Omumu - the Igbo Life-value
Omumu - the Igbo Life-value

Author: Peter Chidi Okuma

Publisher: Peter Lang

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 9783631581834

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In 1998 a group of scholars with Catholic, Anglican and Jewish background gathered at a symposium to review Humanae vitae 30 years after its publication. On the 40-year anniversary of Humanae vitae in 2008, the issues raised in that controversial encyclical letter still border and affect humans especially in the light of modern scientific and biotechnological development. This book is a contribution to that debate in the sense of being unbiased and from an African perspective meant to balance the «sense and insensibilities» from both polarities of the world. It is an X-ray through a hermeneutical-anthropological «Weltanschauung» (worldview) of the Igbo of Southeastern Nigeria.

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

Published: 2015-08-06

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 3832540377

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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.

Achievement as Value in the Igbo/African Identity
Achievement as Value in the Igbo/African Identity

Author: Vernantius Emeka Ndukaihe

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 9783825899295

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Achievement seems to be a first-class value in our world today. With the ongoing global debate on what constitutes identity, can we include achievement as one of the constituents? In the Igbo/African identity, the achievement instinct is basically innate. The ethics of this phenomenon needs an evaluation, aimed at improving the status quo. What is the plight of the Igbo/African "achieving" in the face of modern capitalistic tendencies? What has become of the many other values in her identity, which has been her pride as a race? How is her religiosity (which is inseparable from daily living) affected by "modernity" and its new trends of the achievement ethos? These are some of the issues that are addressed in this book with the conviction that theology, achievement and identity are continuity.

Poverty and the Church in Igboland, Nigeria
Poverty and the Church in Igboland, Nigeria

Author: Anthony Okwudili Achunonu

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1479732133

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The main objective of this book is to re-evaluate the true meaning of the term poverty' in the world as a whole and in Nigeria in particular. From a sociological point of view, poverty is the natural consequence of economic inequity amongst social groups, a type of inequity often generated by the inability of the political class to provide and maintain basic amenities in the society. This book highlights so many complex reasons that are responsible for this type of inability, prominent amongst them being mismanagement of funds in most political setups. Our investigation from this book shows that there's a great difference between the various forms of poverty in western countries and in other countries of the world. Poverty may be caused by individual, social, cultural, ethical and moral issues. These various causes of poverty are often correlated. In Nigeria, poverty is mainly caused by lack of moral sensitivities amongst political leaders and by lack of initiatives for cultural, social and economic empowerment of the less privileged. Most striking is the fact that there is no basic well-established governmental structure meant to assist those who languish in poverty. This book discusses the real-life situation of those who suffer and are living in abject poverty. The book also discusses proposals that can help improve their condition. In line with this, the effective contributions the church can make in order to fight poverty will be taken into consideration. In fact, it is not enough for the church to know that the situation of long-term injustice in Nigeria is crippling the country; rather, she has also to live up to her mission vis-à-vis the poor and the marginalised who are living in the country.

The Significant Role of Initiation in the Traditional Igbo Culture and Religion
The Significant Role of Initiation in the Traditional Igbo Culture and Religion

Author: George Nnaemeka Oranekwu

Publisher: Iko

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13:

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In the face of the difficult task of inculturating the Christian faith in Igboland, christianizing the Igbo and igbonizing Christianity, this book offers an interesting and inspiring study of Igbo traditional initiation forms in comparison with the Christian sacraments of initiation. Because of its characteristic features and the significant role in Igbo tradition and culture, it proposes traditional Igbo initiation forms as inculturation basis for pastoral catechesis of Christian initiation.

Research in African Literatures
Research in African Literatures

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13:

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Vol. 1- , spring 1970- , include "A Bibliography of American doctoral dissertations on African literature," compiled by Nancy J. Schmidt.

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

Published: 2020-06-24

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 1725265702

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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.