The Traditional African Concept of God and the Christian Concept of God

This book is motivated by the positive view of the non-Christian religions expressed by the Fathers of the Vatican Council II (cf. NA 2a), a revolutionary view considered from the official teaching of the tradition of the Church up till then, and much more in such a central issue as the belief in God. This book aims at initiating a healthy interaction between the Christian understanding of God and the understanding of God in the traditional religion of the Igbo people of West Africa. In approaching this task this special study pursues some major aims. In the first place it engages itself in the clarification of some basic issues: Are the religious experiences which are phenomenologically found in all religions including the Igbo religion only mere human fabrications or do they originate from a revelation of God? Secondly, this publication working with the innovative analysis of the theophoral personal names provides some profound factual information about the concrete contents of the Igbo religion on God. Thirdly, the author tries to find out whether there could be a basic agreement between the understanding of God in Igbo religion and the biblical revelation. In this work the fundamental agreement is found in the conviction that God in traditional Igbo religion, Chukwu and the God of the Bible is the God of life. The purpose of this book therefore, is to bring back the question of God to the centre of existential Christian life: it is to make the theme of God the motivation and criterion for the whole Christian life and spirituality – both individually and communally. The theme of the God of life introduces God into life and connects the problems and questions of men and women of today to the theme of God.