Description
Book SynopsisThis book elucidates the dynamism of culture and how cultural expressions are often intertwined with religious expressions. The Catholic Church, while conscious of the profound cultural diversity within her membership, earnestly seeks to inculturate the gospel message in these cultures, for a better expressed, experienced, and lived Catholicism in the modern world. Relational and theological expressions of Eucharistic communion increase in wealth and meaning when Christians of different races and cultures are able to understand the global call to unity and interconnectivity in the world today. Relating the clear theological and relational aspects of Eucharistic communion to the traditional rituals of communion expressed in Igbo culture enriches both the encountered faith and lived culture. The rituals of communion in Igbo tradition studied in this book, namely, Emume Iwa ?j? (Kola nut Ritual), Emume Iri Ji ?h?r? (New Yam Festival), and ?gba Orik? (Ritual Meal of
Trade Review
“In her comprehensive, integrative, scholarly research, Mary-Reginald Ngozi Anibueze relates neatly the theological aspects of Eucharistic Communion in terms of thanksgiving, meal sharing, fellowship, reconciliation, and unity, to the current traditional rituals of commensality among Ndigbo of Nigeria. These traditional Igbo rituals underscore the necessary link between the Christian faith and cultural practices, thus forming the basis for an authentic liturgical inculturation that is truly Christian and fully cultural.” —Fr. Patrick C. Chibuko, Professor of Sacred Liturgy, Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
“Mary-Reginald Ngozi Anibueze’s excellent multi-disciplinary study brings together liturgical studies, ritual studies, and theology into a wonderful synthetic approach to the question of inculturation and accommodation within the Igbo culture of southern Nigeria. As one who knows this culture intimately, Anibueze describes and interprets various indigenous rituals, especially sacred meal rituals, and their Eucharistic overtones and their potential implications for celebrating especially the Roman Catholic Eucharist in this cultural context. This will be of interest to anthropologists, ritual theorists, and, not least, to liturgical scholars.” —Prof. Maxwell E. Johnson, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
Table of Contents
Foreword – Acknowledgment – Introduction – Culture and Inculturation: A Christian Understanding – Inculturation: An Evolving Process – Theological Basis for Inculturation – The Dynamism and Meaning of Culture – The Ethnological Context: The Igbo and Igbo Catholicism – The Igbo: Tradition, Religion, and Culture – Rituals of Communion in Igbo Culture – Igbo People and Encounter of Catholicism – Eucharistic Communion in Catholic Theology – Catholic Teachings on Eucharistic Communion – Theological and Relational Interpretations of Eucharistic Communion – Eucharistic Communion and Igbo Rituals of Communion: An Integration of Liturgy, Faith, and Culture – Igbo Catholics and Liturgical Inculturation – Liturgy and Life: Integration of Eucharistic Communion and Igbo Rituals of Communion – Conclusion: A Way Forward and Hope for the Future – Index.
