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This 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 Reconciliation), are still prevalent and valued among the Igbo people. These rituals pilot and determine the wellbeing of present and future generations of Igbo people. This integrative study of liturgy, faith, and culture, establishes the theological and relational aspects of both the traditional rituals of communion in Igbo culture and the Christian understanding of Eucharistic communion, for a truly inculturated Eucharistic theology.
List 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.
About the author
Mary-Reginald Ngozi Anibueze, DDL, earned her Ph.D. in Theology, with a specialty in Liturgical Studies, from the University of Notre Dame. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Religion and African and African American Studies at Berea College, Kentucky.
Summary
This book elucidates the dynamism of culture and how cultural expressions are often intertwined with religious expressions.
Report
"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
