one can be African and Christian at the same time. In fact, that is what is ultimately at stake in Onyekwe’s scholarly study. The problem of involuntary childlessness will appear to the western observer as a matter of a couple’s personal stress and pain for which fertility treatments may offer the most obvious practical solutions or, in case they do not, pastoral and spiritual accompaniment is to be recommended. For the African theologian it reveals and exemplifies a profound dilemma within African Christianity.

The African worldview regards fertility and procreation as essential to and imperative for the institution of marriage. Although it may appear otherwise, this vision has little in common with the natural law arguments with which the Catholic understanding has until recently instrumentalized the marital institution for the maintenance of the human species. The African worldview places marriage and offspring instead in an eschatological perspective in which the chain of life is transmitted through the generations and the dead, the living, and the unborn are connected with each other in a life-giving way. Our author is very well aware of the necessity to unravel this eschatological perspective and uncover its valuable but also its distorted elements. The detailed ethnographic analysis of the first part of this work provides a profound and comprehensive overview of the fertility-centeredness of African marriage that can hardly be found in any comparable scholarly publication.

In line with his attempt to understand the rationale behind the African view on fertility, Onyekwe subsequently distances himself from previous theological approaches to this matter. The early missionaries’ approach simply tried to impose the western Catholic concept of marriage by arguing that procreation, although at the time still its primary end in theory, was not a practical requirement for marriage. This approach has obviously failed to convince and convert African Christians as it ignored the foundations of their cultural identity. Modern African theologians instead have made an effort to respect the indigenous mentality and thus agreed to condone the traditional solutions available for childless couples such as polygamy, the third party approach whereby a third, fertile partner has to replace the infertile party in a marriage for the purpose of procreation, and trial marriage by which the fertility of the prospective wife is put to the test. For Onyekwe these solutions are not only in conflict with essential features of the Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality; more fundamentally, they cure the symptoms but do not eradicate the root causes of the discrimination of childless couples which in the end is a patriarchal attitude which regards infertility as a female problematic and instrumentalizes women for the purpose of reproduction.

Searching for a third way beyond these two approaches, the present study is original in that it proposes an inculturated approach to the problem of childlessness that the author refers to in terms of regenerative inculturation. Onyekwe convincingly develops a hermeneutical method which operates with the three steps of re-appropriation, revision, and perfection. This method would enable Africans to appropriate or re-appropriate central elements of their traditional worldview while at the same time allowing external cultural influences to question and revise those features of their own tradition which have become obsolete to the point of obscuring its internal logic. In this way the confrontation with an extraneous tradition such as Christianity could in the end help revitalize Africa’s own culture. Onyekwe demonstrates this hermeneutical model by referring to three central, albeit neglected, components of the Igbo philosophy with regard to marriage and procreation which he suggests to retrieve by confronting them with the Christian understanding: connubial solidarity (Ogo bu Chi Onye), the child as gift of God (Nwa bu Onyinye Chukwu), and children belong to the community (Nwa ba Nwa Oha). Onyekwe’s suggestion here is that Christian ideas about marriage in conjunction with the destiny of the human person can become both catalysts and active agents of an internal revision of the Igbo eschatological understanding of life-giving fertility. The argument then goes on to say that the ontological function of offspring remains effective in every marriage whether the couples have children or not since its significance consists in reminding couples that they are destined to eternal communion with God. (470)

One may regret that the author has not gone far enough in his approach of inculturation, which clearly calls upon the African culture to let itself be purified by the confrontation with Christianity. Should the Catholic teaching on sexuality and marriage in return not also learn from its encounter with the African tradition and come to a revision of some of its less plausible positions? Could for example the African model of a marriage in stages not be accepted and even provide a way of coming to terms with the exploding western phenomenon of premarital cohabitation? And should homologous in-vitro insemination not be legitimized ethically so as to alleviate the suffering of childless couples in Africa and in western societies alike? In these matters Onyekwe sometimes remains overly devoted to the Roman magisterium. But that does not take away from the fact that his study provides a very valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion on how Christianity can gain a real foothold in the African continent.

Dr. Thomas Knieps

Professor at Catholic University Leuven, Belgium.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

This work focuses on African culture and Christian beliefs. However, one of the drawbacks in seeking cultural identity as a theological source is the danger of falling into a kind of a cultural romanticism. The danger of basing one’s theology is not upon culture, as it is today, but upon ‘fossil culture,’ a culture that did exist before colonization but that, after colonization and contact with the Western world, does not exist except in some people’s romantic fantasies. Cultural romanticism is based on the fact that cultures are static. Thus, as ways of perceiving, organizing, and dealing with reality, cultures are realities that are always flexing, always adapting, and always changing. In other words, the fact that a traditional culture has come into contact with the West means that the culture is changed irrevocably.¹ It is, therefore, crucial to acknowledge beforehand that this work assumes this dynamic nature of culture. In other words, as this work aims to develop a hermeneutics of Christianity in African context, in doing so it neither idealizes African past as a perfect culture nor fails to recognize some values in African culture.

Motivation

The problem of childlessness interpreted in terms of ontological mortality within Igbo/African context is a matter of great concern. In Africa, childlessness is an experience that shatters hopes, dreams, and aspirations in life. Its negative impact ranges from marriage breakages, disruption of family ties and relationship, spiritual decay, and bleakness. On the part of the individual, childlessness is synonymous with failure in life. Consequently, both men and women in childless marriages believe that there is no reason to live anymore, and they are confronted with the question: what is the point laboring in life accumulating wealth and riches since there is no one to inherit them? On the part of the society, families, communities, friends, and relatives, childlessness is an evil that needs to be confronted because of the belief that childlessness has nothing to offer other than ontological mortality.² Hence, the fear of ontological mortality has necessitated several traditional solutions: polygamy, trial marriage, levirate marriage, third-party approach, and so on. These traditional approaches to childlessness conflict with Christian beliefs and practices, and as a result, childless Christians are trapped in the midst of these differences between their traditional beliefs and Christian practices. Consequently, it has constituted great problem for them to be true Africans and still live their normal Christian life.

Our concern in this deplorable situation is that many people take advantage of the childless and exploit them. For instance, those childless couples who resort to healing ministries have become victims of professional healers, who claim to possess power over infertility. Some have been rendered bankrupt due to improbable promises by native and orthodox doctors. Others go to the extent of buying offspring from baby hawkers or even conniving with nurses and doctors in hospitals to steal children belonging to other women. Thus, this craving for offspring has led some opportunists to establish ‘baby industries’ in order to extort childless couples who are in desperate need for progeny. In 2011, for example, police raided a clinic in southeast Nigeria and rescued about thirty girls allegedly used in a ‘baby industry,’ in which they would give birth to children and these babies would be sold to childless couples. The price for a baby is between 100,000 and 150,000 naira ($640–$960), with the biological mothers receiving about $131.³

Also, given the fact that there are differences in the understanding of life after death and due to the fact that the Church is firm in her position that faith in Christ and good works are criteria for eternal life, there are many Christian converts, even the childless, who still value their traditional belief. For instance, they are steadfast in the belief that progeny is necessary for what happens in life after death. For this particular reason, these African Christians find difficulties in accepting entire Christian teachings about life after death. Hence, those who understood Christianity have no problem with Christian teachings about life after death. Some who could not cope with the Christian beliefs and practices about the life after death joined independent churches, in which they interpret the Christian faith with insights that accommodate traditional African thoughts. As a pastor, it was a sad experience for me to lose some of my parishioners to other denominations because of childlessness. There are some who reject Christianity completely, considering it alien to and incompatible with the African heritage; such people fall back to their African beliefs in search for the destiny of the human person.

It is also our concern that some of the approaches to the problem of childlessness and ontological mortality suggested by some African scholars are unsatisfactory. These approaches share in common one fundamental problem: they conceive marriage as a mere contract and instrument for procreation.

The Contributions Made by African Theologians to

Resolve the Problems of Infertility and Ontological

Mortality

In view of fertility concerns and problems of ontological mortality, some celebrated African theologians have contributed much to unravel the problem of childlessness in Africa. As a matter of fact, some of these theologians have elevated these old traditional approaches, referred to above, by stirring in them theological insights. In this sense, in sustained efforts to develop an African theology of marriage, they gave these old traditional African approaches new theological backing and undertone. In a bid to advance their course further, they argued that the Church should accept and recognize them as legitimate and valid ways of combating childlessness since according to them, such ways are not incompatible with Christian values and goals. It would be useful, therefore, to identify some of these traditional approaches through which African theologians have responded to the problem of infertility and ontological mortality. These traditional approaches could be articulated as ‘human approach’: polygamy, third party (human approach), trial marriage, and so on.

The proponents of polygamy argued that since the first wife is barren, marrying a second wife provides the husband another opportunity to get his own progeny. In this way, he will resolve the problem of childlessness and ontological mortality. Bénézet Bujo, a representative of this group, notes that in Africa, marriage deserves its name only with the birth of children.⁴ After examining the prospects of this approach as a solution to the problem of childlessness and ontological mortality, we arrived at the conclusion that it is inadequate, incomplete, and, therefore, unable to bring to perfection what it claims. Our critique centers on the fact that it undermines unity, which constitutes an essential characteristic of Christian marriage. Second, it helps only the husband to resolve the issue of ontological mortality, and the wife is abandoned to find her way out of this impasse. This is because ‘a person who, therefore, has no descendants in effect quenches the fire of life and becomes forever dead since his line of physical continuation is blocked.’⁵

The next approach is called a third-party approach. Chieka Ifemesia and Victor Uchendu are among the proponents of this approach. This approach, however, allows a relative or a friend of the impotent man to sleep with his wife in order to raise children for the family. In our estimation, this approach is problematic too. Our contention is that this approach reduces women to a mere instrument of reproduction. Moreover, the fact that the entire procedure is kept secret encourages falsehood because the mother will be lying to her child about his or her real biological father. Second, we reject this approach due to the fact that it is incompatible with Christian marriage, which insists on the exclusivity of sexual intercourse between husband and wife. Also, what we say in the case of polygamy can be applied here; in other words, the man cannot claim to have overcome ontological mortality because that child from another man is not his biological child. However, some African cultures like the Igbo will argue that the child belongs to the man as long as he has paid the bride-price of his wife.

The other approach suggested by some African theologians is called trial marriage, which is also designated as marriage by stages. In this approach, spouses do not commit to relationship until it is fruitful. The main contention of some proponents of trial marriage like Bert Ebben, Aylward Shorter, and Bénézet Bujo is that in Africa, marriage is a dynamic process and as such should be allowed to pass through different stages until it can be considered an indissoluble, stable union. In this dispensation, ‘one flesh’ would mean a marriage covenant of persons, not solely the marital act of intercourse but a marriage blessed with offspring. Indissolubility would then indeed be linked to sacramentality, which would be founded on a genuine contract whose object is a reality, not a mere possibility. In our own estimation, this type of marriage arrangement does not qualify as a marriage; rather, it is better described as cohabitation, which, as a matter of fact, encourages premarital sexual intercourse, and it contradicts Roman Catholic Church’s teaching on sexual ethics. However, if in the long run one of the spouses is discovered to be impotent or barren, then he or she will forever be endangered by ontological mortality. In that case, for that spouse in question, trial marriage has not solved the problem of childlessness nor ontological mortality. In fact, our conclusion is that this model is more of a precaution than a solution.

However, Christianity has not yet offered a better solution to the problem of childlessness and infertility in Africa. The adaptation approach used by early Western missionaries promoted a Western orientation that does not consider offspring as something very crucial in a connubial relationship. The logical consequence of this approach is disorientation among or alienation of African Christians from African culture and world.⁶ The importance of offspring in marriage is taken for granted. The implications of this understanding include: first, if offspring is no longer valued in a marriage, then there will be no hope for parents, who so much depend on their children for social security at old age. Second, if procreation in a relationship becomes optional, as this approach suggests, then the life of the community will be in jeopardy because every community depends on offspring for its survival. Finally, the adaptation approach seems to suggest that extension of one’s lineage is not necessary. Our speculation is that the adaptation approach which aims to mimic Western culture does not fit in the African context. Therefore, we find this approach an inadequate and ineffective means of resolving the problem of infertility and ontological mortality in Africa. The reason is that it will make African Christians lose their identity and their proud heritage, which involves transmission and protection of life.

From the above illustration, it is clear that offspring is very important for the Africans, and it is equally evident that these ‘theologically coated traditional approaches’ could not provide a lasting solution to the problem of infertility and ontological mortality in Africa. We have also seen that contrary to what the proponents of these methods purported, their approaches are incompatible with traditional Christian values. Hence, these approaches consider marriage as an instrument for procreation.

In this view, we shall argue that the approaches used by these theologians to resolve the problems of childlessness and ontological mortality seem to support the ideology that cultural values are absolute and therefore unchangeable and timelessly valid both in meaning and in importance for every generation. We, therefore, presume that since they have not taken into account the dynamism of culture in the formation of their thoughts, their approaches lack cultural self-recollection and contextualization. This explains why their approaches still encourage and perpetuate oppressive and discriminative traditions. For this reason, we shall propose in this work a new method of approach to childlessness and ontological mortality which involves marriage based on ogo bu chi onye⁷ as an enduring and lasting solution to the problem of childlessness and ontological mortality in Africa in general and in Igboland in particular. This method is within the reach of every married person and does not discriminate against any person ‘whether a barren woman or an impotent man.’ It does not conflict with Christian values. In fact, it promotes an African theology of marriage and has much to contribute to a Christian theology of marriage. The greatest promise of this approach is that it will allow African Christians to practice their faith as Christians and still maintain their African identity. This approach will harness the positive elements in traditional African marriage and Christian marriage, through the process of what we called regenerative inculturation, a new method of evangelization that seeks to resolve cultural issues from within by reinforcing, reevaluating, and transforming (perfecting) cultural values in the light of the gospel message. In the light of the foregoing, our hypothesis, therefore, states that the discrimination against childless marriage contradicts the very logic of the African tradition from which it stems and should therefore be criticized and corrected. In his address to the bishops of Africa, Kampala 1969, among the two sentiments which Paul VI claimed that filled his heart was the desire to foster that African believers are both Christians and Africans.⁸ Therefore, we follow the same step in formulating our research question: how can the childless couples be truly Christian and African?

Methodology

From the description so far, the reader will recognize that the research leading to this work is at the interface between marriage and eschatological principles in traditional African religion. So necessarily, it is transdisciplinary involving the fields of theology, ethics, and the social sciences. Thus, an interdisciplinary approach is employed based on variegated literature from theology and the social sciences. Also, the research consisted of careful and critical study of some relevant contributors to the discourse on marriage, life after death, and destiny of the human person within the African context. Hence, a well-balanced combination of historical, descriptive, analytical, evaluative, and critical methods of theological reflection are employed in an attempt to present a theologically and ethically sound understanding of marriage, life after death, and the destiny of the human person. This study, as much as possible, engages with works that can be regarded as representative of some crucial views within African and Christian ethics on issues involving marriage and the destiny of the human person.

It should be pointed out that this work is not about African culture in general; hence, it is not expected to contain all facts about marriage, life after death, and the destiny of the human person in all African cultures. For this reason, our main focus is on Igbo culture. I chose Igbo culture not simply because I am an Igbo but also because the Igbos are so much attached to offspring due to the belief in reincarnation with the hope of joining the ancestors as their primary goal in life. However, for purposes of emphasis and confirmation of facts, we will make sporadic references to other African cultures that share the same cultural beliefs with the Igbo in connection to marriage and life after death.

An Overview of This Work

We structured this work into three major parts with six chapters. The first part centers on the Igbo/African worldview: religion, marriage, and eschatological thoughts and beliefs. The second part inquires into Christian perspectives on marriage, death, and life after death. The third part focuses on inculturation. The reason for this structure is consequent upon what we aim to achieve in the entire study: to establish how Africans can be truly Africans and truly Christians. In the course of the study, it became clear that inculturation is the best approach. That is, integrating African cultural values (that are compatible with gospel message) into Christianity so that Africans can live the gospel message as Africans without losing their identity.

However, for an authentic inculturation, the agents of inculturation should be well grounded in African cultures, values, and religiosities, and also, the person should be well informed about the gospel message and Christianity. This inspired us to explore the African worldview: religion, marriage, eschatological beliefs, as well as the Christian perspective on these issues. Consequently, the goal here is to make the path to inculturation easily accessible. Thus, if the agents of inculturation are ignorant of African cultural values, philosophies, and religiosities or if they do not understand Christianity, it is useless engaging in inculturation.

Chapter one deals with Igbo/African traditional religion and worldview. This traditional African religion and worldview is founded on belief in a Supreme Being, who created all the creatures. In this worldview, Africans believe that the human person, though mortal, is destined to a life of immortality. This life after death is preserved in the cult of ancestors. In fact, belief in life after death and the cult of ancestors form the basis of this research because the fertility-centered goal of traditional Igbo/African marriage implies aspiration toward sustaining one’s life in the form of ontological immortality. In Africa, God is seen as the source of all life. This divine life is conveyed to the living through the channel of the first ancestors of the family, clan, and tribe. However, in addition to the biological sense of physical generation, the most important aspect of the ancestral life is the mythical concept, enshrined in all that makes life worthwhile. The ancestors have bequeathed to their descendants all their wisdom, custom, and laws, which serve for the well-being of the society. Hence, it is the responsibility of every member of the community to ensure the continued well-being of the community. The living, therefore, need to follow this ancestral model of full and complete life and to make the example and the experiences of the ancestors their own. In that sense, each good act, that is each act in conformity with the model of the ancestors, adds to the life force of the community. This is because salvation, wholeness, and the meaning of life are bound up with the ancestors, who are the guardians of the present and the guarantors of the future. Thus, the future is existential possibility, the success or failure of which depends upon how far the heritage of the ancestors is actualized. The life of the community, therefore, is a mystical body that derives from the ancestors and may be strengthened or weakened by the actions of its members.⁹ For instance, sin weakens the life of the mystical body. In the words of Bujo, ‘African society is a real mystical body, encompassing both the dead and living members, in which every member has an obligation to every other.’¹⁰

However, the Church is yet to free herself from the fear that ancestor veneration is incompatible with Christianity. Even many African Christians do not see any incompatibility between ancestor veneration and worshipping of God. This area of African cultural life needs to be integrated into Christianity because it is a matter of great concern to Africans and has a lot to do with African identity. In the light of these clarifications, Nzomiwu argues, ‘If Christ was presented to the Igbo people as the ancestor par excellence of all humankind, a new Christology based on Igbo culture would evolve. It would then become evident to them why Christ should be worshipped.’¹¹ In this chapter, we shall discuss about the Igbo people, their religion, and their worldview. We will also explore the African concept of the human person. We shall examine how Africans in general and the Igbo in particular conceive of morality and sin.

The search for the meaning of human existence and what happens beyond death confronts human beings in every age. Against this background, the prospects and expectations about life after death are the primary concerns of humans. Consequently, these concerns constitute determinant factors in the way they live their lives here on earth. Besides, the most persistent questions humans explore through their myths and religions are those pertaining to death, rebirth, resurrection, reincarnation, and a life hereafter. Hence, one might posit a crucial question: is there another life after life on earth? Chapter two of this work will concern itself with these issues raised from African perspective. In other words, in this chapter, we will explain the African concept of time. Also, the Igbo/African concept of death, myths associated with the origin of death, and the nature of death will be evaluated. This chapter will also examine the Igbo/African beliefs in life after death, immortality, and reincarnation.

Chapter three focuses on traditional Igbo/African marriage. The problems, myths, and superstitions associated with infertility and childlessness make this chapter very crucial. These problems, as far as we can attest, are the result of misinterpretation of the criteria and the nature of the destiny of the human person. This misreading has led some Africans to misconstrue the meaning and essence of the marital relationship. Thus, marriage is projected as an instrument for procreation; without offspring there is no marriage. This work, therefore, focuses on traditional Igbo marriage in order to reexamine its assumptions and practices especially how to sustain traditional Igbo marriage and how to phase out those beliefs and practices that discriminate against less-privileged couples especially in the area of fertility and procreation of male children. This reevaluation should also be seen as recognition of the fact that the traditional African marriage is still viable for many people today. It may also have values which modern society needs. In other words, there are values enshrined in traditional Igbo marriage that can be integrated into Christianity.¹²

Hence, in this chapter, we shall evaluate the nature, process, and essence of marriage in Igboland. We will also analyze the problems and challenges of infertility. The myths and superstitions of infertility especially in Igbo culture will be discussed. We will equally explain the traditional response to the problems of infertility. The difficulties and the sufferings of the childless among the Igbo will be articulated.

The fourth chapter introduces part two of this work. It will focus on the Christian perception of the human person, death, and life after death. In fact, it is presented in this work as a contrast to African beliefs and thoughts about death and life after death. Christians believe that the human person is a being created in God’s image, with the capacity to know and love its creator. They assume that the human person is already redeemed by Christ from the bondage of sin and slavery. This assumption goes further to affirm that the human person is called to overcome death and be in eternal communication with God. Christians equally claim that this destiny is a gift that requires free response to God’s love, faith in Jesus, and faith in works of charity.

African Christians believe that death is natural to the human person and a necessary event for the destiny of the human person. Consequently, they respond to death in different ways: some suppress it, some protest against it in terror, and some accept it in good faith and integrate it in their lives. Hence, one’s attitudes to life always reflect one’s relationship to death, and the way one dies shows how meaningful, or meaningless, one’s life has been.¹³ In this chapter, we will focus on the nature, dimension, and the destiny of the human person. We will also explore the Christian theology of death. We will discuss the core Christian beliefs in life after death.

Chapter five concentrates on Christian marriage. The Christian understanding of marriage drastically changed with the inception of the Second Vatican Council. Thus, emphasis was laid on the personal dimension. In addition to that, the council fathers recognized the good of the spouses as one of the purposes of marriage. These innovations brought a significant change in the way the Church perceives marriage. Nevertheless, the Second Vatican Council still upholds the divine origin and influence of God’s law in marriage. As a result, Christians believe that marriage is instituted for procreation and for the well-being of the spouses.¹⁴ Hence, in this chapter, we will evaluate God’s plan for marriage: procreation, the good of spouses, and conjugal love. We will also examine the properties of marriage and the process of marriage. We will also discuss how the Catholic Church understands fertility in marriage.

Chapter six introduces the third part of this work. It focuses on inculturation. In this chapter, we will argue that there is need for an inculturated Christianity in Africa. This is because the Christianity that was brought to Africa has not been incarnated in the culture. A considerable number of baptized Africans adhere unto Christ; some are disillusioned, others resort to syncretism, while others are not sure. These findings make a reevaluation of the whole situation imperative.¹⁵ Three major reasons inspired this movement toward a search for authentic African Christianity. First, the Christianity brought by early Western missionaries is a Christianity clothed in Western culture. Second, it is a departmentalized Christianity. And finally, it failed to recognize African religious symbols and cultural values. For these reasons, Christianity has not taken root in African soil. However, when we say that Christianity brought by Western missionaries is ‘departmentalized Christianity,’ we mean that the doctrine is presented in the form of question and answer. They were highly intellectual, idealistic, static, and conceptual. We insist on a new approach to evangelization of African cultures because a departmentalized form of evangelization yielded a faith formation that lacks any reference to the stories of people’s encounter with their God, their religious symbols, their expressions of faith, anxieties, concerns, joys, and their day-to-day experiences. Therefore, since the new faith has no bearing on the people’s cultural values due to the fact that it has not been inculturated, their Christian faith remains superficial. The missionaries not only demoralized the religious symbols of the Africans but also destroyed some of them. Consequently, people could no longer connect with their God because it is through these religious symbols that they are connected with God. Nzomiwu presented the picture in the following words:

The acceptance of new faith was not easy for the Igbos. It meant, in practice a profound revolution in their lives, beliefs, and customs. At this stage authentic Christianity was understood as throwing off the ‘Old Man’ – everything that was connected with their lives prior to the advent of Christianity. The new converts, with full support and encouragement of the white missionaries, often launched assaults upon traditional customs, beliefs and institutions.¹⁶

Nevertheless, the early missionaries on their own part could not provide substitutes for these religious symbols. As a result, since the Christianity they presented is devoid of religious symbols that people are familiar with, the new converts could not connect to their God. It is within this context that we shall introduce the approach of regenerative inculturation whereby the religious symbols and cultural values of the people will be incorporated into Christian faith in such a manner that after they have been transformed and perfected, they will be able to enhance the gospel message so that Christianity will be part and parcel of the people’s life and their culture. This is in line with Lumen Gentium that the goal of evangelization should not destroy nor impoverish the cultures of the peoples; rather, the gospel of Christ should raise them, perfect them, render them fruitful within, strengthen them, complete them, and restore them in Christ.¹⁷ As Prisca Wagura puts it:

For Africans to have an African Christianity, there is great need to incorporate many of their symbols and traditional religious values in the Christian beliefs and practices. This means that the Christianity that was brought to Africa robed in the European culture has to be disrobed and adapted to the African cultural expressions so as to achieve a truly African Christianity worthy of the name.¹⁸

This reevaluation of Christianity in Africa, according to Uzukwu, requires what he calls Theologia Africana. Uzukwu underscores that from a Christian point of view, Theologia Africana means the interpretation and explication of the Christ event in African concepts and symbols. In other words, it means to build a systematic theology based on African concepts and symbols.¹⁹ Nzomiwu calls it the ‘de-Westernization process.’²⁰ Hence, this chapter deals with inculturation, other terms that designate inculturation, and the theology of regenerative inculturation.

PART I

Understanding the Role of Offspring and the Problem of Childlessness in the Igbo Culture: An Ethnographic Approach to African Worldview

INTRODUCTION

The Igbo people could be understood from the historical, economical, cultural, religious, and social factors that are characteristic for them.²¹ The language, customs, cosmological ideas, and religious practices are features common to all Igbo.²² The Igbo are nothing if not overwhelmingly religious, and all accounts of their existence reflect their religiosity. They believe that God is the creator and the one who sustains the universe. All divinities and all categories of spirits inhabiting this world and the spirit world derive their essence from God. They are his created beings. The Igbo call the human person mmadu. They believe that mmadu is destined to immortality. This work, as we mentioned before, has three parts. The first part is divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, we shall discuss the Igbo view on the world, the human person, and the human community. In the second chapter, we shall focus on the Igbo view on life and life after death. In the third chapter, we shall concentrate on the Igbo view on procreation and marriage.

CHAPTER ONE

The Igbo View on the World, the Human Person, and the Human Community

Introduction

The Igbo cosmology has three dimensions: as an explanatory device, as a system of ethics, and as an action system. As an explanatory device, the Igbo cosmology explains the origin and character of the universe. ‘As a system of ethics, it defines what the Igbo ought to do and what they ought to avoid. And as an action system, it reveals what the Igbo actually do as manifested in their overt and covert behavior.’²³ These dimensions of the Igbo cosmology are linked together by life. For instance, life is necessary to complete the cyclic nature of the Igbo world – birth, death, and reincarnation. Second, the morality of the Igbo people centers on life; they consider anything that promotes life as morally good and reject anything that hinders life as morally bad. Finally, marriage as an obligatory duty has as its purpose the transmission of life. Childless marriage, therefore, is morally bad because there is no transmission of life, and it makes reincarnation, which helps to complete one’s life cycle, impossible. It also endangers the life of the community. This brief introduction will help us to understand the first three chapters of this work. This chapter is made up of six sections. In the first section, we will discuss cosmology and worldview. In the second section, we will explain the world of the spirit. In the third section, we will explore the human spirit. In the fourth section, we will discuss the human person. In the fifth section, we will focus on the human community and the Igbo morality. The final section will deal with the conclusion.

1.1. Cosmology and Worldview

The Igbo constitute one of the three major cultural groups in Nigeria. They reside in the southeastern part of the country. ‘They live on both banks of the Niger between five and seven degrees north latitude and six and eight degrees east longitude. Their neighbors are Tiv, Igala, and Idoma (to the north), the Ekoi and Ibibio (to the east), and the Ijaw and Edo (to the south and west, respectively).’²⁴ The Igbo inhabit an area of some 15,800 square miles.²⁵ In spite of the present division of Igboland by creation of states in 1976 by the federal government of Nigeria, the Igbo still occupy a dense area of land and have retained much of their traditional unity, especially in the areas of religion and culture.²⁶ Today, the Igbo people are found in almost all parts of the country, and they number about twenty-five million.²⁷

To know how a people view the world around them involves, though not exclusively, how they appraise life, and a people’s evaluation of life, both temporal and nontemporal, provides them with a ‘charter’ of action, a guide to behavior.²⁸ In this regard, Chris Ukachukwu notes:

Igbo conception of death and the after-life must be said to have derived from a communitarian view of the cosmos where the material, the spiritual and the socio-cultural realities are only made intelligible through interaction and reciprocity. As an explanatory device, and as a guide to morality, Igbo cosmology issues from the origin and character of the universe as the Igbo conceived of it and all that there is in that world.²⁹

Suffice it to say that to the Igbo, the secular and the sacred, the natural and the supernatural, are a continuum.³⁰ Zulu Sofola, sharing the same view, maintains that in the African cosmos there is unity, an infinite transition, and continuity in movement. Thus, he writes:

The African world is an integrated cosmos with a unique fluidity that makes unbroken continuity possible. It is a state of perpetual transmutation. The cosmos is seen as possessing a nerve centre that holds all aspects of existence in place, but which at the same time, gives each being free access to self-determination and volitional involvement in life without jeopardizing the existence of others.³¹

Thus, the universe is perceived in cyclical terms; that is, existence and time move in repeated and endless cycles. It has been suggested that ‘the cyclical mold is perhaps derived from the flow of agricultural and festival seasons.’³² This implies that, in the Igbo traditional religion, there is no indication that the universe will come to an end although it had a clear beginning. This hypothesis is based on the firm belief that the creator will not destroy creation. This explains why in various tribes in Africa there are series of rituals that celebrate and reenact the rites of birth, death, and rebirth.³³ Accordingly, the Igbo agree with Sofola that there is continuity in movement, a perpetual transition, cyclical in nature, yet not dichotomous. That is to say, the present is the meeting point between the past and the future, the past is converted into the present, and the present is moving toward the future.³⁴

However, authors differ with regard to the nature of the universe. Some believe in a tripartite notion of cosmos, while others suggest that the Igbo hold a dual view of the world. The dualistic view of the world recognizes the existence of a Supreme Being, gods and ancestors who occupy the invisible world while humanity and the natural things occupy the visible world. One might say that between these worlds there is neither a dualism nor a monism but a vital connection or what could be an active interaction.³⁵ Against this background, the Igbo think of their world in terms of a visible and invisible community. The visible community includes members of the family, the clan, and the tribe. And the invisible community includes God, gods, spirits, and ancestors.³⁶

The tripartite view maintains that there are three facets of the universe, namely the heavens, the earth, and the underworld,³⁷ which lies below it.³⁸ According to Ogbu Kalu, ‘the Supreme being God and major divinities of the communities inhabit the sky. Patron gods or nature spirits live on earth with the prominent Earth mother. The ancestral spirits live in the world beneath, the spirit world.’³⁹ In the same vein, Christopher Ejizu maintains that the sky above is the dwelling place of the Supreme God; the earth is the abode of the Earth-deity, human beings, animate and inanimate, as well as nature spirits, while the underworld is the home of the ancestors.⁴⁰

Adiele Afigbo claims that the cosmos is both visible and invisible with five kingdoms: the spiritual, the human, the animal, the plant, and the mineral kingdoms. The five kingdoms are interconnected in such a manner that each kingdom has common borders with the other four.⁴¹ God lives in this invisible world. Far below the dwelling place of God, one will find the natural spirits and then the region occupied by the souls of the dead. This latter region has three zones. The first zone is inhabited by those who had lived well and had been buried well. The middle part is occupied by those who lived well but never had a befitting burial. The third part of this domain is reserved for the souls of evil men and women.⁴² One of the unifying elements in these views about the Igbo world is that there is an interaction between the visible and invisible world – the world of the living (human beings), the world of the dead (ancestors), and the world of the spirits (God and gods). However, to be saved in a complex world where spirits exert their powers and influence would be a herculean task.

A brief explanation of the Igbo people’s perception of reality is in order here. The Igbo’s understanding of reality informs their view of the world as dynamic, a world of moving equilibrium. It is an equilibrium threatened by spiritual forces, which can cause famine, epidemic, drought, premature death, and so on. They also believe that these spiritual forces can be manipulated for one’s own purpose. Perhaps, that is why people focus so much on the maintenance of social and cosmological balance in the world. In fact, this is a crucial theme in Igbo life.⁴³ Nevertheless, the consciousness of the influence and the power of spiritual beings create in them a sense of helplessness. In situations like this, the tendency is to avoid, control, resist, or make good use of these forces. Harry Sawyer gives a brief explanation of different steps taken before humanity came to a peaceful relation with the spiritual forces in the world. According to him, the human person first:

Resists and seeks to control the forces which constitutes his environment, by devising a power which he postulates can subdue them. This is magic. The factors of life however remain unbending and so he surrenders and later subordinates himself to numinous. He then establishes a code of ethical behaviour that would establish a full rapport with the deity he serves.⁴⁴

In an attempt to survive, the Igbo enter into enduring covenants with the spiritual forces.⁴⁵ John Jordan asserts:

To the Ibo, sacrifice was a necessary step towards keeping away adversity and toward propitiating the spirits for some evil committed. The adversity might be ill-health or loss of property or injury or anything indeed that had the stamp of misfortune. If the disaster could not easily be traced to human or known causes, then it was the result of spirit work and spirit needed gifts and propitiatory sacrifices.⁴⁶

This background information shows why Africans have reverence for the spirits. It explains why much attention is given to a universe in which spiritual reality is crucial and deliverance from hostile forces becomes object of religious rituals and covenanting. For the Igbo, this is salvation. Kalu argues that salvation in this sense works into two ways: salvation from evil forces and salvation into the realm of achieving success and obtaining the goal of things of life till reverent old age. Kalu equally insists that ‘salvation is not merely achieved by running away from inimical forces to safe havens but by consolidating and abiding in and with the saving spirits through a covenant, which is periodically reinforced – daily, annually, seasonally as the case may be.’⁴⁷ John Mbiti puts it this way: ‘Salvation in African religion has to do with physical and immediate danger that threatens individual and community survival, good health and general prosperity or safety. Salvation is not just an abstraction, nor is salvation in African religion something to be realized at the end of time. It has been experienced in the past and it is being experienced in the present.’⁴⁸

We could be wrong in our estimation of the Igbo cosmology if we fail to recognize the anthropomorphic and anthropocentric nature of the Igbo world.⁴⁹ Africans believe that humanity is at the center of the world. They name objects and value them according to whether they harm or help humanity. For instance, the Igbo call the earth the god of fertility, they regard thunder as god of justice to punish the offenders, and they address the Supreme Being as father. Apart from giving these objects human names, they confer human qualities to them, attributing to them their needs and desires. Humans do this with the hope that they treat them in the same way as humans trying to gain their support and pleading with these forces to protect them against imminent dangers.⁵⁰ In this connection, Ikechukwu Onyenyili argues:

What some foreign authors call anthropomorphism is nothing but the refusal of the Ibo cultural spirit to give a separate and static existence to abstract notions. Every reality must have a reference to a person in order to be considered as a reality. But a person is not an abstract mind, but a whole man with feelings, emotions, thoughts and beliefs. So everything based on the person or self must be alive.⁵¹

However, this does not mean that Africans cannot comprehend abstract notions or realities, but Africans believe that everything was created for man; anything that does not come under his control and equally at his service does not exist. For instance, Mbiti argues that ‘man, in some ways, considers himself to be the centre of the universe, and this egocentrism makes him interpret the universe both anthropocentrically and anthropomorphically.’⁵²

From our discussion, we can see a more or less perfect explanation of the origin of the universe and humanity. The Igbo people embrace the universe as a handiwork of God and the theater where human beings struggle to realize life destiny.⁵³ In Igbo world, there is constant interaction between the world of spirits and the world of human beings. In the world of spirits, there are four main categories of spiritual beings: the supreme God, gods, the ancestral spirits, and evil spirits. It is not an overstatement to say that the Igbo find religion as key to maintaining cosmological balance with the divine realities. We will now discuss about the African traditional religion and the concept of God.

1.1.1. Belief in Supreme Being

Humanity is endowed with supernatural potentiality. This is evident in their religious cravings. The soul has a natural capacity for a simple knowledge of God, a capacity to desire him and commune with him.⁵⁴ This constitutes an essential aspect of religion. Francis Arinze defines religion against the background of African (Igbo) traditional religion. Subjectively, he conceives of religion as one’s dependence on a Supreme Being and the inclination to worship him. Objectively, he describes religion as a set of truths, laws, and rites through which human beings honor and worship a transcendent being.⁵⁵ Arinze believes that every religion comprises beliefs, rites, and laws, but he treats these components of religion under three folds: objects of beliefs, cult, and morality. He maintains that objects of religious beliefs and worship in the strict sense include God, nonhuman spirits, and the ancestors.⁵⁶ We will explore these objects of African traditional religion as we advance in our research.

The most fundamental characteristic of African culture is that it is intertwined with and rooted in religion. It is this religious aspect of the people’s life that informs and influences other facets of the culture. Hence, there is no dichotomy between the secular and the sacred.⁵⁷ Nevertheless, African theologians maintain that ‘African traditional religion has not been systematized or formulated into a body of dogma which the adherents have to learn. Instead, they are embodied in their religious-cultural life, in their names, religious and ritual worship, in their language, proverbs and their moral virtues, which are generally manifested in their conduct.’⁵⁸ Geoffrey Parrinder argues that, though there are no written texts, this does not mean that African traditional religion has no history. And the fact that there is no written history or text does not make African traditional religion primitive.⁵⁹

African traditional religion has been misunderstood and has suffered more at the hands of the early writers.⁶⁰ The complexity of African traditional religion could be responsible for this. For example, African traditional religion has posed serious problems to many scholars, which include ethnologists, anthropologists, and even Christian missionaries because it challenges any simple classification and definition.⁶¹ Similarly, Africans are misunderstood and misinterpreted because they see the universe