Reflection - Christian Hope in the African (Igbo) Context

Where is hope?

Introduction

This is a short exploratory treatment of Christian hope in the Igbo context. The background is situated in Nigeria’s flag-independence reality of peoples including the People of God in the Igbo nation. The exploration is divided into 3 parts. The first part address the question - what are Igbo cultural, religious and cosmological references to hope? The second part attempts to answer the first question in 2 parts including identification of Igbo cosmological themes and  discernment of hope in Igbo words. The third part treat the question – what is the evidence or lack of evidence of Christian hope in the Igbo Church?

The questions carry complex footprints in contemporary Nigeria particularly in view of rapid multidimensional changes with international, national and local significance. However, we start by introducing a brief outline of Igbo cosmology including relevant themes as significant resources for navigating religious and cultural dimension of collective lived experience. It is precisely on this foundation that the notion of hope is discerned from Igbo words, phrases, names, proverbs and sayings.

The notion of hope offers a key for explicating deeper meanings, lived experience and intergenerational values in Igbo language as a definer of the people. This notion accompanied by discernments from the first two parts is brought to bear on Christian hope in its contextual praxis in Igboland during and after Nigeria - Biafra war in the third part. Priority is given to both the collective dimension of Christian hope as a key hermeneutic in human-divine relationship and a critical virtue demanding relevant action especially by Christians and their leadership. 

The exploration is wrapped up with a conclusion that draw together key points from the three parts.

Themes in Igbo Cosmology

The Igbo nation is one of many indigenous nations of Nigeria concentrated mostly east of River Niger. A smaller population of Igbos reside west of River Niger. Fundamentally Igbo nation is united by common language, culture, religion, cosmology and etc which is accompanied by subtle differences and variations across the land. For this essay, Igbo fundamentals are enhanced in the select themes which form the basis for discerning the notion of hope. They include religious faith, community, reality and person.

Religious faith (Olu Okwukwe)

In Igbo worldview the secular is inseparable from the religious with strong belief in the Supreme Being (Chi Ukwu/Chukwu), numerous deities, forces and ancestors.[1] This displays inclusive monotheism without diminution of divine soteriological prerogative. God is not distant. Only God is ascribed the principles of creation (okike), absoluteness (Chi Ukwu) and divinity (ebube). Equally only God is worshipped. Faith in God permeate every aspect of Igbo life as active, involving and authentic expressions. Actions, involvement and expressions towards God in history connect to desires and anticipations of unrealised qualities, satisfactions and values in life. For Igbos, “the person of faith lives in the here and now, but always anticipates the world to come as a fulfilment of one’s desire and hope.”[2] Petitions, supplications, rituals, sacrifices and veneration of deities speak to hope in as much as the focus remains on God in whom favourable response is anticipated to fulfil human desire.

Prayer and sacrifice dominate Igbo private and public lived experience giving the nation an enhanced view as a religious people. Sacrifice as the highest of prayer and the main form of worship flow through rituals which ground relationships with God, the invisible and social forces. This interlocking relationship with the supernatural, propitiation in all things, and the propitiation-thanksgiving dynamic foreground entry into Igbo notion of hope.

Hope is located in the religious principle of God’s absoluteness with absolute power, dominion and domination over everything and all beings. Igbos respond particularly in grave situations when options narrow or where every solution have failed by personally/collectively invoking the ultimate power and protection of God with intense personal/collective oral prayers.[3] This is also the space where vulnerable person/people in desperation confront God as it were pleading Anam ele Chi m anya n’ihu. More on this plea will be explained later. Sacrifices are offered with white fowls, white egg and white cloth as white symbolise purity/goodness.

Community (Obodo)

This refers to ‘people of one/same blood’ implying both the spatial and aspatial dimensions of  membership. Therefore identity and existence is shared, interpenetrative, interdependent and mediated through many factors held together by common union of blood of a common ancestor. For this reason a community is named after the common ancestor e.g. Umuotukwe (children of Otukwe). This is also the root of unity, brotherhood and solidarity. Wellbeing therein is sustained by interdependence and priority of common good over individual interest.[4]

Interaction among the members including solidarity and subsidiarity are defined by “we” relationship. Mbiti articulated that “whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual. The individual can only say, I am, because we are; and since we are, therefore I am. This is the cardinal point in the understanding of the African (Igbo) view.” Within this structure lived experience is conducted through individual decisions and collective initiatives united in solidarity with a deep sense of belonging, integrity and goodwill acting creatively in anticipation for the common good.[5]  Good is not a given, it is an effort-based realisation and processed outcome, a later development and quality of individual decisions taken collectively in hope prior. Nevertheless, in this communalist paradigm unity of the community and the individual is grounded in mutuality and co-existence.[6] 

Reality (Uwa)

It refers to the universe/cosmos discerned as a unified system, a cosmic order, logical and rational. The underlying assumptions include the unity or interconnectivity of all things, ordered (hierarchical) relationship of all beings and the consciousness/spiritual principle. The last assumption imply that reality is purposeful (rational/irrational) rather than accidental and chaotic. All events are explained in terms of the will or an agent’s purpose. Human beings and other beings act with purpose rationally or irrationally. Disruption, disorder and deviations result from conscious acts of agents. Therefore being, existence, survival and wellbeing of humankind depend on proper maintenance of the cosmic, natural and social order. Hence, rational order and accepted purposeful/rational actions in the community are collectively known as Omenala.[7]

Omenala among other principles guide proper conduct, accepted behaviour and ethical relationships between spirits and humankind and between humankind. Deviations, violations, disorder and disruptions are classed as prohibitions (aru) or taboos (nso-ala).[8] Sanctions (ikwa ala) are enforced to restore order in the community. The highest principle of Omenala is justice (Ofo). It equally concretises political and religious authority held by community/family head who is usually the eldest man. The Ofo institution with Ogu (innocence) defends order, protects the innocent weak/vulnerable and secures the innocent in the community. Might is not right in Igbo worldview, justice is, and is crystallised in a just society. Custodians of morality include the ancestors, elders and the Earth Deity (Ala).

In connection with this development, the highest value is life (ndu). Good life (ndu oma) is the most desired (hoped for) and approved value. Life is individual, social, private, communal, material, moral, spiritual, functional and systemic.[9]

There are 2 prerequisites for realising good life; material sustenance for living a worthy life which inserts a strong rejection of extreme deprivation and suffering succinctly captured in the phrase ‘odi ndu onwu ka mma’ (life that is worse than death); metaphysical and moral principle of one at peace with the deities, the living and ancestors. This implies an upright life, fulfilling all obligations and respect for all approved values. This means being aligned with Omenala symbolised by (ofo) justice.[10]  

A Person (Mmadu)

Madu/Mmadu is an Igbo compound word for a person consisting of mma (good, goodness, beauty, prosperity) and ndu (life). Mma ndu denote goodness of life or beauty of life. Igbo theological reflection situate the origin of Mmadu in divinity as the male and female derivatives of divine essence where ndu stems from Chi and mma emanates from Eke. Therefore for the Igbo a person is not a thing, not the other per se or a subject rather a definite (highest) expression of created goodness located in the ultimate goodness of Chineke (Creator God). God is the source of all things, Creator of the visible and the invisible, Protector of all life and Sustainer of all existence.

God is also the object of prayer and supplication in anticipation for intervention on  unresolved issues, problems, worries and difficulties. God is the perfect good and beauty, and the ultimate object of desire for good life (ndu oma) in the community. Isiguzo et al clarified that, “Mmadu, by being, existence, function and ethics is precisely situated in hope. Mmadu exemplifies the highest point of ethical beauty, goodness, and prosperity because Mmadu exists solely to manifest these values. It is a "Divine" assignment for Mmadu to let mma - goodness, beauty, and prosperity be. It is also an essential part of this divine programme to let Ndu (life) flourish. It is an ethical commitment just as it is social, anthropological and religious.”[11]

Having presented Igbo cosmology through four themes, we’ll address the first exploratory question in the next section.

Hope In Igbo Culture

The purpose of this section is to discern hope in culture via Igbo words, phrases, names, proverbs and sayings. This is a complex exercise with words. Word is the most powerful attribute of Africans including the Igbos. Its sphere of influence dynamically permeates every aspect of living because it is the core of language. It defines a person and a community in ontology and existence, sociology and religion, sacred and profane, and secular and spiritual. Word or speech through communication is the vehicle for interaction, learning, solidarity, intra-community communion and grounding relationship with invisible forces including spirits. Symbols and signs also speak effectively without words.[12]

This unique cultural quality is equally recognised as part of formidable African treasure trove with global resonance for Christianity. Pope Paul VI alluded that, “indeed, you (Africans) possess human values and characteristic forms of culture which can rise up to perfection such as to find in Christianity, and for Christianity, a true superior fullness, and prove to be capable of a richness of expression all its own, and genuinely African.”[13] Included in the papal explication is the Igbo cultural element which we attempt to explicate below.

We start by recognising that hope as a word, a value and a quality is inherent in Igbo lived experience, behaviour and practice as is evident in its unique linguistic identifiers. Two words capture its conventional use. Olilenya (looking forward to/anticipate/expect) denote hope rooted in the word anya (eye). In this case the verb le (look) and noun anya (eye) are locked together in a compound word replicating a prompt to look/perceive/expect thereby capturing the continuity of action or movement that extends beyond both the present time and the immediate physical space. Nchekwube means hope connecting a proximate relationship with the faculty of thinking. The root word is uche (think/thought) which grounds human facility of anticipation and expectation in ordinary lived experience.  

Chukwuma ihe nile (God knows everything) - This is a typical Igbo name usually shortened to Chukwuma or Chima.  A child is given this name by the parents after a successful delivery and or overcoming challenging situations during the pregnancy. It also gives meaning to a sentence expressed in frustration by a person or group confronting extended difficulty, injustice and unequal/uneven power. It speaks to Igbo belief that God eventually has the last word as the Creator of all who knows every details of their features, constitutions and operations. Moreover, it highlights human contingency where anticipated outcomes are self-recognised as non-trivial weighing rather heavier than one’s ability to overcome unaided. It accompanies the desire for a particular outcome but ascend beyond it anticipating that God will grant the desire at the right time in future.

For the vulnerable/victims, it captures the consolation that an offender couldn’t get away with his or her unjust act. It is a warning to the offender that unjust personal interest is not the end of a case. Victims could continue enduring the unjust situation, strengthened in the belief that God will resolve it at his own time (ogechi = God’s time). God knows and sees everything in the past, present and future. Iroegbu clarified that “he is omniscient and there is nothing hidden before Him. The people hand over misfortunes and injustices to Him for justice, with the hope that, since He knows why things happen, He is the only one to take the course.”[14]

Anam ele [Chi] m anya n’ihu (I am looking at [my God] in the face/I am confronting [my God] in His face) - This is a multidimensional and multifunctional hermeneutical frame. It is a name (Anamelechi/Lewechi/Nlemchi), a song and a prayer of petition in distress. The depth of richness is captured in a number of theological movements. First, the full text crystallise the fact that God is the common reference of all existence and activities in the universe. God is the Origin of origins, the source of all things who continues to renew vitality in the universe. Second, by the centrality of God in all things irrespectively of circumstance and category, strong faith in God is consolidated among the Igbos. Third, God always has a name which for the Igbos displaces divine strangeness, foreignness and distance. With a name God is identified with sufficient familiarity and trust in a dynamic human-divine relationship for one to lovingly “appropriate” as Chi m. Divine “appropriation” shows humble disposition, deliberate mediation of confidence and openness to loving God as it were. Fourth, it offers a profound entry into the transcendent God who is imageless and faceless. This divine character for the Igbos indicate equal distance and equal nearness of all existence from God.

In the aniconic (without image) transcendent God, Uzukwu stressed that “there is no place of privilege, no privileged person or community, no chosen people.” Therefore everyone has unfettered access or unlimited room for providence to address prayers and requests anytime, anywhere and in any circumstance for personal and collective renewal.[15] Lastly this theological device of attributing God without a face and image dislocates unfamiliarity. It reinforces strong faith of the petitioner whose fervent prayer not only spring from buoyant hope but melds with it as it flows with tears, songs, dance and body movements including hands raise skywards with focused countenance wailing on God. The prayer and wailing in distress in full presence is animated in faith bearing the richness of anticipation for divine response through favourable outcomes in future.[16]

Onye kwe, chi ya ekwe (If one wills, one's "guardian spirit" wills it) – This is a popular saying and proverb. The thrust of its emphasis present another dimension of Igbo theological anthropology. For the Igbo, a person (mmadu) with full responsibility is imbued with dignity and agency to know, will, decide and act under God. However one’s desires, interests and expectations are initially internalised as intentions. Their realisation are removed from the present as they are equally dependent on future authentic and creative actions of the person.

It is only when one decides to and proceeds in anticipation in accordance with Omenala accompanied by prayers and sacrifices to God through the ancestors, deities and spirits including one's guardian spirit, that both processes and realisation reflects the hope that underpin them. Therefore every purposeful and rational action link to outcomes of pre-result anticipation accomplished as joint-concord of wills in human-divine relationship in the community. This means that opposition sit between rejection of responsibility to will and refusal to initiate action (despair), and manipulation of the will with inauthentic anticipation against Omenala (presumption).

In the exploration above, we have obtained a limited discernment of hope in Igbo culture. This investigation admits a lacuna on hope as a concept and virtue. Preliminary evidence place hope as a suggestive but constitutive element of affirmations, prayers, doctrines, symbols and speech of all kinds. Its identity and merit as an ontological, religious and theological resonance require further search. While faith in God is ubiquitously acknowledged, similar recognition is granted to love of God mediated by people’s affection for the Earth goddess as a mother. Insufficient attribution or connection is discerned for hope. In the next section critical overview of Christian hope is articulated.

Critical overview of Christian Hope

Discerning Christian hope in Igbo context admits that Christian heritage has taken root in Igboland and is oriented to the future. On the other hand evidence shows that resilience of Igbo cosmology including but unlimited to the themes explored above is in serious decline across the nation particularly in the large population centres. The reasons are beyond the scope of this essay. Nevertheless Igbo culture subsists with a flourishing dynamism as it evolves, interacts, interrelates and adapt. Equally the spiritual climate that sustained pre-colonial Igbo lived experience have irreversibly vanished. What remains of Igbo religion is a sad epistemic displacement. However, for a religious people and despite irreversible colonial legacy, in reality Christianity occupy a contested position to take over the spiritual sustenance of Igbo majority. Let us look at Christian hope in the Igbo context in the next section.

Christian Hope in the Igbo Context

A deeper appreciation of Christian hope in the Igbo context is enhanced by two historical moments. The first moment is the unprovoked, colonial and epistemic attack on the Igbo nation, civilisation and society in the 19^th century. Zealous participation and collaboration of Christianity is recorded. The second moment is the Nigeria – Biafra war (1967 – 1970) with the main theatre centred in Igboland which among other things reinforced colonial offensive and accelerated the decline of Igbo civilisation and pre-colonial society.

While the first moment highlight unjust actions of Christianity that accompanied colonialism, the second display heroic determination at self-rehabilitation in neocolonial setting particularly Catholic Christianity. In the process of self-rehabilitation through standing up in solidarity with Biafrans including Igbos, Christian leaders inadvertently assumed a spiritual responsibility for the people similar to the role played previously for millennia by Igbo religion. It is unclear whether Igbo Christians especially the leaders are fully aware of this connection, its responsibility and its implications. However, the intergenerational impacts of both moments continue to endure. What is undeniable is that the second moment is relevant for an initial exploration of Christian hope in the Igbo context. The disruption introduced by Nigeria – Biafra war transformed in diverse ways the emerging relationship between Christianity and indigenous peoples, especially Catholics and the Igbos. 

Prior to further unpacking a cautious historical entry is helpful. British colonial policy of violence through divide-and-rule saw different religions including different Christian denominations as variables for strategic goals of statecraft. Nigeria’s size (1 million sq.km) and indigenous resistance among many factors slowed down British military defeat of the peoples and the appropriation of their lands between 1850s - 1914. Hence contemporary Nigerian Christianity is less than 200 years old. Christian evangelisation and missions were conditioned, patchy and region/sub-region-specific. This is the reason behind the allocation of Eastern Nigeria and Western Cameroon to the Holy Ghost Congregation, of which Bishop Joseph Shanahan consolidated the mission in Igboland. Two significant points undergirded this decision.

First, as he travelled through the land, “his view of Igbos clarified with time since “he discovered that Ibos, were a deeply religious people. Like most casual observers, he had tended to dismiss their religion as a mass of superstitions, dominated by idols and maintained by witchdoctors…Beneath it lay something very different. The Ibos saw the world as filled with the spirit. Each individual has his own chi, a personal guardian spirit who attended him from the cradle to the grave.”[17] The second point connect to his discovery of shared Igbo and Irish-Christian notions as “Shanahan also found strong similarities between his own faith and Igbo religion because “their Chukwu was the same God whom he worshipped and preached. The other spirits were not unlike the angels and saints to whom he had a particular devotion. The sacrifices they offered through their priest for their own sins and the sins of the dead were foreshadowing of the sacrifice of the Mass. The Ibo seemed to have an anima naturaliter Christiana, a naturally Christian soul.”[18]

An implication of the consolidation is the latent acknowledgement that the indigenous peoples including Igbos need no foundational lessons in God and God talk. Therefore the two points illuminate our discernments as they situate the climate underpinning Shanahan and his successors’ work in Igboland and beyond. This modestly evolved climate subsisted at the outbreak of war of which the Irish missionaries refused to abandon the peoples of Eastern Nigeria/Biafra including the Igbos. It is important here to stress that Ireland never recognised Biafra and that Irish-Nigerian diplomatic relations remain intact throughout the war. The missionaries’ heroic refusal to abandon Biafrans automatically dissolved the disparate communities thereby transforming them into a new single community, a solidarity of inundated war victims.  

Going forwards, recognition of the earlier mentioned civilisational shocks situate our effort in light of the signs of the times to deepen our understanding of the communion of Christian hope and Igbos with, “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”[19] To enhance this communion, an attempt is made to draw out Christian hope in view of Igbo notion of hope, and view Christian hope expression in Igboland during the Nigeria-Biafra war. Expression of Christian hope is always located in forms of relationship precisely within the solidarity of human lived experience. This means that meetings of hope are open to later systematic and technical differentiation. However the authenticity of hope is found and reinforced in spirituality through mutual investment of obligations to both serve and provide resources to people. This is critical when the situation is compromised by uncertainty particularly during high risk periods and increased exposure to harm and danger.

What happened in Igboland during Nigeria-Biafra war are examples of bilateral exchanges of hope in solidarity. The missionaries were a community in solidarity. Initially, the missionaries as part of colonial baggage were unwanted and unexpected foreigners/strangers regardless of their objectives which depended mostly on the benevolence of their host. They were received as honoured guests according to Omenala, before later immersing themselves into the culture and religion by varying degrees starting with learning Igbo language. On the other hand the community in solidarity and according to their laws grounded in Omenala including ofo (justice) and ogu (innocence) freely contributed and participated in giving them hospitality, sense of belonging, homes, protection and land. It must be unequivocally stressed that a baptised Igbo at the time and presently as an emerging Igbo Christian since their spirituality  rightly drew mostly from Igbo religion and culture.

Omenala and its principles including hope didn’t dissolve in the face of war rather was reinforced by tension and uncertainty as people mobilised in communion with the missionaries to protect and preserve all life. It is these expressions of indigenous hope in solidarity that connected seamlessly to and comingled with missionaries’ Christian hopes. At a time of limited availability of advanced technology in addition to lack of piped water, electricity, telephones and electronic gadgets; cooking, cleaning and storage were done manually for the missionaries by the people who gladly executed numerous tasks. Simply put, missionaries lives depended on their hosts in this case Eastern Nigeria/Biafra.  

Nigeria’s response to Biafra secession in 1967 was declaration of war and total blockage of Biafran territory. Prior to this time Igboland was already tense with returnees from different parts of Nigeria escaping from government-sanctioned mass-murder and genocide of Igbos. 95+% of the population were indigenes except insignificant numbers of non-indigenes including expatriate Europeans who left the area in advance. The significant number of foreigners are the Irish missionaries consisting of priests and (male and female) religious who decided to remain in solidarity with the peoples throughout the war.  Some were killed by Nigerian offensive.

The balance of military forces between Nigeria and Biafra at the outset need clarification. Correlation of forces and means assesses and evaluates the operational, tactical and strategic posture and capacity of opposing militaries combat potential in terms of quantitative/material and qualitative/immaterial factors. This covers both conventional and non-conventional forces.[20] Based on quantitative/material factors alone Nigeria’s superiority was evident before and during the war. Favourable argument including hope could be advanced towards the contribution of the qualitative/immaterial factors on the war duration and heroic resistance of the Biafran forces.

So deepen insight on hope in war we take note that Christian theology is “a defence of hope (in God)” with a holistic and integrated lived experience including but unlimited to intellectual labour. The feasibility and relevance of this theology is precisely grounded in the historical, social, religious, cultural, economic and political contexts. These contexts inspire, connect and nourish the reflection which underpin our examples.[21] 

As we stated earlier, hope is God’s universal gift for humankind. It is a grace given to be received as a gift unlimited to personal utility rather extends as a salvific gift for serving the neighbour towards mutual-emancipation for overturning unjust processes and unjust structures. Gutierrez asserted that hope offers grace to create resources in history for social, personal and spiritual liberation.[22] This notion of hope as a grace for serving and providing resources in historical reality is our basis for discerning hope in the Igbo context. Resources in this paradigm reflect immaterial, spiritual and social values.  

Given that Igbos see God as the ultimate good and beauty, and the object of desire for good life anticipated in the community; in the face of injustice, immersed Irish missionaries in solidarity despite risk of death in war appropriated and embraced this Igbo purpose for humankind to flourish in goodness, beauty and prosperity. We move now to review the quality of hope pursued in Igboland during the war according to Christian doctrine by the missionaries.

Lived expression of Christian hope by the missionaries during the war include services and resource provision to protect and preserve life. In light of their embeddedness, increased proximity and density of shared experiences; and despite the fluidity and uncertainty, sacraments and services were provided in trying conditions. This is particularly the case in bombed communities, combat fatalities and victims of internal displacement. Last rites, burial services, words of encouragement, presence and non-judgemental empathy were provided. In extreme cases, coerced persons and young women were rescued from armed abusive soldiers. Priests/religious residences were oasis of refuge respected by parties in the conflict.

The missionaries used their good offices and approval of Biafran government to disseminate the war and its consequences to Ireland and world at large. It must be acknowledged that they weren’t combatants and had little or no material resources to spare. Still they mobilized families, friends and network of relations including media agencies across Europe and North America to assist Biafran war victims. This led to the 1968 emergence of Concern charity in Ireland. Caritas, Red Cross and etc agencies  concerted efforts to alleviate food and health risks. These resources including personnel were frequently flown into Biafra via dangerous missions by risk-averse pilots who evaded Nigeria’s air blockade by night.

In summary the missionaries’ war solidarity with Biafrans was as disruptive as it was sudden. It was total, complete and full contrary to known teachings and observed practices. These are heroic examples of Christian hope expressed sacrificially in lived experience under great risk and uncertainty. In the turbulence of war, the missionaries showed genuine Christian praxis and authentic imitation of Christ among peoples whose spiritual compass were shaped by indigenous faith and hope. They lived, shared, depended on, suffered, died, mourned and survived with the Biafrans. Their conjoined hopes mutually expressed as lived experiences spoke to the same God simultaneously seen in the Christ as well as the respondent of the wailing prayers of Anam ele Chi m anya n’ihu by Igbo war victims. There is no graver threat to good life (ndu oma) than war. In hope, the new solidarity held faithfully to life (ndu) praying to God, the giver of life, because only in Him is life supreme (Ndubuisi).

[What explains the post-war abandonment of exemplary war-time Christian hope by missionaries? What is the relationship between conflict cessation and the mission of consolidating hope by indigenous leadership? Post-war ecclesiological interpretation of grace and its imperatives side-lined the need for continued conversion in light of changes. This failure to re-embrace magnanimity to imitate Christ in the missionaries’ war example dislocated and truncated the path of hope not just in Igboland but also diluted its contribution at the national level. Instead of metanoia the newly empowered clergy redoubled effort on quantitative evangelisation to accompany inauthentic ‘reintegration’ into Nigeria devoid of substantive reconstruction in the former Eastern Nigeria/Biafra. Given the unceremonious expulsion of heroic Irish missionaries for anti-government activities by the Nigerian government in 1970, clearly  Catholicism was unfavoured. Government displeasure unravelled immediately with post-war policy of taking over Christian mission schools and hospitals. Other political and economic policies which targeted the Igbo nation triggered processes of individual/collective responses that sought for resources beyond both Igboland and Nigeria respectively.[23] Nevertheless these accounts imply expressions of hope by surviving families and communities. Solidarity of communities remain strong to mobilise, organise and coordinate resistance to alienation, marginalisation and oppression by the Nigerian state. Productive actions of Christian leaders including the Catholic Church plead for value-addition.]

Post-war Situation

The war ended in 1970 with unconditional surrender of Biafra and its cessation. From that time to the present, apparently normative structural, political and economic policies have been introduced in the ‘reintegrated’ Nigeria. However an indigenous-led Christianity including the Catholic Church in the Igbo majority areas have co-superintended over societal degeneration. The currency of Nigeria’s affairs is specially reflected in Igbo majority states including Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi. Neighbouring Rivers, Cross River and Delta states have multinational populations including Igbos. All the mentioned states have Christian majority populations. Since 1999, the worst record of alienation and oppression is found in Imo state after Abia State got its first taste of authentic political leadership and credible governance last year. Ebonyi and Anambra states have had spells of credible governance.

Nigeria’s majority including Igbos live below poverty line, and are doubly-alienated to seek personal/family solutions in absence of collective strategic initiatives. Instability and disunity are growing. Living in Nigeria is a herculean reality as channelled hope declines in the face of injustice, alienation and oppression. Most politicians and Christian leaders including priests and pastors in Igbo states seem allergic to independent thinking, averse to radical reflections, unconscious to connect fully and fail to react prophetically. A major cultural insight is memory loss of Irish missionaries’ war examples while tepid communique from national Catholic and all-Christian leadership is the highest expressions of protest.[24] This represents gross misunderstanding of Christian theology of power, abdication of priestly responsibility and accommodation of injustice.[25]

The Church have sufficient reputation, spiritual, intellectual and human resources to facilitate networking, incubation, start-up and implementation of relevant community solutions in response to local situations. Collective hope will remain unrealised without authentic leadership praxis, genuine conscientisation of the people and grounded solidarity.[26]

Lastly, improperly channelled Christian hope is abundant and randomly distributed like scattered small fires across Igboland. This is evident in the enduring resilience of individual/family struggles, isolated community responses, lamentations and prayers, genuine popular and collective innovations to alleviate sufferings. Nevertheless, personal/family solutions cannot reverse intergenerational systemic structural problems. Therefore, all the variables speak to great expectations of many, and their rich anticipation for restoration of justice in society and refresh God’s kingdom.

Conclusion

This exploratory essay sought to address two questions on the notion of hope in the Igbo context and examining evidence of Christian hope in Igboland. Evidence of hope in Igbo culture is identified and illuminated through discernment of Igbo words, names, phrases, proverbs and sayings. Insightful attempt is made to extract their multidimensional character, religious importance and theological connections. The illuminations ground the differential utility and ethics of hope in traditional Igbo community. Our preliminary investigation is inconclusive on the theological character of hope in the Igbo context.

Complementarily, discerned Christian hope as a resource of grace presents a complicated weaving of unfolding historical patterns and complex social processes in communities under severe strain. Devoid of credible leadership including Christian ones, popular and collective hope struggle for purpose, meaning and realisation of anticipated future outcomes. The richness of Christian hope in the Igbo context is in the main suspended and unharnessed both for the creation of a just Igbo society and genuine building of God’s kingdom.  

Life is beautiful!

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[1] Chi Ukwu/Chukwu means great God. In Igbo orthography and language, when two words are combined letters are lost especially where the last letter of the first and first of the second are vowels. Chi-Ukwu = Chukwu, Chi-na-eke = Chineke, Mma-ndu = Madu etc.

[2] Aloysius Eberechukwu Ndiukwu, Authenticity of Belief in African (Igbo) Traditional Religion – a critical appraisal in the light of the Christian Faith (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2014), 56.

[3] T Uzodimma Nwala, Igbo Philosophy – The Philosophy of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria (Abuja: Niger Books, 2010), 168 – 169.

[4] Ibid., 61.

[5] John S Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (London: Heinemann, 1982), 108.

[6] Panteleon Iroegbu, Metaphysics – The Kpim of Philosophy (Owerri: IUP, 1995), 349.

[7] Omenala (norms of the land) means accepted processes, principles and practices according to the land.

[8] T Uzodimma Nwala, Igbo Philosophy – The Philosophy of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria (Abuja: Niger Books, 2010), 71 – 72.

[9] Ibid., 198 – 199.

[10] T Uzodimma Nwala, Igbo Philosophy – The Philosophy of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria (Abuja: Niger Books, 2010), 200 – 201.

[11] Andrew I Isiguzo, George Ukagba and Nkeonye Otakpor, “The Igbo Concept of a Person”, Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, Giugno 2004, Anno 59, No. 2 (Giugno 2004), 233, 235.

[12] Panteleon Iroegbu, Metaphysics – The Kpim of Philosophy (Owerri: IUP, 1995), 295 – 296.

[13] Paul VI, Homily (Eucharistic Celebration At The Conclusion Of
The Symposium Organized By The Bishops Of Africa), (31 July, 1969), https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/homilies/1969/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19690731.html (last accessed 27 March 2025). Para.2. Emphasis in italics is mine.

[14] Panteleon Iroegbu, Metaphysics – The Kpim of Philosophy (Owerri: IUP, 1995), 171 – 172.

[15] Elochukwu Eugene Uzukwu, God, Spirit, and Human Wholeness – Appropriating Faith and Culture in West African Style (Eugene OR: Pickwick, 2012), 74.

[16] Paul VI, Apostolic Letter, Africae Terrarum, Rome 29 October 1967, 8.

[17] Onyewuchi Obirieze, Indigenous Spirituality – Discernment from Christian Missionary Activities in Nigeria.  (London: LAP, 2024),  46.

[18] Ibid.

[19] Second Vatican Council, [Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World], sec. 1, in Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, vol.1, ed. Austin Flannery (Northport: NY: Costello Publishing Company, 1986).

[20] Clint Reach, Vikram Kilambi and Mark Cozad, Russian Assessments and Applications of Correlation of Forces and Means (Santa Monica, CA: Rand, 2020), ix, 9.

[21] Johann Baptist Metz, Faith in History and Society – Towards a Practical Fundamental Theology. (London: Burns & Oates, 1980), 3

[22] Gustavo Gutierrez, “A Hermeneutic of Hope,” The Centre for Latin American Studies, Vanderbilt University-Occasional Paper No.13 (September, 2012): 9.

[23] Iheanyi M Enwerem,  A Dangerous Awakening – The Politicization of Religion in Nigeria. (Ibadan: IFRA, 2013), 56 – 57.

[24] Onyewuchi U Obirieze, “Wrestling in Hope against life-denying politics: An African Christian Political-Theological Reflection” (M.Phil. diss., Trinity College Dublin, 2024), 3, 6.

[25] Romano Guardini, Power and Responsibility – A Course of Action for the New Age (Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1961), 12 – 16.

[26] Emmanuel Katongole, Born from Lament: The Theology and Politics of Hope in Africa (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017), 123 – 124.