Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften Eucharistic Communion and Rituals of Communion in Igbo Culture: An Integrative Study of Liturgy, Faith, and Culture

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 Ọjị (Kola nut Ritual), Emume Iri Ji Ọhụrụ (New Yam Festival), and Ịgba Orikọ (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. 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 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.