The Future of Christian Marriage among the Igbo vis-a-vis Childlessnes

The Future of Christian Marriage among the Igbo vis-a-vis Childlessnes
Author: Augustus Chukwuma Izekwe
Publisher: Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2015-08-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3832540377

Marriage was ordained by God for the good of spouses and for procreation. But how often does marriage turn out to bring unhappiness to partners! And how often do even happy marriages end up childless! Among the Igbo of South-eastern Nigeria, to whom offspring is the chief goal of marriage, childlessness leads often to unhappiness in marriage and not less often to the break-up of marriages or to polygamy. In this work, the author expounds the importance of marriage and its practice among the Igbo. He explains the importance of children in Igbo understanding of marriage and identifies childlessness as the key factor which could endanger (and sometimes do endanger) the Igbo acceptance of the Catholic doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage. Using the relevant clauses of the Code of Canon Law, the author explains in detail the Catholic understanding of marriage and the goals of the catholic doctrine on marriage. He writes of the possibility of marriage impediments due to impotence and sterility (that lead to childlessness) and recommends not only a thorough pre-marriage preparation but also a continual formation of marriage couples as efforts that could check the increasing rate of divorce and polygamy due to childlessness. But the author knows that childlessness can still occur despite all precautions. He therefore recommends adoption (instead of polygamy) as the ultimate panacea to childlessness in marriage. The author condemns in unmistakable terms the mentality among the Igbo which blames and traumatizes the woman in cases of childlessness.

Resolving the Prevailing Conflicts Between Christianity and African (Igbo) Traditional Religion Through Inculturation

Resolving the Prevailing Conflicts Between Christianity and African (Igbo) Traditional Religion Through Inculturation
Author: Edwin Anaegboka Udoye
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2011
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 364390116X

For not integrating initially some of the good elements in Igbo culture, many Igbo Christians have double personality - Christian personality and traditional personality. They are Christians on Sundays but traditionalists on weekdays. To combat such an anomalous situation, in imitation of Christ's effort at completing what was lacking in the Jewish religion, author Edwin Udoye proposes radical inculturation. His book equally contains many serious theological reflections such that it recommends itself to both theologians and the scholars researching on the religions of the world. Udoye has therefore made a very significant contribution worthy of commendation to both theological and religious studies.

Marriage in the Christian and Igbo Traditional Context

Marriage in the Christian and Igbo Traditional Context
Author: Emmanuel Okonkwo
Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing
Total Pages: 268
Release: 2003
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien. Traditional marriage and Christian marriage rites presently exist as two distinct ceremonies in some parts of Africa. Is there no way of bringing the two together to avoid any form of duplication or multiplication of rite? More so because the Church has always implicitly recognised matrimonial institution as a cultural product. The answer to the above question is located in the whole issue of inculturation. A process that successfully flourished in the Western civilisation and consequently influenced the teaching of the Church on marriage. The answer to our question seeks to establish a marriage rite where couples will genuinely experience the happy marriage between culture and Church. A marriage rite that will fulfil both the traditional and Christian demands. Contents: Concrete steps towards the inculturation of Christian sacramental and Igbo traditional marriage.

African Women and the Shame and Pain of Infertility

African Women and the Shame and Pain of Infertility
Author: Damasus C. Okoro
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2020-06-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1725265710

In African Women and the Shame and Pain of Infertility: An Ethico-Cultural Study of Christian Response to Childlessness among the Igbo People of West Africa, Okoro discusses the shipwreck that is associated with infertility in marriage in Africa. Within this space, childlessness places a big question mark on a woman's femininity and the self-esteem of the man. The stigma of infertility most often leads to social isolation and humiliation, particularly of married women, even when the source of infertility may not have come from them. Unfortunately, this situation goes against the highly valued Igbo ethical principle of onye aghala nwanne ya, meaning "no kith or kin should be left behind." Therefore, the purpose of the book is to help married people in Igbo land and Africa at large to appropriate this indigenous principle in their response to the problem of infertility. To attain this, the author critically evaluates discrimination and oppression of infertile couples, particularly women, and shedding light on the paradoxes found in Igbo cultural expressions. He employs a constructive, ethical, cultural, religious, contextual, and theological approach that explores important Igbo religious paradigms like Chi (an Igbo religio-cultural understanding of personal destiny) and Ani (the feminine deity in-charge of the land and fertility) to argue the case for the liberation and integration of infertile couples.

Social Work, Social Welfare, and Social Development in Nigeria

Social Work, Social Welfare, and Social Development in Nigeria
Author: Mel Gray
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2023-05-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000880710

This groundbreaking book provides a comprehensive account of social work, social welfare, and social development in Nigeria from a postcolonial perspective. It examines the historical development of social work and social welfare and the colonial legacies affecting contemporary social welfare provision, development planning, social work practice, and social work education. Against this historical backdrop, it seeks to understand the position of social work within Nigeria’s minimalist structure of welfare provision and the reasons why social work struggles for legitimacy and recognition today. It covers contexts of social work practice, including child welfare, juvenile justice, disabilities, mental health, and ageing, as well as areas of development-related problems and humanitarian assistance as new areas of practice for social workers, including internally displaced and trafficked people, and their impact on women and children. It seeks to understand Nigeria’s ethnoreligious diversity and indigenous cultural heritage to inform culturally appropriate social work practice. This book offers a global audience insight into Nigeria’s developmental issues and problems and a local audience – social science and human service researchers, educators, practitioners, students, and policymakers - a glimpse of what’s possible when people work together toward a common goal. It will be of interest to all scholars and students of social work, development studies and social policy.

Emerging Conversations on Theofiliation

Emerging Conversations on Theofiliation
Author: Kenneth Ameke
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 491
Release: 2019-10-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1796061107

It is in honour of the silver jubilee of Most Rev. Anthony J. V. Obinna’s episcopacy that this book is put together in this first volume titled Emerging Conversations on Theofiliation: Essays in Honour of Archbishop Anthony J. V. Obinna. This volume discusses and enlarges insights inherent in Archbishop Obinna’s theological thinking on theofiliation. Therefore, the contributors to this volume critically examine his idea of theofiliation from their areas of speciality as a further exploration of this theological term. The willingness of the contributors has resulted in a collection that envisage the eclectic and heterogeneous scholarly vision of its honouree. Besides, the contributors to this maiden edition encompass both illustrious theologians and promising researchers in theology, philosophy, psychology, and management. The themes discussed by the contributors are grouped into biblical/comparative study, systematic/pastoral, ethical/management, philosophical/political, and anthropological issues. The enriching and diverse collections of this volume have five thematic sections of nineteen chapters that theofiliation brings together. “This Festschrift in honour of Amarachi Obinna is a compendium of usable knowledge. The authors have dealt with various themes largely inspired by the theology and practice of the archbishop. This conviction leads to the reflections on theofiliation, the reinGodment of all creation. The Festschrift is truly a treasure” (Prof. John Obilor, Imo State University Owerri). “This book is an insightful reading which will serve as an inspirational theological wellspring for emerging scholars engaged in articulating a robust African contextual theology to which it breathes fresh air. The spirit of dynamism in Archbishop Obinna’s novel brainchild of theofiliation is manifested in its applicability to wide-ranging academic disciplines” (William Odeke Owire, KU Leuven).

Compassion - A Pastoral Paradigm for Integral Salvation and the Growth of the Church

Compassion - A Pastoral Paradigm for Integral Salvation and the Growth of the Church
Author: Edwin Ikechukwu Ozioko
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2020-03-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3643911017

Compassion is the dynamic force of all pastoral engagement. Without it, Salvation is impossible. With it, the salvation of the human person both spiritually and materially is assured. It is a deep natural, philosophical, theological, and religious value. The proper assimilation of this value, with all its implications, marks a turning point in one's life. It opens up one, not only to love and to be loved, but also to see things, not as they are, but as they should be. It marks one's entry into the crusade of the universal- pastor-hood; a heart-driven crusade that abhors all forms of exploitation and abuses. A crusade of socio-political wellbeing realized through politics of compassion.