Living Between Two

Worlds: Intrapersonal
Conflicts among Igbo
Seminarians - An Enquiry

CHIKA JUSTIN UZOR

Peter Lang
LIVING BETWEEN
TWO WORLDS
This page intentionally left blank
 CHIKA JUSTIN UZOR

LIVING BETWEEN
TWO WORLDS
INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICTS
AMONG IGBO SEMINARIANS –
AN ENQUIRY

PETER LANG
Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • New York • Oxford • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Bibliothek
Die Deutsche Bibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
‹http://dnb.ddb.de›.

British Library and Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data:

A catalogue record for this book is available from The British Library,
Great Britain, and from The Library of Congress, USA

Cover design: Thomas Jaberg, Peter Lang AG

ISBN 3-03910-028-9
US-ISBN 0-8204-6264-0

© Peter Lang AG, European Academic Publishers, Bern 2003

Hochfeldstrasse 32, Postfach 746, CH-3000 Bern 9, Switzerland
info@peterlang.com, www.peterlang.com, www.peterlang.net

All rights reserved.

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright.
Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.
This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming,
and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems.

Printed in Germany
 To my late parents
Anieke Matthias and Olunwa Patricia
for the seed of faith
to
Michael U. Eneja, Bishop Emeritus, Enugu Diocese
for the fatherly trust
and
to All
who believe in the unconditional Value and Dignity of the human person
and who stand up against all forms of gender and racial discrimination
This page intentionally left blank
TABLE OF CONTENT

Acknowledgment 17
Foreword 19

PART ONE: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE 23

1. CLEARING THE GROUND 25

1.1 Why this Topic? 25

1.1.1 Sociological Indication 26
1.1.2 Theological Indication 26
1.1.3 Psychological Indication 28
1.2 The Aim of the Study 30
1.2.1 The Seminarian: An “Other-Worldly” Being 30
1.2.2 The Seminarian: An “Inner-Worldly” Being 36
1.2.3 The Seminarian: The Epicentre of Attention 39
1.3 Method 43
1.3.1 Our Anthropological Slant 44
1.3.1.1 The Seminarian: A Man Between two Worlds 46
1.3.1.2 The Human Person as an Organism 50
1.4 Definition of Terms 54
1.4.1 Igbo 54
1.4.2 Seminarian 54
1.4.3 Worlds 55
1.4.4 Conflict 55
1.4.4.1 Definitions of conflict 56
1.4.4.2 Conflict as a Quality of a Relationship 59
1.4.4.3 Contents of Conflict 60
1.4.4.4 A Definition of Conflict 61
1.4.5 Intrapersonal Conflict 62

7
 1.4.6 Culture 62
1.4.6.1 Definitions of Culture 64
1.4.6.2 Culture as a Metasystemic Unity 66
1.4.6.3 A Definition of Culture 67
1.5 Summary 68

2. TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO INTRAPERSONAL

CONFLICT 71

2.1 Motive-oriented Approach 71

2.1.1 Conflict and Motive 71
2.1.2 Motive 72
2.1.2.1 Motive – Attitude 76
2.1.2.2 Motive – Attitude – Value 77
2.2 Characteristics of Motivational Processes 77
2.3 Conflict and Motive: The Regulating Principles 79
2.3.1 The Mechanistic Principle 79
2.3.2 The Homoeostatic Principle 80
2.3.3 The Pleasure Principle – Hedonism 81
2.4 Summary 83

3. A SYSTEM ORIENTED APPROACH 85

3.1 A Brief History 85

3.2 How do we know what we know? 86
3.3 The Human Person acts motu proprio 89
3.3.1 Theory of Personal Constructs 91
3.3.1.1 Personal Construct – Choice – Time 92
3.3.1.2 Personal Construct – Conflict – Neurosis 95
3.4 Relevance of this Approach 98
3.5 Summary 101

8
4. INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT AND EPISTEMIC
FRAMEWORK 105

4.1 Intrapersonal Conflict in three Perspectives 106

4.1.1 Etiological Perspective 106
4.1.2 Operational Perspective 110
4.1.2.1 TOTE Model 110
4.1.2.2 The Difference that makes a Difference 112
4.1.2.3 Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose 116
4.1.3 Experiential Perspective 126
4.2 Summary 132

PART TWO: AFRICAN EPISTEMIC SYSTEM OF

REFERENCE 135

5. THE AFRICAN WORLD-VIEW AND EPISTEMOLOGY 137

5.1 A recapitulation 137

5.2 African World-View and Epistemology 138
5.2.1 Commonsense 138
5.2.2 A Unitary Vision of Reality 138
5.2.2.1 A Sense of Being Part of the Whole 139
5.2.2.2 Reality is Interconnectedness 140
5.2.2.3 Intersubjectivity or Communality 141
5.2.3 Relationality – Participation 142
5.2.4 Language 143
5.2.4.1 The Spoken Word 143
5.2.5 The Human Being: Life 145
5.2.6 Reality is Endowed with Order and Harmony 146
5.2.7 Time 146
5.2.8 Life-Force: The Basic Principle of the Universe 147
5.3 Myth and Logic 148
5.4 Conclusion 150

9
6. METHODICAL APPROACH TO CULTURAL
DESCRIPTION 155

6.1 A Preamble 155

6.2 Semiotic Cultural Analysis 162
6.2.1 The Perspectives 163
6.2.2 The Cultural Texts 165
6.2.2.1 Texts on Identity 166
6.2.2.2 Texts on Change 168
6.3 Summary 170

7. THE IGBO AND THEIR EPISTEMIC WORLD 173

7.1 The Igbo People of Nigeria 173

7.2 The Igbo Cultural Area 175
7.2.1 Geographical Location 176
7.2.2 The Sub-cultural Areas 176
7.2.3 Communication and Transportation 178
7.2.4 Economic Life 179
7.2.5 Socio-political Organization 181
7.2.5.1 General Features 181
7.2.5.2 Some Special Characteristics 182
7.2.5.2.1 Kinship (Umunna) 183
7.2.5.2.2 Equalitarianism and Equivalence 185
7.2.5.2.3 Primary Democracy and the Nature
of Representation 186
7.2.5.2.4 Gerontocracy – Leadership – Authority 187
7.2.5.3 Ritual Leadership 191
7.2.5.3.1 The Lineage Head (Okpara) 191
7.2.5.3.2 Priests (Dibia Aja) 192
7.2.5.3.3 Diviners (Dibia Afa) 193
7.2.5.3.4 Native doctors (Dibia Ogwu) 193
7.3 General Belief System 196
7.3.1 Customs and Tradition (Omenani) 197
7.3.1.1 A unitary world 197
7.3.1.2 Harmony in the Interplay of the Life-forces 204
7.3.1.2.1 The Spiritual Beings and Forces
(Mmuo na Ogwu) 205

10
 7.3.1.2.2 The human being (Mmadu) 222
7.3.1.3 Things (Ihe, Ife) 226
7.3.2 The Ultimate Value: The Good Life (Ndu oma) 228
7.3.3 The Instrumental Values: Communal and Individual 230
7.3.4 The Psychological Expression 235
7.4 Summary 237

8. THE IGBO AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF

CONSCIOUSNESS 239

8.1 Culture Contact 239

8.1.1 Forms of Culture Contact 240
8.1.1.1 Culture Contact – (Domain of Perturbation) 241
8.1.1.2 Culture Collision –
(Domain of Destructive Interaction) 241
8.1.1.3 Culture Intercourse –
(Domain of Reciprocal Structural Coupling) 247
8.2 Igbo Culture and Change 249
8.2.1 The Stages of Social Change 250
8.2.1.1 Innovation 250
8.2.1.2 Social Acceptance 251
8.2.1.3 Selective Elimination 251
8.2.1.4 Integration 253
8.3 The Nature and Agents of Change 254
8.3.1 Slavery and the Slave Trade 255
8.3.1.1 The Effects of the Slave Trade 259
8.3.2 Colonialism 261
8.3.2.1 The Explorer 262
8.3.2.2 The Soldier 263
8.3.2.3 The Missionary and Missionary Enterprise 264
8.3.2.3.1 The Soldier and the Missionary in
Igboland 267
8.3.2.3.2 The Missionary and School 273
8.3.3 Indigenous Clergy 282
8.3.3.1 A Seminary Institution 285
8.4 Modernization and Technological Developments 301
8.4.1 The Magic of Modernity 302
8.4.2 The City – The Mystique of Modernity 303

11
 8.4.3 The Sacraments of Modernity 304
8.4.4 Modernity and the Redefinition of Reality 305
8.4.5 Modernity and Social Distribution of Knowledge 306
8.4.6 Modernity and Social Typification 307
8.4.7 Modernity and Cognitive Bargaining 309
8.5 Summary 312

9. THE IMPACT OF THESE CHANGES ON THE IGBO MIND 313

9.1 Emergence of New Commodities 313

9.2 Emergence of a New Social Order 314
9.3 A New System of Law and Order 315
9.4 A Dichotomy of Social Worlds 319
9.5 Emergence of a Religious Enclave 320
9.5.1 Possibility of a Religion Divided in Itself 320
9.6 A Break With the Traditional Way of Life 325
9.7 A New Concept and Feeling of Time 327
9.8 Suppression of Igbo Language 329
9.9 Shift of Emphasis from Spiritual to Material, from Moral
to Intellectual 334
9.10 Institution of an Aristocratic Priesthood 337
9.11 A Misplacement of “Theo-Logical levels” 343
9.12 A Demonisation of the World-in-Between 346
9.13 A Disintegration of the Igbo Concept of Authority 347
9.14 Membership of a Universal Christendom 349
9.15 Conclusion 350

PART THREE: INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT AND

PRIESTLY VOCATION 353

10. INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT AND PRIESTLY

VOCATION 355

10.1 The Priestly Vocation as a Call 355

10.1.1 The Call to a Special Stand in the Church 356

12
 10.2 The Threefold Basis of Ecclesial Competence 357
10.2.1 The Empowerment to Live 357
10.2.2 The Gratuitous Selection to Believe 358
10.2.3 The Call to a Pastoral Ministry 359
10.3 The Frame of Reference 361
10.3.1 The Content 362
10.3.1.1 Jesus Christ – The Model 363
10.3.1.2 Leadership 365
10.3.1.3 Discipleship and Leadership:
a Totally Encompassing Call 372
10.3.1.4 The Principal Contents 373
10.3.1.4.1 Values 373
10.3.1.4.2 Needs 375
10.3.1.4.3 Attitudes 378
10.3.2 The Centrality of the Contents 383
10.3.3 The Structure 384
10.3.3.1 The Actual-Self 385
10.3.3.2 The Ideal-Self 386
10.3.3.3 The Institutional Ideal and Role Concept 386
10.4 The Conflict in Three Folds 388
10.5 Inconsistency of Variables with the Five Values 390
10.6 Intrapersonal Vocational Consistencies and
Inconsistencies 393
10.7 Summary 396

11. EMPIRICAL STUDY 399

11.1 The Basic Assumption 399

11.2 The Propositions 399
11.3 The Survey 401
11.4 The Result 402
11.4.1 School 1 403
11.4.2 School 2 407
11.5 Discussion 410

13
12. IMPLICATIONS FOR PASTORAL THEOLOGY
AND THERAPY 415

12.1 Implications for Pastoral Theology 416

12.1.1 A Change of Historical and Cultural Awareness 416
12.1.2 Appreciation of the Centrality of Language in the
Construction of Reality 425
12.1.3 Between Formation and Indoctrination
is Only a Hairline 427
12.1.4 A Re-Evaluation of the Concept of Divinity 430
12.1.5 More Emphasis on the Actualisation of
Academic Themes 433
12.1.6 Appreciation of the Centrality of
Pastoral Communicative Competence 434
12.1.7 Many are called [...]? – Congested Seminaries 443
12.1.8 Introduction of the Concept of and
Program on Leadership 446
12.1.9 Need for a Paradigm Shift in Priestly Formation 451
12.1.9.1 Priesthood and a secular profession –
Is a combination possible? 464
12.1.9.2 Parishioners and active participation
in the parish administration 465
12.1.9.3 Need for a renaissance of ‘Community Priests’ 467
12.1.9.4 Need for a shift from hierarchy to networking 469
12.1.9.5 Priesthood – the exclusive reserve of men? 470
12.2 Implications for a Pastoral Therapy 472
12.2.1 An Appreciation of the Ongoing Epistemic
Transformationand its Effects on Consciousness 472
12.2.2 Hide one’s Head in the Sand 474
12.2.3 “Bellac Ploy” 477
12.2.4 Searching on the Upper Ceiling for
Something on the Lower Ceiling 479
12.2.5 A Pastoral Minister as a Facilitator 480
12.2.5.1 Gestalt Therapeutic Approach 481
12.2.5.2 The Systemic Approach 488
12.3 Summary 494

14
GENERAL CONCLUSION 495
APPENDIX 499
BIBLIOGRAPHY 545

FIGURES, TABLES and MAPS

Figure 1: T.O.T.E. Model 111
Figure 2: The nine-dots task 122
Figure 3: The solution of the nine-dot task 128
Figure 4: Tree-ring model of Igbo cosmology: The human
Being at the centre of the universe and as the fulcrum of
the activities of the Life-Forces. 219
Figure 5: Tree-ring model of Igbo cosmology: The human being
in a reciprocal interaction with other Life-Forces. 223
Figure 6: The PB as sphere of manifestation of the PI, II, SI 400
Figure 7: Two-dimensional image 482
Figure 8: Three-dimensional image 482

Table 1: Catholic Mission Primary Schools in Eastern Nigeria

by the year 1928 276
Table 2: Admissions into Bigard Memorial Seminary 1988-1998 300

Map of Igbo cultural area 177

15
This page intentionally left blank
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Each time I reach deep into my soul I re-emerge full of gratitude and
contentment. For each time I embark on this spiritual trip, I come in
contact with so many people and events that have contributed in making
my life a chord in the great symphony of God’s creation. I deeply thank
everybody who, at various stages of my life, has been an outstanding
source of strength and inspiration.
The successful completion of this work marks another happy point
in my life for which I want to say thanks. I am deeply indebted to the
following people for the various roles they played in my life and in the
realization of this work: my former bishop, Michael U. Eneja, for giving
me the opportunity to further my studies at the University of Innsbruck,
Austria; the Jesuits at the International Theological College, Collegium
Canisianum Innsbruck and all my professors at the University of Inns-
bruck for their inspiration, the openness to the spirit of intellectual free-
dom and respect for the dignity of the otherness of the cultural back-
grounds of their students. All in all, to stand up for one’s convictions and
remain attentively open to new knowledge and to the activities of the
Holy Spirit in the day-to-day events of life, especially in those ones that
fall out of the ordinary and usual are great legacies I received from the
Jesuits in Innsbruck. I am very grateful. My heartfelt thanks go to late
Madame Walburga, Schwaz in Tirol, St. Anne’s Parish, Annaberg in
Lower Austria and MISSIO Munich (Germany) for financing my stay in
Canisianum from 1985-1994, my many friends and colleagues at the
Collegium Canisianum, especially my Nigerian colleagues, for providing
me with that homely atmosphere that helped to ease off the pains of be-
ing so far away from home and for the mutual control and support we
provided each other.
My special thanks go to my former professor, Dr. Klemens Schaupp
SJ for moderating this work. His patience and encouragement, and useful
advice have been inestimable sources of strength, inspiration and energy
through the whole period of this work; to Prof. Franz Weber and his
team at the Institute for Practical Theology for their warmth, friendship
and great support especially towards the successful completion of my

17
academic endeavour at the institute; to Prof. Leo Karrer of the Institute
of Pastoral Theology at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland) for co-
monitoring this work and finally to Prof. DDr. Karl Heinz Neufeld SJ for
accepting to be the second reader of this work. I am equally grateful to
all those students of Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu (BMS) and Seat
of Wisdom Seminary, Owerri (SWS) who participated in the empirical
survey and to Prof. Hans-Ulrich Kneubühler of the Department of Social
Ethics at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland, and his assistant, Hugo
Ensmenger, Dr. Markus Thürig (Kriegstetten, Switzerland), Michael
Krüggeler of the Swiss Pastoral-Sociological Institute (St. Gallen, Swit-
zerland), Dr. Klaus Baumann (Hinterzarten, Germany) and Christoph
Jacobs (Passau, Germany) for the various parts they played in the statis-
tical analysis of the data collected. My gratitude goes to Linda Rickli-
Koser for painstakingly proof-reading the manuscript.
Much of the ideas in this work were influenced by my training and
courses in Pastoral Psychology (Institute for Interpersonal Communica-
tion, University of Innsbruck), in Pastoral Counselling (Austrian Asso-
ciation for Pastoral Psychology, ÖGfP, Graz), in Life, Marriage and
Family Counselling (Zentrum für Familienfragen – Centre for Family
Affairs – Innsbruck) and in Systemic Family Therapy (Graz/Linz). I am
indebted to all my lecturers, trainers and colleagues during those years
for introducing me to the various areas of clinical psychology and the
wide spectrum of psychotherapy and mental health.
My deep gratitude goes to my friends in Austria, Germany and
Switzerland for giving me a home in their homes and hearts. They all
occupy special places in my heart. A few of them deserve mention:
Families Amort, Ellensohn/Häle, Zeh and Kainz in Austria, Hartmann
and Hoffmann in Germany, Häberli, Müggler, Bürgler and Schwegler,
Rev. Fr. Hans Zünd, Marianne Marti and Astrid Häberli in Switzerland. I
am especially grateful to Astrid Häberli for her love and encouragement
and for being so special to me through these years. Finally and most im-
portantly, I thank my late parents for sowing the seed of faith in me and
my entire family for their warmth, support and love.
I thank you all who have contributed in one way or the other in
making my life rich and happy, and this work a success.

Chika J. Uzor
Innsbruck, September 1999

18
FOREWORD

Being is living. Living between two different and often opposing visions
of life is like being in a borderline state, conflict-laden.
There is a link between the culture we grow up in and our percep-
tion of the world we experience. My realization of this grew in intensity
while participating in lectures and seminars at the Institutes of Pastoral
Psychology and Pastoral Theology of the University of Innsbruck, Aus-
tria, and in the course of my training in pastoral and clinical counselling.
These occasions sharpened my sensitivity for the interplay between the
Self and the Other. Most significantly they sharpened my sensitivity for
the problems of denying the Self in favour of the Other and vice versa.
The Otherness did not lie in the coffee colour of my skin,– no doubt an
identity factor in its own right –, but very much in my different cultural
heritage. This was a great relief: it became clear to me that my otherness
was not a sign of any organic or psychological malfunctioning; nothing
was wrong with me. Confronted daily with new interpretations of and
approaches to reality, I became aware that these differ from the way I
learned to view and approach the same realities. Before ever this really
dawned on me, I was already enmeshed in a complex web of new infor-
mation. Soon I was to realize that these new information did not leave
me unaffected. Repeated trips to my homeland, which were designed to
ensure unsevered link with my people, confronted me each time with the
realization that my life was changing, that is, that the way I viewed and
approached reality was radically changing in some aspects, and interest-
ingly too, in other aspects it was changing while remaining the same.
The awareness of this and of the subtlety of its occurrence gave me a
start. I thought: if it needed such a powerful external condition to bring
about this awareness in me, the chances are high that for someone who
never left his/her (broader) home environment the changes might be
more subtle and less obvious.
Linking this with the conflictive behaviours of pastoral workers in
the Catholic communities back home in Igboland, Nigeria, as I observed
them, it appeared that some explanation was revealing itself to me. It is
obvious that before a conflict breaks out, it has gone through some peri-

19
ods of gestation. This, of course, presupposes a preceding moment of
semination of its underlying factors. The Roman Catholic clerics in Ig-
boland are pastoral workers in the strict sense. They extensively influ-
ence and inform the minds of the rest of the faithful. Doubtless, the pe-
riod of their training in the seminary can be seen as the most crucial
moment of the semination of potential conflict factors. The training and
the ongoing modernization of their society constitute the major sources
of transformation of the candidates’ awareness and cognition. These
changes constitute sources of intrapersonal tensions.
The seminarian-condition is a borderline position: He is a segrega-
tus ex populo and yet not fully separated from the people; he is a cler-
gyman and at the same time not yet a cleric. But most importantly, the
training presumes a discrepancy between the Igbo traditional epistemic
system of reference and the Euro-Christian epistemology it imparts. It
requires the candidate to relinquish the belief systems uncongenial to the
aims of the training in favour of new, congenial ones. Cultural traits and
thought patterns are generally known to be very resilient. Nonetheless,
the cognitive transformation taking place in the seminarian is a transfor-
mation of his consciousness of the world he is experiencing. Inasmuch as
new information brings about mental shifts, one’s original cognitive
patterns cannot be totally got rid of; after all they are the epistemic and
emotive environment that formed one’s mind in one’s early days. The
Igbo have an aphorism which says: An old woman does not forget the
dance steps she learnt in her youth. There are always “residues” and
“vestiges” of the native epistemic system. These keep interfering with a
total inception of the Euro-Christian epistemology. In effect, the semi-
narian epistemically shuttles between two worlds: his native world and
the Euro-Christian world of the seminary, which constantly imposes on
him a borderline condition.
Since the transformation occurs mostly unconsciously, the process
generally eludes conscious awareness and due attention. Depth psychol-
ogy has sharpened our awareness of the powerful influence of past expe-
riences on present behaviour and cognitive bearings; most disruptively
influential are said to be the events which are experienced as uncomfort-
able and distressful. On account of the distress, they are usually put out
of conscious awareness without being appropriately settled, i.e. “without
being given due burial”. The Igbo hold the belief that when someone has
not been given a befitting burial, his or her ghost comes back to haunt

20
the relatives. In relation to our context, this means that when an experi-
ence is screened off consciousness without having been properly at-
tended to, it keeps haunting our awareness, disturbing our peace, until it
receives the attention it deserves. Without due attention, the effects cre-
ated by the ensuing ambivalence very often lead sooner or later to relig-
ious bigotry and fanaticism and other conflictive behaviours.
To take up arms against the conflictive behaviours and experiences
of the pastoral workers in Igboland may appear chivalric and exciting but
it is as much frustrating as it is arduous. It is in the nature of symptoms
that they keep recurring and reoccurring, often in different forms, as long
as their causes persist. To search for the cause of an observed phenome-
non can be painstaking and lengthy but it challenges creativity and open-
ness to the material under consideration. At the end it throws light on the
symptoms and offers more appropriate basis for treatment prescription.
In effect, attention is focussed in this work on the seminal or gesta-
tion period, the period of seminary training with emphasis on the in-
trapersonal effects of the epistemic transformations the Igbo seminarian
is going through. The aim is to make these transformations explicit, since
self-awareness – the awareness of one’s own existential condition which
touches on the past and reaches out into the future – is one of the basics
for pastoral effectivity and efficacy. If a blind man leads a blind man,
both of them will fall into a ditch (Mt 15:14).
The study is divided into three parts. Part One delineates the theo-
retical perspective of the work and consists of chapters one to four. Part
Two deals with the historical-cultural perspectives: the African epistemic
system of reference. This part comprises chapters five to nine. Part Three
focuses on the pastoral psychological and pastoral theological concerns
of the enquiry. Chapters ten to twelve and the general conclusion make
up this part.
Since the study is a contribution to self-awareness for the seminari-
ans, the enquiry takes off in Chapter One – the introductory chapter –,
with some personal experiences which are embedded in the elucidation
of the reason and the aim of this study. The anthropological stance is
also outlined in this chapter as well as the definition of the central terms
of the study. Since intrapersonal conflict has occupied many minds for
ages, it seemed pertinent, before tendering the system oriented approach
of this work, first to delineate the traditional approach to the problem.
The latter is the concern of Chapter Two, while the former is the centre

21
of interest of Chapters Three and Four. Chapter Five outlines the general
African world-view and epistemology, which is the context in which the
Igbo epistemic world described in Chapter Seven is embedded. The latter
is designed to give the reader an in-depth impression of the Igbo world
so as to enable him/her to appreciate the changes the Igbo consciousness
has gone and is going through and the impact of the changes. Chapters
Eight and Nine deal with these. The methodical approach to cultural de-
scription proffered in Chapter Six is meant to inform interested scholars
in the Igbo way and vision of life to decide beforehand on the perspective
from which they want to approach it and on which cultural texts should
constitute their object of attention. Above all, it is designed to inform the
reader of our own perspective and texts. Chapter Ten outlines the Euro-
Christian epistemic frame as it concerns priestly vocation and intraper-
sonal conflict. An empirical study was carried out among Igbo seminari-
ans in two major diocesan seminaries in Igboland in order to observe the
relationship between some aspects of the Euro-Christian and the Igbo
traditional epistemic systems of reference with regard to priestly voca-
tion. This is the subject matter of Chapter Eleven. The implications of
the findings and of the foregoing discussions for pastoral theology and
pastoral therapy as it pertains to Igbo seminarians are discussed in the
last chapter. A special accent is laid on encouragement for the formators
to dare new pastoral and therapeutical frontiers in their bid and effort to
empower and to guide the healthy personality development of the “mul-
tipliers” of ‘labourers for the Lord’s harvest’ (Lk 10: 1-2).
Finally, let the reader patiently go through this work and make
his/her own judgement. But let the judgement develop into an improve-
ment on our efforts and be inspired by the same love for the integrity and
dignity of every human being and culture as the locus of God’s incarna-
tion and redemptive acts.

22
PART ONE: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE
This page intentionally left blank
1. CLEARING THE GROUND

No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old

cloak; if he does, not only will he have torn the new one,
but the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
And nobody puts new wine into old skins; if he does, the
new wine will burst the skins and then run out, and the
skins will be lost.
Lk 5: 36-37

1.1 Why this Topic?

The interest in the intrapersonal problem of living between two worlds

among Igbo seminarians in Nigeria, was born, first of all, out of the ex-
periences and observations of the present writer during his years of
training for the Roman Catholic priesthood in Igboland in the south-
eastern part of Nigeria. The interest somehow sharpened his perception
and observation of the behaviours and activities of seminarians and
priests from this area of Nigeria long after he had left the seminary him-
self. Secondly, it was born out of his observations of the conduct of the
seminarians and his fellow priests in the pastoral field. He, himself, is an
Igbo.
One of his major observations was that there were some basic dif-
ferences between the manner in which his expatriate (European mission-
aries) professors in the seminary and those other expatriates in the par-
ishes saw and interpreted many aspects of life in this part of Nigeria and
the ways their African (Igbo) counterparts did. Besides, he became aware
of a marked difference in the manner in which the latter and the semi-
narians behaved and acted, which very often seemed like an unsuccessful
combination of the way their own people approached reality and the way
the expatriates approached the same reality. Further observations con-
cerned the behaviour of seminarians like an elite corps among their peo-

25
ple, and the sandwich-position of the seminarian as “not-yet-cleric” and
“no-longer-lay person”. A reflection of this situation led him to see the
seminarian-condition in the context of the changes taking place in the
wider Igbo society since the contact with European cultural elements.
There are indications of this on the sociological, theological and psy-
chological levels of life among the Igbo.

1.1.1 Sociological Indication

In a country like Nigeria and in particular the area of our study, Igbo-
land, the contact with western cultures brought about ongoing radical
changes on the micro, meso and macro levels of the social life of the
people. Western modernity and modernization with their essential com-
ponents of technological production and bureaucracy have made their in-
roads into the consciousness of the people. New forms of social organi-
zation and value definitions have arisen and operate along side
traditional forms and values.

1.1.2 Theological Indication

The religious life and concepts of a society are culturally evolved. Re-
ligion as an instrument of world construction and world maintenance1,
leaves its imprint on the values and permeates every sector of the life of
a people. The life and activities of the Igbo, like many Africans, are em-
bedded in a religious ambience.
The contact of traditional Religion with the Christian faith in Euro-
pean cultural wrapping was not a gradual approach between the two, nor
a mutual exploration of each other. It was rather an encounter which
turned out to be a nightmare for the former. The expatriate missionaries
condemned the traditional Igbo religious beliefs as primitive, mythical,
false and demonic and a sure way to damnation.2 Operating on the dual-

1 Cf. P. L. Berger, The Sacred Canopy, especially Chapters 1 and 2.

2 In the wake of the demands for the Theology of Inculturation this attitude has chan-
ged a lot for the better, although there are still voices in Europe and Africa itself
which maintain the same stance.

26
istic categories of “Same and Other”3 – in the language of Mudimbe –,
whereby they viewed alterity as a negation of Same, they remained inca-
pable of comprehending the traditional beliefs of the Igbo. They sought
to pull down all traditional institutions and to replace them with those
that were Christian and Western. In other words, they sought to establish
“Sameness” by obliterating the “Otherness”. In this they and their colo-
nial counterparts were well aware of the effectiveness of religion as an
instrument of social order.
Through Christianity a new social order and identity were imposed
upon the Igbo; through baptism the Igbo became a Christian and re-
ceived a European or Jewish name or a combination of both.

For example, it was devilish for a clergyman in the Roman Catholic Church to have
4
his ancestral family name like ‘Rev. Fr. Dominic Nwalusi . ‘He would instead be
called with such a name like ‘Rev. Fr. Dominic Patrick.’ Also in the Anglican
Church people went by such name as Aaron‚ Ehud, Abraham, Ruth, etc. Today
people take to Igbo names. What was the reason for the former attitude? The only
answer is that early Christian missionaries refused to accept that ‘to know how a
people view the world around them is to know how they evaluate life, and a peo-
ple’s evaluation of life, both temporal and non-temporal, provides them with a
5
charter of action, a guide of behaviour’ .

The baptized Igbo interacting within his social and religious frames of
reference began to see and to think of himself no longer as an Igbo but
henceforth as a Christian or more specifically as a Catholic or an Angli-
can, Methodist etc. However, this “new identity” is not deep rooted be-
cause the “old” (religious) framework seems to have survived. It is op-
erative even in those Igbo who did not witness the early periods of the
violent encounter of the traditional religion with the Euro-Christian cul-
ture but were born into “Christian families”. In short, the encounter led

3 Cf. V. Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa, 1-97.

4 Present writers remark: “Nwalusi” translated means: “Child of alusi”. “Alusi” is
the Igbo generic designation for their deities or divinities. Inasmuch as we share the
point Onwurah makes here, we however, cannot subscribe to his observation that it
was devilish for a Catholic priest to retain his ancestral family name no matter how
semantically incompatible it is with the basic Christian beliefs.
5 E. Onwurah, Mission Christian Converts in Traditional Igbo Society in Nigeria,
286.

27
to a different, but very often undelineated or ambiguous practice of God-
talk.6

1.1.3 Psychological Indication

The changes taking place on the sociological and theological levels led
to a diversification and sophistication of life, hence making the social
life much more demanding. The social, religious and psychological de-
mands to which the individual is exposed are increasingly gaining com-
plexity; the resilience of his instruments of perception and world evalua-
tion no longer seems to stand the weight of this test. The reaction ranges
from a total rejection, whereby the new elements are allowed to subsist
in a kind of enclave around which the traditional ways of life substan-
tially go on as before, to a total acceptance of the new changes. In-
between there is a mixture of both. This is to the extent that many Igbo
(and in fact many Nigerians) resemble that phenomenon which Frantz
Fanon so pregnantly described as “Black skin, white masks”7. This phe-

6 For instance, the missionaries exploited the Igbo belief in “Chukwu” – the High
God. None of their preaching usually started with Jesus Christ, Mary etc., but al-
ways with “Chukwu”. Fr. Shanahan was said to have exploited this tactfully: “‘I
come, not as a soldier, but as a white man who serves the mighty Chukwu [...] You
will know what his will is for men. It is to teach it that I came to this country [...]
We shall show you how to build where Chukwu will be worshipped properly‘”, Fr.
Jordan, quoted by Ikenga R. A. Ozigbo, Roman Catholicism, 194.
But the interesting thing about this sort of role definition is that Chukwu among the
Igbo has no need for human emissaries or intermediaries nor do the Igbo require
any of such in order to gain access to Chukwu. This would bring Chukwu to the
level of the lower gods or deities, who require agents and intermediaries. Such an
unreflected transposition of categories constitutes invariably a potential source of
epistemological confusion.
7 F. Fanon. This is also the title of his book: Black Skin, White Masks, first pub-
lished in English in 1968.
The edition we use here is the first edition published by Pluto Press in 1986. In it
Fanon, a psychiatrist doctor in French colonial Algeria, uses psychoanalysis and
psychological theory to explain the feelings of dependency and inadequacy that
black people experience in a white world. The book was originally formulated to
combat the oppression of black people. However, irrespective of the fact that
Fanon used the expression to portray the ambivalent life of black people in a white
colonial world, we feel that it adequately describes the phenomenon of our interest
here.

28
nomenon is more than what Peter Berger described as “cognitive bar-
gaining”8 which means the various intellectual compromises a person
makes in his daily activities between traditional and modern patterns.
What Fanon describes here has to do with the special psychological
feeling of the African in a world constructed by the West. Through the
process of identification9 everybody wants to be like the white man or
the Westerner – (at least in appearance).10 This phenomenon only bears
witness to a process of estrangement, which has long started and is fos-
tered and propagated by mainstream Christian churches.
Cognitive and emotional estrangement is unavoidably the result.
However, established modes of thinking and outlook to life are very dif-
ficult to give up. When they are repressed, they can recede into the re-
mote parts of the mind; from there they make sporadic incursions into
consciousness and colour the way we perceive new ideas. Moreover,
mythical conceptual framework cannot be ultimately eradicated from the
human mind. Religion is strongly connected with the future perspective
of the human person. It acts effectively as a principle of orientation and
order for human conduct and consciousness. The side-by-side existence
of Igbo Traditional and Christian religious viewpoints is certainly not
without psychological consequences for the Igbo. Their apparent incom-
patibility results often in a conflict of orientation. For example: In the
traditional society, it is usual, in certain problem situations, to consult a
diviner or a medicine-man in order to ascertain the will of God, of the
ancestors or simply for a piece of advice. Many Christians, when they
encounter similar situations, solicit the help of a priest/pastor (in form of
prayer and/or advice) and still secretly consult a diviner or a medical
professional the traditional way; they might do this personally or through
an intermediary. By so doing, they get trapped between two fronts: both

8 P. Berger, B. Berger and H. Kellner, The Homeless Mind, 155.

9 This is understood in the psychoanalytic sense by which the individual through de-
sire internally assumes the position of the object desired. Thus, in a way, he defines
his existence or identity from the standpoint of the Other. By the same process, he
occupies, at least in fantasy, the place of the object, while at the same time retain-
ing his own former place. His image of himself is already experiencing a transfor-
mation: a kind of being for an other.
10 Cf. Homi K. Bhabha’s Foreword to the Pluto Edition of F. Fanon’s Black Skin,
White Masks, xv-xvi. The Foreword has as title and subtitle: Remembering Fanon,
Self, Psyche and the Colonial Condition.

29
religious norm expectations. Entangled thus, one, on one hand, fears the
wrath of the “new” God who is said to be a jealous and intolerant God
and, on the other hand, the indignation of the God and the deities of
one’s forebears and of their spirits, whom one disavowed at baptism.

1.2 The Aim of the Study

The description of the aim of our enquiry will be carried out in three
steps. Each step will be illustrated with personal experiences made dur-
ing our own seminary training in Nigeria.11

1.2.1 The Seminarian: An “Other-Worldly” Being

Since the arrival of the Europeans in the south-eastern part of Nigeria,

the area has been caught up in a whirlwind of changes in every area of
life. New structures and institutions, for example, the Church, the clergy
and the seminary, new meanings and new goals emerged. With new
meanings came also new social norms. According to the sociology of
knowledge, social norms come into being through the processes of ex-
ternalisation of individual subjective meanings and objectivation of the
externalised meanings in language, symbols, norms and roles, etc. They
become operative and binding by way of internalisation. The norms and
meanings become internalised through a process of socialization. The

11 The examples we shall be citing here have their roots in the biography of the pres-
ent writer. The experiences narrated are also shared by his fellow Igbo students
living in the same college with him in Innsbruck. These went through the same
seminary in Nigeria.
In the examples we shall be alternating between the pronouns “I” and “we” and
their corresponding reflexive forms “myself” and “ourselves”. We shall use the
form of the first person singular when the likelihood that the experience or act in
question was really had or carried out by a majority of the seminarians is low, thus
only the author can confirm this in relation to himself and a very few others. The
plural form on the other hand shall be employed when the experience or act in
question pertains to a wider majority, the author inclusive.

30
degree of their influence in a society depends on the extent to which they
have been internalised by the individual members of that society. Cou-
pled with social sanctions and group pressure they assume a social con-
trol function. If they are reinforced by religion their social control func-
tion gradually assumes some kind of an absolute nature. Religion itself
projects a particular kind of image or concept of God, of the human per-
son and of the world at large.
The seminarian is training to become an official representative of
the Roman Catholic version of the new religion – Christianity – and con-
sequently a transmitter of its concepts of God, the human person and of
the world. As a would-be minister of and to the Christian God, the spiri-
tual, intellectual and affective transformations he has to undergo have to
be more encompassing than that of his non-seminarian counterparts. Not
only is he expected to master the techniques of transmitting these new
concepts, he has also to imbibe the logic, the thought pattern and the
frame of reference of the new Christian religion, while relinquishing
those of his traditional society. In rhythm with St. Paul, one has to cast
off the things of the old to take up the new. It is this religious dimension
that makes the situation of the Igbo seminarian peculiar. He has to be-
come the “fresh wineskin” which will contain and preserve the “new
wine”.12 The following experiences, formulated in retrospection, serve as
illustrations of this point:
13
From the first day of entrance into the seminary onwards, I was to become some-
one special; not necessarily among my classmates but outside the seminary. I be-
came segregated from my peers and friends back home in the village. Everybody
seemed to be interested in me and my career, especially the Catholics. Both in and
outside the seminary real efforts were made to shield me – without fear of exag-
geration, this is valid as well for every other seminarian – from all influences that
could constitute a danger to my career. We learned to call this career “vocation” or
“call”. We learned to understand this to mean that we were called by God to the
priesthood. We were a chosen people. Gradually we were introduced to what was
to become our new identity, our new self-definition and self-ideal. One Igbo

12 Lk 5:38.
13 As a rule the (official) journey to the priesthood in Igboland begins with the minor
seminary from where one proceeds to the major seminary for philosophy and the-
ology. Usually one enters the seminary as a stripling just fresh from the psycho-
logical developmental stage of latency.

31
 14
bishop defined the priest as an alter Christus, a “segregatus a populo or segre-
gatus ex omnibus”. According to him, a priest “is holier than an angel”. We were,
therefore, to strive towards this high ideal: perfection in holiness; a perfection
which not even the angels could attain. It was very important that we do remember
that we were a chosen people, chosen from among the people. We were told the
story of a certain saint who met an angel and a priest walking together and was
asked to chose between the angel and the priest. The saint chose the priest because
the priest is said to be holier than the angel! We ought to model our lives accord-
ingly. I made all possible efforts to avoid those persons, things and places I was not
any longer meant to come into contact with. As priests in spe we learnt to avoid
participation in the traditional festivities, ceremonies, and associated activities be-
cause they are considered heathen or pagan. We were not to take part in them with-
out compromising our vocation to the priesthood. This behaviour, however, was
not expressly and systematically imparted in the seminary but with time one gets to
know that this is a part of the seminary training. Furthermore, we ought to con-
sciously say goodbye to those traditional beliefs in the spirits and the ancestors in
15
all their ramifications. That means that we understood that it is expected of us to
avoid any contacts with the heathen or pagan traditions we had “left behind”. To
still lend credence to them or even acknowledge their reality was tantamount to
16
clinging on to paganism, superstition and idolatry. All efforts were channelled
not just towards avoiding these but also towards exterminating them. In the cate-
chism class, some years earlier, we had learnt that it is “unwise, ignobly stupid and
17
false to ‘adore’ idols because they are man-made. They neither walk, nor can

14 Late bishop Godfrey Okoye.

15 In actual fact, there was rarely any express mention of the traditional beliefs in the
entire curriculum of the seminary training as something that possibly could have
some relevance for the life of the seminarians being trained or even of their train-
ers. So the “consciously say goodbye” was only a reinforced tacit implication fol-
lowing from one’s choice to be in the seminary; their abjuration had long taken
place at baptism. This therefore should not be understood as if we were called up to
make a conscious and open renunciation of the traditional beliefs.
16 The Igbo custom and belief system were generally said to be pagan which was and
is at the same time evil. They were – “were” because today there is a general ten-
dency to be very careful about the use of pejorative statements to this effect – de-
clared as being not only under the influence of the devil but also permeated through
and through by the devil. The work of evangelisation aims ultimately at saving the
souls of the Igbo from the clutches of the devil, most reputably that of Satan. To be
“pagan” meant at the same time to be inclined to evil and to be under the govern-
ance of the Lucifer, the head of the devils.
17 The choice of this expression “adore” or “worship” which is translated in Igbo as
ife or isekpulu is a clear indication of an imposition of a foreign conceptual frame-
work on the Igbo consciousness. This catechism text is still in use today all over
Igboland even though there is an awakening consciousness among Igbo theologians
of some basic misrepresentations of the Igbo world view contained therein. Be-

32
 they talk, see, hear, move, nor do they possess any powers and so on” (obu nkafie
bu isekpulu alusi makana madu mebelu fa; ije fa eje, ike ikwu okwu ma fa enwe,
nke fa n’afu uzo, nke fa n’anu ife, mmerube fa emeru, ike ma fa enwe wee gaba-
18
zia). I devoured books on lives of legendary European saints and martyrs who
became saints because of their avowed war against paganism. Books and stories on
how best the traditional arguments and beliefs could be rebutted, disproved and
discredited were passionately read and digested. They were read more with the aim
of equipping myself to face the “pagan” world outside and then secondarily to
strengthen and confirm me in my tacit “decision” against that world. We referred to
the people outside the walls of the seminary as being in the world and of the world;
that world was replete with the devil’s agents and evil machinations and that
women were such instruments. On the surface level one becomes increasingly alien
to one’s own cultural heritage and to the life of the people outside the seminary
fortresses. On a deeper and inner level, one feels himself unfree. Nonetheless, we
were not to concern ourselves with “inner worldly things”. With this image of
“segregatus” we developed a feeling of being something special in relation to the
others who are not in the seminary, something set apart – perhaps this is one of the
aims of the training –, and of being an elite. This feeling made some of us to regard
themselves no more like one of them but like someone above them.

sides, the enumeration of those qualities which – and of course they are no more
divine than human – the alusi is said not to possess also shows a lack of the under-
standing of the symbol and its essence. However one observes even in modern Igbo
society of today that, irrespective of this catechism one learnt, this ability of the
Igbo to perceive the numinous in natural objects and phenomena is still as dynamic
as ever in the Igbo consciousness.
18 Katechism nke Okwukwe nzuko Katolik n’asusu Igbo. Cf. also: Ozigbo 145-146.
This booklet was originally published in January 1904 “with the help of Fr. Vogler
and the catechists” and prefaced by Fr. Lejeune who made its use obligatory
throughout the apostolic Prefecture. On the impact of this catechism on the Igbo
Catholicism Ikenga Ozigbo made the following analysis: “The impact of this cate-
chism on Igbo Catholicism may perhaps best be compared to that of Martin Lu-
ther’s German bible on the course of the 16th century reformation. The seductive
phraseology of this catechism effectively and mockingly attacked the Igbo ‘idols’
which were caricatured as impotent deities, incapable of seeing, hearing or moving,
and consequently, useless to anyone worshipping or praying to them. It is some
matter for surprise that the Catholic mission got away with this gross misrepresen-
tation of Igbo beliefs about their deities. It did, however, serve Catholic propaganda
very admirably. The catechism also succeeded in casting serious aspersions on the
main Catholic rival (the C.M.S.) which was portrayed as lacking all apostolic
authority but had only the worldly and son-loving Henry VIII, for its founder”,
146.

33
The overbearing demeanour of some seminarians and a good number of
priests today most likely has its root here. This segregatio has certainly a
strong connection with the vision of the world portrayed in the most
popular spiritual book we used in the seminary: The Imitation of Christ
by Thomas à Kempis. In it a picture of the world is painted as the devil’s
hunting ground, with temptations lurking everywhere. For instance
quoting Seneca he wrote: “‘As often as I go among men (the world), I
come back less a man.’” Or: “God comes closer with his angels to him
who isolates himself from acquaintances and friends”19. The safest place,
therefore, was the secure walls of the monastery, and by extension, the
seminary.
For the African and no less for the Igbo whose life is characterized
by “being-with”, by life in the human community, this is a very difficult
goal. Such a monastic life-style is incompatible with the primary aim of
the seminary, which is the training of priests for pastoral service among
the people of God. This attitude may be partly responsible for stressing
personal, individual activities like prayer, study and recreation, the idea
of magnum silencium, while playing down community life in the training
of priests. The seminarians themselves come from the background,
where community life is the mainstay of the society. Stressing this point,
C. Gotan enunciates:

Very often the local priest is made to look inefficient and undisciplined, not be-
cause he is deficient in his work, but because he is judged by alien standards set by
missionaries. For one reason or another, the missionaries seemed to have made a
virtue out of living alone [...]. A good number of people who have grown old in the
system tend to be introverted, isolated and possessed of a bachelor mentality. The
lives of such persons are usually centred around the cat and the dog, and when the
day comes, imposed by old age, to live in community, they can’t adapt. The result

19 The Imitation of Christ, 1, XX, 5 and 29. Cf.: Paul Mons’ German translation, 45
and 47.
We do not intend to join the bandwagon of those who question the authorship of
this book by Thomas à Kempis. Suffice it to point out that the general tendency is
to ascribe the origin of the book to Gerrit Grote († 20th August 1384 in Deventer),
the great reform preacher and father of the “devotio moderna”. This is a religious
or pious reform movement which arose in the 15th Century. Thomas, an adherent
of this movement, is regarded as having made some contributions to it and at the
same time as the editor. However, for purposes of easy referencing, we choose to
refer to à Kempis as the author. Cf.: Paul Mons, Die vier Bücher der Nachfolge
Christi, 5-9.

34
 of this very often is a nervous breakdown and isolation in old age [...]. The expatri-
ate missionary enjoys a lonely life, with his books, his radio and the bottles which
hopefully solve his problems. These are not enough company for everybody, espe-
cially those who are imbued with and attached to togetherness and brotherhood as
20
encouraged and lived in the family, clan, and tribe .

The seminary seems to be oblivious of the reality and the explosive na-
ture of this phenomenon. It pays little or no attention to a probable dis-
crepancy in the seminarian’s experience of his “other-worldly life” in the
seminary and his life as a part of the world outside the seminary. The ac-
quaintance with such a conflict was mostly serendipitous. That means, in
the pursuit of his private interest, the seminarian may have chanced on it
in novels of such authors like, Chinua Achebe, Adaora I. Ulasi, Onuora
Nzekwu, John Munonye, Elechi Amadi, Obi Egbuna and Cyprian Ek-
wensi. But even at that, such a conflict between two worlds was inter-
preted as just one of such things one reads in novels and history books
about a remote past, which has no relevance for one’s present life. The
seminary system does not seem to be aware of the existence of such con-
flicts within its walls. Or if it is, it does not give it any serious considera-
tion. And not very seldom, the seminary explains away its manifestation
as lack of vocation. That means too, that the seminary does not yet seem
to realize the pastoral implications of such a conflict and ultimately its
implications for the gospel message of Jesus Christ (“the new wine”) for
and among the Igbo.
This work, therefore, aims at a sensitisation of the seminarians and
of those responsible for their training on this matter. It hopes to draw the
problem right into the sanctuary of the seminary, thereby liberating it
from being condemned as the problem of the others only. Its ultimate
hope, in this connection, is to encourage the seminary authority to bring
this phenomenon to bear in its handling of the seminarians‘ problems.
This is most urgent when it comes to the ongoing assessment or dis-
cernment of the suitability of any particular seminarian for the priest-
hood.

20 C. T. Gotan, The Seminarians: Their Dispositions and Challenges, 31f.

35
1.2.2 The Seminarian: An “Inner-Worldly” Being

It is pastorally irresponsible and naive if one should think that the “new
wineskins” were not bred out of old human (Igbo) stocks. Underneath
the skins lie the ligaments and veins or at least remnants of them, which
tell of the origin of the skin. The relation to that old stock cannot be
completely severed, and much less when the “new wineskin” is used or
kept in its natural ambience. The seminarian is brought up and still lives
in a milieu that is in many respects basically different from that of the
West. It is not quite possible to get him totally socialized in the Euro-
Christian world, a miniature of which the seminary represents. Even
where it seems to have succeeded, the relics of the “old” (i.e. his native
field of vision), once in a while, still overtake him. Outside the fortresses
of the seminary the “old” accosts him with its subtle and defiant dyna-
mism. The resultant conflict which he experiences, leaves its marks of
incongruence on his conducts (in the seminary and outside the seminary
in the pastoral field). The following experiences help to illustrate this
point. The incidents to be narrated below occurred in the only major
seminary in a non-Igbo area of the ecclesiastical province21. Half of the
seminarian population there is Igbo:

The seminary compound is bounded on one end by a river. This river was said to
be inhabited by some spiritual forces. Some even claimed that it was inhabited by a
water spirit. Stories were told of a dreadful python that was said to inhabit that
water too. Some seminarians claimed to have seen it. There was an aura of mystifi-
cation around the stories. However, some years later the then rector announced that
the python really existed, that it was trapped and killed by some snake experts. As a
proof he showed us something in a small bottle he said was part of the snake; it was
extracted, he went on, because it was said to be medicinally efficacious. This still
did not allay the awe we felt each time we approached that river. There was also a
mystification of the suspicion of the discontentment of the villagers over the pres-
ence of the seminary in their neighbourhood. Some seminarians believed that some
of the uncomfortable events in the seminary had something to do with it. All these
stories were believed with varying degrees to be true. Some events seemed to have
helped to lend them credence and substance: As a warning against the river, we
were told the story of a seminarian who got drowned in it a couple of years earlier.
He was actually said to be a very good swimmer. His remains were found some
days later. There was also the story of the ghastly road accident involving the

21 The incidents narrated in this part of the work occurred between 1979 and 1985. At
this time the entire south-eastern Nigeria was under Onitsha ecclesiastical province.

36
 seminary mini-bus just on the bridge over the river; the driver and a seminarian
died there. There had been also a series of motor accidents on that spot. All these
reinforced the awe and evil magical powers attributed to the river. But the interest-
ing aspect was that these explanations and stories existed only within the safe walls
of the seminary. We could not dare to hold such opinions or even admit that we
also shared the same views to people outside the seminary. We even took the oppo-
site stand when necessary.

A further example is my experience with a friend in our philosophy

years.

Throughout his years in the seminary he had suffered from an agonizing headache.
He narrated to me one day what he believed to be the cause of his agony: “One of
my aunts had an only son and was very unhappy about it. She became very envious
of my family, because her brother-in-law, my father, had more male children. We
lived on the same compound. We found out that she had procured a charm which
she buried in the garden close to our house. It was meant to bring about a retarda-
tion of our progress through bad health. She had already bewitched one of my
brothers for he had become so servile to her. She had also afflicted one of my sis-
ters with a rare skin disease.” My friend was also convinced that the aunt was a
witch or at least had access to some evil powers. He was thus certain that the root
of his agony lay in this woman. In reality a brother of his suffers from a schizo-
22
phrenic disorder and one of his sisters also had an awful and unusual skin dis-
ease. Of course these problems could have other causes. Here is, however, not the
place to discuss them. Of relevance for our investigation is only how he explained
his sickness to himself. Nevertheless he dared not mention this to any of his superi-
23
ors ; for his fragile health alone was already a question mark on his vocation. Be-
sides, he never disclosed this to any persons outside the seminary folk and when he
did, only to very close friends.

The above examples show that the seminarian is very much a child of his
time and cultural environment.
The study, therefore, aims at button-holing and dislodging the illu-
sion and quasi accusation usually levelled against the Christians – often

22 “Unusual” in accordance with the stand of medicare in this part of the country.
23 The experience with one of his expatriate superiors was a warning: As a result of
his chronic headache, he requested to consult a medical doctor. In the accompany-
ing letter to the doctor, his superior requested the doctor the confirm that my friend
was not suitable for the priesthood. The fact that he had to take an accompanying
letter in a sealed envelope along for a medical consultation aroused our suspicion.
So we had to open the envelope. Of course, he did not consult the doctor but in-
stead decided to bear his pains without medication.

37
from Christians themselves –, that their dual faith expressions or belief
forms and dual attitudes, which they manifest here and there, are indica-
tions of their shallow and/or weak faith or of a total lack of faith.24 This,
however, does not mean that there is no such thing as lack of faith
among the Igbo Christians. We only point out that such an explanation is
sheer oversimplification of the issue at stake, and to some extent it is an
expression of clerical hubris. The seminarian as well as the other Chris-
tians are undergoing enormous epistemological changes and constant
shifting of fields of vision, which he apparently is not aware of. In bor-
derline situations, many seminarians and priests resort to ‘old’ but ac-
customed horizons of interpretations. Double vision is unsettling and
often sparks off incongruent feelings and behaviours.
On the other hand, the study hopes to help in eliminating or at least,
to relativize the illusion of the seminarian and priests that the shallow-
ness of the faith among their people is a failure on their part as pro-
claimers of the Good News. At the same time, it hopes to help them re-

24 For instance, V. O. Eze, a seminarian, in his article on Spiritual Healing in the Ni-
gerian Church published in the special edition of The Pastor, Vol. 5 No. 1 – Vol. 6
No. 1 (Jan. 1993–June 1994), contends that the absence of an observable “spiritual
transformation” and/or a “true life of conversion” in a goodly number of those who
frequent the numerous healing homes and centres is a result “of lack of faith
brought about to a large extent by an overriding influence of spiritual mediocrity”
and “lack of understanding of the true meaning of suffering in the life of a Chris-
tian [...]. The attitude of running from one healing centre to another endlessly is
totally at variance with this theology of the cross”, 14.
Eze seems to be content with the feeling of being free of such a spiritual mediocrity
and possessing the true understanding of the true meaning of suffering. He feigns
to guess the reason why the people seek those healing centres when he writes: Be-
side those who go there out of sheer curiosity is the fact that “the African man or
woman is a suffering type. There is great suffering in his or her life that little lifting
up of this burden is more than welcome. Thus he or she seeks for this ease for its
sake regardless of the demands it would make in his or her spirituality”. He how-
ever fails to ask the crucial questions: What does wholesomeness of mind and
body, say mental and physical well-being, good health, mean for the African, Nige-
rian or Igbo? What does suffering or sickness mean for him? How does he explain
both? If he had posed such questions and attempted the answer, he would have very
likely stumbled at the insight, that what he quietly described as “lack of faith” or
“lack of understanding” is more of a manifestation of a basic epistemic disruption
than of spiritual intransigency or intellectual myopia.

38
alize that if their people need conversion, then they themselves need it on
a greater scale.
In the same connection, it wants to make the seminarian conscious
of the fact that he is a part of a system in which epistemic violence has
been entrenched and propagated as the best instrument in the encounter
between the Christian doctrine and the traditional belief of his people.
By doing this, it hopes to awaken in him, in his dealings with his people,
an appreciation of the transformations of consciousness, which the pa-
rishioners are undergoing. Such appreciation is meant to bring about a
change of pastoral stratagem: from the overbearing, “topdog and under-
dog”25, “better-than-thou” to a more humane, empathetic and understan-
ding disposition.

1.2.3 The Seminarian: The Epicentre of Attention

The acclaimed aim of the seminary is to produce able bodied men pre-
pared for the ministries of the word, of worship and sanctification and of
a shepherd26. Perhaps based on this the Nigerian National Seminaries
Commission recommends that “the Seminary should aim at making
priests all-round men, so that they can easily fit in anywhere into society,
and be very versatile. Liberal arts and science subjects like music,
woodwork, engineering, mechanics, architecture should be taught to
some degree”27. One gets the impression that the above recommendation
still clings to that obsolete idea of the priest as a “factotum” of the
Church, where he has always something to say in every walk of life; an
image of the priest inherited from the early missionaries.
The idea is noble but unrealistic. The overpopulated condition and
inadequate infrastructure in the seminaries seem to force the “making of
all-round men” to give way to a chiefly intellectual enterprise coupled

25 F. Perls, The Gestalt Approach and Eye Witness to Therapy, 122-123. Perls used
this expression to explain what he considered the most frequent split in human per-
sonality. According to him “top dog” is the equivalence of the psychoanalytic super
ego, which is always righteous and correct. It makes use of punishments to prove to
the “underdog” that he is right. As a communication metaphor, it describes a rela-
tionship characterized by power tussle.
26 Cf. Vat. II, OT, Art. 4.
27 Gotan 34.

39
with the acquisition of liturgical skills. The development of pastoral
communicative competence suffers a grave neglect as a result. This
situation encourages competitive spirit and tendencies among the semi-
narians. Not that the technique and methods are unimportant but that
they are peripheral to the core quality of ability to relate. They are pas-
torally useless if the person cannot establish a healthy relationship with
the people in tune with the Vat. II Council which recommends that semi-
narians should develop “the abilities most appropriate for the promotion
of dialogue with [fellow human beings], such as the capacity to listen to
other people and to open their hearts in a spirit of charity to the various
circumstances of human need”28. But where methods and technique are
applied without this “relationship-ability”, they become, according to R.
Zerfaß, no more than tricks and manipulative manoeuvres.29
It has always been reiterated that the pastor should be an all-round-
man but right in this aspect his training seems to be at a loss. The semi-
narian is being prepared for work among his people, the majority of
whom still live according to their traditional patterns. There he is meant
to be able to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who
rejoice.30 He is meant to be understanding and to feel with believers and
none believers, Christians and non-Christians, old and young, sick and
healthy alike. “For it is not as if we had a high priest who was incapable
of feeling our weaknesses with us [...]”31. One of the characteristics of
Jesus Christ, the good Shepherd is: capability of empathy and solidarity.
The seminarian has to emulate Christ. But he cannot develop this quality
fully as long as he is totally shielded from the realities of life of the peo-
ple he is later meant to minister to. He can also not come to that depth if
he does not reach deep into his own soul to discover the laws which gov-
ern his conduct and by extension that of the people he is meant to teach.
For “‘it is no use painting the foot of the tree white, the strength of the
bark cries out from beneath the paint [...]’” says Aimé Césaire.32
This work, therefore, wants to inspire the seminarian to strive to de-
velop the capability of hearing those “cries” – i.e. the ensuing inner con-

28 Vat. II, OT Art. 9.

29 R. Zerfaß, Menschliche Seelsorge, 124. Cf. also H. Stenger, Kompetenz und Iden-
tität, 51-54.
30 1 Cor 9:19-23.
31 Heb 4:15a.
32 Fanon 198.

40
flict – as cries welling from the pith of the tree, which is its strength and
not as whimpering of an ill-willed and unbelieving person. They are
“cries”, which need serious attention, that is, to be heard and interpreted
rightly.
Furthermore, it aims at awakening in the seminarians the insight, to
borrow Boisen’s words that every human person is a “‘living human
document’”33 which one, like oneself, has diligently to learn to read and
understand, if one wants to understand the inner logic behind and the
connections between the different words, that make up the different sen-
tences, which is his life. These are the “living texts” the seminarian has
to do with in and outside the seminary. They have to be understood, just
like oneself, as living texts.
This work also wants to encourage the seminarians to get in touch
with themselves from this perspective of their entanglement in two epis-
temic systems. It hopes to arouse in them the awareness that their entan-
glement has far reaching implications for the life of the faithful and par-
ticularly for their understanding of the faith. It is hoped that if they
realize that both they and the rest of the Igbo Christian folk are experi-
encing an epistemic disruption – in their varying levels and degrees –,
then they may begin to see themselves and the others as equal subjects
and targets of God’s salvation message. In this connection, this work
hopes to help cut down that “better-than-you” attitude one meets among
seminarians and priests, of which the people of God so much complain.
It thereby wants to help foster a domination-free (“herrschaftsfreie”)34
atmosphere between the seminarians – priests inclusive – and between
them and the rest of the Christian community.

33 H. Wahl, Pastoralpsychologie – Teilgebiet und Grunddimension praktischer Theo-

logie, 47. A. T. Boisen, an American (U. S. A.) pastoral theologian, himself a long-
time psychiatric patient, came to the insight that the people with whom the pastor
deals are “living human documents” which have to be read and interpreted like the
great documents of the Bible and the tradition which are themselves embodiments
of the faith experiences of human beings. They have therefore to be understood,
just like oneself, as living texts.
34 H. Stenger, Kompetenz und Identität, 54f. This beautiful coinage from J. Habermas
qualifies that kind of communication which is free or devoid of that overbearing air
in which one party exacts the authority, gives the tone and allows for no other
opinion.

41
 P. K. Sarpong35 was quoted in connection with his critical appraisal
of the growth of Christianity in Africa as having remarked: “I do not
want to seem to be merely attacking the missionaries. Their zeal was
admirable. What happened was no one’s fault. But if it is understandable
to make mistakes, it is unpardonable to continue them”36. We too do not
want to be understood as merely criticizing the seminary training in Ig-
boland. It is our earnest and honest wish to contribute something to fill
that lacuna in the formation of the future priests in Igboland about which
many have complained: psychological growth and at the least a reduc-
tion of self-alienation of the seminarian. According to R. G. Cote,

the African seminary has had more success thus far in educating the minds of
seminarians; it has not been as successful in educating their hearts. It has imparted
sound theological knowledge [in scholastic categories] but not sufficient self-
knowledge, good reasoning powers but insufficient psychological strength, impres-
sive mental acumen but not enough emotional and affective maturity. Seminarians
so become very knowledgeable about many things a good priest has to know, but
remains surprisingly ignorant about many psychological facets of their own per-
sonalities, their own emotional conflicts, anxieties, and inner fears. Their religious
and spiritual growth has not always been matched with a corresponding psycho-
37
logical growth and African development .

A major contribution in the area of the psycho-dynamics of vocation is

the pioneer work of L. M. Rulla, J. Ridick, F. Imoda, Entering and
Leaving Vocation: intrapsychic Dynamics from which we will draw very
much in this our work. This work, therefore, aims at contributing to the
growth of this aspect of the seminarian’s personality.
Finally, we wish to bring the seminarian into the epicentre of atten-
tion. By that we reduce the number of those who, when they talk about
priestly formation, concentrate most on the seminary administration, and
increase the rows of those who struggle to turn the searchlight of atten-
tive discussion on the very person on whose account the seminary exists,
the seminarian himself. The Council of Trent in trying to streamline the
training of priests concentrated, among other things, on the seminary
administration. It failed, however, to say enough on the seminarian per
se. Consequently, seminary education all along has tended to pre-occupy

35 Bishop of Kumasi, Ghana.

36 A. G. Unimna, Towards Africanizing the Catholic Priesthood, 45.
37 Ibid., 52.

42
itself with what and how to teach to the detriment of who is taught. In the
modern society of today where a person vanishes easily into a mere
functionary (in Gabriel Marcel’s sense), it becomes more compelling to
place the person of the seminarian in the epicentre of seminary concern.
The mission of Christ needs more than functionaries. Let us now con-
clude with the words of A. G. Unimna:

I suppose that our modern Church too needs more than priests who just know how
to wear soutanes and administer the sacraments to a congregation they cannot
maturely relate with. She needs mature and responsible priests as active collabora-
tors in the common mission of salvation entrusted to her by Christ, and the semi-
38
nary constitutes an ideal place for such an integral up-bringing .

If this work succeeds in being a contribution to this end, then it must

have achieved its goal, for that is what it is all about.

1.3 Method

As far as we know, no previous works exist on the theme of our enquiry.

We are practically threading a new terrain. Usually, all pioneer efforts
are guided by the hope and the vision of some treasure somewhere. So
are we guided by the vision of future priests who are positively in touch
with their cultural heritage while growing stronger in the Spirit of the
Man of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, and by the vision and the desire to con-
tribute to the pastoral competence and effectiveness of future Igbo
priests. In effect, we will draw from sources in (clinical and pastoral)
psychology, cultural anthropology, history and theology. For the empiri-
cal survey and its results interested readers are referred to the unpub-
lished original version of this work at the universities of Innsbruck and
Freiburg in Switzerland. Our enquiry will take the following steps:
Since intrapersonal conflict has much to do with the individual’s
perception and interpretation of the reality of his experience, we will
state in the first part of this work our epistemological slant, which is the

38 Ibid., 51-52.

43
systemic approach. In this regard we will draw from works from the psy-
chology of knowledge: cognitive and communication psychology. Here
the works of H. Maturana and F. Varela, G. Bateson, D. Ulich, G. A.
Kelly will play a very important role. These works were chosen because
they concern themselves with the systemic nature of human knowledge
and behaviour. Our decision to apply the systemic approach in this work
was guided by the fact that the African social and cognitive world, irre-
spective of the radical changes it is undergoing, is still a world of inter-
connected relationships and realities.
To understand the Igbo world of the seminarians, we will apply the
cultural anthropological and historical approaches in the second part of
the work. The works to be used in this area are mainly works from Afri-
can authors. These works are written in English. It might be difficult for
someone outside the African cultural hemisphere to fully comprehend
the reality to be discussed in this part.– That is actually the issue at state
in this work: the problem of interpretation! We will, however, do our
best to reduce this barrier while remaining faithful to the object of our
attention. Since no culture is static but evolving in accordance with his-
torical developments, the historical approach will be used to portray the
changes the Igbo “way-of-being-in-the-world” has been undergoing
since the advent of the Europeans in Africa.
Pastoral theological and pastoral psychological considerations will
constitute the third and last step. We will rely much on the works of L.
M. Rulla et al. and H. Stenger as they deal with seminarians and pastoral
workers. This part of the work will be a synthesis of all the deliberations
hitherto.

1.3.1 Our Anthropological Slant

Every vision of life and its related issues is a vision of the human person
and an expression of a specific conception of the human being. Naively
put, an Igbo, and so an African, is not a European. The difference be-
tween them lies not so much in the colour of their skin or of their eyes. It
lies basically in the ways in which they are conscious of the world, the
manner in which they perceive and interpret the world of their experi-
ences. This difference is significantly cultural in nature.

44
 The homo sapiens is at the same time homo socialis and as a bio-
logical necessity a homo culturalis as well. Understood from a cultural
anthropological standpoint, the human being39 is culturally determined.
By this is meant that the culture which is basically a human product con-
ditions its producer, thereby shaping his perception of himself and of the
world around him. Thus both stand in a dialectical relationship to each
other. The society patterns the ongoing relationship of the individual
with others.40 It is a dialectical phenomenon. The life of every individual
can be seen as an aspect of the history of his society. According to P. L.
Berger: “Every individual biography is an episode within the history of
society, which both precedes and survives it”41.
In comparison to the lower animals, one can say that the human
being is biologically and psychologically a “premature delivery”. He is
“unfinished” at birth. As a result, his world, by nature, is an open one.
The world of the lower animals is on the contrary already determined by
their inborn instincts. There is right from the beginning a dog-world, a
donkey-world, a fish-world and so on. In respect of the human being,
there is no such finished world. The human being has first to “create” his
world. And by doing so, he fashions and “finishes” himself.
As homo socialis, his nature is essentially relation. In relation he
creates his world, i.e., in constant communication with his fellow human
beings. This world makes up his culture. In the process of this activity,
human beings form and maintain society, which is at the same time an
aspect of culture. A very important aspect of this “relationality” is re-
ligion: The homo relationis is also relatively a homo religiosus. Religion
has to do with the belief in and reverence for a supernatural force, power
or being, accepted to be the origin and sustenance of the universe. This
supernatural power acts – where it applies – also as unifying factor for
the human personality. It is an essential part of the person’s world. The

39 We are quite aware of the fact that the terms “Person”, “Personality” or “individ-
ual” stands for the male and female forms of the human species. We would very
much love to give honour to this fact and consequently use the pronoun “she/he”,
when we mean both. But for easy reading, and for the fact that the author is a man
and writing for an, in the mean time, exclusively male audience: Seminarians and
Priests of the Roman Catholic Church, we shall be using the pronoun “he” even
when we mean both forms of the human family.
40 Cf. Berger, The Sacred Canopy, 7.
41 Berger 3.

45
relationship to it manifests itself in rituals and values. The concrete ex-
pressions of this relationship are themselves fundamentally culturally
determined.
On account of the dialectical nature of the relationship between the
human being and his world, the latter which is basically open becomes at
the same time a relatively closed world.42 Apart from the biological and
psychic make-up of the human person, his culture provides him with
specific forms of perceiving and experiencing things and events, thus
serving as orientation in his encounter with his environment. That is, it
specifies what he should see and what should be bracketed out of per-
ception and conscious awareness. In other words, it provides him with a
specific form of epistemology. The specific forms of perception vary in
their elasticity from person to person. Seen from this perspective, an en-
counter or contact between persons, ideologies, concepts of life and of
the world from different cultures posits a fertile ground for conflict.

1.3.1.1 The Seminarian: A Man Between two Worlds

The seminary has, among other things, the main task of “restructuring”
the seminarian mentally, cognitively and emotionally and of “re-socia-
lizing” him, in order to impress on him the new identity: that of a Chris-
tian and a representative of the Roman Catholic Church.
The Catholic priesthood inherited by the Igbo was a distant and
strange priesthood. ‘Distant and strange’ because it was foreign to the
people and far-removed from the people’s everyday life; it demands that
the priest lives far away from the people. According to Unimna, this
priesthood was shrouded with mysteries:

a priest does not go to toilet; he eats no foo-foo or garri; he drinks no alcohol; he

associates with no females outside the sanctuary and sacristy, etc. Anger expressed
by a priest – even irrationally – was considered as God’s wrath while a slap from
the priest was a blessing in disguise. That the background of the expatriate priest
was unknown and that he was dressed in a special and strange way, talked in a
strange language and style, and behaved in a completely different way from the
evangelised community added to the mystification of the priesthood. On top of all
that, the expatriate priest was sure of who he was (a king among inferiors) and

42 Cf. P. L. Berger and T. Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality, 51.

46
 what his mission was (a decisive one of remodelling the evangelised with the Bible
43
as a tool and colonial superiority as a garment) .

The coincidence of colonialism and missionary activities in the African

historical experience has far-reaching consequences for the evangelisa-
tion of the African peoples. This unholy marriage between the altar and
colonial imperialism led to the fact that the missionary interests, Unimna
continues, “became mixed up with the notion that Africans were not
properly finished by the Creator who had therefore sent the perfect men
to remake and give the African a new and superior culture, and to deliver
him from everything African except himself and his land. There is no
doubt that Christianity for long (perhaps until Vat. II) staged a vigorous
drive for the circumcision of the African culture in such a way that might
remind one of the events that prompted the Council of Jerusalem (Ac
15)”44. The emergence of Igbo indigenous priests has, however, helped
to eradicate to a great extent this image of the priest.
The seminary has the function of producing the clergy for the local
church. Not long ago the training of indigenous and diocesan priests in
Nigeria was largely in the hands of the religious45 clergy; almost all of
them were expatriates. For instance, Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu
(Igboland in the southeast), was run by the C.S.Sp Fathers, Ss Peter and
Paul Seminary, Ibadan (Yorubaland in the west), was run by the SMA
and White Fathers, and St. Augustine’s Seminary, Jos (Hausa-Fulani-
land in the north) was run by the OSA Fathers. It is believed that the re-
ligious priest is superior and higher in spirituality than the diocesan
priests. This point is substantiated by the fact that until recently the
spiritual and moral formation of seminarians in these major seminaries
was the responsibility of priests belonging to one religious congregation
or the other.46 Expressed in sociological terms, the process of the “re-
socialization” of the Nigerian priest into the Catholic hierarchy has more
or less a monastic or religious congregational bearing.
Socialization is said to be successful to the extent the internalisation
of the norms and values of the given society has taken place and to the
extent those norms and values assume the quality of “taken-for-granted”

43 Unimna 43.
44 Ibid.
45 By “religious” we mean members of the various religious order or congregation.
46 Cf. Unimna, 44.

47
in the day-to-day life of the individual. To the extent that the seminarian
internalises the norms and values imparted in the seminary, to that extent
one can talk of his estrangement from his cultural and traditional ambi-
ence being consummated. Where this process does not succeed very
well, then we are left with a classical example of a half-backed bread; a
phenomenon Fanon aptly called “black skin, white masks”. To borrow
Fanon’s terms again: “Not yet white, no longer wholly black, I was
damned”47. To add to it, the seminarian seems ignorant, or rather, un-
aware of this state. Thus moving on two planes, without in the least be-
ing aware of it and much less embarrassed by it, he conjures up his al-
ienated image as the image of the ideal human being, whereby this
image is not that of Self and Other but of the “Otherness” of the Self.
The hazy awareness of the “Otherness” of his Self (in relation to the
“Other” which is projected in the information package he receives)
makes him, by way of psychoanalytical identification and projection,
combat the undesirable (in himself) in the others. It is, therefore, not
surprising that the seminarian (unconsciously) excludes himself and his
class when he talks of others as primitive and pagan or syncretistic.48 In
his dealings with his own people, he sees or thinks no longer of himself
as Igbo; he thinks and sees himself much rather unconsciously in his new
identity and role as a Seminarian.
It is unfortunate that the entire seminary education is geared towards
the eradication of the “Otherness”. In other words, the awareness of this
“Otherness” is actually the reason for the training, and the aim is to in-
culcate in him the idea of the Other (Euro-Christian) in relation to Self
(oneself) as ideal. In this process, the total surrender of or the estrange-
ment from the “Otherness” of his Self in favour of the Other is at the
same time the attainment of the Other – the ideal. Thus, what Mudimbe
said in a different context applies remarkably to the seminary training.
According to him:

Up to the 1920s, the entire framework of African social studies was consistent with
the rationale of an epistemological field and its socio-political expressions of con-
quest. Even those social realities, such as art, languages, or oral literature, which
might have constituted an introduction to otherness, were repressed in support of

47 Fanon 138.
48 It is most unlikely that he would even think of himself in this sense as eclectic, as
some people would say on the intellectual field.

48
 theories of sameness. Socially, they were tools strengthening a new organization of
power and its political methods of reduction, namely, assimilation or indirect
49
rule .

The awareness of these basic differences in outlooks to life and of the

immense problems that can occur if these differences are overlooked,
became disquietingly evident and clear to the present writer when he was
sent to Europe on study. There he became aware of a number of prob-
lems which until then never touched or bothered him as such. He sensed
the feeling which was common among his fellow African students,
namely, a brutal confrontation with that “Otherness” of Self. Everywhere
this feeling was there. On the street, in the cinema, in the lecture halls, in
the shops and offices, in the swimming pool, in the restaurant, in his
room. Not just the Otherness of the colour of one’s skin, which is at once
obvious, but the “Otherness” of his being. Such questions from the na-
tives like, “Gefällt es Ihnen bei uns?” (Do you like our place?), “Wie
heißen Sie?” (What is your name?), “Gibt es [...] bei Ihnen zu Hause?”
(Do you have [...] in your home?), “Was ißt man bei Ihnen zu Hause?”
or “Was ist Ihre Nationalspeise?” (What does one eat in your home? or
What is your people’s special menu?) were already sufficient to crystal-
lize that “Otherness”. When he heard the word ‘black man’ or ‘Neger’,
‘African’, ‘Nigerian’ or ‘Igbo’, he felt himself at once addressed. He no
longer had the chance of a cognitive and emotive flight as he used to
have back home in Nigeria. He realized that those words included him-
self as well as those back home from whom he used to marginalize him-
self. One day he had to confront one of his psychology professors during
lectures for constantly using the word ‘Neger’ in contrast to ‘White’
when referring to the ‘Black and White’50 races. Not just such questions
as the ones above call forth this feeling but also that introductory phrase,
namely, “Bei uns ist es so [...]”(It is so [...] in our place), which has be-
come a commonplace among foreign students when conversing with
their European counterparts. The phrase is not simply an explication of a
difference in ways of life as a matter of information. Through it shines

49 Mudimbe 83. Emphasis added.

50 Some people quarrel over these two designations for the two groups of the human
family: The Sub-Saharan African and the European. I am one of such people. But
for purposes of convenience I prefer to use them here but always in inverted com-
mas.

49
that “Otherness” of one’s being again. What usually follows this “bei
uns ist es [...]” is often very amazing in terms of its cultural import.
Once in a conversation with a fellow Igbo student over the strenuous ef-
forts being made by many fellow African students to cover up their de-
scent, their “Otherness” the colleague remarked: ‘It’s awful to spend
one’s life trying to prove to people (Europeans and Africans) what one is
not. For in the end one ends up not living what one is’. This often frus-
trating effort ‘to be like others’, to attain sameness, originates from the
tendency to oversimplify the problem at stake. The oversimplification
lies in the belief that the problem is erased as soon as one properly imi-
tates the natives. This oversimplifying tendency hangs over the African
universe, especially the universe of the African newcomers to Europe,
like an ominous nimbus.
In such circumstances and at such a distance away from his own
cultural ambient, the present writer recognized, in the words of Fanon,
that “it was no longer a question of being aware of my body in the third
person but in a triple person [...]. I was responsible at the same time for
my body, for my race, for my ancestors”51. The lead quotation above
from the gospel of St. Luke drives home the point at stake here: the de-
structive nature and potency of the tension emanating from the interac-
tion of the “new wine” with the “skin”. The poignancy of this awareness
is the definitive factor in the decision for this theme. These later experi-
ences confirm the words of P. Watzlawick et al. that one “cannot obtain
a full visual perception of one’s own body (at least not directly), because
the eyes, as the perceiving organs, are themselves part of the totality to
be perceived [...]”52. It is really a fact that one can only appreciate and
understand one’s own culture better only when one looks at it from out-
side. As long as one is still within it, it is very difficult to become aware
of its general structure not to talk of the relationships between its various
components.

1.3.1.2 The Human Person as an Organism

Conflict is the quality of a person’s experience of certain changes taking
place in his social and psychological environment. There are changes
which remain unnoticed by the individual because they do not reach the

51 Fanon 112.
52 P. Watzlawick, J. Weakland and R. Fisch, Change, 25.

50
threshold of his consciousness. There are also such changes which are
felt and the person can easily adjust to them. Some other changes, how-
ever, cause him a lot of pain and are not so easy to get adjusted to. At the
other extreme there are events which bring about radical changes such
that the person is compelled to jettison his habitual patterns of encoun-
tering change and take up completely new visions and patterns. With re-
gard to the former type of changes where the person is capable of ad-
justing to the new situation with little or no noticeable change in his
usual pattern of life, continuity is accounted for. The latter form of radi-
cal changes do not leave the individual as he was. The change is noticed
and can be accompanied by an excruciating experience.
In their publication: The Tree of Knowledge, the Chilean biologist,
H. Maturana, and neuroscientist, F. Varela, gave us in a very brilliant
manner a lead to an explanation of this phenomenon. According to them,
the roots lie in human biology. Human anatomy is so structured that the
human being can only interact with his environment in the only way his
anatomy permits. Information, in the sense of sensations, are made intel-
ligible in accordance with the structures of the human brain. The basic
characteristic of living organisms is that “they produce themselves and
specify the boundaries of the space in which they are formed”53. In the
course of a person’s development the human brain lays patterns accord-
ing to which it can encode and decode information coming from outside.
The same thing is done on a social level. Human beings create a com-
mon world together through the actions of their coexistence. In this pro-
cess they create patterns according to which they can encode and decode
incoming information and new elements.
Every living being is a unity because it is distinct from any other
living being. Cellular organisms constitute first-order unities.54 Meta-
cellular organisms, which include human beings, constitute second-order
unities55, while cultures make up third-order unities.56 Each of these
unities exhibit similar characteristic which is an “autopoietic organiza-
tion”57. “Autopoiesis” derives from the Greek words “autos” = self;

53 H. R. Maturana and F. J. Varela, The Tree of Knowledge, 40.

54 Ibid., 89.
55 Ibid., 74-88.
56 Ibid., 180-201.
57 Ibid., 43. On the description of this process of an ongoing self-reproduction and
self-organization in living organisms: 43-49, 201.

51
“poiein” = to make. The basic and essential characteristics of living be-
ings, according to Maturana and Varela, is that they are “structurally de-
termined”58 and continually reproducing or making themselves.59 Living
beings may differ in their structures but they are similar in terms of their
organization. Each type of organism or unity is self-organizing since it is
also imbued with an internal feedback system, which enables it to adapt
to a given environment as well as to adapt the environment to itself
without leaving its own internal network. As the human anatomy indi-
cates, the cells (cellular organisms) of the body constitute a network of
interdependent subsystems within the human organism and in the course
of their reciprocal interaction they constitute the human being (a meta-
cellular organism). The same type of organization is shared by social
systems and cultures. As a result, any change in any one area of its
structural network causes adjustments and/or readjustments or changes
in all the other areas, and consequently in the entire system.
The fact that a living system is determined by its structure, implies
that some kind of structural change can lead to a destruction or a disinte-
gration of the system. In reality, no one system can accommodate an in-
definite number of alien elements and every kind of interaction without
compromising its identity.60 Maturana and Varela differentiate four kinds

58 P. F. Dell, Klinische Erkenntnis, 72, 81, 96-98. “Structural determinism” means,

for instance, that the biological structure of the human being determines that the
individual human being basically has to react to his environment in a certain way
and not in the other. For instance: That a person in the face of danger runs away or
stays put to ward the danger off or confront it; or that a person who has fever is not
reacting or functioning abnormally, he reacts just the way his present structure
specifies that he under such circumstances must react.
59 Maturana and Varela 43.
60 U. Bitterli’s statement on the dangers of cultural estrangement and individual
mental homelessness accruing from the phenomenon of re-interpretation of alien
cultural elements in the bid to assimilate them lends this point emphasis. The for-
mulation is so good, that it deserves to be reproduced here: ”Indem ein Kulturele-
ment sich verlagert, verändert es sich, übernimmt neue Funktionen und tritt in neue
Sinnzusammenhänge ein. Dies läßt sich besonders gut in jenem Bereich beobach-
ten, in dem Europa ein eigentliches kulturelles Sendungsbewußtsein entwickelte:
auf dem Gebiet der Heidenmission. Hier geschah es häufig, daß christliche Begriffe
und Rituale mit fremden Bedeutungsinhalten befrachtet oder einer angestammten
Religion wesensfremde Heilserwartungen unterschoben wurden [...]. Dieses Phä-
nomen der ‘Re-Interpretation’ kann bei der betroffenen Kultur zur Entfremdung
und geistigen Unbehaustheit des Individuums führen”, U. Bitterli, Alte Welt –

52
of effects resulting from certain kinds of interactions between different
systemic units:
(1) Changes of state: This includes all structural changes which the unit
undergoes as a result of its own internal dynamics without any changes
in its organization, i.e. while maintaining its class identity. This kind of
change accounts for the apparent continuity in a changing situation. This
fact is confirmed also by the Group Theory as we shall see later.
(2) Destructive changes: These include every structural change which
leads to a loss of the organization of a unit and therefore to its disinte-
gration as a unit of a specific class, i.e. loss of identity. This kind of
change must not necessarily be the effect of an external impact. This
kind of change accounts for the discontinuities experienced in a chang-
ing situation. The mathematical theory of Logical Types confirm this as
we shall also see later.
(3) Perturbations: These include all sorts of congenial interactions with
other (external) entities which bring about changes of state in the system.
(4) Destructive interactions: These include all destructive changes of the
system or unit brought about by uncongenial interactions with other en-
tities or by a destructive impact from outside the system.61
As long as the unit does not get implicated in a destructive interac-
tion with its milieu or environment, they conclude, the observer of the
structures of both (milieu and unit) will describe the observed relation-
ship between the two as compatible. As long as the relationship remains
compatible, both systems constitute to each other a source of “perturba-
tion”, thereby bringing about changes of state constantly in each other
while maintaining their individual structural organizations. The process
is known as reciprocal “structural coupling”62. This kind of interaction
is given, according to Maturana and Varela, “whenever there is a history
of recurrent interactions leading to the structural congruence between
two (or more) systems”63. This methodical outlook we will call the Sys-
tem Oriented Approach. We shall expatiate more on it later in Chapter
three.

Neue Welt, 53. Cf. also: D. Power, Kulturelle Begegnung und religiöser Ausdruck,
in: Concilium 13(1977), 114-121.
61 Maturana and Varela 97-99.
62 Ibid., 75 and 99.
63 Ibid., 75.

53
1.4 Definition of Terms

We consider it pertinent to delineate the operative concepts in this study,

which are: “Igbo”, “Seminarian”, “Worlds”, “Conflict”, “Intrapersonal
conflict”, and “Culture”.

1.4.1 Igbo

The term “Igbo” has a threefold function. It stands for the cultural group
inhabiting the south-eastern part of Nigeria, the geographical location it-
self called Igboland (an igbo or ala igbo) and for their language. Many
authors used different versions of this word. These versions range from
“Ibo” (with its plural form “Ibos”) to “Eboe”, “Hebus”, “Hebos”, and
“Ebus”. The form “Ibo” was arbitrarily adopted by colonial officials,
their anthropologists and the Euro-American in general to circumvent the
difficulty in pronouncing the diphthong “gb”. No Igbo speaking in his
native language refers to himself as an “Ibo”. The plural form “Igbos”
seems absurd, for the plural in the Igbo language is not formed by ap-
pending an “s”. In this work, we shall use the following forms: “The
Igbo” when we mean more than one Igbo and/or the people in general,
that is “ndi igbo”; “an Igbo” when we mean one person, that is “onye
igbo”.

1.4.2 Seminarian

The term “Seminarian” shall be understood to stand for a young lad or

young man training for the Catholic priesthood in an institution called
minor/junior or major/senior seminary. In this work we will restrict this
term to those seminarians only who are at that very point in time training
for a particular diocese, hence, diocesan seminarians.
By “Igbo seminarians” we, accordingly, mean those seminarians of
the class defined above who hail from that culturally distinguishable area
called Igboland.

54
1.4.3 Worlds

By “worlds” we mean, the totality of forms or patterns of consciousness

of everyday life reality which a people share in common and which dis-
tinguish them from other people. It is the totality of the meanings the
people share. We believe that “worlds” understood in this sense are on-
togenically acquired and therefore essentially cultural. Consequently, we
will give a substantial attention to the concept “culture”.

1.4.4 Conflict

When the term “conflict” comes from the mouth of a politician or flows
from the pen of a journalist, it generally refers to conflict between per-
sons, groups of persons or nations. But when a psychologist speaks of
conflict, he means most likely a conflict which the person concerned ex-
periences within himself. This could also be in relation to another person
or persons. In the normal, daily colloquial language this term is rarely
used. One hears more often such expressions like: “I have a problem”; “I
am in a fix”; “I am at crossroads”; “I feel like I am pressed to the walls”;
“I am totally perplexed, and that irritates me”. Thus the term conflict ap-
parently has two completely different meanings or at least two meanings
which are independent of each other. We will call the former interper-
sonal conflict and the latter intrapersonal conflict.
Many books and journals have occupied themselves with both as-
pects of conflict. In their treatment of the goings-on between nations and
persons, they recognize the fact that the study of the intrapersonal occur-
rences could throw some light on the international or interpersonal ones.
The reverse is also the case: the conflicts which the person experiences
within himself could be understood with the help of the ones which he
encounters outside or around him. It will be a futile enterprise to attempt
a separation of both aspects. For this reason, in this work which concerns
itself chiefly with the intrapersonal aspect of the conflict the Igbo semi-
narian experiences in the course of his training to the Roman Catholic
priesthood, attention will be paid also to its interpersonal dimension.
Etymologically, the word “conflict” is a Middle English word
which came in 18th Century from the Latin word “conflictus”. This in
turn was derived from the past participle of the intransitive verb con-

55
fligere: to strike together, to clash.64 Another word derived from the
same root is “conflictatio”. This word throws some extra light on our
term. It means: 1) The act of shoving or pushing against, striking to-
gether; 2) Fight, quarrel, squabble.65 Also in this related word we find
the same originally mechanical meaning: two objects or bodies striking
together or pushing each other – meaning (1); and two further meanings
(2) used in a dynamically figurative sense. Both expressions (fight, quar-
rel) contain in themselves a tendency on the part of the persons involved
to strike together or to shove, push one another. However they differ in
the manner and intensity: one makes reference to a physical act, while
the other refers to a verbal act.
One could see that conflict has to do with the meeting of two op-
posing or incompatible forces. But can one refer to every kind of striking
together or clash of opposing forces as conflict? If we were to under-
stand this term in a purely mechanical sense, we can then imagine that
the two forces could strike together and then come off each other or free
themselves again. For instance, when two cars collide with each other.
One would not think of the two cars being in conflict; but the two drivers
(if they survived the collision) could run into conflict with each other
and fight it out verbally or physically. Therefore, for a clash to be termed
a conflict, at least two dynamic opposing or incompatible forces, whose
impetus emanates from within, must be involved. This makes it possible
for them to go on acting and reacting and not die off at the moment of
the clash.66

1.4.4.1 Definitions of conflict

In this section, we shall look at the term “Conflict” from a psychological
perspective. Many authors have proffered varied and varying definitions
of conflict. Lalande67 defines conflict as the meeting of two forces or
principles whose application by one and the same object leads to oppos-

64 Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary; Duden, Das Herkunftswörter-

buch; Langenscheidts Handwörterbuch, Lateinisch-Deutsch; Cassell’s Latin Dic-
tionary, Latin-English and English-Latin.
65 Georges ausführliches Lateinisch-Deutsches Handwörterbuch, Bd. 1: A-H. Cf. al-
so: Langenscheidts Handwörterbuch, Lateinisch-Deutsch.
66 A.-M. Rocheblave-Spenlé, Psychologie des Konflikts, 15f.
67 Ibid., 12.

56
ing goals. Later he talked of “conflict of inclinations.” Webster’s II New
Riverside University Dictionary68, taking from English and English, de-
fines conflict as “the opposition or simultaneous69 functioning of mutu-
ally exclusive impulses, desires or tendencies.” For D. Lagache70, it is
“the state of the organism which is subjected to the activity of mutually
incompatible motivations.” A. J. Yates, quoting Maher, said that conflict
could best be defined as a stimulus acting on an organism which triggers
off two or more incompatible reactions in the organism that are function-
ally equal in strength.71 One can easily observe the Stimulus-Response
slant of Yates’ definition. For K. Lewin however, conflict is the situation
in which the opposing forces are triggered off in the individual.72 Al-
though H. Thomae while quoting Cofer and Appley defines conflict as
the result of two or more equivalent but mutually incompatible reaction
tendencies73, he also emphasizes the situational aspect when he talks of
“decision” (Entscheidung) as a form of reaction to a multivalent situa-
tion, and the “multivalence of the situation” as the common feature of
conflict and its other related phenomena (choice and decision etc.).74
Likewise for A. S. Reber, conflict is “an extremely broad term used to
refer to any situation where there are mutually antagonistic events, mo-
tives, purposes, behaviours, impulses, etc”75. One can say, for instance,
that for an Igbo seminarian, being in the seminary is a multivalent situa-
tion.
The definition given by Gerd Domann serves as a contrast to all the
previous ones. It is broad but more differentiated. According to him,
conflict is a “general term for that psychological or social condition in
which two opposing tendencies of action arise simultaneously with equal

68 This definition was borrowed from H. B. and A. Ch. English, A comprehensive

dictionary of psychological and psychoanalytical terms. London 1958.
69 Emphasis added. The inclusion of the category of time, in the word ‘simultaneous’,
points to the fact that the category of space alone does not exhaust our definitional
range.
70 Rocheblave-Spenlé 12.
71 In: W. Arnold et al. (Hg.), Lexikon der Psychologie. Bd. II/1, 317.
72 K. Lewin, A dynamic theory of personality, 122.
73 H. Thomae, Konflikt, Entscheidung, Verantwortung, 24.
74 Thomae, Der Mensch in der Entscheidung, 18.
75 A. S. Reber, The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. Emphasis added.

57
strength in an individual or social system and are experienced as possible
alternatives for the attainment of the individual’s or collective goal”76.
It is evident from the preceding discussion that there are very many
definitions of conflict; one could go on multiplying them ad infinitum.
But apart from some apparent formal agreement between these defini-
tions, each one of them seems to mean by conflict totally different psy-
chic events. This difference is as a result of the fact that each definition
takes off from a definite and predefined system of reference or a definite
interpretational horizon. Besides, the definitions are very abstract. A
closer look at each one of them easily reveals some basic tendency in
almost all of them to hypostatise the forces meant, and an attempt to
separate them from the human being who actually is the basis of any ex-
amination of this concept. Lagache and Domann somehow brought this
important aspect of the human person into their definitions. Lagache
talks, for instance, of the “state of the organism”, but at the same time
reduces the human person to a mere passive element which undergoes
the experience of the conflict taking place in him without, as it seems,
the ability to do anything about it. Domann made the closest effort to
take this aspect into account. In his definition, he talks of conflict as that
psychological or social condition in which the opposing tendencies are
experienced as possible alternatives for the attainment of the individual’s
or collective goal. A closer look at this definition reveals nonetheless
some implicit difficulty. It seems here, that this conflict is not an expres-
sion for that experiential state of a person (or an organism – to include
the lower animals and a social system) whose behaviour may or may not
give a cue to the existence of such a state, but rather an already existing
psychological or social condition, in which those mutually opposing
elements surface at the same time and begin to vie for supremacy and
control in and over the individual. In those places where the individual or
a group of persons are mentioned, they serve as receptacles and passive
victims of the activities of these forces or as the arena or forum where
these formidable forces carry out their uncompromising battle.
Nonetheless, Domann’s definition has the advantage that it offers us
a definition that encompasses both dimensions of conflict: intra- and in-
terpersonal. He goes further to offer a more or less specific definition of
conflict as it applies in the social sciences. In the social sciences a given

76 G. Domann, Konflikt, 575-579. Emphasis added.

58
phenomenon is described as a conflict only when the members of a so-
cial group or organization are agreed on the goals to attain but have di-
vergent opinions regarding the means, ways and methods of attaining the
set goals.77 The tension arises not merely because of the presence of al-
ternative means or methods, but much more because of the functional
valency of those alternative means and methods tendered.
In depth psychology one talks of conflict only when two opposing
inner demands, needs, feelings etc. confront and at the same time cancel
out each other in an individual.
From the above definitions we have seen that conflict is a specific
and special form of intra-psychic and/or interpersonal interaction. This
interaction involves some specific elements, viz: at least (and most often
only) two forces, mutual opposition or incompatibility of those forces,
and simultaneity of their functioning or activation.78 ‘Simultaneity’ is a
necessary factor in this interaction. ‘Opposites’ (‘opposition’) has to do
with the quantitative aspect of the interaction. It concerns something
(hypothetically) quantitative. “What is opposed to what?” – a quantita-
tive relationship. But ‘incompatibility’ on the other hand, concerns the
qualitative aspect of the relationship. Two things could be opposed to
one another but must not necessarily be incompatible. However, when
this contrast involves a particular tendency of action, one discovers that
it becomes incompatible. For instance, I cannot sit and stand at the same
time, or I cannot be afraid and relaxed at the same time. Certain tenden-
cies of action are made incompatible with one another through socializa-
tion and most often through (operant) conditioning.

1.4.4.2 Conflict as a Quality of a Relationship

We have seen so far that these four elements of a specific form of rela-
tionship constitute the most common characteristics of all the definitions.
In consonance with K. Berkel79, we therefore say that conflict is given

77 Ibid., 578.
78 D. Ulich, Konflikt und Persönlichkeit, 33. Cf. also: F. Bilzer, Konfliktlernen, 14-
24. Bilzer’s interest is nevertheless interpersonal or social conflict with a special
focus on the distribution of information and communication process in conflict
situations, but one sees in his analysis the involvement of the same factors in the
structure of conflict.
79 K. Berkel, Konfliktforschung und Konfliktbewältigung, 54.

59
when and only when at least two forces are in a relationship which is
characterized by a simultaneous mutual opposition and/or incompatibil-
ity. Although this definition, too, falls prey to the endemic tendency to
hypostatise the forces, it has the uniqueness of explicitly exposing and
emphasizing the aspect of relation.
Following the above formal definition conflict is thus a particular
way of indicating or qualifying a specific kind of relation between the
forces or elements. It is not a quality or feature of any particular or sin-
gular element, but a kind of relationship, a quality of this specific rela-
tionship. And this relationship is such that not all the forces present have
the chance to simultaneously prove their worth. For the forces them-
selves, a conflict situation is always a restrictive one.80

1.4.4.3 Contents of Conflict

The agreement among the authors nevertheless ends with this formal as-
pect81 of what a conflict is. What constitutes the content or what the
forces exactly are, that clash with one another, differ immensely from
author to author depending on his or her interpretational horizon. For in-
stance those forces could be:
– “two or more equivalent but mutually incompatible reaction tenden-
cies” (Domann and Thomae).
– “divergent opinions regarding the means, ways and methods of at-
taining the set goals”
(Domann).
– “any situation with mutually antagonistic events, motives, purposes,
behaviours, impulses, etc” (Reber).
– “mutually exclusive impulses, desires or tendencies” (Webster/English
& English).
– “mutually incompatible motivations” (Lagache).
– [...] “stimulus” which triggers off “two or more incompatible reac-
tions [...] that are functionally equal in strength” (Yates).
– “Inclinations” (Lalande)
– “two opposing inner demands, needs, feelings etc.” (Depth psychol-
ogy)

80 Ibid.
81 Ibid., 54f.

60
 As we pointed out earlier, the concept of conflict is a mental con-
struct used to describe a specific kind of human behaviour or “experi-
encing”82 which the user of the term observes. The interpretation given
to such a concrete and observed phenomenon depends immensely on the
theoretical or interpretational background of the user. In this case, one
cannot separate the formal aspect of conflict from the content or material
aspect.83 Each theory, discipline or system has its own definite under-
standing of what constitutes a conflict. For instance, a seminarian ques-
tions the rationale behind the censuring of letters – the rector describes
his questioning as a subversive act and as not befitting of someone who
wants to become a priest. Depending on the interpretational background
of the person analysing this encounter, this very same conflict can be in-
terpreted as an expression of a ‘power relationship’ (power struggle be-
tween rector and seminarian), ‘social’ or ‘interpersonal’ conflict, ‘uncon-
scious problem of rivalry’, ‘displaced’ authority-conflict (perhaps a
conflict between rector and a priest friend or superior/bishop of the
seminarian), ‘game’ or ‘struggle’ etc. Therefore, the different theories84
and models of conflict have, in the main, a hermeneutical function.

1.4.4.4 A Definition of Conflict

Conflict arises in the course of the individual’s constant dialectical inter-
action with the environment. Whatever interpretation the observer may
give to the observed phenomenon, it is still the individual who is experi-
encing the said situation as conflictive. Conflict, therefore, can be de-
fined as that psychological state of a person as a living organism in
which he experiences certain simultaneously occurring inner tendencies
in the course of his dialectical interaction with the environment as mutu-
ally opposing or incompatible. This aspect of interaction is an essential
characteristic of the human person as a living being. How this interaction
occurs and the interpretation and meaning the person attaches to it de-
pends very much on the socio-cultural influence the person enjoyed or
enjoys.

82 We shall be using this infinitive form of the word “experience” throughout this
work, when we are referring to the ongoing process of experiencing. We consider it
the nearest expression for the German substantive verb Erleben.
83 Berkel 55.
84 Ibid., 55-59; Cf. also W. L. Bühl, Theorien sozialer Konflikte.

61
1.4.5 Intrapersonal Conflict

The use of the word ‘intrapersonal’ as against ‘psychic’ or ‘intrapsy-

chic’ is deliberate as it conveys our conviction that the conflict which a
person experiences affects not just his psyche but his entirety as a per-
son. It is this or that person that experiences this or that situation or event
as conflictive and not some part(s) of him. In accordance with our an-
thropological slant we will use the term Intrapersonal conflict as

the psychological state of a person in which he experiences, in the day-to-day

communicative interaction with his social and psychological environment, either a
disintegration of his frame of reference or the simultaneous occurrence of two
frames of references as mutually opposing or incompatible.

Intrapersonal conflict is thus experienced as a discrepancy or a disinte-

gration in or a disabling of the cognitive and normative compass of the
individual. An interpolation or interruption in that “web of meanings that
allow the individual to navigate his way through the ordinary events and
encounters of his life with others”85, that is, his taken-for-granted under-
standing of the reality of everyday life, brings along with it pain and con-
fusion for the individual.

1.4.6 Culture

“Culture” as it is used in modern European languages derives from the

Latin word “cultura”, which in turn derives from the verb “colere”,
meaning to tend, to cultivate. This usage went even as far as defining the
word culture as ‘husbandry’. Later in the 16th century it came to be used
in the sense of ‘manners’. This sense has survived through time. One
meets it in such statements like: “He is such a loving man but he has no
culture”. In a positive sense, the word is also used thus: “He is a cultured
person”. In this sense it generally means someone of impeccable man-
ners, well versed in music, art, science, and literature. These various
usages however fall short of the anthropological foundation of the term
‘culture’. Basically, the idea of culture arose from the observation that
what human beings do and what they refrain from doing is, in part, a

85 Berger et al., The Homeless Mind, 12.

62
consequence of being brought up in one group as opposed to another. As
a result, the behaviour of an individual can be regarded as a function of
the influences of nature and nurture. Except for a few simple reflexes
and for behaviour under extreme physiological stress human beings do
not simply react to stimulus as the lower animals do. Their response is
always on the background of the meaning attributed to the entire situa-
tion or the stimulus in question. Such attribution of meaning is always
dependent on the conventions of a particular culture.
In its anthropological usage, culture is said to be the man-made part
of the human environment. A culture is the way of life of a specific
group. According to C. Kluckhohn86, Anthropologists differentiate be-
tween general culture and particular culture.
General culture helps us to understand the similarities and differ-
ences in human conduct. In this form culture is not qualified by an arti-
cle, either “the” or “a”. For instance: Life is considered sacred and an in-
violable right, but culture intervenes to determine when this right is
violated. Particular cultures could be described in all their ultimate and
irreducible features. For instance: An essential element of the culture of
the Igbo is the concept of Umunna.
A further differentiation is also made between explicit and implicit
culture. The former “refers to those generalizations which can be con-
structed simply by counting observed recurrences in behaviour”87.
Modes of conduct and cultural norms belong to this category. Implicit
culture, on the other hand, is that aspect of culture which the representa-
tives of the particular culture live in a taken-for-granted manner. Their
taken-for-granted assumptions as to ends and means belong to this cate-
gory. Also those aspects of their everyday life which are taken as ‘given’
by nature are of this class. They are categories of everyday life reality
which present themselves to me as ordered reality and whose manifesta-
tions appear in prearranged patterns which seem to be independent of my
apprehension. They appear already objectivized. That means, they are
constituted by an order of objects that have been designated as such be-
fore my appearance on the scene. This is the dimension of a people’s
culture which strangers to that culture do not easily perceive. Implicit
culture can only be reconstructed by analytical inferences.

86 C. Kluckhohn, Culture, 553-557.

87 Ibid., 555.

63
1.4.6.1 Definitions of Culture
In a time like ours where the rediscovery of the principle of relativity has
toppled a goodly number of established general ideas and put established
authorities in question, the indispensable importance of culture has re-
ceived a very wide recognition. Virtually all scholars are agreed on this.
But no one definition of culture proffered has received a universal ac-
ceptance. According to Kroeber and Kluckhohn,

culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired and
transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups,
including their embodiments in artefacts; the essential core of culture consists of
traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached
values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action,
88
on the other as conditioning elements of further action .

A particular action can be said to be an effect – beside many other fac-

tors like motivation, biological needs etc. – of culture. The manner or
mode of response of a person to a given situation always has a cultural
dimension89, which is given through socialization. Beside his culturally
acquired response (behaviour, reaction) patterns, the person’s evaluation
of the given situation is always on the background of his upbringing –
his socialization. Just as human beings create culture in order to substi-
tute for their lack of instincts90, culture creates people by conditioning
them to react to or interact with their environment in a particular manner
and in doing so they also create their culture. In this sense, culture is al-

88 Ibid., 554.
In their book Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions, Cambridge
1952, Kluckhohn and Kroeber listed 150 possible definitions of culture offered by
scholars from many countries and in all fields of social and biological science and
the humanities. But in this article from which we quote their definition, they re-
grouped these definitions into six major types of definitions basing on the emphasis
they lay. Cf.: R. J. Schreiter, Abschied vom Gott der Europäer, 73.
89 B. Catchpole while establishing that the decisive difference between people is not
racial but cultural, quotes P. Farb: “‘Men in all societies possess the biological
equipment to remove their hats or shoes, but it is the birth within a particular cul-
ture that decides that a Jew will keep his hat and shoes on in his place of worship, a
Mohammedan will take off his shoes, and a Christian will remove his hat’”, Catch-
pole, The Clash of Cultures, v.
90 Cf. R. Wuthnow et al., Cultural Analysis, 40.

64
ways evolving. As consisting of the distinctive achievements or products
of human beings (i.e. knowledge, belief, language, social and moral
norms, art, custom etc.), culture manifests the subjective meanings of
those who produced them. “The fabric of culture is, therefore, the inter-
subjective meanings individuals hold concerning the world in which they
live”91. In effect, just as culture manifests the intersubjective meaning of
people, the people portray the culture around them in their lives.92
Edward B. Tylor proffered a definition of culture which has found
resonance in many works. In this classical definition he sees culture as
“[...] that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law,
morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as
a member of society”93. Here Tylor made efforts to enumerate the vari-
ous elements which constitute the fabric of culture. These and all such
capabilities and habits serve as navigational instruments of the human
being in his dialectical interaction with the environment. These are the
universals. However, the accent they set in the specific interactions of
specific human persons varies. It varies from race to race, from people to
people, and also from time to time.
Paraphrasing the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, Kluck-
hohn defines unique culture as “a set of patterns, of and for behaviour,
prevalent among a group of human beings at a specified time period and
which [...] presents, in relation to other such sets, observable and sharp
discontinuities”94. By pointing out the dimension of time, this definition
brings out the dynamic nature of culture. It also implicitly indicates that,
in order to understand and/or evaluate any particular behaviour, one has
to consider it in the context of the culture in which it took place. For it is
this “group of human beings” that created this “set of patterns of and for
behaviour”, and whose behaviour patterns are on the other hand condi-
tioned by this set. The conditioning influence is possible due to what
Peter L. Berger calls participation in a common stock of knowledge95, an
intersubjectivity, which sharply differentiates their “social life-world”96

91 Ibid., 35.
92 Cf. M. Landmann, Pluralität and Antinomie, 13.
93 Kluckhohn 555.
94 Ibid., 554.
95 Wuthnow et al. 32.
96 According to Berger, “a particular social life-world” is made up of “the totality of
the meanings, which [the individual] shares with others”. A social life-world is

65
from that of another group, thereby qualifying it to be regarded as a
(systemic) “unity”97. This “common stock of knowledge” provides the
necessary information to carry on in everyday life. It is the knowledge I
share with others in the normal, self-evident routines of everyday life. It
is the externalisations of subjective meanings (experiences) which be-
came accumulated in the course of the history of a people. To try to view
the behaviours of people as separate from their contexts is to risk misun-
derstanding them. Here we have something close to what Franz Boas
called “cultural relativity”. This is “the principle of contextualism: any
item of behaviour must be judged in relation to its place in the unique
structure of the culture in which it occurs and in terms of the particular
value system of that culture”98. The implication of this is simple: For a
person to judge any particular behaviour not in relation to the particular
culture in which it occurs, but in terms of the value system or norms of
another culture, is to make himself guilty of cultural and psychological
imperialism. The philosopher Xenophanes (c. 570-480 BC) adds: “Yes,
and if oxen and horses or lions had hands, and could paint with their
hands, and produce works of art as men do, horses would paint the forms
of their gods like horses, and oxen like oxen, and make their bodies in
the image of their several kinds [...]. The Ethiopians make their gods
black and snub-nosed; the Thracians say theirs have blue eyes and red
hair”99. And it is not without cause that Herodotus (c. 485-428 BC)
chided the Persian King, Cambyses, “for violating ‘the long-established
usages’ of other peoples”100.

1.4.6.2 Culture as a Metasystemic Unity

As we saw in section 3.1.2 above human societies and cultures constitute
systemic unities of the third-order. A third-order unity or autopoietic or-
ganization comes into existence through the recurrent structural coupling
of several ontogenies through several generations.101 In other words,

therefore the “world” I share with others. Cf. Berger et al., The Homeless Mind,
13.
97 Cf. Maturana and Varela 40.
98 Kluckhohn 555.
99 Ibid.
100 Ibid.
101 Cf. Maturana and Varela 180-181.

66
culture differs from first- and second-order unities by the fact that it
stems from a stable and recurring congenial reciprocal communicative
interaction of autonomous and independently existing human beings over
many generations. Another important aspect of it is that its structure and
organization remain unchanged while its members are continuously re-
placed.102
The organization of the system places a limitation on the scope of
the activities of the members, individually and collectively because it is
“structurally determined”103. A given culture can undergo a series of
changes of state without changing its metastructure, since like all living
organisms the structure defines the identity or class of the entity. As long
as the members interact with one another as members of a specific cul-
tural system, they can do that only within the confines of that system.
Like other living systems, human cultures have within their systems eve-
rything they need to effect all necessary internal adjustments in accor-
dance with their own internal dynamics. They do not, nevertheless, con-
tain at the same time provisions for their own systemic destabilisation
and/or destruction. Accordingly, a metastructural change will mean a
disintegration of the very system, a loss of identity, a transformation into
something new or something else. Whatever will bring about such a
change must come from outside the system.

1.4.6.3 A Definition of Culture

In the light of the discussions so far, culture is understood as that com-
plex system, which includes knowledge, belief, norms for behaviour, and
any other capabilities and habits acquired by a group of people in the
course of their history, which gives them an orientation in their day-to-
day interaction and a certain continuity to their history but which pres-
ents, in relation to other groups of people, observable and sharp disconti-
nuities. In this work we will understand culture as

the totality of a people’s ontogenically acquired web of meanings, which, on the

one hand, gives their history a certain continuity and their thoughts and actions a

102 Cf. Ibid., 198-199 and 201.

103 Maturana and Varela 95-96.

67
 certain orientation, and, on the other hand, makes the way they view and interpret
104
the world of their experience differ from that of other people.

Culture thus shapes and embraces the frame of reference of the individ-
ual in his communicative interaction with his environment. It also condi-
tions his experience of reality and his definition of this reality. As a re-
sult, culturally different people live in different cognitive realities. There
exists a dialectical relationship between them and the realities they are
constantly creating such that the creation of any new cognitive reality
occurs in a self-referential manner.105

1.5 Summary

Structural coupling between two cultural systems with the attendant

structural changes in their respective internal organization is an ongoing
process. The human being is always reaching out for something more.
He is actively involved in constructing his future. Human beings, lacking
the natural instinct of the lower animals, evolved human culture in order
to ‘find their way’ through the myriads of impressions and experiences
arising from their interaction with the environment and also as a result of
their being in a world that is not altogether very friendly. They are con-
stantly creating their cultures as much as their particular cultures shape
and determine their consciousness of the reality of their everyday life. In
addition, the cultures shape and determine their mode of interaction with
their internal cultural events and with elements of alien cultures. The in-
troduction of elements of alien cultures inevitably causes dramatic
structural changes in the receiving culture. Not all changes leave the in-
ternal organization of the system, which is the frame of reference of its
members, intact. The disintegration of this organization or the unhealthy
coupling of two or more incompatible cultural or epistemic unities can
cause the individual that psychological state of distress which we identi-

104 “Ontogeny” is the history of structural change in an entity without loss of organi-
zation in that entity. It is an ongoing process and can be set off by its internal dy-
namics or from without. Cf. Maturana and Varela 74.
105 What we mean by “self-reference” will become clear in Chapter Four.

68
fied as conflict. The fact that the human being is always reaching out for
something more, the fact that he is ever actively involved in constructing
his future, often makes him to cross boundaries of other
”consciousnesses“. Often this puts his own well established definitions
of reality into question. In the light of these, one can say with Lückert
that the human being is a being essentially laden with conflicts106, the
anthropological state of the homo culturalis which Landmann107 calls an
antinomy. From the discussions hitherto it is clear that the subject matter
of intrapersonal conflict has engaged many scholars, psychologists and
psychotherapists for quite a long time. We will now expound more on
the psycho-anthropological slant we introduced in Chapter One. This is
the theme of the next two chapters.

106 Cf. H.-R. Lückert, Der Mensch, das konfliktträchtige Wesen. München 1977.
107 Cf. Landmann, especially 21-54.

69
This page intentionally left blank
2. TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO
INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT

The decision to devote a chapter on motive and motivation is based, first

of all, on the fact that there exists a general consensus among the authors
that there are some underlying elements to the occurrence of conflict.
That is, conflict does not just arise on its own. The second reason is that
there seems to be a general tendency to attribute the problem of conflict
to the existence of motives.

2.1 Motive-oriented Approach

Actually the idea of motives is inseparable from the occurrence of con-

flict in a person and between individuals. The motivational approach has
been the traditional approach to the analysis of conflict. This was propa-
gated especially by Depth psychology, which understands neurosis as a
symptom of some internal conflict in the individual. Under the influence
of Depth psychology it is even assumed that every conflict psychology is
at the same time a motivational psychology. This approach postulates
motives as the underlying elements in a conflict phenomenon. The mo-
tives vary in their kinds, modes of operation and in their origin. A good
number of them is psychological and a good number physiological in
origin.

2.1.1 Conflict and Motive

We said earlier that conflict has to do with forces. But a force implies the
capacity to cause change, implies dynamism. A dynamic psychology1

1 G. W. Allport, Entstehung und Umgestaltung der Motive, 489.

71
which uses the concept of conflict does away with the idea of the unity
of the human person. That is to say, it presupposes the existence of nei-
ther an a priori fixed harmony nor an a priori fixed disharmony in the
psychology of the human person. It is a dynamic psychology because it
attributes psychic manifestations to an interaction of certain internal
forces. It, therefore, takes for granted the existence of motives, of some
dynamic forces, which activate human behaviour, give it direction and
energize it. A conflict results when “something” whose impetus ema-
nates from within itself and which directs, sustains and energizes be-
haviour and experiencing, clashes or collides with “something” else
which exercises the same function but in another circumstance. And this
“something” is identified as “motive”.

2.1.2 Motive

But what is a motive? We want to say from the onset that we do not in-
tend to offer a treatise on this subject matter. Motive or Motivation is a
very broad and at the same time complex theme. Our attention to it is,
therefore, going to be a very cursory one.
Just as in the case of conflict, psychologists differ in their defini-
tions of the concepts of motive and motivation. According to Hans Tho-
mae, “the theory of motivation concerns itself with all those events tak-
ing place in the human personality which make his behaviour in all as
well as in particular situations understandable”2. A bit simplified, one
can say that the quest for the motivation is a quest for the “why” of an
action or behaviour. “Why does this person act or behave the way he
does?” Going by this rather broad understanding of motivation, one can
almost say that it is not possible to exclude any event taking place within
the human personality as not in one way or the other pertaining to moti-
vation: Motivation, therefore, encompasses all the cognitive and emo-
tional processes of the human being.
Following the influence of behaviourism, Valentine defines motiva-
tion as, “‘the totality of physiological and symbolic processes which urge
us to behave’”3. Such motivating factors or processes can only be in-

2 H. Thomae, Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns, 13.

3 Ibid., 15.

72
ferred from the overt behaviours and their overt external stimuli. But the
knowledge derived from Depth psychology compels us to see this as a
restriction and an oversimplification of the problem. Depth psychology
reminds too that a great deal of the factors motivating our actions is un-
conscious; we are only conscious of a very small part. Even everyday
life experience confronts us with the hard fact, that it is not all that easy
– and even many a time almost impossible – to explain certain observed
human behaviours by just inferring their causes as described above.4
Anyway, behaviourism simply delimited the scope of the problem to suit
its instrument of operation.
In social psychology the theories of attribution5 occupy themselves
with the common-sense explanations of human behaviours within a so-
cial interaction: what internal and/or external causes could be attributed
to an observed behaviour? Of course, the aim of the attribution theories
is different from that of motivation theories. The one seeks to forecast a
possible behaviour of a person, while the other seeks to understand an
observed behaviour. But the allusion to “internal and external causes” of-
fers some more evidence to the complexity of the problem at stake and
also serves as a pointer to its psycho-social character. This “internal and
external causes”, however, does not mean that the motive exists outside,
independent of the person since motivation is an organismic variable. It
rather points, for instance, to the existence of such motives like the so
called “basic needs or deficiency needs”6 and of such that are closely
connected with such external factors, like the environment and its influ-
ence. J. S. Brown seems to be convinced of the futility of deciding on
which variables should be considered as motivating, when he says: “If
one could decide among all these alternatives, well the theoretical impli-

4 The African prices the sense of community, the active communion with living and
“dead” relatives very high. Since Mr. X entered the seminary he refuses to visit his
grandparents who are still resolute adherents of the African Traditional Religion.
Why does he refuse to visit them? His motive(s) is/are not all that easily deducible
from this simple action. Nor can an allusion to the fact of his grandparents being
non-Christians alone give us a clue to what his motive(s) are. “Vom Verhalten
eines Menschen läßt sich nicht zuverlässig auf dessen Motivation bzw. seine Mo-
tive schließen”, writes Angela Schorr: Motivation, 82.
5 Cf. M. Hewstone and C. Antaki, Attributionstheorie und soziale Erklärungen, 113.
6 Cf. A. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in his renowned work: Toward a psychology of
being. N.Y. 1968.

73
cations of the research may be enhanced. But the empirical findings will
all the same be of value if such a decision is not made”7. He holds that
everything that brings about behaviour should be allowed to carry the la-
bel “motive”, irrespective of whether it belongs to the energetic group of
motives or to the cognitive. In line with this division of psychic events,
he affirms that “drives, motivations, conations, emotions and libidos
function as the activating agents, whereas the cognitive systems function
as the directive agents”8. These two great aspects of human behaviour,
the activating and the directing, embrace the entire human being. They
are the two aspects of his behaviour and inner encounter with reality.
They are, therefore, restricted neither to the conscious or unconscious,
nor are they limited to pure psychological or to exclusively physiological
events.9
In the course of time, there occurred a shift of emphasis in the occu-
pation with the problem of motivation. Under the influence of behav-
iourism, especially in the USA, the attention drastically shifted away
from the quest to understand the totality of those psychological and
physiological events, which initiate, energize and direct our actions and
behaviours. More emphasis began to be laid on defining what exactly
these initiators are, under what conditions they occur, and what effects
are attributable to them. These initiators came to be called motives or
drives, “instinct”, or “needs”, or “reaction or behaviour tendencies”,
or “expectation”. The most popular of these motives include such con-
structs like the so called vital motives: ‘hunger’, ‘thirst’, ‘sex’. They also
include other motives like ‘anxiety’, ‘proclivity to achievement’, ‘atti-
tude’, etc. These are more or less taken to be the primary motives. They,
at the same time, dispose the organism to respond to certain cues in cer-
tain ways. Their existence is, however, inferable only through the overt
behaviour of the organism.
Beside these so called primary motives, the existence of some sec-
ondary ones is also postulated. These include such motives which are
learnt in association with the primary ones, but which in the course of
time attain some relative independence from the primary ones. Example

7 J. S. Brown, Kriterien zur Bestimmung von Motivationsvariablen, 54. (The trans-

lation from German is ours).
8 Thomae 15.
9 Ibid.

74
of this class of motives is the quest for money and social prestige or
status. The quest for education belongs to this class too. One can engage
in activities towards these ends – acquisition of money or wealth, or edu-
cational carrier – no longer as means towards satisfying hunger etc., but
for their own sake or even for the purposes of enhancing one’s social
prestige. As a result, these secondary motives could equally be brought
about by internal stimuli, for instance, self-instructions, personal resolu-
tions etc. The Neo-Behaviourists call this “response-produced stimuli”10.
A lot of efforts have gone into establishing the various kinds of mo-
tives there are. But we will not want to occupy ourselves with that in this
work. It suffices just to mention such efforts like, Murray’s list of items
in his Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Maslow’s and Roger’s hierar-
chy of values. Depth psychology’s postulate of those motives emanating
from the pleasure principle and those emanating from the reality princi-
ple is a classification of forms as well as of kinds of motives. Such be-
haviours that are activated, shaped and directed by the pleasure principle
(“id-determined”) short-circuits the points between the appearance of the
particular stimulus and the satisfaction of the need it aroused or triggered
off. Hunger is an example of this kind of motive. Those motives related
to the reality principle (“ego-determined”), on the other hand, take into
consideration the inner representation of the situation at stake in their
functioning. A good example of this kind of motive is fear or anxiety.
Some authors also tried to classify the forms of motive from the
standpoint of those emphasizing experiential states – such as the states of
feeling (Lersch) – of the organism as the starting point, and those which
emphasize the end, the goal. The form of motive in the latter group is
mostly said to be that of the Will.11 The former – feeling –, granted, is a
state, but it has also a propelling component sloping towards another
state. With this shift in attention, motivation research changed over to
“motive research”12. Among the different motives, attitude occupies a
very special place. That is why we deem it pertinent to make a brief
comment on it.

10 Ulich 32.
11 Thomae 19.
12 Ibid., 16.

75
2.1.2.1 Motive - Attitude
“Attitude” means a response tendency, and can only be inferred from ob-
served behaviours. Its existence cannot be readily adduced by a mere
analysis of the stimulus alone. Experience shows that many response be-
haviours, many a time, do not correspond to the observable cause or
stimulus. We are surprised most often when someone ‘over-reacts’ to a
given cue which to us is a very trivial one. To this we say figuratively:
he/she makes an elephant out of a fly. If we situate attitude in the broad
context of “motive”, one cannot avoid getting a feeling for its complex-
ity. In this sense, attitude is viewed as some internal affective orientation
that would explain the actions of a person. G. W. Allport offers a classi-
cal definition of attitude as “‘a mental and neural state of readiness ex-
erting a directive influence upon the individual’s response to all objects
and situations with which it is related’”13. P. Sbandi attempted a free
translation of this definition into German. In his translation he empha-
sized that this “mental and neural state of readiness [...] is structured by
experience [...]”14. This translation draws our attention to the fact that at-
titude is not an innate state of readiness or disposition. It is an acquired
one. Thus it depends very much on environmental influences and conse-
quently related to experience (“Erfahrung”).
Attitude consists of several elements, namely: “cognitive (consci-
ously held belief or opinion); affective (emotional tone or feeling);
evaluative (positive or negative); and conative (disposition for action)”15.
Emphasis could be laid on any one particular element depending on the
theoretical tilt of the user. This can be observed in modern psychological
literature. One could arrive at what the attitude of a person to a given is-
sue is by directly inquiring about it from him. However this is not a very
reliable method, because of a very high quota of falsification. Many

13 B. F. Green, Attitude Measurement, 335.

14 “Einstellung ist ein mentaler und neuraler Bereitschaftszustand, der durch die Er-
fahrung strukturiert ist, und einen steuernden dynamischen Einfluß auf die Reakti-
onen eines Individuums gegenüber allen Objekten und Situationen hat, mit denen
dieses Individuum eine Beziehung eingeht”. The emphasis and the translation are
ours. Sbandi offered this definition during his lecture on 13.3.1991. Cf. also the
translation of M. Rosch and D. Frey, Soziale Einstellungen, 297.
15 Reber 65. See also: D. Stahlberg und D. Frey, Einstellungen I, 145-146.

76
authors have busied themselves with finding and inventing methods of
measuring “attitude”.16

2.1.2.2 Motive - Attitude - Value

As an acquired mental and neural readiness to respond to all related ob-
jects and situations, attitude borders close to values. A person’s attitudi-
nal behaviour towards a particular object is an indication of the psycho-
logical importance or meaning the person attaches to the said object.
This is what H. Thomae means when he talks of the “multivalence of the
situation” as the common feature of conflict. A person’s attitude towards
a particular object or event serves as an indicator of those values which
the person associates with the said object. Furthermore, it indicates some
of his central values as well as some components of his self-concept.
This is why attitudes, beside needs and values, are very powerful mo-
tives. But unlike needs and values, they are most amenable to socio-
cultural influences.

2.2 Characteristics of Motivational Processes

When it is said above that motives activate, energize and direct our be-
haviours, certain qualities are being attributed to them. Normally, be-
haviour is not activated just for the sake of itself. There seem to be al-
ways a goal “in view” towards which it is directed. And when motives
direct behaviour, they are giving it some orientation. This brings us to
the three major characteristics of motivational processes: the basic state

16 Interested readers are referred to the work of B. F. Green cited above. Green distin-
guishes three different methods: the judgement methods basing on ‘Thurstone-type
attitude scale’, response methods: (the method of summated ratings -> Likert-type
scale; scalogram analysis -> Guttman scale; the unfolding technique -> Coombs;
latent structure analysis -> Lazarsfeld) and the rating methods (-> Krech and
Crutchfield). See Green 344-365.

77
of need (“Grundbefindlichkeit des Bedürfens”17), “directedness” (“Ge-
richtetheit”18), anticipation, and orientation.19
The “basic state of need” indicates the fact that the starting point,
the status quo, is always experienced as a lack reaching out to be filled
or overcome. As the saying goes, ‘nature abhors vacuum’. The basic
state of well-being of the human being pushes to overcome any lack as
soon as it is recognized.
The “directedness” refers primarily to the anticipated future (psy-
chological and physiological) state of well-being of the human being
(Thomae, Kelly, Lersch). The anticipation must not necessarily imply a
clear vision of this future state of well-being. The specific importance of
the motivation events for the “ego” is closely connected with this “future
reference”. Lersch reiterates the same when he says that our inner life
pulsates with dynamic propelling forces striving for the realization of a
state of well-being which is not yet.20 This also explains why a person
chooses a particular direction of action instead of another. Motivation
events are always oriented. By this we mean, among other things, that
motives act with regard to or with some “insight” into the present situa-
tion of the person. Their manifestation and the course they take are al-
ways influenced by and always stay in relation to this situation. Moreo-
ver, the “orientedness” of their course refers only to the goal and to the
means of its attainment.

17 Ph. Lersch, Wesen und Bedeutung der Antriebserlebnisse, 59.

18 Thomae 17.
19 For Ph. Lersch the third characteristic is the fact that every motivation event is al-
ways directed towards a goal. And because this goal carries a certain meaning for
the experiencing person, it represents a value. Thus the third aspect of the motiva-
tion events is their directedness towards a desired value.
20 The experience of the motivation events is subject to the fact of time just like life
itself is, Lersch says. He writes: “Triebe und Strebungen sind gerichtet auf Ver-
wirklichung eines Noch-nicht-Seienden. Sie entfalten die Thematik des seelischen
Seins in den Dimension der Zukunft. Das entspricht der Tatsache, daß seelisches
Leben wie Leben überhaupt die Seinsform des Sichzeitigens hat, dass also die
Zeitlichkeit zur Innerlichkeit auch des seelischen Lebens gehört. So ist dieses im-
mer durchpulst von Antrieben, die auf die Verwirklichung eines noch nicht beste-
henden Zustandes gehen und die Lebensführung und Lebensgestaltung wie ein ro-
ter Faden durchziehen”, Ph. Lersch, Antriebserlebnisse, 129.

78
2.3 Conflict and Motive: The Regulating Principles

As we stated earlier, what a person calls a motive depends on the per-

son’s world-view or theoretical slant in relation to what an organism or
the human personality is. What one takes to be the immanent goal of
human behaviour also plays a role here. Such an operating world-view or
theoretical slant acts as a regulating principle of motivation21 and as a
background upon which could be determined what sets behaviours “in
motion”, what the propelling forces are, and, therefore, what the actual
conflict components are. Ulich differentiates three of such principles or
theories: the mechanistic principle, the homoeostatic principle, and the
pleasure principle. We will briefly expound the three principles, whereby
an appraisal follows each exposition.

2.3.1 The Mechanistic Principle

Every behaviour is set and held in motion through the mechanism of en-
ergy accumulation and energy discharge. When the accumulated energy
(in connection with some physiological processes) reaches a certain
level, one could say, a saturation point, it gets automatically discharged.
The energy activates the particular organ of the organism responsible for
the discharge. This principle calls to mind the image of a steam boiler.
Similar ideas are also found in the everyday expression, like, “Her im-
pertinence made me boil”; “He is silently fuming over the delay and he
may explode if you too should be waited for”. Freud and the psycho-
analysts talk also of “psychic energy”.
A conflict can, therefore, be presumed to arise when two or more
channels of energy discharge, which normally cannot discharge simulta-
neously without causing some problems, are activated at the same time.
For instance when an organism experiences fear, the organ responsible
for flight and the one responsible for confrontation could be activated at
the same time. In this case the organism could experience the urge to flee
from the situation or to stand and face the matter, whereby it could expe-

21 Ulich 29.

79
rience a state of general paralysis or inability to act in either of both
ways.

An appraisal of the mechanistic principle

This model presumes the satisfactory state of an organism to be a ten-
sion-free state. Besides, it presents a very mechanistic view of the human
organism. Such a view presupposes a static structure (like a steam chest),
in which the energy is accumulated and further transported, as if the hu-
man being were something essentially static, and needs to be set in mo-
tion by some external forces.

2.3.2 The Homoeostatic Principle

This principle is closely connected with the first one. According to it

every human behaviour is determined by the desire or natural tendency
to maintain physiological (and psychological) equilibrium. All organis-
mic activities are triggered off by a disturbance of this equilibrium and
always aim at restoring the original organismic or systemic harmony.
Biochemical information lends credibility to this principle. For instance,
“the hypothalamus regulates endocrine activity and maintains homeosta-
sis [...]. Under stress the usual equilibrium is disturbed, and processes are
set into motion to correct the disequilibrium und return the body to its
normal level of functioning”22.

An appraisal of the homoeostatic principle

Success in life could give one a sense of well-being. This in turn brings
about the feeling of being in a state of psychological equilibrium. This
state could be likened to the Ericksonian stage of Integration and Fulfil-
ment which, however, is attained much later in life. This implies that the
desire to attain this state keeps one in a constant state of psychological
imbalance. All one’s activities are, therefore, geared towards reaching
this goal. Certainly, there are some attainments in the long process of
living which give one some sense of achievement and fulfilment. But
such moments are very short lived. The human nature is such that it al-

22 R. L. Atkinson et al., Introduction to psychology, 38.

80
ways aspires to higher and greater goals. It is ever reaching out for
something more.
Therefore, applying this physiological principle of homeostasis to
psychological life is not without difficulties. The calming down of some
twitching nerves or muscles may return one to the state of physiological
well-being. But the experience of any situation is qualitatively different
from the previous one, however similar the two situations may seem to
be.
The existence of a lack and the perception of the same as such must
not necessarily lead to psychological disequilibrium in the person con-
cerned. Naturally, some psychoanalysts may object and say that many
lacks have receded into the unconscious and out of the reach of con-
scious perception and awareness. But why does the “excavation” of the
same to consciousness and its later satisfaction (where this is possible)
not return all such persons affected to the state of equilibrium? And why
is insight not always sufficient to bring about the desired behaviour or
state of well-being?
Similar to the previous principle, a normal state is for the homoeo-
static principle a tensionless state. In a sense, it means too that a ten-
sionless state is a state where all needs are satisfied. But the human being
is a living being. He is more than a bunch of nerves or reflexes. He just
does not respond to every stimulus or to its absence. Definitely many
cognitive activities transpire between his perception of a particular lack
and the action that might follow. This action must not have as its end the
satisfaction of that lack.
Furthermore, the restoration of equilibrium does not necessarily
mean a restoration of the original state of the organism. And also bio-
chemical equilibrium does not exclude the possibility of the initiated ac-
tivities being motivated by some other factors.23

2.3.3 The Pleasure Principle – Hedonism

This third principle states that the underlying motive for human behav-
iour is the desire for pleasure and the avoidance of pain. This is also the
goal of every human behaviour. As an extreme form of the Socratic eu-

23 Ulich 31.

81
demonism, it emphasizes more of sensual pleasure which is often taken
to generally stand for happiness. Freud’s postulate of a “pleasure princi-
ple” is in no little way influenced by this age long principle. This means
in effect, that any hindrance to the satisfaction of this desire will cause
frustration and consequently a conflict in the individual concerned.
Likewise, the pursuance of any two or more equally attractive pleasure
goals could bring about the same effect.24

An appraisal of the pleasure principle

Experience and history tell us that not every human behaviour is moti-
vated by the desire for pleasure or has pleasure as its goal. And even a
good number of such activities which seem to have pleasure as their mo-
tive and end, actually have other concrete ends. They have pleasure as a
side-effect, as a feeling which accompanies the attainment of those ends.
In this case pleasure and displeasure or pain are anticipated feelings; as
such, they are more of signals than motives.25 Surely, the many martyrs
in the various religions and such people who take torture or death upon
themselves for ideological reasons definitely were/are not motivated by
pleasure, be it as a desire or as a goal. One can even say that anticipation
rather than pleasure or avoidance of pain moves a person to behave or
act in a certain manner.
The Neo-behaviourists K. Lewin und N. E. Miller seem to lend
some credibility to this principle with their typologies of conflict situa-
tions.26 According to them the valencies of a situation or object can cause
the individual to approach or to avoid a situation. A conflict situation can
arise when a person has to choose or decide between two positive valen-
cies, for instance between two pleasure goals at the same time. It can as
well arise when he is placed before a choice with positive and negative
valencies. This is the case for instance, when the same goal he is striving
at will bring him pleasure and pain. A conflict can also arise when he
comes in a situation with two negative valencies, whereby whichever
way he moves, the negative valency of the goal repulses him back.
Whichever way he chooses will bring him pain. This is like facing a di-

24 It should be noted that from the psychoanalytical perspective the pleasure principle
is kept in check by the reality principle and the super-ego.
25 Ulich, ibid.
26 Cf. Ibid., 76 and 82f.

82
lemma without no possibilities of rebuttal. Another situation that can
cause conflict is where a person is caught in a choice between two goals
with each of the goals having many positive and negatives aspects at the
same time.

2.4 Summary

We have tried to give a general view of the traditional approach to in-

trapersonal conflict which stands on the soil of motivation psychology.
In this we did not pay any special attention to a particular school of
thought, although mention is made sporadically of depth psychology and
behaviourism. This had to be so because they are the two major propo-
nents of this approach.
Motives are said to be the underlying elements in intrapersonal con-
flict. A conflict is the effect of the simultaneous operation of two mutu-
ally incompatible motives in the human being. They activate his behav-
iour. In this way they give answer or clue to the question, why a person
acts or experiences what he experiences the way he does.
There are those motives that energize and those that direct the ac-
tivity of the individual. Emphasis is laid on one or the other depending
on the outlook of the observer. G. A. Kelly calls them the “push”- and
“pull”-27groups of theories. The “push”-theories or principles postulate
such forces that “push” or move the individual to act. They employ such
terminologies like, drive, stimulus or motive, to describe those forces.
The first principle of energy accumulation and discharge and the ho-
moeostatic principle could be located in this category. The “pull”-
theories, on the other hand, postulate those forces that attract, allure or
evoke the activity of the individual. To describe them, they employ such
terminologies as goal, value or valency, or need. The pleasure and the
homoeostatic principles could be grouped in here. So some forces propel
the individual to action while others attract or elicit. In the motivational
psychology the generic word ‘motive’ is used to depict all these forces.
The explanation of what the motivating factors of human actions are –

27 G. A. Kelly, Der Motivationsbegriff als irreführendes Konstrukt, 500.

83
especially the kinds of motive that are operative in a conflict phenome-
non –, depends on the interpretational background of the person con-
cerned, and so on which principle or theory regulates the person’s inter-
pretation.
Having paid respect to the chief forerunners in the discussion on in-
trapersonal conflict, we will now expound more on the psycho-anthro-
pological slant we introduced in Chapter One. This is the theme of the
next two chapters.

84
3. A SYSTEM ORIENTED APPROACH

In Chapter One, we introduced the subject matter of our study. We now

turn our attention to the system oriented approach, which will serve as
our theoretical optic and epistemic grid in this work.

3.1 A Brief History

The literary materials of epistemological and system theory are very

complex. They are as diverse as they stem from various fields of science
like physics (I. Prigogine), biology (H. Maturana, F. Vester), mathemat-
ics (B. Russel, A. N. Whitehead), informatics (C. Shannon), cybernetics
(N. Wiener, L. von Bertalanffy), cultural anthropology (G. Bateson) and
the cognitive sciences (P. Dell, D. Jackson, etc.).1 The developments in
these fields led to what could be described as an “epistemological revo-
lution” which challenged the established optic to shift from the age-old
Aristotelian linear thinking to a systemic circular pattern in the under-
standing of living beings and their activities and of nature. The former
based on an erroneous transference of our observation of the relationship
between two inanimate entities to all entities (i.e. including living enti-
ties) in terms of the Aristotelian “unmoved mover”. The latter pays due
respect to the evident difference between living and non-living entities or
organisms and follows the natural organization or structure of living be-
ings. No sooner had this revolution taken place did the idea come into
the almost exclusive possession of Family Therapy. This is why for a
long time the idea of “systems” seemed synonymous with Family Ther-
apy. This state of affair has, however, changed a lot in the meantime.
The idea has also found great acceptance in the fields of politics, eco-
nomics, commerce, environmental protection, medicare, etc.

1 Cf. L. Hoffman, Foundations of Family Therapy, 4-5.

85
 In the area of psychotherapy and mental health, psychoanalysis as
one of the earliest methods and behaviourism helped to entrench and
propagate the linear causal explanation of mental illness. As soon as they
liberated it from the religious connotation as demonic possessions, men-
tal illness and distress came to be understood as the effect of biological
or physiological causes or of a repressed past traumatic experience. Thus
“the individual is the focus of the malfunction, and the etiology is con-
nected with an imperfection in his genes, biochemistry, or intrapsychic
development”2.

3.2 How do we know what we know?

The fact that living organisms do not passively “respond” to perturba-

tions or stimuli just like inanimate objects do, made somebody like G.
Bateson to startle and attentively prick up his ears. Causality, he ob-
served, cannot act backwards, i.e. the effect cannot go before the cause.
Since this chain: “cause-effect” could not explain many aspects of real-
ity, the Greek quickly introduced the idea of teleology, of a causa finitas
– final cause. But, Bateson insists that a new grammar to depict what is
going on in living beings must be found and argues that if causality were
to be circular and not linear, then a difference in the state of the organism
can originate from any point in the circle of interaction.3 And if that be
the case, then it must have to do with the relationship between that point
and the rest of the points in the organismic system. Living beings operate
not in a linear way but in a circular pattern. The energy they need for
their operation do not originate from outside – motive – but comes from
their own motu proprio. A classical example of this new optic is the dif-
ference between kicking a stone and kicking a dog. “In the case of a
stone, the energy transmitted by the kick will make the stone move a
certain distance, which can be predicted by the heaviness of the stone,
the force of the kick, and so forth. But if a man kicks a dog, the reaction
of the dog does not depend wholly on the energy of the man, because the

2 Ibid., 6.
3 Cf. G. Bateson, Geist und Natur, 79-80.

86
dog has its own energy, and the outcome is unpredictable. What is
transmitted is news about a relationship – the relationship between the
man and the dog. The dog will respond in one of a number of ways, de-
pending on the relationship and how it interprets the kick. It may cringe,
run away, or try to bite the man. But the behaviour of the dog in turn be-
comes news for the man, upon which he may modify his own subsequent
behaviour. If, for instance, the man is bitten, he may think twice before
kicking that particular dog again”4. Why must he think twice before
kicking that particular dog again?– Because the dog has among other
things registered this event in its memory. If a dog can respond so un-
predictably, how much more a human being who is equipped with not
only instincts but also a more diversified and complex nervous system.
This, however, has not explained what transpires in living beings so that
they react so unpredictably and how they are internally organized.
To answer this question biochemists, biologists and neurophysiolo-
gists were of immense help. An example are the publications of H.
Maturana and F. Varela: The Tree of Knowledge. The biological Roots of
Human Understanding and Erkennen: Die Organisation und Verkör-
perung von Wirklichkeit. We have already given a foretaste of their
findings in Chapter One.5
According to them, living beings differ from non-living beings es-
pecially in the fact that they are cellular, self-reproducing and self-
organizing and that they interact with their environment in a self-
recursive way, whereby the energy they need therein comes from their
own metabolism. This is called autopoiesis. The cells are endowed with
specific information and stay in their function in an interdependent rela-
tionship with each other (in multicellular and metacellular6 organisms).
This kind of relationship guarantees that the whole organism can reor-
ganize itself as soon as one of its cells receive news about a difference in
their environment. At the same time, it makes it impossible for them to
adapt to extreme changes in their environment.
Each cell in the human organism is structurally and functionally dif-
ferent, i.e. each cell is autonomous. A basic characteristic of autonomous

4 Hoffman 7. Emphasis added.

5 See subsection 1.3.1.2.
6 We mentioned in Chapter One that human societies and cultures are metacellular
systems.

87
entities is an “operational closure”7. This means that each cell is an ac-
tive component in a network of active components. When one of them
receives a new information it reorganizes itself in order to accommodate
the new information in accordance with its own internal and autonomous
structure. Since they are interconnected – made possible by the synapse
– the activity of this cell results in a change of the state of its activity and
this in turn leads to a change in the state of activities in the rest of the
cells making up the same system. What connects them is the relationship
between them which is dictated by the structure or architecture of the or-
ganism itself. At the end of this operation the organism reacts to the
situation according to the outcome of its own autonomous operations. It
must be clear now that the units in relation to one another follow a cir-
cular rather than a linear pattern. A typical example of a system with op-
erational closure is the nervous system.8 By its very architecture it does
not violate but enriches and maintains the operational closure which de-
fines the autonomous nature of all living beings.
Every process of cognition follows the same pattern. It is based on
the organism as a unity and on the operational closure of its nervous
system. This is why the authors came to the insight that “every knowing
is doing and every doing is knowing” and that “everything said is said
by someone”9 because each act of cognition is an activity and whatever
the human organism (says at the end that it) knows is a product of its
own activity. This activity starts right from birth and continues until the
organism ceases to exist.
The more the organism interacts with different environments or
goes through several environmental changes, the more information it ac-
quires and the more “layers of information” it builds up. It follows then
that the older a human being becomes and the more diversified the envi-
ronments are, which he has gone through, the more and the richer the in-
formation (“knowledge”, “experience”) he has acquired. These experi-
ences or information are stored in the synapse in the brain and are
activated by each new information.10 In the course of the individual’s
ontogeny11 the nervous system, on account of the information it has ac-

7 Maturana and Varela 164.

8 Cf. Ibid., 141-176.
9 Ibid., 27.
10 Cf. A. J. Hammers, Der systemische Ansatz in der Psychotherapie, 238.
11 See Chapter One, Footnote 104.

88
quired, specifies what kind of events in the environment qualify to con-
stitute perturbations for the individual (human organism) and develops
the criteria for their assessment. It also lays out many response or inter-
action alternatives and the criteria for choosing between them. Conse-
quently, extreme and drastic changes in the environment can lead to a
total breakdown of the system.
On a social level human beings constitute several nervous systems,
i.e. several unities with their independent existence in an ongoing proc-
ess of structural coupling.12 Through interaction with one another, they
trigger series of response related activities in each other. And in this
case, it makes little sense to occupy oneself with the punctuation of the
sequences – who first acted and who reacted? –, even though we know
that such punctuation arrangements help to order interaction within a
given group.13 And in doing so they engage in an ongoing process of
creating and sharing common meanings. When this communicative in-
teraction assumes a recurrent nature human societies and cultures arise,
also endowed with operational closure. In that way they are able to dis-
tinguish themselves from other similar autonomous entities and most
importantly also establish criteria for reproducing themselves. Traditions
guarantee this. Almost similar to the operational structure of the nervous
system, human societies and cultures cannot violate themselves. Rather
through their operations they enrich and enhance their structural auton-
omy. As we go on in the discussion, these points will become clearer.

3.3 The Human Person acts motu proprio

Going from the preceding exposition it is clear that human activities are
not results of the impact of some motives or the other. The postulation of
some dynamic forces as activators and energizers of human behaviours –
as we saw in the previous Chapter – is misleading because it does not

12 See Chapter One, Footnote 62.

13 Cf. P. Watzlawick, J. B. Bavelas, D. D. Jackson, Pragmatics of Human Communi-
cation, 54-49.

89
pay due attention to the human biological makeup and to the biological
root of human epistemology.
The individual remains active whether he is motivated or not. Be-
sides, motion is primarily a spatial activity; it is only secondarily a tem-
poral one. But the human being lives primarily in the dimensions of time
and only secondarily in the dimensions of space. According to Kelly14, it
is more plausible to take the mere fact of the human being being alive
(“lebendigsein”) as the basis of his behaviour or activities. Activity or to
be active is an essential quality of human life. Looking for some other
force or forces within or outside of the individual as an explanation for
the behaviour or action of this individual is, therefore, superfluous. He
argues that the use of such constructs is unnecessary, for “[...] the fun-
damental thing about life is that it goes on. It isn’t that something makes
it go on; the going on is the thing itself. It isn’t that motives make man
come alert and do things; his alertness is an aspect of his very being”15.
Any explanation of the actions and experiences of the human being
must, therefore, start with him as a living being – in constant communi-
cation with his environment and with himself, and whose nervous system
remains active even when the “windows” of the body, the senses, are
shut.
Grouping the motivational theories into two, namely the “push” and
“pull” theories16, Kelly described them as the “Pitchfork” theories, on the
one hand, and “Carrot” theories, on the other hand. His own theory he
decides to call a “Donkey” theory since his attention is focussed on the
nature of the animal itself.

14 G. A. Kelly, Der Motivationsbegriff als irreführendes Konstrukt, 498-509. As far

back as in the early 60s Kelly voiced a very provocative critique of the concept of
motivation as a misleading construct.
15 D. Ulich, Konflikt und Persönlichkeit 129. Cf. also Kelly 499.
16 The “push”-theories or principles postulate such forces that “push” or move the in-
dividual to act. They employ such terminologies like, drive, stimulus or motive, to
describe those forces. The first principle of energy accumulation and discharge and
the homoeostatic principle could be located in this category. The “pull”-theories,
on the other hand, postulate those forces that attract, allure or evoke the activity of
the individual. To describe them, they employ such terminologies as goal, value or
valency, or need. The pleasure and the homoeostatic principles could be grouped in
here. So some forces propel the individual to action while others attract to act. Cf.
Kelly 500.

90
 Human beings do not just react to events and cues from the envi-
ronment but in accordance with the outcome of their own internal or-
ganismic operations in regard to the event or situation. An observed or
experienced behavioural phenomenon is, hence, a response to differences
(changes) in the environment or in the internal state of activity of the or-
ganism. A human being always acts of his own accord in the double
sense of not being moved by any other force beside itself and of acting in
tune with his systemic structure as a human being with an operational
closure. He acts within the frames of all his acquired cognitive and af-
fective pathways in the course of his ontogeny. Kelly calls this frame the
network of a person’s personal constructs. Let us examine what he
means by this.

3.3.1 Theory of Personal Constructs

Kelly’s starting point is his clinical experiences with clients, especially

his psychotherapeutical. Going from the “nature of the animal itself”, as
he said, he proposes that the therapist should understand himself as a
fellow researcher of the client studying the internal functioning of the
latter. It is only an understanding of the internal cognitive operational
pattern – the various ways in which the client sees, interprets and ex-
plains the universe he or she experiences – which can bring promising
results in the therapeutic interaction. This internal functioning includes
the network of constructs which the client has developed in the course of
his or her life. The client can express him- or herself only within his or
her network of constructs (conceptual frame-work). This network is like
a labyrinth through which the client moves daily. The same is valid for
every human being. Each person has a network of personal constructs. If
every autonomous being is operationally closed, then the world around
him makes sense to him only within the confines of his constructs. He
interprets and experiences the “reality of everyday life”,– he lives his life
–, in accordance with his personal constructs. This means, that the be-
haviour and activities of the person must follow the course of the limited
dimensions of his personal system of constructs. And things, events have
meaning to him to the extent they fall within the radar of that system.

91
3.3.1.1 Personal Construct – Choice – Time
Admittedly, this means a limitation of the possibilities of “choice” open
to the person. But, as long as the system has dimensions, it must provide
the personality with a certain stock of “alternatives” to choose from. Just
as the person creates his personal constructs together with their stock of
alternatives, he creates at the same time the criteria for choosing between
the alternatives. These constructs give direction and orientation to his
acts and behaviours.
But what determines or regulates a person’s choices between the
alternatives he himself established? In tune with his theory, Kelly argues
that every choice the person makes has consequences for his future.
Whichever way he chooses to take, brings him to a new vantage point
where he can examine the rightness of his previous choices and also
work out meaningful system of alternatives for the present in view of
future choices. Constantly the future beckons at him, and constantly he
reaches out in hopeful expectation at it. The human person lives in an-
ticipation! A person chooses from two or more alternatives of constructs
available to him the one from which he expects greater chances of en-
hancement or consolidation of his own system of constructs.
The dimension of time occupies a very central position in human
cognitive network of constructs. Most importantly in this function of “di-
rection” and “orientation” is the way in which the human being antici-
pates the future. His behaviour is directed and ordered not just by what
he anticipates – whether good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, self-
preserving or self-destructive –, but by the situation which he expects to
arrive at through the choice he makes in view of all the other alternatives
or possibilities foregone.
The human being links the past with the future. The fact that he
lives in the present makes him stand astride the ravine which separates
the past from the future. By the mere fact of his being alive, he is the only
living being that can unite the two. Therefore, if we want to know why a
person does what he does, then our explanatory concepts should be much
more related to the dimensions of time than to those of space. They
should refer to events rather than to things or entities. In view of this,
Kelly makes his basic postulate: “The processes which make up the per-
sonality are psychologically determined by the ways in which the person

92
inwardly anticipates events”17. These “ways” are parts of his personal
constructs and are equally ontogenically acquired.
As much as the integrative orientation of behaviour and experien-
cing results through one’s personal construct or conceptual framework, it
is also a consequence of “time reference” or “time perspective”. This
means that every experience is qualitatively determined by its relation or
reference to time. A person’s experience of events or of the realities
around him is qualitatively determined by the way in which he antici-
pates the future on the background of the past.18 That every actual expe-
rience or cognitive event contains an experience of the future or that a
sense of the future plays a central role in every actual experience is,
however, something not very self evident. But in spite of that, this factor
plays an integral role in the subjective assessment of every personal ex-
perience and behaviour. This is what is meant when we said that the hu-
man being lives primarily in the dimensions of time and only secondarily
in those of space.
D. Ulich emphasizes that time here does not mean time which is
external to but “time” which is immanent in experience and events. That
means the “ego-time”19, the “time-dimension” as it is relevant to the per-
sonality of the individual. It has, through its “perspectivity” the same
overarching function as a “frame of reference”. He defines “perspectiv-
ity” as a particular framework of time through which events and experi-
ences are perceived and through which their position and meaning in the
entire network remain relative to this specific framework.20
Special configurations of and changes in this dimension are most
evident when they affect the individual’s future perspective. Normally
the future is always experienced as open and as the home of unlimited
possibilities for personal action and experiences. It has always got to do

17 Kelly 505. Emphasis added.

18 R. Bergius, Formen des Zukunftserleben, 8. Bergius puts this idea thus: “Alles Er-
leben ist [...] durch seinen Zeitbezug, durch seine Beziehung zu dem vergangenen,
gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen inneren Geschehen qualitativ bestimmt”.
19 Ulich 134.
20 Ibid. “Perspektivität heißt, daß alle Ereignisse und Erfahrungen in bezug auf ein
bestimmt geartetes Zeitgerüst erlebt werden und von diesem Zeitgerüst her eine
relative Position und Bedeutung im Erlebnisstrom erhalten.”

93
with the sense of the “capability to act”.21 The future perspective, that is,
the way a person anticipates the future, overarches and orders every ex-
perience and behaviour. How far this anticipatory disposition stays in
correspondence with reality varies according to person, age and social
class.22 It can also gain, to some extent, an existence independent of par-
ticular events when a specific form of “future anticipation” becomes an
integral part of a person’s sense of “being in the world”. This point is
very characteristic of conflict and neurosis, which are themselves defi-
nite forms of “being in the world”.
The human being develops his way or manner of anticipating events
while creating the tracks along which his thoughts will run, i.e. his sys-
tem of constructs. This system or network is like a labyrinth and the con-
structs are the paths through it. He spreads this net over every new event
or phenomenon or idea in order to grasp them more distinctly and en-
dow them with his own personal meanings. Thus, his personal constructs
serve as framework for his experiences and cognition. They arrange, or-
ganize and order the stream of experiences in patterns meaningful to
him.
The constructs are not static. The fact that the human being is in a
constant communicative interaction with his environment makes the
changes he undergoes an ongoing process. Those changes remain unno-
ticed which are below the threshold of consciousness and which have not
been registered by the nervous system as perturbations. Others are no-
ticed but only as changes of state. And still others pose great risks of
systemic disintegration. However it may be, any new information leads
to changes in the state of activity of the construct, which in turn leads to
changes of state in all the interconnected constructs. On account of the
unpredictability of the outcome of this process, it is often perilous for the
person to change one construct while not being certain of what disruptive
effects it may have on the major sectors of the system or on the entire
system.

21 Bergius while alluding to N. Ach’s analysis of the Will as a central factor in deci-
sion making, holds that even in every act of the Will or sense of freedom there is
this anticipatory dimension of time. The knowledge about the capability to act
which is contained in the following statement of Ach’s: “‘Ich habe die schwerste
Tätigkeit wählen wollen und hatte das Wissen, daß ich dies durchführen kann’” is
enough evidence of the centrality of the future perspective. Bergius 32.
22 Ibid., 233.

94
 Kelly emphasizes that these constructs do not have any existence
outside the human personality. They are no more than psychological
processes in a living person. Moreover, the “personal construct” should
not be confused with grammatical structure, syntax, words, language, or
even communication. It does not even presuppose awareness. It is simply
a psychologically defined unit for understanding human inner psychic
processes. Furthermore, it is no more conscious than unconscious and no
more intellectual than emotional.
The system of “personal constructs” provides the personality with
freedom of decision as well as with a limitation of this freedom. In the
former sense, it allows him to ‘enter into dialogue’ with the significance
of the events he experiences, rather than be helplessly abandoned to the
mercy of the events. In the latter sense, it limits his freedom because the
person can never make any choices outside the domain of the alterna-
tives, which he set up for himself. Its feature of operational closure
makes sure this does not happen.

3.3.1.2 Personal Construct – Conflict – Neurosis

Person, according to D. Ulich, is “reality in social relation, in an interac-
tive communication”23. Its psychological aspect is the “personality”. He
defines personality as that complex of cognitive-evaluative systems of
reference of a person which lies behind all his cognitive-affective bear-
ings in the experienced relationship between himself and the material,
social and conceptual worlds.24 When, therefore, a person experiences
conflict, he experiences it as ‘disintegration’ and ‘disorientation’, as a
change of his time perspective and an interruption in his future orienta-

23 Ulich 128.
24 Ibid. We consider it worthwhile to state the German version of this definition since
it brings out Ulich’s slant of viewing the problem of conflict from the specific per-
spective of the individual’s reference system and its inextricable link with the indi-
vidual’s concept of the future. Besides, the term is one of the terms in psychology
so resistant to definition and so broad in usage that no coherent simple statement
about it can be made. This latter fact is also manifest in his definition. He says:
“Persönlichkeit verstehen (wir) als das den kognitiv-affektiven Stellungnahmen in
den erlebten Beziehungen zwischen sich und der materiellen, sozialen und ideen-
haften Umwelt als Möglichkeitsbedingungen zugrundeliegende System von kogni-
tiv-evaluativen Bezugssystemen”.

95
tion.25 As such conflict is experienced as a specific form of interruption
of the stream of experiencing or of the experiential continuum.
This living person wades through life along the “pathways” he him-
self constantly constructs as a guideline or orientation. We are of the
opinion that if some violence is done to any of these pathways, the effect
will ramify in other pathways. The person will find it very difficult or
even impossible to achieve or attain those ends associated with the af-
fected pathways. This disturbance or violence affects him as a person
because the affected pathways are sectors in the entire web of his orien-
tation system. The personal constructs are, therefore, the cognitive
frames of reference of the person.
It is this quality of an individual’s “orientation” to meanings (valen-
cies), social norms and personal values, which makes a particular be-
haviour of his useful und ordered, consistent and consequent, meaningful
and understandable.26 Quoting Graumann, Ulich argues that “an act ex-
hibits orientation when it is guided by the meaning which the person
gives it in view of the goals and interests he wants to achieve”27. Living,
i.e., “to-be-in-the-world” entails a certain succinctness and unambiguity
of social relations and relations to time and space. It also involves a dif-
ferentiation of what is desirable and not desirable. Living means some
consciousness of where one is coming from and where one is going to.
This presupposes an awareness of where one is now, in the sense of what
meanings, norms and personal values guide one’s actions. Just as this
“orientation” guides, orders experiencing and behaviour, it also inte-
grates the single experiential events into the whole corpus of the per-
son’s horizon of meanings. An interruption of this cognitive function of
integrative orientation leads usually to an intrapersonal conflict.
How a human being knows what he knows depends largely on the
operations of the central nervous system and the cognitive frameworks it
lays in the course of the individual’s development and history. These
frameworks have been variously named a person’s “system of reference”
(D. Ulich), “personal constructs” (G. Kelly), “overarching reality defi-
nitions” or “web of meanings” (P. Berger). It determines how something

25 Personality in conflict means: “Es ist die Person, die einen Konflikt als Desin-
tegriertheit und Desorientiertheit, als Veränderung der Zeitperspektive und Störung
des Zukunftsbezuges erlebt”. Ibid.
26 Cf. Ulich., 131.
27 Ibid. 131.

96
is perceived and experienced, what qualities should be attributed to
events and contents of consciousness and with what value concepts
events should be assessed.28 It is the spectacle through which a person
views the world and the filter of his perception and experiences.
Once again taking off from his clinical experiences with clients,
Kelly illustrates the relationship between cognitive frame of reference
and conflict using as example the Neo-behavioural concept of “neurotic
paradox”. According to him, neurotic paradox is “that paradox which at
the same time perpetuates and destroys itself”29. To illustrate what he
means here, Kelly asks: “Why does a person persist sometimes in a cer-
tain behaviour which in no way brings him any reward for his efforts?”
Put the other way round: “Why does an individual sometimes not persist
in an unprofitable behaviour?” From the standpoint of the psychology of
personal constructs, he argues, there is no such thing as “neurotic para-
dox” as far as the client is concerned. It appears only to the therapist as a
“paradox”. As long as the client in his daily operation remains within the
realm of his own personal constructs, his behaviour does not appear to
him as paradoxical. Even that of the so called neurotic clients. The para-
dox arises only when he tries to use the system of constructs of his
therapist to explain or understand his own behaviour. Within his own
system, the client perhaps sees himself as facing some complication but
not a paradox. It is, therefore, necessary to understand first of all what
the client understands as a reward or as profitable. As long as a person
remains within his own conceptual framework or system of constructs,
he experiences what to the observer seems to be a neurosis perhaps only
as a complication. A conflict can then arise when he tries to make use of
another system of constructs to explain or understand his behaviour
while remaining within his own system, or when a given subjectively
relevant psychological situation proves to be incompatible with his own
epistemological grid.

28 Cf. Ulich 133.

29 Kelly 504. Kelly borrowed this definition from O. H. Mowrer.

97
3.4 Relevance of this Approach

In our discussion of culture, we pointed out that the human society can
be considered as a living organism or system with an “autopoietic” or-
ganization of the third order. We also mentioned that any interaction
between two organisms always calls off some changes within their re-
spective systems, hence we called those changes ”changes of state”.
They occur as an essential aspect of the process of interaction between
the organism and its environment. These changes are integral to the natu-
ral communicative interaction of the organism with its surroundings.
They are natural occurrences in the ontogeny of the organism. Taking
from Maturana and Varela, we called such changes, when they are con-
genial to both organisms, reciprocal “structural coupling”. We also noted
that there are some interactions which bring about a disorganization of
the navigational instrument of the organism, its conceptual framework.
The conceptual framework of a person evolved and evolves from
his being embedded in a particular socio-cultural milieu. And this is
made possible by his participation in a common stock of knowledge of
that culture, which has as its core the values and meanings upon which
the life of the members rests. The person is continuously tuned in to this
common stock of knowledge through the unsevered contact to his folk
and most effectively through the recurrent, ongoing communication –
relationship – with the others belonging to the same culture. This con-
ceptual framework of a person is also continuously evolving as a result
of the dynamic nature of life, of all living beings, of human societies and
of culture. As the culture evolves, so do the individual members undergo
a process of changes of state in their cognitive and affective frames of
reference. The close bond between this framework and culture is, there-
fore, given through the recurrent participation in a common stock of
knowledge which has accumulated through the reciprocal structural cou-
plings of generations of ontogeny.
Our choice of the systemic approach is based (1) on the centrality of
the holistic idea of the human being and human cultures as autonomous
unities in an interconnected relationship, and (2) on the focal place it ac-
cords the implication of that idea for the human epistemology and cul-
ture:

98
(1) The holistic idea of the human person: Phenomenologically speak-
ing, when someone is describing his internal struggle between two goals
or two situations of equal valency, the person does not say: “There is a
struggle going on in me between this and that goal or this and that situa-
tion.” He is most likely to say: “I am torn apart between this and that
goal” etc. Or “I am hard up as to the best step to take here.” He can de-
scribe the situation in whatever way or form that pleases him; the em-
phasis remains on the “I” which is undergoing this or that experience.
This “I” refers to the self30, the subject of an experience. This personal
pronoun “I” stands for and is at the same time synonymous here with the
individual himself.
Furthermore, when a person suffers some epistemological rupture or
shift, it is neither his brain nor this or that part of him that suffers the
shift. It is he as a totality, as a whole person who undergoes such a cog-
itive shift. It is he, as a unity, who is undergoing, consciously or uncon-
sciously, a change in his perceptive framework.
The idea of the human being and human societies as autonomous
unities offers a plausible explanation for the fact that each individual
human being, group or society, creates the world in which he or it exists.
Hence the truth of the aphorisms: “Everything said is said by someone”
and “all doing is knowing and all knowing is doing”31. Every reflection
brings forth a world. It is a human action by someone in particular in a
particular place. And in bringing forth a world the person creates and ac-
quires knowledge, he creates also at the same time the bases for further
knowing. Since living beings cannot not communicate, i.e. cannot not
interact with their environment and with other entities in that environ-
ment, the human being is inseparably linked up with his environment.
This interconnectedness constitutes his existence as a living being. All
his activities and cognition are aspects of this ongoing communication
through which he charts his ways through the myriads of impressions
and experiences and creates patterns for the recognition and validation of
those ways. In this way he continuously produces his world. This bring-
ing forth a world – cognition – has a biological base. It “manifests itself
in all our actions and all our being, [...] in all those actions of human so-

30 The Self here is different from C. G. Jung’s understanding of the Self as the totality
of the psyche. Cf.: M.-L. von Franz, The Process of Individuation, 161-254.
31 Maturana and Varela 26-27.

99
cial life where it is often evident, as in the case of values and prefer-
ences. [And] there is no discontinuity between what is social and what is
human and their biological roots”32.

(2) Implication for human epistemology and culture: If the human being
is an autonomous entity and through his recurrent communicative inter-
action with other human beings and his environment he knows and cre-
ates his world all at the same time and in creating he knows himself and
his world, then circularity governs the process of human epistemology.
Every outpouring of inner meanings uses and creates a language. When
this language is shared by others in their ongoing communicative inter-
action such that they understand the meanings it transmits, then together
they lay down the criterion for the validation of future understanding of
the phenomenon in question. The same process of validation is followed
on a personal level as the person creates his world. In this manner, the
human being, as well as human societies, create the yardstick for vali-
dating their own experiences and actions. With time, these criteria will
no longer serve only as validation but also as regulating principles for all
future actions and experiences. In doing this they create the epistemic
domains within and only within which such phenomenon can make sense
to all those who share the criteria and within a particular place.33
Following the discussion hitherto, one can easily perceive the cul-
tural import. Depending on the geographical location of any particular
group of human beings the cognitive worlds they create will differ, to a
great extent and in many domains, from those of other groups elsewhere.
Furthermore, it means that the phenomena might remain the same eve-
rywhere, but the criteria for the validation of actions and experiences in
relation to them will differ, and perhaps fundamentally too. According to
Maturana and Varela, “this circularity, this connection between action
and experience, this inseparability between a particular way of being and
how the world appears to us, tells us that every act of knowing brings
forth a world”34. It is our conviction that a substantial part of the in-
trapersonal conflict experienced by Igbo seminarians arises from their
being embedded in more than one social and cognitive milieus: their

32 Ibid., 27.
33 Cf. Ibid., 28.
34 Ibid., 26.

100
home environment and the environment of the seminary which is based
on ecclesio-western Weltanschauung. People from different cultural
worlds live in different cognitive realities. Of course, this difference does
not imply by necessity a condition for intrapersonal conflict. The Igbo
seminarian struggles to unite or incorporate various elements from the
different cognitive worlds. These elements are, a good number of times,
incompatible, or at least, opposing in relation to each other. Intrapersonal
conflict can arise when he crosses boundaries without due respect to the
inherent basic differences or similarities between the elements.
When someone undergoes an epistemological rupture, this affects
his consciousness of the temporal order, especially his feeling of and
manner of anticipating the future. The future seems to him for that mo-
ment not accessible. At that moment it seems to him that the achieve-
ment of a set goal has been hampered. This form of temporal bearing is
an essential dimension of the person’s epistemic frame of reference.

3.5 Summary

We set out in this chapter to find the basis for the problem why the em-
bedment of a person – the Igbo seminarian – in more than one epistemic
systemic of reference should constitute a source of intrapersonal conflict
for him. Through the optic of the system theorists we arrived at the bio-
logical roots of all human experiencing and action.
Living beings differ from non-living beings in their autopoietic or-
ganization as autonomous unities whose internal operations are circular
in nature and exhibit an operational closure. While in contact with his
environment the human being remains open to information coming from
his environment but in regard to the processing of the information he
follows his own ontogenically established patterns, thereby exhibiting an
operational closure. His response to the event is totally motu proprio and
unpredictable. Along his own ontogeny the human being lays out series
of patterns for being, creating and knowing his world. These patterns
have been variously named “network of personal constructs”, “yardsticks
or criteria of validation”, “epistemic system or frame of reference”,
“overarching reality definitions”, “conceptual framework”, “navigational

101
instrument”, “consciousness of everyday life”, “web of meanings”,
“culture”.35
The fact that the human being is a living being makes the business
of living a reciprocal, circular, enterprise such that doing and knowing
belong inseparably together. As far as his biological base is concerned he
is not – even on a greater level – endowed with a finished world, whether
internal nor external. He has to finish that creative process. Thus in get-
ting to know or acquaint himself with his environment he creates his
world and shapes his consciousness of that world in an ongoing process.
This consciousness – which involves experience and behaviour – is
sifted, ordered and determined by the person’s epistemic systems of ref-
erence. The frame of reference becomes at the same time the person’s
“navigational instrument” through the ordinary events and encounters of
his life with others. The “world” around him makes sense to him only
within the framework of his “web of meanings”36. It is the person’s con-
dition for the possibility of freedom of choice as well as of the limitation
of this possibility of choice. Hence it serves as the integrative orientation
of his actions and experiences.
An integral part of consciousness is the aspect of “time”. The hu-
man being lives basically in the dimensions of time. In the assessment of
experiences and events the individual thrusts himself (unwittingly) into
the future. Thus he experiences already in the now that yet to be. How far
this anticipatory disposition stays in rhythm with reality varies from per-
son to person, from age to age and from social class to social class. In
any case, the way a person anticipates the future, overarches and orders
his experiencing and behaviour.
Intrapersonal conflict does not arise simply by the possession of one
or more systems of reference. In effect, the question of how this conflict
originates (its etiology), how it operates or its process (its operation),

35 In this work we shall use these terms occasionally interchangeably. Which form
will be used will depend solely on convenience and contextual aesthetic appropri-
ateness.
36 Berger et al., The Homeless Mind, 12.

102
how it is experienced (experiential), and its implications for the problem
of neurosis will be the focus of the next chapter.

103
This page intentionally left blank
4. INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT AND
EPISTEMIC FRAMEWORK

In the preceding chapter we situated the object of our study, intraper-

sonal conflict, within the domain of what we called the individual’s
epistemic or cognitive frame of reference, one of the major pillars of
which is the dimension of time. We also emphasized that the aspect of
this dimension of time which is most central and decisive in a conflict
event is the “future”, in the sense of anticipation. The frame of reference
as we said is that cognitive order in terms of which a person can “make
sense” of his life and activities and recognize his position in the ongoing
interaction with the world around him. As Berger puts it, human beings
are “congenitally compelled to impose meaningful order upon reality”1
in order to make their world2 predictable and stable. Certain events can
lead to a disintegration of the entire or some parts of this psychological
“edifice”. In the event of this, the person not only risks a loss of his
evaluative bearings but he will become ambivalent as well about his
cognitive bearings. Such a situation can temporarily block or blur the
person’s view or insight into the future in the sense of the future as the
domain of the possibility to act. We will now consider more systemati-
cally the question of how this conflict – in the sense defined – originates,
operates and is experienced.

1 Berger, The Sacred Canopy, 22.

2 We wish to call to mind that we use the term “world” here not in the strict sense of
a geographical terminology but to include all the physical, psychological and
spiritual spaces relevant in the daily life activities of the individual.

105
4.1 Intrapersonal Conflict in three Perspectives

Pre-scientifically or phenomenologically the conflict event is mostly de-

scribed as “being in a fix” or as “vacillation”. A deeper and better under-
standing of what is meant here can be attained when one takes as the
characteristics of conflict the inter- and intrapersonal differences in the
functioning of the frames of reference and the differences in the configu-
ration of the relation to the future dimension of time. Leaning on D.
Ulich’s three dimensions, we now look at the conflict event from three
perspectives:
(1) etiological, (2) operational and (3) experiential perspectives.

4.1.1 Etiological Perspective

Generally speaking, we designate as an essential condition for the gene-

sis of conflict the situation in which a person experiences an event, a
feeling or an action simultaneously in more than one frame of reference,
such that a clear goal and evaluative bearing is no longer possible. Most
often those frames of reference are either opposing or contradictory. It
becomes almost impossible for the person to situate the event or his
feeling in his personal orientation framework. There ensues an uncer-
tainty regarding the place of the event in the person’s entire fabric of
valuation and signification. The simultaneous awareness of a particular
event or situation in several incompatible epistemic reference systems
acts as a disintegration in this fabric. By way of illustration, let us look at
the following example taken from an incident3 in one of the seminaries
in Igboland where the present writer received a good part of his training
to the priesthood:

A final year student4 assigned to work in the office of one of the professors, gener-
ally feared by the students, became so terrified that he got himself re-assigned and

3 This was narrated to me by the seminarian involved, for he felt himself unjustly
treated. He did anyway survive the tenure of assignment very well.
4 This is the fourth year of theological studies and at the same time the stage of scru-
tinium for the deaconate. This meant that this seminarian is, in seminary’s jargon,
“higher in dignity” than the junior student.

106
 secretly got a junior student to be put in his stead. He feared that he would not meet
the expectations of this professor and that the latter consequently might find one
reason or the other to write a negative assessment of his performance in his office;
a negative report would have a disastrous effect on his admission into the deaco-
nate. The junior student got to know about this change when he appeared the next
morning at his place of function and was informed of his re-assignment.

This behaviour of the final year seminarian can be interpreted as sheer

self-centeredness, a misuse of the position of power and an injustice to-
wards the junior student, ultimately as exploitation. As one can see, this
seminarian found himself in a situation, which he perceived as a danger
to an anticipated future state. In his assessment of the situation he be-
came aware too of the fact that he has thereby exposed his surrogate to
the same danger he desperately wanted to avoid. This is most likely a
reason for his wanting to keep the affair secret. Within the Christian
epistemic framework there is the “construct” called The Commandment
of Love. This demands that you do not do to others what you would not
want them to do to you. Now, both students are Christians and in addi-
tion, seminarians. Ideally, the final year seminarian’s assessment of his
situation should have been guided by Christian charity – love of neigh-
bour – and sense of justice in his dealings with this junior student. How-
ever, he thought that he could take advantage of his “seniority” over the
junior one and of his comradeship with his classmate who was the
“Master of Manual Labour5” and ransom himself with this junior stu-
dent. The funny thing about it all is that both hail from and are training
for the same diocese. This later factor alone “should”6 have sufficed as a
deterrent. Later our final year seminarian remembered that the junior one
entertained a very good relationship with their bishop and their Diocesan
Vocation Director. Thereupon he sought for ways of covering up the
matter: first by seeking to maintain his anonymity, and by using threat of
authority against the junior student after his identity had become known.
Later, when this failed, he tried to justify his action before the “surro-

5 This is the post of the student who has, on the students’ level, the overall responsi-
bility for the execution of the duties assigned to each and every one of the students
and is accountable to the rector or the designated member of the administration. He
can also assign and reassign any student to any function at any time.
6 “Should” is used here to indicate the sense of obligation or duty which arise at
viewing the event from the perspective of the social injunction to protect one’s
‘brother’ from harm, not to talk of using him as a ransom.

107
gate” with the aim of winning his sympathy for his precarious situation.
Lastly, when that also failed, he sought for reconciliation with the other
(offended) seminarian by standing up to and taking ownership of his ac-
tion. He pleaded for clemency.
The two roles7 – “exploiter” – on one hand and “Christian-
seminarian”, “senior” and “diocesan seminarian” on the other hand –
alone are not sufficient to bring about conflict. That is, they must not al-
ways overlap because they are experienced as frames of reference, which
do not necessarily have an essential link to each other. In other words,
contextual events, one’s own opinions and activities are mostly experi-
enced in only one frame of reference. The entire process of socialization
has the one goal of bringing about such a distinct perception of different
events in different frames of reference. From our theoretical standpoint,
our final year seminarian ran into conflict as soon as he became aware of
or began to experience these his two pairs of roles as overlapping. That
is to say, he found himself in a fix when he suddenly perceived the junior
student simultaneously as being exploited for his own selfish ends (ref-
erence system of exploitation) and as a fellow seminarian. He will be-
come conscious of the fact that the same rules (Christian and seminary
rules and regulations) apply as well to him in his relationship with his
fellow seminarians. His problem became more compounded when he
perceived the other student not only as his “junior” whom he can use as a
ransom for himself (reference systems, authority and self-survival) but
also as one training for the same diocese and at the same time as some-
one who has powerful people behind him to whom he himself entertains
a dependence-relationship (reference system, dependency – diocesan
seminarian). In fact, he became afraid that if this his “junior” found out
that he master-minded his re-assignment, the latter would make this
known to their diocesan secretariat.
Another situation that can give rise to conflict is when a person
finds himself in the so called “overlapping situations”8. Situations of
choice belong to this category. A person in a choice situation sees him-
self simultaneously or alternatingly in a future situation which the choice

7 In the course of the work we shall see that (social) roles act as frames of reference,
for around them are located sets of behaviour expectations and values of the given
social group. As a result they by their very nature order and orientate our behav-
iour.
8 Ulich 137.

108
of any one of the alternatives might bring about. He already anticipates
or “lives” this future situation. Let us consider the following situation of
the young Igbo man in the seminary as an example. He is the only son of
a widow. He wants to become a Roman Catholic priest and at the same
time sees himself as the only son of his widowed mother with all the
cultural import of such a role. Viewed from the cultural perspective, the
“Roman Catholic priest” disrupts his reference system as the ‘only son’
and vice versa. “Overlapping” here means the experience of the different
frames of reference as being incongruent with one another.
In the two examples shown above, the two seminarians find it im-
possible to situate the events in any one of their systems of reference
without running into dissonance with another reference system. Of
course, this state must not remain permanent. But as long as it persists,
they will not be able to make any clear reference to the goal or valuation
order embedded in their frames of reference. This makes a “restructur-
ing”, in the sense of re-organizing the systems of reference according to
a certain order of priority, impossible. And here conflict originates. The
fact that the person does not see the possibility for such a restructuring is
a condition for conflict. The person is unable to take a definite and clear
stand. This inability makes it even more difficult for him to develop
other guiding principles, which will help him start the restructuring on
the way to resolve the conflict or to get out of the quagmire.
A side effect of experiencing an event or a feeling simultaneously in
several incompatible frames of reference is that the person’s attention
will be focussed upon or confined to those reference systems. This can
bring about a disturbance in orientation even in those sectors of his life
which are not directly affected by the conflict. For instance, our final
year student could no longer comfortably pursue his academic studies
with concentration.
In conclusion, we want to recall that conflict originates when an in-
dividual experiences or perceives an event, a feeling or an issue simulta-
neously in more than one opposing or incompatible frames of reference.
That is, when the frames of reference overlap.

109
4.1.2 Operational Perspective

As we hinted farther above, not every experience of an event in several

conceptual frameworks must of necessity lead to conflict. According to
Ulich, this is so as long as it does not endanger the accomplishment or
execution of the central “‘plans’”9 of the individual. How intensive
and/or pervading a conflict is experienced depends very much on how
central and fundamental the object of attention is for the person.
A conscious act or a purposive behaviour depends on the capability
to harmonize the perceived structure or nature of the psychological now
with the expected nature or structure of the future in such a way that the
projected goal can be attained. In other words, it is only when there is a
congruence between the external influences or one’s own present state
and the anticipated (future) state that an action (a goal oriented) can be
initiated towards arriving at that state. If a discrepancy or incongruence
is discovered, the individual continues to strive to correct this discor-
dance until it is eliminated or resolved and a harmony is reached.

4.1.2.1 TOTE Model

George Miller, Eugene Galanter and Karl Pribram proposed a model in

their book Plans and the Structure of Behavior10 which portrays this pro-
cess beautifully. Their model is called TOTE (Test–Operate–Test–Exit).
According to R. Dilts et al., “a TOTE is essentially a sequence of activi-
ties in our sensory representational systems that has become consolidated
into a functional unit of behaviour such that it is typically executed be-
low the threshold of consciousness”11. Miller, Galanter and Pribram de-
veloped the model as an extension of the S-R theory (stimulus-response
theory), otherwise known also as “reflex arc” in behaviourist psychol-
ogy, by incorporating the cognitive dimension as a very important inter-
vening variable in the S-R link. That is, their model extends the “reflex
arc” model to include a feedback operation as an intermediate internal
activity between the stimulus and the response. According to the authors,
“the test represents the conditions that have to be met before the re-

9 Ibid., 138.
10 The book was published in 1960.
11 R. Dilts et al., Neuro-Linguistic Programming, 27.

110
sponse will occur”12. The Test phase represents a comparison of present
state of the person and the desired state. If the conditions of this phase
are met, the action initiated by the stimulus Exits to the next step in the
chain of behaviour. If not, the feedback reports negative. This results in a
feedback phase in which the system Operates, effects a change (read-
justment) of some aspects of its perception of the stimulus or of the per-
son’s internal state – in terms of providing more of his available re-
sources – in an attempt to satisfy the test once again. The test-operate
feedback loop may recur several times before the test is passed and the
action terminates.13 Miller, Galanter and Pribram write:

[...] the response of the effector (the output neuron) depends on the outcome of the
test and is most conveniently conceived of as an effort to modify the outcome of
the test. The action is initiated by an ‘incongruity’ between the state of the organ-
ism and the state that is being tested for, and the action persists until the incongru-
ity is removed. The general pattern of the reflex action, therefore, is to test the input
energies against some criteria established in the organism, to respond if the result
of the test is to show an incongruity, and to continue to respond until the incongru-
ity vanishes, at which time the reflex is terminated. Thus there is ‘feedback’ from
the result of the action to the testing phase, and we are confronted by a recursive
14
loop .

The TOTE process is represented visually by the authors as follows:

TEST EXIT
(Congruity)
(Incongruity)

OPERATE
Figure 1 T.O.T.E. Model

12 Miller et al., Plans and the Structure, 24.

13 Dilts et al., remark that this does not mean that the TOTE will not exit if after many
trials, its operation phase fails to have any significant effect on the outcome of the
test. It will exit all the same, but not to the same behaviour as it would have if it
had successfully finished the test.
14 Miller et al. 25-26.

111
The elasticity of this TOTE model is such that the operate phase of one
TOTE can include other TOTEs – with their own tests and operations –
embedded inside it. The structure of the relationship between them is
more hierarchical than sequential. Miller et al. described the process of
hammering a nail as a simple example of this “nesting arrangement”15.
According to them the specific TOTE sequence of hammering a nail is
as follows:

If this description of hammering is correct, we should expect the sequence of

events to run off in this order: Test nail. (Head sticks up). Test hammer. (Hammer
is up). Strike nail. Test hammer. (Hammer is down). Test nail. (Head sticks up).
Test hammer. And so on, until the test of the nail reveals that its head is flush with
the surface of the work, at which point control can be transferred elsewhere. Thus
the compound of TOTE units unravels itself simply enough into a coordinated se-
quence of tests and actions, although the underlying structure that organizes and
16
coordinates the behaviour is hierarchical and not sequential .

The feedback operation constantly transmits information about the con-

tinuing existence of the discordance or its elimination. In the event of the
latter, the action exits to something else.

4.1.2.2 The Difference that makes a Difference

The information transmitted is only information or news about a differ-
ence in the original or previous state. The “discordance” or “incongru-
ence” is, therefore, a content of the information. In the process of taking
cognisance of the “difference” the individual continuously takes recourse
to himself. That means, the individual initiates some (conscious or un-
conscious) cognitive self-referential actions on the basis of his previous
and/or present state in view of the future one. This goes on and on, in the
form of self-correction, until he reaches a state congenial to the antici-
pated one. In the process he ‘changes’ himself. One can say that it is the
existence of this difference and the awareness of it as such that makes a
difference.
The self-referential process is grounded in the ontological status of
the human being as an autopoietic17 organism with a systemic opera-

15 Dilts et al. 30.

16 Miller et al. 25-26.
17 Refer to subsection 1.3.1.2 for the definition of autopoiesis.

112
tional closure. The “continuous corrective striving” or “circuiting” can
be seen as a part of that immanent self-organizing activity of the human
being which does not leave the boundaries of his organismic structure.
Bateson called this phenomenon “self-correctiveness”18. The same phe-
nomenon is also described by Dell as “self-referential” or “self-
reflexive”19. All these terms “self-correctiveness”, “self-referential” and
“self-reflexive” are used interchangeably to refer to the same innate op-
erational closed feature of every living organism, especially the human
organism and human social unities. In the process of this activity the
human being changes his behaviour in accordance with results of the
previous “outputs” so that this in turn leads to a change in the subsequent
goal-oriented behaviour. For instance, a person changes his behaviour in
relation to a specific goal in line with his judgement of the (perceived)
situation. And his subsequent behaviour is a sort of modification of the
previous one consequent upon the results of his previous assessment.
This is why it is said that the relationship between the various TOTEs
within the “Operate” phase of one TOTE-loop is more hierarchical than
sequential. In other words, every system or organism (social or individ-
ual) operates on the epistemological level in a cybernetic feedback loop.
This feedback is neither positive nor negative. It is just feedback.
Bateson describes the feedback circuit thus: “A circuit is a closed path-
way (or network of pathways) along which difference (or transforms of
differences) are transmitted”20. Any observable change of behaviour in
an organism is a result of such a self-corrective or self-referential activity
of the said organism. In effect, any changes the organism undergoes is
not the product of any external force or stimulus but solely the effect of
the organism’s own internal activities and processing.
A difference is neutral. It is only a piece of information in a certain
sequence within an experiential continuum. The registration of every
difference effects a change (of state) in the person. Every action (physi-
cal or mental) of an organism (human or otherwise) involves change or
transformation. Actually, no organism can act without changing itself,
i.e. without going through some transformation. Every action or behav-

18 G. Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 490.

19 Dell, Klinische Erkenntnis, 36-44. This concept is translated in German as “Rück-
bezüglichkeit” or “Rekursivität” or simply “rekursiv”.
20 Bateson, Ibid.

113
iour is a participation in that on-going self-referential or self-corrective
transformation of the first order21 of the systemic consistency. The trans-
formation of the first order means that a person is so structurally deter-
mined (by the natural organization and membership to the human spe-
cies) that every transformation or change he experiences, is a part of that
on-going self-reorganization within that same class. Such changes are
consistent with his nature as a human organism. A transformation or
change in the overall structure of this organism means death. The or-
ganism ceases to exist as that very organism. A structural alteration, in
effect, means a loss of identity of the class. All other types of changes –
epistemological, behavioural or physiological – are only changes of state
in that on-going process of systemic consistency. When we, therefore,
say to a friend: “You have changed” or “You are quite different now” or
“We thought, we knew you; you are a different person now”, the change
we believe to see actually exists only in us, the observers. The person is
what he is. The “change” (of behaviour) we observed might be per-
ceived by him differently. Thus it might not have the same import for
him as it has for us as observers. His transformation is a part of that on-
going epistemological activity which is part of his nature as a member of
the human species. Conflict can, therefore, be said to be the expression
or designation we employ for a form of this “change of state”.
We want to recall here that the Batesonian “network of pathways” is
synonymous with what Kelly, in the previous chapter, called “network of
constructs”; a kind of a mental labyrinth through which the person
moves daily. In his daily interaction with his environment the individ-
ual’s behaviour or responses are orientated on the information from the
circuit structure. According to Dell, the person’s “environment” is de-
termined by that to which he “reacts”.22 Only the things he “reacts” to, in
the sense of “being aware of”, constitute parts of his conscious “envi-
ronment”.23 Moreover, the energy for the responses is supplied from his

21 This is the constant, normal (natural) transformations going on within the unity,
nervous system itself, in accordance with the biological (constitutive) structure of
the nervous system. Cf.: Maturana and Varela, “especially Chapters 2 to 4. Cf. also
first-order change in: Watzlawick et al., Change, especially the Chapter on Plus ça
change, plus c’est la même chose.
22 Dell 27.
23 A person’s psychological environment encompasses the natural and the spiritual
realms of life.

114
“metabolism”24. This epistemological network is the network of his
frames of reference through which differences are registered thereby
triggering off self-corrective (mental) activities. Bateson points out that
this “network is not bounded by the skin but includes all external path-
ways along which information can travel. It also includes those effective
differences which are immanent in the ‘objects’ of such information. It
includes the pathways of sound and light along which travel transforms
of differences originally immanent in things and other people – and es-
pecially in our actions”25. In a more simplified way: our epistemological
network of pathways includes all those ontogenically26 developed modes
of perceiving, receiving and interpreting information; in short: the epis-
temic frames of reference, be they objects, things, concepts or persons.
On the interpersonal level, the behaviour of the different individuals
– each behaving in consistency with his nature or structure – in a com-
municative interactive circuit brings about that kind of relationship
which Maturana and Varela called structural coupling.27 This relation-
ship can also take the form of rigidity or stability, whereby a kind of
“rigid equilibrium”28 is constituted.
Human beings are relational beings. They are basically concerned
with patterns of relationships. In a communicative interaction between
individuals, each person is at peace with himself, when he can be “sure”
of how he stands in his relationship with the others, say his environment.
He is at peace with himself, when he can rely on the knowledge he has in
his dealings with the others. He is at peace with himself, when he can be
sure that his pathways or network of pathways can still be trodden with-
out insurmountable hitches. He is at peace with himself, when he can
rely on the meanings he shares with others. Bateson has always empha-
sized the centrality of “information and relationship”29 in living organ-

24 Bateson, Ibid.
25 Ibid., 319.
26 Maturana and Varela define “ontogeny” as “the history of structural change in a
unity without loss of organization in that unity. This ongoing structural change oc-
curs in the unity from moment to moment, either as a change triggered by interac-
tions coming from the environment in which it exists or as a result of its internal
dynamics”, 74.
27 Refer to Footnote 62 in Chapter One of this work.
28 Dell 71.
29 Hoffman 7.

115
isms. He even puts this more succinctly when he declares before his
audience:

Mammals in general, and we among them, care extremely, not about episodes, but
about the patterns of their relationships [...]. They are concerned with patterns of
relationship, with where they stand in love, hate, respect, dependency, trust, and
similar abstractions, vis-à-vis somebody else. This is where it hurts us to be put in
the wrong. If we trust and find that that which we trusted was untrustworthy [...] we
feel bad. The pain that human beings and all other mammals can suffer from this
30
type of error is extreme .

The person is hurt because his “former ‘values’”31, which are very fun-
damental enclaves in his system of reference, no longer hold. When the
values the person holds on to are threatened, the whole personality be-
comes threatened too. Furthermore, his peace is gone when he applies
himself in his usual manner to a given object and is constantly rewarded
with frustratingly negative outcomes in the sense of the French apho-
rism: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (The more something
changes, the more it remains the same). Let us consider briefly why this
is so, since this will help us understand better why things change and still
remain unchanged – the nature of “continuity and change”.

4.1.2.3 Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

Paul Watzlawick, John Weakland and Richard Fisch applying the
mathematical theories of Groups32 and of logical types33 have provided a
very brilliant insight into this problem34 in their book: Change. The
Group Theory is very relevant with regard to why things change and at
the same time remain “unchanged”. The term “Group” means the same
as the entities we described with the terms “system”, “class”, “unity”.
According to the Group Theory, a group has the following properties:

30 Bateson 478.
31 Ibid.
32 Developed by the French Évariste Galois.
33 Developed by the two Englishmen Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russel in
their work: Principia Mathematica.
34 They devoted their whole work: Change: Principles of Problem Formation and
Problem Resolution, to this. Interested readers in how the two theories can help in
understanding change and continuity and how they can help in resolving stalemates
in human interactions are referred accordingly.

116
(1) It is composed of members which are all alike in one common fea-
ture. A group can be made up of objects, events, concepts, numbers, or
persons, etc or anything else one wants to bring together in such a group.
They only have to share one basic, common characteristic. For instance,
persons have the common denominator of “human beings”. A group of
Igbo men and women have that common characteristic which distinguish
an Igbo from an Hausa. Any combination of two or more Igbo is itself a
member of the group. For instance, an Igbo from Nsukka and an Igbo
from Owerri will not give two Yoruba but still two Igbo, both together
being Igbo. Even if you subtract one Igbo from the two, you still get the
same member. Thus “combination” here refers to the process of addition
or subtraction of members. In this case combination refers to a change
from one possible internal state of the group to another.
On the cognitive level, we said that we human beings are constantly
charting our pathways through the phantasmagoria of impressions of re-
ality, imposing meaningful order on them, thereby classifying them. This
“re-ordering” and classification, as we said earlier, is the only way to
make the world around us predictable and in making it predictable we
stabilize it. In the process of this classification we create a complex body
of intersecting and overlapping cognitive groups whose members all
share a common feature. Any addition of a (new) member into a group
brings about quite all right a change within the group but it creates still a
member of the same group. A series of similar changes can take place
within the group while it remains impossible for any member or combi-
nation of members to place themselves outside the class or group. In re-
lation to human problems, this means: just as integers remain the same in
their individual properties and structures and only their relations to each
other change, so also problems can remain the same or steady and tend
to escalate or increase if they are ignored or wrong solutions are applied
to them. Thus they can be experienced as remaining structurally un-
changed, while the difficulty and the suffering they produce increase and
intensify. In such a case, the problem remains and at the same time it is
described as getting out of hand or getting steadily worse. This leads us
to the next property.
(2) Another property is that no matter in what varying sequences one
combines the group members, the outcome of the combination remains
the same. Thus, there can be variations in the process, but invariance in
outcome. For instance, an insomniac who struggles fruitlessly to fall

117
asleep does everything possible to achieve sleep. He can change his diet,
alter his sleeping timetable, use sleeping tablets – and consequent drug
dependence, practice medication, try to read himself to sleep, etc.; and
each of these steps, rather than bringing about sleep, intensifies his
problem of sleeplessness. Sleep cannot be forced by an act of will power.
It is a phenomenon that occurs spontaneously; and spontaneity is incom-
patible with will power. The more sleep is willed – i.e. conscious efforts
are made to induce it –, the more the insomniac stays awake. Thus: more
of the same produces invariance in outcome.
(3) “A group contains an identity member such that its combination with
any other member gives that other member, which means that it main-
tains that other member’s identity [...]. In groups whose rule of combi-
nation is additive, the identity member is zero (e.g., 5+0=5); in groups
whose combination rule is multiplication, the identity member is one,
since any entity multiplied by one remains itself”35. In other words, a
member can act without effecting any changes in the group, hence ef-
fecting a zero change. Tradition, as a basis for action, can be considered
as having the function of an identity member, because it is in its nature to
ensure continuity, if necessary, through corrective action. The popular
slogan of a Reggae group in the 70s: “the more you look is the less you
see”, can also help to illustrate this point further. For instance, in the
seminarian-formator relationship one can often observe both engaging in
behaviours which they individually consider the most proper reaction to
something wrong that the other is doing; the particular corrective be-
haviour of one is seen by the other as the behaviour that requires correc-
tion. The formator may have the impression that the seminarian is not
open enough for him to know what the latter is doing during the former’s
absence, what is going on in the latter’s mind, etc. To get the needed in-
formation the formator can apply a variety of techniques – from directly
confronting the seminarian with relevant questions to setting up infor-
mants against the latter. If the seminarian considers the formator’s be-
haviour as intrusive and inquisitive, he will withdraw from the latter’s
reach. And the more the former withdraws – i.e. holds back the needed
information – the more the latter thinks: if the former is making himself
less and less accessible, then there must be something he is hiding; this
in turn fuels his efforts to find out what it is. Thus, the more the formator

35 Watzlawick et al., Change, 5.

118
looks, the less he sees. Any move from the former will be met with a
corresponding negative corrective move. This brings us to the fourth
property.
(4) In a group every member has its opposite or reciprocal, such that the
combination of any member with its opposite gives the identity member.
For instance, where the combination rule is addition 5+(-5) = 0. Reality
presents itself to us in pairs of opposites, such that the lucidity of one as-
pect is only on the background of its opposite aspect. Such pairs of op-
posites abound: darkness and light, hot and cold, good and evil, beauty
and ugliness, woman and man, etc. On the cognitive level, this means
that in cases where we judge the problem to be the lack or presence of,
for instance, a certain kind of behaviour, the common sense reaction is
usually an attempt to resolve the problem by doing away with the unde-
sirable one and replacing it outright with its opposite. A good example of
this is the Christian reaction towards the use of amulets and charms. The
traditional Igbo use them to protect themselves from evil influences or as
guarantee for good luck and success.36 Converts had to disavow and re-
linquish them at baptism; in their stead they received medallions (of Im-
maculate Heart of Mary, or of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, or of any of the
revered European Christian saints), scapulars, etc. for the same purposes.
In exchange for the charms in their households, they got holy water, the
Rosary, and holy pictures. These objects are only fully effective when
blessed prior to use by a priest. Thus, they too are ritually imbued with
potency. The anticipated change is a change of frame of reference or
system and not that of state. To achieve such a goal, the action would
have to be directed at the entire group (i.e., the whole body of conceptual
framework which attributes magical powers to objects). The careful
reader will have noticed now that a change was actually made without
really changing what was meant to be changed, thus plus ça change, plus
c’est la même chose. The opposite of the amulets are still members of the
same group of ritual objects with attributed magical powers.
This is partially what happens in a conflict; certain problems persist
irrespective of relentless efforts at resolving them. The changes that are
effected in any of these four properties are more or less changes of state

36 The propitious or protective effect of these objects is not otherwise inherent in

them but only in connection with specific ritual performances by which they are
then imbued with the corresponding spiritual powers.

119
or “first-order change”37. When problems, therefore, persist, the solution
often lies on a different level. Since every solution is a change, it implies
directing the corrective behaviour to the entire frame and not to its mem-
bers or contents. This is achieved by a “second-order change”38 – i.e. a
change provision which is not included in the properties or features of
the frame or group, thence, lies outside it. First-order change conflict
does not include provisions for its own resolution. The terms: first-order
and second-order changes seem to have been introduced by the systems
theorist W. Ross Ashby. Paraphrasing Ashby L. Hoffman explains them
as follows:

Living systems, Ashby noted, are not only able to vary their behaviours in response
to minor variations in the field (as the body keeps within an optimum range of tem-
perature by perspiring when it is hot and shivering when it is cold), but are often
able to change the ‘setting’ for the range of behaviours whenever the field presents
an unusually serious disruption (as in animal species that developed the capacity to
grow thicker fur when winters became colder, or worked out a pattern of migrating
to warmer climates until spring). This type of ‘bimodal’ feedback is useful, says
Ashby, because it enables the entity or organism to survive both day-to-day fluc-
tuations and drastic changes. He called the corrective responses to minor fluctua-
tions ‘first order change’ and the responses to drastic differences in the environ-
39
ment ‘second order change’ .

The Theory of Logical Types helps us to understand how the second-

order change works. According to this theory “‘whatever involves all of
a collection must not be one of the collection’”40. A “collection” here
means, as in the Group Theory, a class. A population of the whole Igbo
race is not just quantitatively but also qualitatively different from an in-
dividual Igbo, because it involves a complex system of interaction
among the individuals which has evolved since the beginning of the Igbo
race. For short, a class cannot be a member of itself. A lot of problems
result from confusing both logical levels, from inattention to this funda-
mental difference between class and its members. Ancestral reverence,
divination, ritual sacrifice are parts of Igbo religion which is in turn a
member of the Igbo conceptual framework. An attempt to change the

37 Watzlawick et al. 10.

38 Ibid.
39 Hoffman 47-48.
40 Ibid., 6.

120
conceptual framework by changing (replacing) these members with
commemoration of the saints, consultation of a priest, and Eucharistic
sacrifice, are bound to lead to confusion. The early missionary, Fr. Le-
jeune, seemed to have recognized this by directing his efforts at trans-
formation to the framework itself through the introduction of schools
(we shall return to this in Chapter Eight). Another example: the class of
seminarians is the totality of all the individual seminarians. To attempt to
resolve the problem pertaining to the entire class by addressing individ-
ual seminarians will of course lead to wrong conclusions, i.e. to a zero
change. It is also immediately obvious that to conclude from one semi-
narian who lies to saying that all seminarians are liars is a fallacy. How-
ever, for a seminarian to say that “all seminarians are liars” is to violate
the above main axiom of the Theory of Logical Types. The statement in-
cludes himself as well as his statement and the entire class of his state-
ments: If he is telling the truth, then he is lying and if he lying then he is
telling the truth. The theory, nevertheless, holds that it cannot be both;
this would otherwise result in a nonsense, in a paradox. Since not every-
body can handle a paradoxical situation41, it leads to either a stalemate or
a confusion, and to real conflict.
Second-order change entails introducing a new frame of thought
into the existing situation, the kind that happens through “reframing” the
problem issue. In a cybernetic sense42, it is exactly that which is carried
out or achieved each time the gears of a moving automobile are changed.
The shifting from gear one to gear two and so on produce second-order
changes in motion or acceleration. First-order change would be to be, for
instance, in gear five while making an ascent. No matter how firmly one
steps on the gas pedal the car will not advance any faster; at the worst,
the pistons will choke in the flood of gas and if nothing is done – like
breaking out of that gear five and entering gear three or two – the car

41 On the nature and application of paradoxes in diffusing and disentangling muddled

up situations or impasses in interactive communications interested readers are re-
ferred to the following works: Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin Bavelas, Don D.
Jackson, Pragmatics of Human Communication; Paul Watzlawick, John Weakland,
Richard Fisch, Change; Mara Selvini Palazzoli, Luigi Boscolo, Gianfranco Cec-
chin, Giuliana Prata, Paradox and Counterparadox: A new Model in the Therapy of
the Family in Schizophrenic Transaction. New Jersey 1978; Jay Haley, Strategies
of Psychotherapy. New York 1990.
42 Cf. also, F. Vester, Neuland des Denkens, 50-76.

121
will stop. A similar problem will be encountered by the wish to gain
speed while on gear one; the engine will howl each time one presses
down the gas pedal, and the harder one presses down the louder it howls.
First-order change conflict can be illustrated by the somewhat abstract
example below:

· · ·
· · ·
· · ·
Figure 2: The nine-dots task

The task: The nine dots shown in Figure 2 above are to be connected by four
straight lines without lifting the pencil from the paper.

Since human beings live in a world they have arduously mapped out,
new situations are usually confronted on the background of assumptions
from established, classified and proven perceptions. Not very seldom do
such assumptions complicate problems. Almost everybody who first tries
to solve the above nine-dot problem introduces a premise or an assump-
tion which makes the solution impossible. Looking at the formation of
the dots one assumes that they compose a square and that the solution
must be found within that square, albeit the assumption is not contained
in the instruction. Operating with the said assumption, it does not matter
how often and which combinations of four lines the person tries and in
what sequence, i.e. the person can run as many TOTEs as possible, he
will always end up not connecting at least one dot. The solution is a sec-
ond-order change.
First-order change conflict can be resolved by introducing another
idea which is not included in its class (for example: in the assumption
concerning our nine-dot task above) and that means bringing about a
second-order change. The former leads to continuous negative feed-
backs43, while the latter helps to interrupt the free-wheeling and points to

43 “Negative feedback” here refers to the result of the operation. Otherwise in respect
of the operation itself the feedback is positive because the information transmission

122
a way out. In concrete terms this means changing levels of logic or
thought. First-order change pays attention to the relationship between the
members within a class (of a conceptual framework), while second-order
change acts on the patterns of the relationships between the various
contents (members) of the framework, i.e. kind of leaves the framework
to look at it from outside.44 But as long as one’s perception remains
within the same cognitive system, the self-referential nature of systems
will make it impossible for one to arrive at any changes that will affect
the system itself, which is what is needed to resolve the impasse.
It is this “relationality” which actually forms the bedrock and the
spring board for the self-referential activities which are initiated each
time a difference is noticed, and ultimately results in a first-order change.
The human being, like every system, is the total self-corrective unity,
which operates with and on differences. The self-correctiveness always
goes in the direction of resolving the discrepancy – i.e. restoring ho-
moeostasis – and/or in the direction of escapism, i.e. increasing or rein-
forcing the discomfort up to a certain threshold – a classical extreme is
suicide or homicide. This self-correctiveness implies trial and error.
When no positive results are in view, the tendency may be to relapse into
some “epistemological error”45 whereby the person screens off the un-
comfortable event from consciousness in the belief that this does not
have any effects on the remaining frames of reference of his larger “eco-
mental system”46. The “error” consists in the apparent obliviousness of
the relatedness of the different sectors of the frames of reference within
the human organismic unit in the process of resolving the conflict. Such
an error has the tendency to propagate itself. It is a kind of telling oneself
lies. With the conflict sort of “skipped”, it keeps interfering, often unno-
ticed, in the other cognitive and evaluative activities of the person. We

transpired according to its established pattern. In this work, therefore, whenever we

use the expression “negative feedback”, we refer to the outcome of an operation.
44 This is why one can arrive at a better, deeper and broader understanding of one’s
own culture only when one has left it to look at it from outside. This also explains
why genetic manipulation has to do with an interference in the natural pattern of
the relationship between the genes, that is to say, an interference in the natural flow
of information between them.
45 Bateson 491-495.
46 Ibid., 492.

123
consider this situation as a determinant factor for the origin of neurosis
and the attendant building of a chain of defence or coping mechanisms.
Seen from this view point, conflict operates like a “feedback loop
without a positive response”. As often as one tries to achieve an aim, one
discovers that it would not work. Consecutive self-corrective activities
(TOTEs) yield no positive results. One’s intentions are always con-
fronted with the insight into the impossibility of their realization. In
other words, this “circuiting” is made possible by the fact that the indi-
vidual perceives the situation in two or more frames of reference, which
overlap. As long as he remains in this state, he will not be able to see
through to other possibilities of breaking out of the stalemate. Sometimes
the assistance of a second or third party becomes very necessary to get
out of this quagmire. To illustrate, let us consider the following situation
of the seminarian:
47
The Seminary stipulates when the seminarian has to talk or not talk, when he has
to eat and provides the meals. It designates with whom he has to share a room, and
specifies when to sleep and for how long, when to wake up, take a bath or wash up,
play, pray, study, work, go for walk and how (for instance, a rule of thumb was:
nunquam solo, semper due, aliquando tres). It also stipulates when to leave the
compound and come back, receive visitors (including one’s relatives) and make
visits, what to wear and what not to. The regular remark of a former rector summa-
rizes this adeptly: You are there. We [the seminary authorities] are here. You have
to be there and we have to be here, so that we can think for you.

Following this line, it seems that the seminarian is meant to be a passive

receptacle, like clay passive in the hands of the potter. This stipulation
expects him to show total acquiescence and submission to the rules the
seminary institution streamlined for him. One is compelled here to be-
lieve that such rules aim at reducing to a minimum all tendencies in the
seminarian towards self-reliance, independence and self-determination.

47 This “when” also stands for a new concept of time which is basically characteristic
of European bureaucratic and technocratic system; a system which places and fixes
events in accordance with any one of the twenty-four hour digits of the clock. Of
course, this is necessary for a proper functioning of the organization: the seminary
institution. But this is different from the Igbo concept of time, which is more or less
linked with events and not the other way round. This shall occupy us much later in
the work. Suffice it to say here, that to live according to the European temporal
system is considered to be modern and civilized. A symbol of it is the wristwatch
and the seminary regulator. And as a symbol it has got some sacramental character.

124
Now the seminarian who receives or internalises this training from the
seminary is at the same time expected from the same seminary to be ca-
pable of self-reliance. This expectation is coupled with that of the people
of God (including his diocese) who want him to manifest the capability
to self-reliance and independence in the proper execution of pastoral
tasks. These two injunctions constitute two “plans”, which correspond to
two different reference systems in which he evaluatively perceives and
experiences himself – his thoughts and actions. If he tries to act simulta-
neously in accordance with these two plans, then he is likely not to find
any one set of actions which, in accordance with both plans, can bring
him any further. No matter what he does or tries to do according to plan
A (seminary training) he will always get a negative feedback or result in
plan B (pastoral competence) and vice versa. Should he try in the semi-
nary to be independent, that will not fit in, when viewed from plan A.
Besides, he will meet with resistance from the seminary authorities,
regulations and rules. That can even earn him the tag of “insubordina-
tion”. If he tries elsewhere in the pastoral field to wait until everything is
prepared or decided for him, or “thought for him”, he will never accom-
plish any task. Both reference systems cease to be functional as long as
this seminarian perceives or experiences himself in these two mutually
opposing reference systems – operation plans, i.e. as long as he is guided
simultaneously by both. His self-corrective circuit constantly reports
back negative results. Soon he will wear himself out; in the end both
plans will remain unaccomplished because he cannot initiate any positive
action. No positive action can be effected since he experiences a discor-
dance between plans A and B. This in turn makes it impossible for him
to harmonize his psychological now – his perceived (subjective) present
situation – and the anticipated future state. None of the situations fits
clearly into his structure of signification or evaluative bearings.
Before we conclude this subsection, we want to point out that the
frame of reference is not necessarily an object of consciousness. While it
operates one must not be conscious of it. He can be aware of some of
them at a given time. Others can be recalled into consciousness with
some efforts through reflection, meditation, or through the help of some
psychological medium, like, psychotherapy or clinical counselling. A
good part of them, because they are ontogenetic, developed through par-
ticipation in a common stock of knowledge a people acquired through
the years, are deeply embedded in the person’s subconscious or memory.

125
However, they still exercise a great influence on the behaviour of the in-
dividual. Without it the person is lost in the stream of experiences and in
the ongoing interaction with the environment.
In conclusion, we recall that the conflict process takes the form of a
circuit with no positive feedback. The cognitive situating or the appre-
hension of a given event or phenomenon simultaneously in more than
one frame of reference, which are mutually incompatible, always con-
fronts the person with the insight that the expected future state is not re-
alizable. As long as he remains within this circuit, he will always receive
a negative feedback. This is the more intensive the more the issue at
stake is of fundamental importance to the individual. It is on this sphere
that the answer to the question of human behavioural incongruence
should be sought. More affirmatively: this explains some of the incon-
sistencies or incongruity we observe often in our behaviours or in that of
others around us. With this we move on to the third aspect.

4.1.3 Experiential Perspective

The third perspective concerns how conflict is experienced. The future,

we said, is always experienced (in the now) as open and as the home of
unlimited possibilities for personal action and experiences. A conflict
event disrupts the flow of this experiencing, the link between the present
and the future. Conflict, as stated above, originates in the simultaneous
apprehension of an event, a feeling or an action in more than one (op-
posing) frames of reference, such that a clear goal and evaluative bearing
on which any concrete and positive action can be based, can no longer be
mapped out. One experiences the impossibility of realizing an expected
future state. A conflict phenomenon is thus experienced as a breach of
the flow of life from the present to the future. According to Nesswetha,
“‘the continuum of life, the flow from the present to the future, experi-
ences a stagnation in one of its sectors; the link to the future seems bro-
ken, severed [...]’”48. The person experiences himself – in varying de-
grees – as having been cut off or disconnected from the future. The
intensity of this experience depends on how central or fundamental the

48 Ulich 140.

126
goal to be attained, which is caught up in the “freewheeling” of inten-
tion and negative insight, is to the person.
R. Bandler and J. Grinder recognize the vital importance of conflict
in the response of the human being to the incessant demands of daily life
and the limitations it sets to this response with the accruing pain there
from. Sometimes the pain can be so excruciating because one is dead-
locked and “freewheeling”. Desiring to reduce human cognitive and
emotive discomfiture and suffering they devised a method in their
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) called “Reframing”. In the light
of this they affirm that “the meaning that any event has depends upon the
‘frame’ in which we perceive it. When we change the frame, we change
the meaning” and “[...] when the meaning changes, the person’s re-
sponses and behaviours also change”49. To get out of a conceptual game
without (positive) end, out of an endless series of negative TOTE loops,
and to restore the flow of life once again, a paradigm shift, a change of
change is often required. The change of change is a movement from
change of state to a transformation, i.e. a redefinition of the object or
situation which involves transforming first-order change to a second-
order change. In a teacher-student relationship frame both the student
and the teacher will attune their behaviour to the rules of that frame. But
as soon as one of them no longer accepts the definition – the frame – of
that relationship and breaks out of it – i.e. redefines it, the rules govern-
ing their relationship thenceforth will change and with it their modes of
interaction. Our nine-dot problem can throw more light on this: The so-
lution to the problem lies in leaving or breaking the “square-frame” or
premise, rejecting the rule which stipulates that the solution must be
sought in the square. If this is done, the seemingly “strange” solution
(Fig. 3) below will be the result. As soon as the blockade is lifted, the
person experiences himself as being reconnected to the continuum, to the
flow of life from the present to the future. A person’s goal and value50
orientation, we said, are very closely connected with time and future ref-
erence. This close relationship is based on the fact that the aims and
theimportance of an action or thought are basically experienced as some
thing within the domain of the person’s psychological future. This is
why one’s outlook into an accessible future domain becomes eclipsed,

49 R. Bandler and J. Grinder, Reframing, 1.

50 By value we mean the ideals a person intends to live or reach.

127
 1

4
2
3

Figure 3: The solution of the nine-dot problem on page 122

the range of one’s “orientation” horizon becomes very narrow, when the
intention and its execution (together with the attendant reviews) toward
the achievement of the expected goal meet insurmountable obstacles. Let
us consider the following example:

In the junior seminary we had a classmate who was afflicted by incessant illness.
He was one of the oldest in our class. He was quiet, responsible and respected by
all. We regarded him to be very pious. He was also very brilliant. Acute headache,
fever and sometimes general debility tormented him. He bore his affliction with
patience and fortitude. But very often its severity disrupted his cadence of spirit so
much so that he had to remain in bed. Western medicine could not offer much help,
for physiologically nothing could be identified as the root of his affliction. The
rector and the entire seminary staff were convinced that this young man had a very
strong vocation. Everybody believed that he was going to survive the affliction and
emerge triumphant someday as a priest. He was the only son of his mother, a
widow and a non-Christian. His mother, he told us, was strongly opposed to his
being in the seminary. For the seminary community (including the present author)
51
his mother was the cause of his affliction. Stories were then told of priests who

51 One can of course view this from the perspective of the problem of attachment and
separation (J. Bowlby) or of symbiosis and individuation (M. Mahler). Seen thus,
one could understand the seminary’s explanation to mean that his mother was still
so emotionally attached to him or vice versa; both were unable to break that tie and
let go of each other. Be it as it may, our interest here is concerned with how the
seminary community interprets or explains the situation to itself. Suffice it just to
say that an adequate understanding of this explanation requires an understanding of

128
 went through similar ordeals as seminarians; some were even persecuted to the ex-
tent that they no longer dared to visit their homes. At the end they still made it. We,
therefore, believed that he was going to make it as well. But we were to be proved
wrong: He left the seminary because of this after our school certificate examina-
tion, i.e. five years later. Thereafter the affliction was said to have stopped.

This seminarian saw himself between two instructions: To become a

Catholic priest; that means abandoning his mother and all the responsi-
bilities as the only child and son, which includes marrying and having
his own children. As the only son, he sees himself as the only person
who can vindicate his dead father and perpetuate his family’s name in
his own offspring. Were he to remain in the seminary and eventually end
up as a Catholic priest, this responsibility and hope would become unre-
alisable. Secondly, to return to his mother means to leave the seminary
and to give up becoming a priest together with everything he associated
with it. Now perceiving or evaluating (the implications of) his vocation
to the priesthood from his perspective as an only son of a widow and
vice versa, the prospects of ever realizing both goals appear very ob-
scured. The more he persevered in the seminary, the more intensive he
experiences the insight into the impossibility of ever realizing the other
goal. Both goals seem to be of central importance to him. Thus the inten-
sity of his conflictive experiencing left a negative impact on his physio-
logical well-being. His affliction can, therefore, be seen as a psychoso-
matic reaction to this internal conflict. In reality, bad health was
considered as a negative indication for the priestly vocation. His situa-
tion was, as a result, a precarious one. He strove hard on the one hand to
prove the earnestness of his vocation by bearing his affliction with great
fortitude. On the other hand, he could not discuss his worries openly
with the seminary authority without risking a misunderstanding and
eventually a disqualification and a dismissal from the seminary. Trapped
in such a “coasting” his hope of even realizing this other goal of attain-

the Igbo world view. The Igbo believes that there are people endowed with the
powers of influencing some supernatural forces or spirits. This influencing can be
for good and/or for bad. In this case, this explanation, understood in its proper
context, means that the mother of this young man used sorcery to win back her son.
Through that means she made life in the seminary as unpalatable and unbearable as
possible for her son. Her aim was to compel him to leave the seminary and return
to her and his family. Being a son and the only child, he was the only person who
could vindicate her and perpetuate his family’s name in his own children.

129
ing the priesthood in this context becomes even more obfuscated. The
future (his hope) appears now unattainable.
Borrowing from Werner, Ulich described the situation of a person
whose perspective into the future has been changed in this form as a
“‘situatives Querschnittdasein’” 52 – a situational paraplegic existence.
We, however, do not agree entirely with their subsequent view, that such
a state is characterized by “planlessness” in the broadest sense. We con-
tend that even in such a situation of epistemological sectional paralysis,
the person is not without a “plan”. His self-corrective activity goes on
and he is also busy looking for ways out of this maze. The only thing is
that the “plan” or “map” he is working with brings him constantly to a
dead end. Therefore, the person could be everything but not “planless”.
Furthermore, they hold that the person disappears in the stream of events
and loses more or less the strength to organize and face events in some
sequential order when the general orientation depreciates. To this we
have the following to say: This effect of a depreciation in general orien-
tation cannot be generalized for every case of conflict. The experience of
disorientation in one sector must not necessarily have a general debili-
tating effect for all the other sectors of the person’s life. The “continuum
of life” from the present into the future can be impaired for the very
sector affected and perhaps for the other closely related sectors. But in
other areas the person may experience no impairment of the flow of life.
Even if he does, it may not be such that he can no longer organize and
face events in a sequential order. This notwithstanding, we concede that
there is a kind of general paralysis one can experience in relation to the
achievement of the set goal. This can be the case when the goal is of a
vital and fundamental importance. When no clear view of the future can
be envisaged the tendency is most probably to withhold action and con-
tinue trying or testing other possibilities. It is like the key to a room.
Only one key can, all things being equal, fit into the lock. (Except, of
course, if the person has a master-key. But it is a hard fact of life that not
every person is in possession of this master-key). When eventually I
want to get out of the room, I discover suddenly that my key cannot open
the door any more. The tendency is to try and try over and over again.
Each subsequent trial with a negative result confronts me with the
shocking prospect, that I am most likely entrapped. The prospects of ever

52 Ulich, ibid.

130
reaching the other side seem to thin out with each further ill-fated trial.
At this realization I may try other possibilities. For instance, I may try
looking for help through other means, like, the window, sending out an
SOS, mobilize all remaining possible resources. When all these equally
fail, then I am in real trouble. The insight into this impossibility can
arouse the feeling of panic in me. Such a situation can lead to a momen-
tary or temporary general impairment of clear thinking or of action. This
is similar to the case when the future seems closed for a person.
The three dimensions of time belong to the ontological nature of the
human being. Among them the dimension of the future plays the most
decisive role in giving meaning and direction to every human action. The
experience of this dimension as cut off causes the individual an extreme
distress and discomfort. Nevertheless, when the discomfort reaches a
certain threshold the person may choose to take the “emergency exit”
and runaway from the danger zone. No longer ready to keep on pre-
occupying himself with the burning issue, he takes a “short-cut”, thereby
making himself guilty of the Batesonian epistemological error53. With
the uncomfortable issue or issues screened off (for a while), what is left
behind along his ontogenetic pathways will then be a series of unaccom-
plished plans – in the words of F. Perls, unfinished businesses. Our sick
seminarian above did not, however, seem to have had good luck in
screening off his conflict – for long. In any case, the “unaccomplished-
ness” of the plans is expression as well as the basis for conflicts. Viewed
from this ontogenetic perspective, the most important aftermath of ear-
lier conflicts can be said to be a “vacuum”54 in the future dimension of
the experiential flux. And this hiatus – the unresolved and perhaps ban-
ished conflict issue – exercises an enormous influence on the subsequent
activities of the individual from its imposed hibernation. As we pointed
out earlier not every experience of conflict is essentially psychopatho-
logical. However, when an “epistemological error” or the screening of a
conflict from conscious awareness or in K. Horney’s words “neurotic
solution”55 becomes the habitual coping strategy, the underlying conflict
can lead to neurosis or to some kind of a more severe psychopathological
state called psychosis. These two states deserve an appropriate in depth

53 Cf. footnotes 45 and 46 above.

54 Ulich 141. According to him, this is a “Vakuum im Zukunftserleben”.
55 Cf. Reber 473.

131
treatment, which we cannot provide here without over stretching the
scope of this work.

4.2 Summary

Let us pull our thoughts together: We have located intrapersonal conflict

event within the domain of what we called the individual’s frame of ref-
erence. On a closer range we examined it from its etiological, operational
and experiential perspectives.
Considered from the point of view of its genesis, we designated as
the birthplace of conflict the situation in which a person experiences a
given event, feeling or action, simultaneously in more than one opposing
or contradictory frames of reference, such that a clear goal and evalua-
tive bearing is no longer possible. Operationally speaking, conflict oc-
curs like a feedback loop without a positive response. A conscious act or
a purposive behaviour depends on the capability of the person to harmo-
nize the perceived structure or nature of his psychological now with the
expected nature or structure of the future in such a way that the projected
goal can be attained. When this is not possible, the ensuing conflict can
be experienced as being hindered from arriving at a projected future state
– a breach of the flow of life from the present to the future. The intensity
of this experience, however, depends on the centrality of the projected
goal, which is caught up in the “free wheeling” of intention and negative
insight, within the life plan of the individual concerned. Just as the inten-
sity of the experienced conflict can have debilitating effect on the other
interconnected sectors of the person’s system of reference, leaving the
conflict totally or partly unresolved creates a breach in that interconnect-
edness. It disrupts that healthy or congenial relatedness which charac-
terizes the person as an organism in constant interaction with himself and
his environment. This gives rise to a disturbing hiatus in the person’s
“eco-psychological system”. The unresolved conflict keeps encroaching
unconsciously in the person’s activities, thus causing him psychological
distress. One of the unfortunate ways of dealing with this distress is to
cling to those “maps” which he used in wading through the stream of
negative feedbacks but which have, nonetheless, become obsolete in re-

132
lation to the present situation. This leads to the incapacity of the person
to accommodate or incorporate new bodies of knowledge or information.
The inflexibility leads also to a substantial reduction or narrowing of his
vision of the future and scope of what this future holds in store for him.
In this case neurosis lies within reach.
With this we conclude the exposition of our theoretical perspective.
In the next part we shall deal with the African and Igbo epistemic sys-
tems of reference in order to appreciate the condition of the Igbo semi-
narian. The exposition of the Igbo epistemic world will be followed im-
mediately by a discussion of the transformations it underwent and of the
impact of the same on the Igbo consciousness.

133
This page intentionally left blank
PART TWO: AFRICAN EPISTEMIC SYSTEM OF
REFERENCE
This page intentionally left blank
5. THE AFRICAN WORLD-VIEW AND
EPISTEMOLOGY

5.1 A recapitulation

In the preceding part we delineated the theoretical perspective of this

work. We described the phenomenon of intrapersonal conflict as linked
it up with the epistemic framework of the individual concerned. In our
discussion of systems we saw that not only unicellular and multi-cellular
unities, like protozoans and human beings, but also metacellular entities,
like human societies and cultures exhibit similar autopoietic characteris-
tics. We saw also that the structure of our knowledge is determined by
our biology (including our ontogeny). Every individual living being has
a history and therefore an ontogeny. It follows that metacellular unities
have an ontogeny. And this has to do with the acquisition of all that is
required for their self-reproduction, self-organization and self-mainenan-
ce i.e. with the acquisition of layers of criteria for validation and action.
This occurs in an ongoing communicative interaction with his psycho-
social environment. In this process, language plays a very prominent
role. Action and experience are both modes of this communication.
Communication is knowing and knowing is doing. In this circular proc-
ess human beings and human societies continuously create their world.
Since it is the natural feature of living beings that they have an opera-
tional closure, every entity endeavours to admit only that information
that can either enrich its structure and help it to adapt to changing exter-
nal conditions or consolidate its pattern by maintaining equilibrium. We
saw that the latter can constitute a great hindrance to the natural drift
(evolution) which is necessary for the survival of living beings.
Since human beings and human societies are in a dialectical rela-
tionship with their environment, it follows that geographical factors have
their influence on the development of any people’s systems of world ap-
prehension and creation. In this chapter we are going to take a look at the
African epistemic framework to which the Igbo epistemic world belongs.

137
5.2 African World-View and Epistemology

Intrapersonal conflict arises in the subjective encounter with everyday

life. Everyday life presents itself as a reality interpreted by human beings
and subjectively meaningful to them as a coherent world. This personal
interpretation rests on the basis of a pre-logical, that is, pre-scientific1
mode of being in the world, which is called “commonsense”.

5.2.1 Commonsense

Commonsense contains innumerable pre- and quasi-scientific interpreta-

tions about everyday life, which are taken for granted. The everyday life
reality presents itself as ordered reality and its manifestations appear in
prearranged patterns which seem to be independent of the individual’s
apprehension of them. It appears already objectivised. That means, it is
constituted by an order of objects that have been designated as such be-
fore the apprehender’s appearance on the scene.
The language used in everyday life continuously provides me with
the necessary objectivations and posits the order within which these
make sense and within which everyday life has meaning for me. My dif-
ferent modes of life in society are also marked by language. This lan-
guage is an instrument of consciousness.

5.2.2 A Unitary Vision of Reality

How does the African interpret his subjective experience of the reality of
everyday life? What basic assumptions, concepts, theories and world-
view does he apply? The answer to this question would enable us to ap-

1 By “logical” or “scientific” we mean a mode of relating to the world of our experi-

ence, whereby the validity of the experience and its expression is sought and estab-
lished only through some established empirically demonstrable measures. A “pre-
logical” or “pre-scientific” mode would then represent the form of relating to the
world which affirms the validity of experience and its expression only by the very
fact of the relationship it establishes between the various parts of the interacting
system.

138
preciate the African mind-process, which is the overarching canopy in
which the Igbo mind-process is situated.
It is impossible within the African traditional cultural paramount re-
ality of everyday life to speak of art as if it were detached from religion;
religion as if it were detached from mythology and speculative thought;
speculative thought as if it were detached from mythical feelings and
these feelings as if they were detached from moral principles and politi-
cal ideas. We are, therefore, entering into the realm of a unitary vision of
reality, a mode of being in the world which Ruch and Anyanwu de-
scribed as “mythical consciousness”2.

5.2.2.1 A Sense of Being Part of the Whole

Consciousness is intentional. It is always directed toward objects. It is
always consciousness, an awareness and apprehension of something. The
object of experience, mediate and immediate, is given. “Experience”
here is the result of that dialectical interaction between the human being
and his environment which is or was made possible through the impres-
sions provided by his senses. Different objects present themselves to
consciousness as constituents of different spheres of reality. This reality
is no creation of our consciousness even though it is apprehensible by
consciousness. Consciousness cannot encompass it. It encompasses con-
sciousness, because it does not stop to be when I am no longer. These
different objects introduce quite different tensions3 into my conscious-
ness and I am attentive to them in quite different ways. This reality is the
“world”, the world of everyday life with the human being as its centre.4
The reality of everyday life is organized around the here of my body and
the now of my present. It has a spatial and temporal structure. This “here
and now” is the focus of my attention to it. That means that I, as a per-
son, am always the point of reference in my interaction with this reality.

2 E. A. Ruch and K.C. Anyanwu, African philosophy, 23-49.

3 By “tension” we mean “information” about a difference in the status quo.
4 By this we mean that the human being is the focal point of activities and the point
of convergence of meanings such activities may have. He gives meaning to them
and they hold meaning and information for him. Therefore, nothing that happens
within this sphere of his reality experience is bereft of meaning and information for
him. “Being the centre” is thus to be understood not in the sense of causality.

139
 The manner in which any culture consciously or unconsciously ap-
proaches the discrepancies in the experiences of this reality determines
its modes of thought, beliefs, values, activities and social norms, and
vice-versa. The traditional African mode of being in the world is gener-
ally described as the mythical mode.5

5.2.2.2 Reality is Interconnectedness

“Myth” comes from the Greek word “mythos” which refers to anything
delivered orally: a word, a speech, a tale, a conversation, a story, a fable,
a legend. In the course of time, however, the term came to be restricted
to poetic and legendary tales or fables about gods, heroes, spirits and su-
per-human beings of the very early periods of a people. In this later
sense the term was more directly opposed to “logos”: a word or state-
ment the truth of which is empirically and/or logically demonstrable.
Myths on the other hand refer to narratives of events and personages so
far outside of the ordinary range of experience that they cannot be veri-
fied; the truth of such tales are usually authoritatively affirmed.6
When we say that the traditional African mode of relating to the
world of everyday reality is mythical, we, therefore, mean that he does
not concern himself with neat distinctions and classifications but rather
has visions of reality as a totality, as a chain of “connectedness”. It is an
intuitive mode of being in the world which is akin to what René Spitz
describes as “coenästhetisches Erleben”7 (coenaesthetic experiencing).
This is the capacity of the mother for integral perceptions which disposes
her for an intuitive perception of the needs of her infant. “Mythical con-
sciousness” is an intuitive mode of visions or perceptions of reality.
Mythical consciousness, following its own logic, makes use of sym-
bols which, according to Claude Lévi-Strauss, function as concrete in-
termediaries between images (concrete and particular) and concepts (ab-
stract and universal). It uses symbols (gestures, bodily movements,
material artefacts, etc.) as special objects which “proclaim” subjective
meanings of a people. Myth has a universality and rationality of its own
which is closer to music than to language.8 Its logic is no less demanding

5 Cf. Ruch and Anyanwu, Ibid.

6 Ibid., 28.
7 Elhardt 74.
8 Ruch and Anyanwu 33.

140
than that of science. Myths with their symbols want to preserve the
“connectedness” of human relationships, to establish community and to
promote the sense of community, of being a part of a specific human
group.
The word Symbol is etymologically derived from the Greek word
“symbolon”: a token for identification between friends or relatives by
comparison with an agreed counterpart which, when both parts are
“joined” together, make a whole (a complete unit) and thereby prove the
relatedness of their owners. The substantive “Symbolon” is derivated
from the root verb “symbállein”: to throw together, to put or place to-
gether. In this sense, a symbol is the compression (“Verdichtung”) of a
sector of the reality of everyday life. Symbol is a special case of objec-
tivation of subjective meaning, intention and experience of everyday life.
When experiences of everyday life reality are “put together” (symbállein
– symbolization), that is, expressed in symbols, all those who use such
symbols partake in the experiences which are compressed in them.
Through this involvement and participation one gains access to new
hori-zons of experience and meaning. Communities have, for instance,
symbols which are at the same time tokens of identification (“Erken-
nungszeichen”) for the existence of someone else, someone perhaps un-
known9, but who, due to his participation in a common experience,
stands in a state of relatedness to and with the communities in question.
This is the case with the various objects which are brought in connection
with the ancestors in the context of African communal existence and ex-
periencing.

5.2.2.3 Intersubjectivity or Communality

This sense of belonging, held alive and promoted through the symbols,
arises from the fact that the reality of everyday life is shared with others
in an intersubjective manner. Together, people share a common stock of
knowledge10, an intersubjectivity, which sharply differentiates everyday
life reality from the other realities of which they are conscious. This
common stock of knowledge is the knowledge they share among them-
selves in the normal, self-evident routines of daily life. It is the externali-
sations of subjective meanings (experiences) which become accumulated

9 Cf. G. Hasenhüttl, Schwarz bin ich und schön, 21-22.

10 Wuthnow et al. 32.

141
in the course of the history of a people. On account of the participation in
this common stock of knowledge people are able to give meaning to the
symbol and to participate in it.
As we pointed out above, there are other realities which present
themselves to me as “finite provinces of meaning”11. These appear as en-
claves within the paramount reality of everyday life and are marked by
circumscribed meanings and modes of experience. All the finite prov-
inces of meaning are characterized by a radical change in consciousness,
a turning away of attention from the reality of everyday life. But con-
sciousness always returns to it as if from an excursion. People could
make different experiences in everyday or non-everyday reality of life.
But most importantly, they know that there is an ongoing correspon-
dence between their various meanings in that world, and that they share
a common sense about its reality.12 Symbols are concrete indications of
this common stock of knowledge, the collective unconscious (C.G.
Jung). Like consciousness, symbols always refer to something. The ref-
erence-function of symbol does not consist in its ability to depict or por-
tray reality, but much more in its invitation or incitement to become con-
scious of and get involved in the reality it symbolizes, to a participation
in the fullness of experiences it represents.

5.2.3 Relationality – Participation

The moment this invitation is honoured, one is already entering into a

relationship with the others who are connected with these experiences.
This participation opens up for the person another quality of relationship
which is “relationality”. The Christian religion, especially Roman Ca-
tholicism, applies this understanding of symbol when it talks of the “real
presence” (symbol) of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist. For
the African the symbol “retains” its entity as symbol and at the same
time establishes a participatory relationship with the reality which it rep-
resents. Of utmost relevance to him is the participation in the “relation-
ality” to the utmost reality, God, who is the supreme Life-principle,
which the symbol now has made possible. And through this participation

11 Berger and Luckmann 25.

12 Ibid., 23.

142
a new horizon of experience and meaning opens up for him through
which he gains some guarantee for hoping and an evidence of what he
does not see. This participatory dimension is most transparent in his rit-
ual activities.

5.2.4 Language

We have talked about symbols as belonging to a set of cultural products

which explicitly reflect human subjectivity, thereby making such a sub-
jective meaning available to others beyond the moment and situation in
which it was initially expressed (capability to transcend). The most im-
portant in this set of products is language.
Berger describes language “as a system of vocal signs”13. The spe-
cial thing about language is its ability to become an objective reservoir
of vast accumulations of meanings and experiences that can be preserved
over time and transmitted to generations to come. It is the language
which the person shares with others in a “taken-for-granted manner”14 in
their daily communicative interaction. Through its capacity to transcend
the present situation, language can bridge different spheres of everyday
life reality and integrate them into a meaningful whole. Language gives
meaning to reality and also structures one’s experience of it. The world
“exists” to the extent it has meaning for the human being. And to the
extent individuals share a common language, “projecting” their subjec-
tive interpretations of their “common world”, to the extent they create
their world (of meanings). In this sense language creates the world.

5.2.4.1 The Spoken Word

This efficacious capacity of language is what made the African repose
great value and importance on the spoken word. The word is an indica-
tion of the awareness of the interaction with reality. It objectivises expe-
rience and makes it expressible, and consequently communicable.
Through the spoken word experience becomes real. The African believes
that the spoken word is endowed with tremendous magical powers hav-

13 Ibid., 36f.
14 Ibid., 38.

143
ing quasi-sacramental efficacy. The word is powerful, creative and ef-
fective.15
The spoken word, of which its later development, written word, is a
set of signs with a symbolic character, is the groundwork of intersubjec-
tivity. And what actually cannot be “verbalized”, expressed in “word”
does not belong to the intersubjective world. According to P. Berger,
there is a “dialectic”16 in our knowledge of the reality we share. In the
course of their ongoing communicative interaction human beings exter-
nalise their individual subjective meanings (interpretations) of reality by
verbalizing them. By so doing they objectivise their world, making it ac-
cessible to others. At the same time, they internalise or reabsorb the ob-
jectivised meanings into consciousness, such that “‘the structures of this
world come to determine the subjective structures of consciousness it-
self’”17. This all happens quite unconsciously18, whereby internalisation
takes place at best through socialization.

15 Roman Catholic Christians may not admit the expression “magical” but they attrib-
ute great creative and efficacious powers to the spoken word. The entire web of
meanings associated with the sacraments seem to come to life and become effec-
tive only in the spoken form. This is most strongly felt in the sacraments of recon-
ciliation – the words of the absolution – and of the Eucharist – the institutional or
consecration words. The absolute premium placed on the spoken word and its cor-
relates, the abilities to speak and to hear, is most probably the reason for the exclu-
sion of the deaf and the dumb from admission to the Catholic priesthood. This dis-
crimination is no longer justified and must be done away with. What all those of us
who are privileged to suffer no oral and/or auditive impairment consider “speech”
is of no use for the deaf and the dumb. In the course of the years, they have devel-
oped their own forms of “speech”. Thus the communication barrier between them
and us has been eradicated. Since their humanness is not devalued by their “im-
pairment”, so does and should their “impairment” no longer hinder them from ac-
cessing the deepest wells and the highest fountains of the Christian faith. We look
forward to the day when the deaf and the dumb can minister to their fellow deaf
and dumb men and women as priests (and priestesses).
16 Wuthnow et al. 39.
17 Ibid.
18 Cf. G. Bateson, Geist and Natur, 43-51.

144
5.2.5 The Human Being: Life

To speak about reality is to speak about the world. The world (which the
Igbo call “uwa”) is the language of reality as a whole. However, not
every bit of this world can be known equally vividly. There is a dimen-
sion of this reality which does not permit a reduction to a mere terminus.
This is the dimension of reality which makes consciousness possible in
the first place: Life. The reality of Life is a mystery. That is why life is
divine for the African. It is a mystery to be experienced, to be partici-
pated in (G. Marcel) and lived, and not a candidate for an analysis. The
Igbo people of Nigeria express this paramount status of life in such
names like: Ndubuisi, Ndubueze (Life is supreme), Chinwendu (Life
belongs to the gods or to God), and Chinenyendu (God gives life). The
last two names are suggestive of the divine origin of life.
The most outstanding manifestation of this Life is the human being.
He is the microcosm. He is the universal symbol from which all other
symbols take their meaning. However this central position of the human
being in the world of the African does in no way make him “the measure
of all things”, if by “all things” one includes the Life-principle or force.
The individual is a human being in the African world in so far as he is
dependent on the “relationalities” in his everyday life reality. He is and
cannot, therefore, be the measure of this reality or of life. A special thing
about this reality of everyday life is the fact that it is alive and dynamic
with Life-force.
In the African cultural context, the self (the experiencing, living per-
son) and the other are in constant communication with each other. While
Descartes would declare: “cogito, ergo sum”, the African would affirm:
“participo, ergo sum”. This self is the centre of the world and reality is
personal. The world which is experienced by the self encompasses not
only the aspects which are apprehensible in the above mentioned form
but also those invisible and inexpressible dimensions which could only
be experienced in symbols. The self vivifies or animates the world so
that the order of the world and that of the self become identical. What
happens to the world happens to the self and what happens to the self
happens to its world. Every knowledge of this world is meaningful, how-
ever, only as far as it is for the human being.

145
5.2.6 Reality is Endowed with Order and Harmony

The traditional African is constantly aware of the paradoxical nature of

his existence and of the forces of the universe which give him the sense
of his world as a chaotic and disordered one. But due to his unequivocal
affirmation of the fundamental unity and harmony between the human
being and the universe in which he lives, he tenaciously seeks order
within the chaos. Evil, (moral, physical and social), seems to be the
greatest disruption of this existential order and sense of integral well-
being. As a result he has equipped his world with a superabundance of
rituals and myths (proverbs and tales) which aim at accounting for the
existence of evil, and together aim at reducing or even completely elimi-
nating its impact. The traditional African is not “merely an emotive lover
of nature, but a thinker who starts from the intuitive axiom that an over-
all order must exists and, if found, will provide the protective shell
within which man’s existence may blossom”19. His first approach to real-
ity, of which he is a part, is not rational but intuitive. His avowed stance
of relating to the universe as a living whole makes him reject an individ-
ual anthropology. Hence, instead of seeking the emancipation of his in-
dividual self from the community, he emphasizes social harmony and
unity with fellow human beings, both living and dead. He rejects death’s
apparent victory by affirming life after death and a continued relation-
ship between the living and the “living-dead”, the ancestors. The tradi-
tional African’s continued contact with his ancestors is not just a mere
act of respect and devotion. It is an expression of a lived affirmation of
this social unity which not even death can break.

5.2.7 Time

The problem of time and space does not pose itself in a world where the
objectivation of subjective personal experience has its foundation in the
spoken word. This is why the African does not feel himself under the
command of impersonal, ‘abstract’ time.20 Instead he lives and acts and

19 Ruch and Anyanwu 37.

20 One can also look for the explanation for this in the fact that the early childhood
days of the African child (i.e. the first three years of infancy) did not stand under

146
thereby creates time. Events are essential constituents of his time. Be-
cause events are inextricably connected with experience, only the past
and the present are of primary relevance to him. These depict times
which he has lived and therefore created. For the Africans, J. S. Mbiti
writes, “time is simply a composition of events which have occurred,
those which are taking place now and those which are inevitably or im-
mediately to occur”21. The future depicts more or less an extension of the
present activity like, to borrow the example of Rücker, “harvest is a re-
sult of planting”22. According to Mbiti, “the most significant conse-
quence of this is that, according to traditional concepts, time is a two-
dimensional phenomenon, with a long past, a present and virtually no
future [...]. The future is virtually absent because events which lie in it
have not taken place, they have not been realized and cannot, therefore,
constitute time. If, however, future events are certain to occur, or if they
fall within the inevitable rhythm of nature, they at best constitute only
potential time, not actual time”23. The past which is no longer directly in
man’s control can be ‘re-created’ ritually and effectively by appropriate
words and gestures.

5.2.8 Life-Force: The Basic Principle of the Universe

For the African, the human being and nature do not constitute two inde-
pendent and opposing realities but form one inseparable continuum of a
hierarchical order of beings. The ideal of the African culture is coexis-
tence with and the strengthening of vital-force or vital relationships in
the world. He strives to put himself in immediate and personal relation-

the primacy of abstract time as against the experience of the European or North-
American child. The African child’s experience of time was marked by events such
as the activities that followed the feeling of hunger: breastfeeding, or feeling of
tiredness: being laid to sleep, etc. It did not have to wait for food because “the
chronometer has not yet indicated that it is time to be fed” or “because the mother
is not yet in the mood for that”. The African mother is always there ready to breast-
feed her child as soon as it shows the slightest sign of hunger discomfort. Moreo-
ver, the African child does not have to do anything because it was time to do so but
simply what it is doing at any time determines the time it is to be done.
21 J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 16.
22 H. Rücker, “Afrikanische Theologie”, 120.
23 Mbiti 16-17.

147
ship with God and the spirits in order to find the guarantee of his hope to
live as well as evidence of what he does not see but which he experi-
ences in symbols.
In this cosmic vision nothing is lifeless. Everything is filled with or
enmeshed in life-force. This force dominates or prevails in the whole
universe and it is something “divine”. The life-force lies behind nature
itself or behind the things experienced. It is that which vivifies the reality
of everyday life and makes the world active and alive. Reality is Life.
In the African cultural context reason, imagination, intuitive experi-
ence and feelings are modes of knowing and, therefore, of relating with
reality. This is why the deepest expression of African cultural reality has
been through art, music, folk song, proverbs and myths rather than logi-
cal analysis. And the utmost yearning of the traditional African is the ex-
perience of a state of an integral well-being. This is the experience of
living in a wholesome unity and harmony with all the forces that share in
his interrelatedness.

5.3 Myth and Logic

We stated earlier that myth refers to narratives of events and personages

whose truth cannot be verified but only usually authoritatively affirmed.
The early Greek philosophers criticized Homer’s myths as not being
historical truths, as mere fables. They became the first to question the
truth, the objective usefulness and value of the myth. Existential prob-
lems gave rise to myths. “Wisdom” consists in making sense of our ex-
istence, of our actions and of our destiny by a fair balance of intuitive
and discursive interpretations of our experience of everyday life and of
other realities. It is of little relevance whether the answers to the ques-
tions of existence are arrived at through intuition, revelation or inspira-
tion, or through some strict logical, cogitative efforts. What matters most
is whether they provide the emotional and mental security human beings
direly need in their strange, paradoxical existence. This emotional and
mental security is the sense of an integral well-being. For the “mythical
human being”, to question the truth of the myth amounts to threatening

148
his existence and the stability of the community, because every aspect of
the life of the community is tied up with the myths.
Right from its origins philosophy took up the task of liberating the
individual from tradition and from being completely immersed and ab-
sorbed in the identity of the group. This task was taken up and propa-
gated by the 18th century Enlightenment. Since then the individual that
came in contact with this philosophy gained and/or struggles to gain a
full belief in himself and his autonomy; he discovered his personal iden-
tity. Philosophy taught him to trust his reason more than the tradition. It
taught him to see reason as the innermost, highest and most autonomous
drive in him through which he can attain his individual height and eman-
cipation. This attitude gave rise to an “individual anthropology”24. The
Western mind was the creator as well as the first victim of this new di-
rection of consciousness. It turned its attention away from the commu-
nity and focussed it on the individual human person. This has untold
negative repercussions not just for the individual alone but also for the
entire world, and most concretely for the African.
On the other hand it led to the discovery of personal identity. Even
though reason has been dethroned by the postulate of “irrational” forces
as the determinant drives in the human being, the “individual anthropol-
ogy” has remained unshaken. For Rousseau and Schopenhauer the de-
terminant drive is the feeling and the will. Nietzsche and Adler postu-
lated the power drive, Freud and the psychoanalysis the unconscious,
and existentialism, anxiety (“Angst”).
All the same, the awakening of the critical mind remains of crucial
importance. It brought the human being to look increasingly at himself
as an individual, no longer immersed and absorbed by the community.
As a result of his actively placing himself on his own, the human being
began to wonder about and to desire to ensure his survival after death.
Life and death became personal matters. Death became for him a de-
stroyer. However, he refused to accept this destruction; property and
thought became private as well as a possible means of assuring his per-
sonal immortality. At the same time the human being became conscious
of his ideas as personal value. Thus “logical, analytical consciousness”,
as opposed to “mythical consciousness”, wants to reach its own certi-
tude, independently of blind confidence in tradition. It strove personally

24 Landmann 12.

149
to find meaning in reality, instead of an habitual trust in a common stock
of knowledge called “commonsense”. A fundamental step in the discov-
ery of the individual personality was undertaken by Socrates. Perhaps
none more than he contributed to this revolution of intellectualism. Soc-
rates sought to found the norms of truth on impersonal objectivity, in-
stead of searching for them in interpersonal harmony and exchange of
mere personal and therefore subjective views within the community. His
dialectical approach (“maieutika”) led to the discovery of the fact, that
the human being possesses in his subconscious mind a wealth of ideas
which are neither his subjective creation nor a result of social pressures.
This was the birth of education! (Latin: “educare”– to educate, “edu-
care” is in turn derived from a specialized use of the Latin “educere”:
e-, ‘out’ and ducere, ‘to lead’ meaning to assist at the birth of a child).
Education became like the art of midwifery (Greek: maieutika), the pro-
cess of learning whereby the educator, like a midwife, carefully and skil-
fully assists the person to bring forth the ideas or talents already existing
in his mind-womb. It was no longer the process of learning with the old
wise men teaching the inexperienced youth. Reason succeeded thus in
uncovering myth as myth. While satisfying the intellect, it nonetheless
left the emotions unsatisfied and failed to provide the all-embracing se-
curity of the myth25.

5.4 Conclusion

From the above discussions, it can be seen that a mythical world-view is

essentially a religious one. Religion feeds from the inexhaustible de-
positum of myth. Any attempts to expel myth from religion would un-
mistakably mean the death of religion. Myth furnishes religion with the
mystery surrounding her object and subject: God and the human being.

25 In his book “Up from Eden” Ken Wilber provides an interesting reading on the
evolution of the human consciousness through to the emancipation of the individ-
ual from the community up to the emergence of the stellar ego. It is the journey of
the human consciousness to its destination, which is divinity. In this project the
humans are just half-way through the journey.

150
The human being is the producer of the myth, but his experience of a re-
ality that exercises a pervading influence over him and which at the same
time eludes his rational grasp, gives him the feeling of having to do with
something numinous. Even the human being remains a mystery to him-
self. It also arouses in him the desire to employ, influence or even ma-
nipulate these forces. This desire is manifested concretely in the phe-
nomenon called “magic”. Magic stands, therefore, in direct relation to
myth. However, myth and magic are not the same, and moreover, a cor-
rect appreciation of magic is only possible in connection with the under-
standing of symbol as stated above.
We said that reason led man to recognize myth as myth, i.e. as pre-
scientific. This fact, nonetheless, does not constitute an objection to the
usefulness of myth. Ethnology and Depth Psychology attest to the en-
during function of myth. Depth Psychology (Freud, Jung) in particular
has shown, through its work with dreams, that the human psyche cannot
be rid of myth. Many nations use animals or birds as symbols on their
coat of arms. Religion is well aware of the fact that myth cannot ade-
quately overcome the inexpressibility of the numinous; but it cannot do
without myth. The myth is one of the many ways through which the di-
vine beams through, even if it is just a small aspect of it. The personal
character of myth has as a consequence that the divine also is personal.
The God of the Bible will ever remain the God of Abraham, Isaac, Ja-
cob, and the father of Jesus Christ. This personal character makes the
mythical talk about the divine, that means religion, inextricably anthro-
pomorphic. The divine has a Gestalt and personality. It can make de-
mands, get angry, act in time and space. It is active. It is. The proposal of
Rudolf Bultmann of a “radical”26 “demythologisation of the New Testa-
ment” set into motion a lot of attempts to eliminate myths from the bible.
Such a radical and total demythologisation, if followed consequently,
would necessarily lead to a “de-personalization” of God. Admittedly,
myth must be recognized as myth. A radical demythologisation, how-
ever, would produce a philosophical God. With this the “living God” of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who manifested himself in Jesus of Nazareth,
the protective presence of the ancestors of the African, would end up as a
mere figment of the mind, a mere thought, lost and betrayed; religion
would be turned into philosophy. Ruch and Anyanwu correctly observed

26 R. Marlé, Demythologization, 65.

151
that a totally demythologised society tends to produce in the less edu-
cated and “unsophisticated masses mythical subcultures, like: sects, as-
trology, [occultism] and even cult of film stars and pop-music idols”27.
Such a radical expulsion of myth from religion would produce a religion
for philosophers, theologians and rationalists, thereby dropping off the
broad masses who resent and resist being deprived of the emotional im-
pact of their beliefs. According to M. Landmann, “such a God [of the
philosophers] is everything else other than what God historically meant
and what he still means to genuine believers today. This God, however,
can never be stripped of a mythical moment”28. J. L. Henderson while
reiterating the enduring function of myth, writes: “A more striking ex-
ample should be familiar to anyone who has grown up in a Christian so-
ciety [...]. For all our sophistication we [...] join with our children at
Easter in the pleasant ritual of Easter eggs and Easter rabbits”29. At-
tempts to eliminate or discredit myth and its associated thought pattern
and language cannot be regarded as a mark of progress, but rather a loss
of a major experience in the comprehension of reality. According to K.
Jaspers30: “‘Mythical thinking has not passed, it is proper to us in every
age. We need to regain the mythical way of thinking in our assurance of
reality’”.
This exposition has been an attempt to establish the broad context in
which the Igbo world-view and belief system is embedded. In the fol-
lowing chapters we shall consider in some more details the Igbo epis-
temic world. This will give us an idea of what aspects of their world has
undergone transformations through culture contact with Europeans and

27 Ruch and Anyanwu 49.

28 Landmann 116. (Translation is ours).
29 C. G. Jung and M.-L. von Franz (ed.), Man and his symbols, 99. The rituals
Henderson is referring to here, of course, applies to Christians of European descent
only.
30 H. Fries, Myth, 154.

152
the nature of such transformations. First of all let us consider the method
we will apply in the discussion.

153
This page intentionally left blank
6. METHODICAL APPROACH TO CULTURAL
DESCRIPTION

6.1 A Preamble

In this work we set out in quest of the intrapersonal effects of the epis-
temic transformations among Igbo seminarians. The transformations are
changes in the consciousness of the Igbo with regard to his cognitive
world. The personal experiences and observations stated in Chapters One
and Three indicate that there are enclaves in this consciousness which
have remained resilient to the overall changes. The findings of depth
psychology have indicated that repressed uncomfortable, distressful and
traumatic past experiences exercise powerful and disruptive influence on
our present behaviour and cognitive bearings. The Igbo, like the Ameri-
can Indians1, hold the belief that when someone has not been buried
right, his or her ghost comes back to haunt the relatives. In relation to
our context, this means that when an experience is screened off con-
sciousness without having properly been attended to, it keeps haunting
our awareness until it receives the attention it deserves. Like a bandit it
keeps intruding sporadically into our present behaviour, distorting our
experience and our view of present events, hence disturbing our peace.
The training for the Catholic priesthood requires giving up a belief
system uncongenial to the aims of the training and the acquisition of a
new and congenial one in its place. The probability that “residues” and
“vestiges” of the native world-view will keep interfering with a total in-
ception of the Euro-Christian epistemology which the training imparts is
high. The fact that the former is the cognitive and emotive environment
that formed the personality of the seminarians in their early days makes
this very likely. The Igbo have an aphorism which says: An old woman
does not forget the dance steps she learnt in her youth. The process or
method of abjuring those uncongenial aspects of the native world view

1 R. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, 31 and 63.

155
was everything other than “being buried right”. The effects created by
the ensuing ambivalence very often lead sooner or later to religious big-
otry and fanaticism. An incident in the one-town parish of Amokwe2 in
the Catholic diocese of Enugu serves as a good illustration:

A long standing disagreement among the Catholics on the right attitude towards
some traditional cultural elements, like ozo-title-taking, sweeping of common vil-
3
lage squares , participation in the annual traditional New Yam festival, etc. has
been the cause of major strife between the two parties in the town. The parish priest
not only exacerbated the conflict but also created more through his intolerant and
aggressive behaviour towards, and deleterious utterances about, persons and groups
sympathetic or positively disposed towards the traditional culture. The people’s en-
durance reached its limit when he spoke disparagingly at the holy mass about their
ailing traditional ruler and his second-in-command. A group of the youths of
Amokwe town visited him a couple of days later in the presbytery and physically
4
evicted him from the town.

2 Amokwe is a town in the Udi L.G.A. of Enugu State with a population of approxi-
mately 46'000 inhabitants. The majority of the people profess the Roman Catholic
faith. The town was elevated to the status of a parish in 1988 having been carved
out of St. Mary’s parish Udi.
3 Prior to the advent of Christianity in the area, these squares served as assembly and
festival grounds for the people. Every village in Igboland had and/or still has such a
square. Each square is usually named after the village deity. An essential part of the
square is a small enclave or area reserved for ritual celebrations and worship of the
deity. The enclave is usually separated from the rest of the square either through a
fence or a wall. The enclave also served/serve as locus refugium: anybody who
takes refuge in the area is protected from and is effectively outside the grasp of his
pursuer or enemy. The entire square used to be maintained and kept clean by the
whole village. With the increasing spread of Christianity in the area, the Christians
started reneging from participating in the maintenance of the square in many towns
and villages with the explanation that the participation is tantamount to paying al-
legiance to the village deity to whom the square is dedicated. Since school com-
pounds have taken over the function of assembly and play grounds, the Christians
have their churches, the village squares are left with the function of venues for tra-
ditional annual festivals or for political party campaigns. Since the major routes in
the village pass through the square and the number of the traditional religion adher-
ents is steadily dwindling while the Christians are increasing in number, the former
insist that the Christians help in the maintenance of the square. Hence the ensuing
conflict.
4 This took place in June 1996. They took him to the local police station where they
asked the police to return him to or find the safest and quickest means of notifying
the bishop to come and take his priest back. In response the diocesan administra-
tion placed a ban on the celebration of the sacraments in the parish which lasted till

156
Fanaticism breeds intolerance.5 Analysing a similar incident in another
part of Igboland6, but with a fatal outcome, Mbefo has this to say:

As kinsmen they [Igbo theologians] understand the language and the meaning of
their traditional customs. As churchmen they have been schooled and versed in
Christian scriptures and tradition and thus well trained to pass on Christian theol-
ogy. If these theologians cease in their efforts to bring about true peace between the
two religions, they shirk their theological responsibility. It is moreover not accept-
able to postpone this encounter into the future in the hope that deeper enlighten-
ment and the corroding effects of modernity and secularism will at last solve the is-
sue and forego a conflict. Modernity and secularism offer their own specific
challenges to the Christian faith. And it is to be feared that if African theologians
shirk the confrontation with traditionally African religious attitudes, they will
equally shirk their responsibility of tackling the problems posed by modernity and
7
secularism .

February 1997. In our opinion such a measure is a blatant exhibition of power and
clericalism, disproportionate to the issue at stake. No serious efforts were made to
investigate the activities of the parish priest in the town which led to the escalation.
5 The French writer André Maurois once wrote: “The more unsteady the platform,
the lesser the stability or certainty of one’s position, the more vehement is its de-
fence. To balance on an overstated standpoint evokes the fear of losing one’s
ground. And fear leads to aggression. Language illustrates the difficulty in discus-
sion when the meaning of the essential is narrowed or even completely lost sight
of. Fanatics especially are in no way sure about their case, as one would think. In
reality they cannot afford to get involved in a factual discussion or argumentation.
Argumentation fizzles out when the participants have little or no knowledge about
what they are so vehemently defending. Controversialists say: ‘I go from the as-
sumption’, Zealots or fanatics put that into action. They so to speak put their fun-
damental assumptions really out of question. Dogma and party statutes are taboos
whereby their content is only known or even understood by just a few. And instead
of critically examining the issue at stake, and suspecting that their position might
be woefully rocked or even get irretrievably lost, they defend it with all their might.
How well do we actually know what we talk about?” The quotation was found in a
calendar with no details about the actual source.
6 Nanka in Anambra State. This town belongs to the core area of Igboland.
7 L. Mbefo, Tensions between Christianity and African traditional Religion, 130.
Mbefo seems to forget that being a kinsman is not synonymous with or even suffi-
cient for the ability to articulate one’s own culture. It does not guarantee a positive
and tolerant as well as an objective and a critical disposition towards one’s tradi-
tional religion, where the trend in the formation is that of conquering the traditional
religious belief system. How does he think that the task of mediation between the
two religions is going to be carried out where prejudice lies at the base of the crite-
ria for mediation?

157
Such unfortunate incidents could have been avoided, or at least the like-
lihood of their occurrence greatly reduced, if the seminary formation
took into consideration the precarious nature of living between two
worlds. The seminarian is not only faced with the resilience of the tradi-
tional belief system, and like his counterparts outside the seminary, with
the cognitive upheavals brought about by an ongoing modernization and
westernisation of his traditional society. He also has to manage the ten-
sion arising from the demands of Christianisation8, which he is expected
to uphold, champion and further. As a child of the same environment, on
the one hand, he also experiences an attraction towards the ideas and
promises of modernism and modernization. But on the other hand, he is
expected to draw a safe line between the moral demands of his training
and the concrete promises of modernism. In this connection, however,
modernism does not possess a moral force comparable to that of Christi-
anity in relation to the traditional milieu of his origin. In the face of all

8 By choosing the expression “Christianisation” we are making a distinction between

the term and “evangelisation”. We understand “Christianisation” to stand for the
effort and process by which the Catholic Church among the Igbo aims at making an
ever increasing number of those who register or are registered as Christians irre-
spective of the basic conversion of the heart to the message of life and love which
Jesus of Nazareth preached and died for. Christianisation measures its effectivity
by the high turnout at the end of the process, namely: in numbers. By “evangelisa-
tion” we understand the content implied by the term itself: The spreading of the
Good News of life and love of God in Jesus Christ. In other words, the creation of
an atmosphere where the people can come in contact with the Spirit of our Lord Je-
sus Christ contained in his Message, and through this contact encounter a God who
loves us in spite of ourselves; a God who risked rejection by making a choice for a
specific people and their culture; a God who did not bother about incarnating ever
anew in each culture and in the hearts of the people of that culture; a God who did
not show his power in his Might but in his infinite choice for finite humans and in
his infinite capacity to love, forgive and to suffer by sharing in our individual and
collective suffering. To encounter such an “ungod-like” God our hearts must be
touched by Jesus’ message of Love and not by our own projections of fear and
anxiety. Christianisation operates much with such projections while evangelisation
operates with love and the respect for the dignity of each culture in the awareness
of the ever presence of God in every culture. If He weren’t present therein to pre-
pare the spiritual soil for the seed of His message through the agents, the agents
would be sowing and toiling in vain. Evangelisation measures its success by the
qualitative difference in the general and individual life of the people, in the hopes
they share and in the love they exercise and live.

158
this, the probability that the work of integration9 of both systems of per-
ception and interpretation will create a state of ambivalence in the semi-
narian is obvious. Thus walking on two planes at the same time, the
seminarian transposes fields of vision.
Even when one believes to have a great capacity to accommodate as
many foreign ideas and cultural patterns as possible, the discrepancy or
dissonance between the one and the other becomes obvious when one
comes into “borderline situations”. These are situations where the appli-
cation of one of the two patterns cannot be effected without one falling
into trouble with the other. Some terminal situations, like sickness, dis-
ease and death, and often enough, failure, can pose such “borderline
moments”.
The aim of evangelisation is to spread the Gospel message of Jesus
Christ as the means of forming moral minds and sound hearts. The philo-
sophical and theological formation in the seminary has the aim of pro-
ducing multipliers who are to serve as agents – using the same Christian
philosophical and theological instruments – to help inform the minds and
hearts of the Igbo so that they live lives the Christian general belief sys-
tem can describe as good. Becoming a Christian, thus, means adopting a
new way of life, adopting or acquiring a new cognitive system of refer-
ence, a new mode of relating to the world. Since every cognition is in-
formed by the values, needs and attitudes of the particular cultural milieu
in which the person largely grew up or lives, intrapersonal conflict has to
do with the person’s sense of general well-being. How whole and inte-
gral does he feel within himself? How good does he feel within himself?
The result of such a self-examination will depend on how his culture de-
fines health and well-being.

9 Mbefo talks of “rehabilitation of other areas of Igbo traditional views”. The work
of integration actually presupposes such a rehabilitation, whereby rehabilitation has
to do with making someone feel at home again, with restoring one’s strength and
status, reinstating someone in his original position. A critical introspection and ex-
amination should be an essential part of the rehabilitation program. We, therefore,
appreciate his introduction of this terminology, since only on the basis of a positive
recognition of inherent germinative (positive) qualities in the Igbo traditional world
view can one reasonably work towards an integration of the new world views into
the general framework. Even a dialogue of the two cognitive traditions, even in-
culturation, is only possible on the basis of a mutual recognition of the right of the
other to exist and of equality as functional cognitive frames of reference.

159
 It is the aim of the generality of the human race to produce human
beings who, within the confines of their individual geographies and cul-
tures live lives measured by their respective cultures as ethically and
morally good. Behind every moral or ethical10 ideal, precept or injunc-
tion, lies ultimately a theology, a conception of and set of doctrines
about an ultimate Being or God which gives it its legitimation and
“sacrosanctity”. Such ideals and precepts become the major contents of
values and attitudes of that cultural milieu or society in general. Through
the process of socialization the collective ideals in turn become particu-
lar ideals of its members. These values and attitudes guide, direct and in-
fluence every behaviour they initiate towards meeting their daily needs.
In other words, the values and attitudes give orientation to each of their
purposive behaviours. The moral principles serve as the touchstone and
frame of reference in evaluating and judging the behaviour in question as
good or bad. This, of course, means that every human society, be it
“natural” or “unnatural”11 has its understanding of “good” and “bad”
conduct. It is of utmost relevance for the psychic health of the individual
members that each person strives to attain a certain degree of congruity
in his behaviour. That means: Each person, consciously or uncon-

10 We shall be using the two terms “moral” and “ethical” synonymously and inter-
changeably to stand for a set or sets of codes of or systems of belief guiding be-
haviours, on the basis of which a behaviour is judged as good or bad. The decision
to use which will be determined and guided solely by contextual convenience.
11 The classification in “natural” and “unnatural” is used here to differentiate between
societies which are the consequences of bio-geographical necessities of birth to-
gether with cultural affiliation. This aspect is still typical of most African countries
where geographical mobility and political boundary lines have not been able to ef-
face or obliterate ethnic affiliations as is the case in many countries of the West.
For instance, an Igbo living in the Lagos metropolitan city for many years (i.e. in
Yorubaland) usually says “I am going home” or “I want to visit home” (ka m ruo
uno) whenever he wants to travel back to his native home in Igboland. When he
wants to return to Lagos, he will say: “I am going back to Lagos”. The same mes-
sage and feeling of affiliation is expressed whenever he leaves his real place of
birth – i.e. that specific geographical location where his parents, grandparents and
perhaps great grandparents etc, for short, his ancestors, live and/or lived – his home
or is returning to it: “I am going home” and “I am going (back) to [...]”. By the
word “natural” we mean, therefore, more or less ethnic affiliation.
The term “Unnatural” pertains to other forms of human society, like “social clubs”,
“professional groups”, “political societies”, “religious fraternities and groups other
than the religious bearings inherent in the native culture”, modern cities, etc.

160
sciously, aims at a correspondence of his behaviour with the norms and
moral standards of the society on one hand, and of his behaviour with his
own personal ideals on the other hand. This provides him with that sense
and feeling of well-being, of being at peace with all the forces that make
him feel (within himself) that he is leading a good life.
If the Christian religion considers it a necessity to evangelise the
Igbo – i.e. to impart those standards by which the Christians live their
lives and judge their conduct or an entire life (style) as good or bad –,
then the Igbo sense of good and bad, their moral frame of reference with
its religious legitimation, must be in many important respects incompati-
ble with that of Christianity. We will, therefore, take a look at the Igbo
vision of a good life.
Since ethical principles – especially of less industrialized peoples –
usually have their theo-anthropological underpinnings and justifications,
we will also consider the Igbo understanding of the place of man in na-
ture and his relationship with the spiritual forces that influence his life.
This is all the more imperative when we consider, as Lee and Armstrong
put it, that “within many cultural groups [especially in traditional Af-
rica], there is often little distinction made between spiritual existence and
secular life. The philosophical tenets inherent in spiritual beliefs influ-
ence all aspects of human development and interaction”12.
In the light of the aforesaid, we consider it very important that the
social group or society in question be introduced. For, “generally speak-
ing, it is the society that supplies and imbues the individual with much of
the ideas and beliefs which he incorporates and which for many deter-
mine the picture they individually and collectively possess about the
world around them”13.
In this second part of our work, we are going to focus our attention
on the following issues: Who are the Igbo? How is their world organ-
ized? What is the nature of their general belief system? What factors ef-
fected the greatest changes in their cognitive framework? How did they
respond to these changes? What impact did the changes have on their
consciousness? To fulfil this task we shall apply the method of semiotic

12 C. C. Lee and K. L. Armstrong, Indigenous Models of Mental Health Intervention,

451.
13 T. U. Nwala, Igbo philosophy, 4.

161
cultural analysis as suggested by Robert J. Schreiter.14 First of all, let us
explain this method.

6.2 Semiotic Cultural Analysis

“Semiotics” is the science of “signs”15. The word derives from the

Greek “semeion” meaning “sign” Semiotics sees culture as a gigantic
communication web in which verbal and non-verbal messages move
along perfectly worked out and interconnected pathways. Of utmost im-
portance are the mediums or “carriers” of the message which are called
“symbols”. A symbol, we said, indicates that the medium stands for the
message itself, for symbols have the quality of participating in the es-
sence of the message or of that which they symbolize. To understand the
message one must possess the knowledge of the “codes” or “system of
rules” governing the interpretation of the message within a given con-
text, i.e. one must be capable of decoding the message. Membership in
the group that share these meanings is one of the best ways of acquiring
this ability.
The codes or system of rules are divided into syntactic, semantic
and pragmatic rules or codes. The syntactic rules indicate how the signs
relate to each other in order to make sense, i.e. the grammar, the seman-
tic, how the message is to be understood, i.e. the meaning, and the prag-
matic, how the signs or symbols are to be used and in which context. A
knowledge of these rules or codes is indispensable in order to understand
the symbols and the manner in which they transmit messages. The inter-
nalisation of these rules is taken care of by the process of socialization.
As a result their existence is, under normal circumstances, no longer ex-
plicitly felt, as the saying goes: “Every eye has a blind spot”16.
In the eyes of the natives, a semiotic cultural analysis would be do-
ing something very superfluous, something quite unnecessary, in the
sense that, for a native, the phenomena or things semiotics occupies itself

14 R. J. Schreiter, Abschied vom Gott der Europäer, 84-119.

15 See also: Umberto Eco, Einführung in die Semiotik, 28-44.
16 K. Wilber, The spectrum of Consciousness, 17-27; the quotation is from page 25.

162
with actually are clear and self-evident; they need no further explication.
They have attained the status of “being-taken-for-granted”. However, in
a situation of culture contact between African-Igbo culture and Euro-
Christian culture such an attempt is very useful if we have to understand
the changes which took and are taking place in each of these cultural
systems. To do this we will have to decode the Igbo culture and after
having examined it re-code it. This process normally leads to or results
in a new consciousness of one’s identity and behaviour pattern, which in
turn strengthens the sensitivity of the person or community for their own
importance, for their own self-understanding and for their place in the
scheme of the things and in the universe.

6.2.1 The Perspectives

In the description of a culture it is important to be aware of the perspec-

tive out of which the said culture is to be analysed. The semiotic cultural
analysis distinguishes two kinds of perspectives: (1) “inner” and “out-
side”, and (2) “speaker” and “listener” perspectives.

Inner vs outside perspectives

The “inner” perspective employs the narrative style in its cultural de-
scription. Its goal is not an analysis of the realities of the culture but
rather their affirmation. The description is considered successful when it
strengthens or reinforces the feeling and sense of identity of the people
of that culture. That means, in the process of the description those quali-
ties by which veritable members of the culture are known become trans-
parent to and perceived by the other members as guidelines for conduct.
Also external observers get a clue about the characteristics by which true
members are to be recognized. This is the perspective and style em-
ployed in the Bible.
The description from the “outside” perspective uses also the narra-
tive style but only for illustrative purposes; as a kind of case study for
analytic purposes. Its aim is not the reinforcement of the sense of identity
of the people but to arouse a discussion about the cultural aspects in
question. This perspective is useful with regard to cultural and societal
changes and often as a kind of invitation for the natives to adjust to the
changing situation.

163
 Both perspectives are very necessary for a theological consideration
which is concerned with the phenomenon of culture contact between Af-
rica and Europe, African Traditional Religion and European-Christianity.
The inner perspective provides the complex of symbols which constitute
the identity of the people, while the outside perspective takes care of the
means for coping with the changes in the society and the possibilities of
establishing a link to the larger system: the Christian world.

Speaker vs listener perspectives

The second kind of perspective, derived from communication theory –
“sender-receiver relation”17 –, is that of “speaker” and “listener”. This
perspective is a very important instrument for every kind of description
including both types of the first kind of descriptive perspective. From the
speaker perspective attention is concentrated more on a lucid and precise
transmission of messages within a culture. The criteria of such a distinct
transmission stand in relation with the content of the message, the infor-
mation. Its aim is to transmit the information with as little impairment as
possible, so that it reaches the receiver intact. The receiver pays attention
to the content and the structure of the message, while the speaker has to
be mindful of any variations or changes in the signs and symbols or in
the entire signs complex he is using. From the perspective of the listener
the description has to concentrate on the capability of the listener to es-
tablish a relationship to his own environment. That means also: the lis-
tener should be able to decode the information and then encode it by re-
formulating it into the signs complex akin to the world of his experience.
The transmission is considered successful when the listener is able to do
this.
A further aspect of the Speaker-listener relation is the differentiation
between esoteric (for a select and initiated elite) and exoteric (for the
general public, for the common, uninitiated folk). Esoteric description
consists in the description of cultural phenomena in such a complicated,
highly condensed, detailed and comprehensive way that only the so
called “experts, specialists”, as a select elite group can understand that. If
this were to be done from an exoteric perspective, the language and the
form of presentation will be much simpler and the transference in the
symbolic world of the audience less complex. The esoteric perspective is

17 Cf. Watzlawick et al., Pragmatics of Human Communication, 22.

164
the usual approach followed in the training of cultural experts like ritual
and political functionaries. Not every member of the society is expected
to transmit information in this way. However, the danger is that the gap
between esoteric and exoteric descriptive forms grows wider and wider,
especially when the esoteric information and sign system is intended to
fortify and perpetuate the power of a particular class. When this begins
to happen then one has to brace up for big problems and tensions in the
community. In our description of the Igbo culture and belief system we
shall go more from the “inner” and “listener” perspectives. It is our in-
tention to strengthen the sense of identity of our audience and their sen-
sitivity for their own importance, their own self-understanding and their
place in the scheme of things and in the universe.

6.2.2 The Cultural Texts

Having delineated our perspectives we now move to the next step of lo-
cating and marking the “cultural texts” we are going to occupy ourselves
with. A “cultural text” is the concrete cultural unit on which the discus-
sion takes place, i.e. the object of discussion. Such cultural texts can be
verbal as well as non-verbal, visual, auditory and tactual, simple as well
as highly complex. A text can also contain another or even a series of
other texts. A comprehensive text containing a series of other texts is
called a “semiotic domain”. For instance, the cultural texts on the socio-
political organisation of a people is the “socio-political domain”, texts on
the religion the “religious domain”.
In view of the subject matter of our work we are going to concen-
trate on those texts which have to do with the identity of the Igbo (texts
on the processes of the formation and consolidation of ties between
groups or members of the society. Such texts ask: Who is to be regarded
as a member and who is not? On what features is an Igbo or the Igbo
folk to be distinguished from other peoples in Nigeria? They are texts on
their belief system and outlook to life), and those that have to do with
change in the society (texts on how the people handle change and events
which threaten their identity). The rites of passage, the feasts: New Yam
and New Year festivals (Aju and Ochuchu Afo respectively, as they are
called in the Udi cultural area) and the numerous rites of initiation, for
example, belong to the category of identity-texts. Crimes and offences or

165
misconducts which have social implications, especially as they affect the
welfare of the group or society, the numerous rites of purification and
rehabilitation, belong to the texts on change.

6.2.2.1 Texts on Identity

Identity has to do with ‘who is within the circle and who is outside it’.
On the individual level it distinguishes between “I vs Not-I”. On the
community or group level it concerns itself with “We vs Not-We, mem-
bership vs non-membership”. On the level of belief system it deals with
“what things are to be believed, how they are to be perceived and what
things are not congenial or incompatible with the belief system”.
A further aspect of this point of identity is: identity is related to
drawing boundary lines. Borderlines are always points of contact as well
as of ambivalence between two states: the states of belonging and not-
belonging, being and not-being. As a matter of fact, such zones are very
dangerous states in human existence. They are dangerous because of
their ambivalence. To be on a borderline is to be in a “nobody’s-land”, a
state where none of the rules or codes of both sides of the line apply or is
effective. To redefine or redraw borderlines means, in effect, to redefine
or restructure the identity.
Border zones are not only dangerous because of their ambivalence,
they can also posit a great potential for and source of transformation,
since they are not controlled by any rules of the states or conditions on
both sides of the line. They are the threshold between two worlds. There
are people who know how to handle these zones and who have the
knowledge of how to traverse them and move from one area to another
and back: Priests, Seers, Healers, Magicians, Shamans, Medicine men or
women, Psychotherapists. They seem to keep watch over these border
zones. In crisis situations they can visit the borderlines, take a look at
their configuration, explore them for new insights into the background of
the tensions emanating from them.
Social change occurs when a certain boundary is overstepped or
shifted. For instance, the introduction of the ballpoint pen in Igboland
brought about a completely new picture of what it means to be a wise
man; wisdom came to be measured no more by age or grey hair but by
academic excellence. Jesus, by shifting the borderlines of who will enter
the kingdom of God and who will not, introduced and redefined a com-

166
pletely new picture of what it means to be a member of the chosen peo-
ple of God.
Codes of conduct in relation to the various cultural elements and
signs, like, marriage, taboos, justice, shedding of blood, etc., help to lo-
cate or identify the boundaries and those features that mark them. Thus
the question of “what is allowed and what is not allowed” within a par-
ticular culture not only indicates where the borderlines are but also what
the symbols are, which give information about the nature of the member-
ship to that society. For instance, which profession is noble and admira-
ble and which is contemptible and abhorrent? The answer to this sort of
question gives a clue to what is regarded as worthy or valuable and un-
worthy or discreditable in that culture, it is a question of what is a value
and what is not value.
Signs or Symbols, as has been pointed out above, are the transmit-
ters and carriers of the message or information which, on the conceptual
level, constitute the cultural identity of a people. A symbol can stand for
only a part of or for the entire message. For instance, the crucifix is for
Christians salvation, and the Eucharistic bread and wine stand for the
presence of Jesus Christ in the Christian community. Kola nut is for the
Igbo hospitality, while the tasting of food or drink before it is served to a
guest stands for innocence and good-will. While some symbols contain
only possible messages, e.g. smoke, some other more important symbols,
e.g. trees, contain several meanings depending on the context in which
they are used. The other symbols connected with them, and the codes
which govern their function in that context, determine which meanings
they transmit and/or embody at any given time.
The codes in Igbo culture are contained in their Omenani and is at
the same time Omenani itself. This will become clear in the next chapter.
Changes in codes result automatically to corresponding changes in the
relationship to the specific symbols. Thus, if one alters the codes gov-
erning the use of a particular symbol, one alters accordingly the meaning
it has for the people and the way the people relate to it.
We said above that cultural texts are significant signs or symbols
which act as carriers of specific messages in a culture. Furthermore, we
said that texts can be simple or complex and that a comprehensive text
containing a series of other texts is called a “semiotic domain”. Meta-
phors give rise to the connections between signs and a system of signs.
The Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary defines metaphor

167
as follows: “A figure of speech in which a term is transferred from the
object it ordinarily designates to an object it may designate only by im-
plicit comparison or analogy [...]”. A metaphor is thus created when two
separate signs are equated with each other. For instance, when the Igbo
talk of the cola nut as life, or the Christians talk of Jesus of Nazareth as
the Son of God, or that the consecrated Eucharistic bread itself is Jesus
Christ, then we are uniting two independent signs, which on their own,
otherwise convey different meanings and information, and looking at
them as one. Without metaphors cultural texts would be very isolated.
Metaphors are so effective because of the synecdochical (using the name
of the part of a sign to stand for the whole or the whole for the part) and
metonymical (using the name of one thing for that of another with which
it is closely associated) processes. For example: the cross is metonymi-
cally used for Christ, and the crown for the king. Through these proc-
esses of metonymy and synecdoche cultures can generate new connec-
tions to other metaphors, thereby creating a network of possibilities and
avenues for the transmission of messages and meanings.
Very often a semiotic domain contains a dominant metaphor. Such a
metaphor is called root metaphor. In the Christian culture a root meta-
phor in the religious domain would be for example the “holy mass” and
in the Igbo culture a root metaphor is the ofo (the ancestral staff of
authority). Such root metaphors often determine the direction in which
the signs and symbols to be included as well as the codes have to de-
velop.
The study of any culture, in effect, must ascertain as well as take
into consideration the metaphors which dominate the semiotic domains,
most especially those ones which unite the different domains into a sin-
gle cultural whole. These are the important guidelines for our description
or analysis of the Igbo culture as it pertains to their cultural identity.

6.2.2.2 Texts on Change

The second group of cultural texts which will interest us are those deal-
ing with change in the society (texts on how the people handle change
and situations which threaten their identity). A change in the society can
be seen as a threat or as a blessing. When a change posits a threat to the
security of the people, it will doubtless be seen as negative or a deviation
from the norms. If it promises or brings an improvement in the condi-

168
tions of living, then it will be regarded as positive and sometimes even as
a necessity. Human societies are always confronted with changes. The
transition from a rural, traditional and agrarian society to an urban, tech-
nologically oriented and industrial modern society is a case of intensive
transformations. From the theological point of view, change pervades the
whole Christian message: Salvation is at the centre of the Christian expe-
rience of God, and salvation implies a very far-reaching, profound and
powerful change, which shields one from evil and brings about a passage
into a new reality.
Generally the semiotic description of cultural change concentrates
on the transformation of the systems of signs. It can occur through an
alteration of the relationship of the symbol to its message or through
changes of the codes, which govern the interaction of the symbols. Now
the question is: Is the change a process of incorporation, i.e. by which
new signs, messages, and codes are incorporated into an existing sys-
tem? Or does the change posit a conflict, by which a system of signs and
symbols, codes and messages is eliminated and a new one put in its
stead?

Incorporative approach
Since no human culture is perfect, there is always the need and the ten-
dency to enrich itself by incorporating new and foreign cultural elements
into its system. Every human culture does this at one point or another in
its development. A classical example is the religious syncretism. Christi-
anity incorporated a lot of elements from the Roman, Greek, Celtic, and
Germanic cultures and mixed them up with the Gospel message of Jesus
Christ. The key to this incorporative approach as a semiotic cultural de-
scriptive form lies in the question: Has the recipient culture got sufficient
self-awareness, self-confidence, and survival strategies to enable it to
admit new and foreign elements? If these are available, then it will be
able to accommodate and integrate the new information and elements. If
it lacks these, and if the tempo of confrontation is too high and the new
information overwhelming, then it will definitely take a different stance.
This brings us to the second process: conflict.

Conflictive approach
In this process two systems of signs and symbols compete with each
other in such a way that only one can take the upper hand or the domi-

169
nant position. In colonialising structures the invading systems of signs
generally tend to replace those of the invaded culture. This was the
situation in Africa especially from the 19th century right into the second
half of the 20th century.
There are not only conflicts from outside, but also conflicts within
the same culture. In this respect the question of what causal explanations
do the people themselves posit in the face of threats or dangers to their
cultural identity and stability. What provisions does it have for tackling
such anomalies individually and as a community?
Change is always a reorganization of the boundaries of semiotic
domains. When people no longer respect their assigned roles and places
and begin to act out of the ordinary, then the boundaries within the cul-
ture must be redefined. Every redefinition is a change. The awareness of
the boundaries is always connected with the awareness of identity. A
change in one results in a change or a reorganization in the other and
vice versa.

6.3 Summary

Let us piece the points together:

A study which has as its subject matter the problem of being in a border
zone as it pertains to seminarians, must take a look at the culture from
where the seminarians hail. For the description of this culture we have
opted for the semiotic method of cultural analysis. Semiotics has to do
with signs and symbols. It regards culture as a large communication web
in which messages move along perfectly worked out and interconnected
pathways. The most important aspects of that web are the carriers of the
messages called signs or symbols.
Before one delves into the descriptive task, it is of utmost impor-
tance to make certain pre-decisions: 1. It is important to decide on the
perspective from which the description is to be tackled: inner or outside,
listener or speaker perspectives? 2. It is also essential to make out the
specific cultural texts relevant for the study. We decided to look at the
Igbo culture mainly from the inner and listener perspectives and to con-
centrate on those cultural texts dealing with identity and change. In at-

170
tending to them, especially to those which constitute the cultural identity
of a people, it is important to keep an eye open for those dominant semi-
otic domains and the dominant metaphors, the root metaphors, within
those dominant semiotic domains.
In the next chapter we shall consider both, especially those texts
which constitute the identity of the Igbo and those which deal with
changes that arise largely from within the culture itself. In doing this we
shall not treat them separately but describe such changes as they emerge
in connection with texts on identity. Changes as a result of external in-
tervention will be the subject matter of the chapter after that.

171
This page intentionally left blank
7. THE IGBO AND THEIR EPISTEMIC WORLD

In order to appreciate the changes which the Igbo consciousness has un-
dergone in the course of the years and the likelihood of psychic tensions
as a result, we have to examine the organization of the life or the psycho-
social world of the Igbo before their encounter with Europeans. Marked
epistemological changes1 started to take place with the advent of Euro-
peans in the Igbo cultural area; this was the period of colonialism and
missionary evangelism. We shall refer to the pre-colonial Igbo society
simply as the “pre-colonial” Igbo society. When we mean the aspects of
the society which have survived the colonial and Christian assaults we
shall use the term “traditional” Igbo society.2

7.1 The Igbo People of Nigeria

The Igbo are a fast growing ethnic group and one of the three major eth-
nic groups in Nigeria. Unfortunately, there are no reliable figures as re-
gards their exact population.3 “Projections based on the census figures of

1 This does not imply that the Igbo world view was a static, although there was, prior
to the advent of the Europeans in the Igbo area, little or no contact with other cul-
tures outside the Igbo area. Cf. E. C. O. Ilogu, Christian Ethics in an African Back-
ground, 3f.
2 Generally speaking the traditional society with its specific or different way of life
still exist along side an emerging modern society with its attendant way of life,
though with some modifications here and there.
3 Writing about the Igbo in the 1930s C. K. Meek argued: “The 1921 (census) fig-
ures of 3,930,085 or approximately four million people, represent more accurately
the strength of the Ibo-speaking communities. If this is so, they would outnumber
all other Nigerian tribes, not excluding the Hausa, who are generally regarded as
the most numerous and most important tribe in West Africa, if not in the whole of
Africa”, C. K. Meek, Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe, 1.

173
the 1950s and 1960s, indicate that the Igbo constitute 25% or about 20
million out of the current total population estimated between 80 million
to 100 million”4. The latest census of 1991 under UN supervision fixed
the total population of Nigeria at 88.5 million. The Igbo have the highest
population of Roman Catholic Christians predominance; the western re-
gion (Yoruba) is the most divided, with some 40% Christians (chiefly
Protestants), one-third Muslims and the rest Traditionalists5. In the main,
the Igbo have the highest rural population densities in Nigeria.
Various theories exist regarding the origin of the Igbo. Many of
them base their theories on the occurrence of many similarities in cul-
tural patterns between the Igbo and their purported places of origin. Two
groups link the origin of the Igbo with peoples outside the Igbo cultural
area. There are Egyptian6 and Jewish links. Olaudah Equiano, an Igbo
ex-slave, in his memoirs first published in 1789, was the first to link Igbo
origin with the Jews.7 It has been established that the continent of Africa
is the cradle of humankind, of its culture and of its civilization.8 The
similarity of cultural patterns which may have given rise to such specu-
lations of Jewish or Egyptian origin of the Igbo only substantiates the
theory of a common African root of the human race. It is nevertheless
not compelling enough to deduce from that an external origin of the
Igbo. The most commonly accepted tradition is the one which does not
associate the origin of the Igbo with anywhere else other than their cul-
tural environment.9

During the Nigerian civil war (1966-1970) the Igbo were said to have constituted
nine million of the 14 million people inhabiting the area of the Republic of Biafra.
Cf. T. Zülch und K. Guerk (Hg), Soll Biafra überleben?, 255.
4 J. N. Oriji, Traditions of Igbo Origin, 2. As a matter of fact, there are very few
things in and about Nigeria that are as uncertain today as its population. The above
figures give credence to this fact. Even the latest 1991 census figures, which place
the total population of the country at 88.5 million people, are being strongly con-
tested by Nigerians themselves.
5 J. Baur, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa, 381.
6 Cf. A. E. Afigbo, Towards a History of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, 15.
7 O. Equiano, Equiano’s Travels, 12.
8 Cf. Oriji 22-23.
9 Among the proponents and defenders of this theory are K. O. Dike, P. A. Talbot,
G. I. Jones, V. C. Uchendu, A. Onwuejeogwu. For more discussions on the puz-
zling question of Igbo origin interested readers may refer to the works of V. C.
Uchendu, The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria, 2-3; J. N. Oriji, Traditions of Igbo Origin;

174
 The term Igbo is used in a threefold sense to depict (1) the people of
this cultural area, (2) their language10, and (3) the cultural area itself.
When the people is meant, we will use the singular form “an Igbo” or the
plural form “the Igbo11” . We will use the form “Igboland” when we re-
fer to the cultural area and simply “Igbo” when the language is meant
and when it is used as an adjective. In most cases the sense meant will
become clear from the context in which it appears.

7.2 The Igbo Cultural Area

The concept “culture area” is a cultural-anthropological one. It is based

on the fact that particular cultures have specific traits and patterns, which
are geographically or spatially delimited. A culture area is thus a geo-
graphical delimitation of areas that have or manifest the same dominant
and significant cultural traits and patterns.

E. Isichei, A History of the Igbo People, 3-16; E. C. O. Ilogu, Christian Ethics in an

African Background, 1-3; A. E. Afigbo, Towards a History of the Igbo-Speaking
Peoples of Nigeria, 11-20; Ibid., Prolegomena to the Study of the Culture History
of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, 28-41.
10 Greenberg’s classification of African languages indicates that Igbo language be-
long to the speech communities in the Kwa subfamily of the Niger-Congo linguis-
tic family stock. It is even argued that the homeland of the Bantu and other groups
who speak languages belonging to the Niger-Congo linguistic stock lies “in the sa-
vanna region, between Central Nigeria (the Middle Belt region) and the Cameroon
border. The groups include the inhabitants of the forest region such as the Igbo,
Yoruba, Akan and others [...]” (Oriji 23.) Cf. V. C. Uchendu, The Igbo of South-
east Nigeria, 3; Oriji 23-25.
11 Sometimes some authors use the anglicized form “Igbos”. We however prefer to
use the more convenient form “Igbo”, i.e. without the English language plural ap-
pendage of “s”. The argument that the version “Igbos” is absurd on the grounds
that the plural in Igbo language is not formed by appending an “s”, (cf. C. C. Agu,
Secularization in Igboland, 209), seems to us misplaced. It would apply if we are
writing in Igbo language. But when we use a foreign language like English to ex-
press a native concept, then it seems appropriate to abide by the grammatical rules
of that language. Thus we consider it only a matter of convenience – until a general
literary consensus stipulates otherwise – whether one uses “Igbo” or “Igbos”.

175
7.2.1 Geographical Location

The Igbo12 culture area includes the geographical area of south-eastern

Nigeria lying approximately between the latitudes 5° and 7° north of the
equator and longitudes 6° and 8° east of the Greenwich meridian. It cov-
ers an area of approximately 25,000 km2.13 The Territory is divided by
the River Niger into two unequal parts conveniently described as “West
and East Niger areas”. The Igbo culture area – that is the delimited geo-
graphical area in which the one Igbo language is spoken in its mutually
comprehensible dialects and the people on the whole “share typical and
significant common culture traits and patterns, up to or above 50%”14
and a common world view – is bounded to the north by the Igala, Idoma
and Tiv, to the south by the Ijaw and Ogoni of the Niger Delta, to the
east by the Yako and Ibibio and to the west beyond the Niger by the Edo
and Urhobo culture areas.15

7.2.2 The Sub-cultural Areas

The Igbo territory lies chiefly within the tropical rain forest zone with
the northern parts consisting of grassland and orchard bush or savanna.
“The most important rivers: Niger, Imo, Anambra and Ulasi, flow from
north to south thus indicating a steep northward gradient”16.According to
D. Forde and G. I. Jones, the Igbo are subdivided into five main sub-
cultural groups: (1) Northern or Onitsha Igbo, which includes such towns
like, Udi, Awka, Enugu-Ukwu, Nsukka, Onitsha, Aro Ndizuogu, Igbo
Ukwu, Nri. Bigard Memorial Seminary is located in this area. It is the

12 It is our a priori decision to use in this work this orthographic form as we consider
it the only correct way of writing this word and the only correct appellation. In the
literature which abound on the Igbo people and their culture one meets various or-
thographic forms, like, Eboe, Ebus, Hebus, Hebos, Ibo, Ibos. For those interested in
the orthographic dispute we refer them to Isichei, A history of the Igbo people, xv;
Agu, Secularization in Igboland, 209; L. N. Oraka, The foundations of Igbo stud-
ies, 11.
13 Cf. Uchendu 1; Agu 210; Oriji 2.
14 M. A.Onwuejeogwu, The Igbo Culture Area, 1. Cf. M. M. Green, Igbo Village Af-
fairs, 5.
15 Cf. Uchendu, ibid; Onwuejeogwu, ibid; Agu, ibid; Nwala 15; Oriji, ibid.
16 Uchendu 1.

176
Map 1: Igboland Showing Some Sub-cultural Groups,
Towns and Communities

177
first and oldest major seminary in Nigeria. About 60% of the respon-
dents to our questionnaire were drawn from this seminary. The European
missionary activities in Igboland had its genesis in this area as well. (2)
Southern or Owerri Igbo. Some important towns in this region are: Ow-
erri, Aba, Umuahia Ibeku, Ahoada, Orlu, Okigwe. The second major
seminary in Igboland, Seat of Wisdom Seminary, is located here. 40% of
the respondents were drawn from this seminary. (3) Western or Ika
Igbo.17 This is that part of Igboland west of the Niger. This area com-
prises such towns like, Asaba, Agbor, Kwale, Idah and Aboh. (4) Eastern
or Cross River Igbo is composed of Abam, Ohafia, Afikpo, Arochukwu,
Abriba. These are border towns to the Efik and Ibibio peoples of south-
eastern Nigeria. (5) North-eastern Igbo includes such towns like Abaka-
liki, Ezza, Uburu, Okposi. In this sub-cultural area the clash of cultures
and of religions (internal and external) seems to be less intense than in
other Igbo sub-culture areas.18 These areas are termed “sub-cultural” be-
cause, though having a common cultural pattern, they exhibit some dis-
tinguishable cultural differences. Nonetheless they constitute one cul-
tural unit since they occupy a common territory, [...] speak a common
language though with many dialectical variations which are mutually
intelligible. In spite of countless variations of custom, there are a number
of factors which are common to all of them, such as kinship structure
and certain important cult symbols such as ofo which are widely
spread19.

7.2.3 Communication and Transportation

In the pre-colonial Igbo country there existed only a network of foot-

paths through the forest and grasslands which served as communication
routes. All travelling was done on foot. Objects were carried generally
on the head. The riverine Igbos, however, employed canoes for their
communication and transportation. Constant feuds and intermittent
small-scale warfare arising between village groups made long distant

17 Cf. Oriji 2.
18 D. Forde and G. I, Jones, The Ibo and Ibibio Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern
Nigeria, 10. Cf. Ilogu 2-3; Oriji 2.
19 M. M. Green, Igbo Village Affairs, 5.

178
travel highly insecure. This insecurity was heightened by the infamous
slave trade. Many Igbo took part in that despicable and inhuman trade.
W. Bascom and M. Herskovits, citing K. Onwuka Dike, note that some
of them served as “agents from Aro Chuku, an Ibo group near the Cross
River whose men moved relatively freely about large parts of Ibo coun-
try and dominated much of the internal slave trade”20. Only these agents
and the priests of Nri could travel fairly freely in the Igbo country “with-
out ending up in the hands of the slavers. Hence, as Ottenberg very
rightly states, ‘for the average Ibo distant travel of any kind was under-
taken only under unusual circumstances’”21.

7.2.4 Economic Life

The pre-colonial Igbo society practised sedentary agriculture predomi-

nantly on a subsistence level. Yam, cassava, coco yam, maize, pepper,
beans, and many other staple food items constituted the main food crops.
Palm trees grow wild in this region and in great abundance too. The trees
served chiefly for the production of palm wine, palm (edible) oil, palm
kernel and palm kernel oil for body lotion. They also provided materials
for house construction and livestock feed. Animal husbandry and fishing
were practised as well but not on a large scale. All these agricultural

20 S. Ottenberg, Ibo Receptivity to Change, 132.

21 Agu 212. Ottenberg’s account of the various means through which slaves were ob-
tained quoted by Agu is worth reproducing here because of its vividness and lucid-
ity: “‘Aro agents dominated much of the trade in Ibo country. Able to move rela-
tively freely along certain trade routes without fear of being attacked, they
controlled some of the major Ibo markets or else were closely associated with
them. Slaves were perhaps the greatest and most valuable single commodity though
a variety of goods was also traded. The Aro also obtained slaves from other sources
than through their oracle. They captured persons by waylaying isolated individuals,
persons returning from the farms, traders and travellers, and children away from
home: or other Ibo captured such persons and sold them to the Aro. Families sold
their younger children – particularly when they were many in the family – to the
Aro for money and goods. A man who was in debt could clear himself by selling
himself into slavery, or his debtors might seize him and sell him. Persons captured
in warfare were also sold into slavery. Finally, individuals who were considered to
be physically abnormal were likely to be disposed of by being sold out of their
community of birth’”.

179
products served also as the main commodities on the local markets.
Handicrafts like baskets, chairs, iron works (hoes, machetes, knives etc.)
were also sold. The means of payment was by barter, which later was re-
placed by currencies such as cowries, manilas and brass rods.22 Women
play a dominant and prominent role in Igbo traditional economic life.23
What Green said about the Igbo of Agbaja (in Okigwe area), the area of
Igboland she studied, is applicable to the people in general:

If agriculture is the basic occupation of these Ibo people, trading is a close second.
One might almost say that whereas they farm of necessity, they trade not only of
necessity but also for pleasure. Their markets are one of the main features of their
lives. They provide a meeting point for the discussion of common business and for
the dissemination of news; they are a social event where the spice of gossip, the
recreation of dancing and the zest of a bargain relieve the almost continuous toil of
hoeing, planting, weeding and harvesting throughout the year. Trading is the breath
of life, particularly to the women among the Ibo [...]24.

Art works were pursued mainly in connection with religious and social
activities and for individual consumption such as colourful house paint-
ing.25 We shall now concentrate on those semiotic domains which we
consider relevant to our subject matter. The consideration of those do-
mains will enable us to develop a feeling for the epistemic framework of
the Igbo and their mode of relating to the world of their experience.

22 The use of cowrie shells as a currency was widespread in West Africa and was in-
troduced from the India in the early part of the nineteenth century.
23 To this regard W. T. Morill observes correctly, albeit with some overstatements
that “‘women not only are the responsible persons in gardening, they also dominate
the marketing of produce and handicrafts. An Igbo woman is a highly independent
economic being with her own capital, control over her own transactions, and is re-
sponsible to no one in her enterprise. A woman is supposed to provide for her own
children with little or no help from her husband, and few Igbo husbands take a di-
rect interest in the methods used by their wives in providing the necessities of the
home. The husband is responsible for providing sufficient cash so that his wife can
provide him as an individual, but his responsibility does not extend beyond this’”,
Agu 213.
24 Green 37.
25 For further readings on the topic, refer to K. O. Dike, Trade and politics in the Ni-
ger Delta 1830-1885, Oxford 1962; Green 32-48.

180
7.2.5 Socio-political Organization

In discussing this point we will first of all consider its general features
and later some of its special characteristics.

7.2.5.1 General Features

One significant thing about Igbo traditional societies is the absence of an
all-embracing social and political structure. In fact, one can say that the
most striking and intriguing feature of the pre-colonial Igbo society in
the eyes of a foreigner was its apparent “social fragmentation”, Green
writes. “This great people”, she further observes, “is broken up into hun-
dreds of small, more or less independent, social units, the largest being,
in many cases, what we may call the village group. This is a collection of
villages bound together by certain ties, but each one, [...] largely man-
aging its own affairs”26. These ties are much more reinforced through a
network of intermarriages. Thus “not united by any central governmental
authority, nor arranged in any political hierarchy, (they) are none the less
inter-linked horizontally each with its neighbours by social bonds of in-
ter-marriage”27. This apparent “lack of a central government” has been
the source of gross misunderstanding and its resultant misrepresentation
of the Igbo. Besides, this fact lay at the root of political and administra-
tive improprieties as well as serious bloody conflicts during the colonial
era between the people and external powers and authorities. Describing
the bewilderment of some European anthropologists who set out to study
the Igbo people, Agu has this to say:

[...] Seeing neither system nor meaning in the whole situation, the white man (and
by this is meant the colonial administrator who arrogated to himself the duty of
bringing government to the people) ‘naively concluded that the Igbo were living in
‘ordered anarchy’ or that, at best, they were leaderless [...]. Meek, a colonial an-
thropologist [...] was pleased to brand them ‘the most lawless part of Nigeria’ and
felt he was in duty bound to clap the colonial administrative staff on the back for
converting this lawless rabble ‘to a state of comparative peace and contentment [...]
in a single generation’. In the same vein Perham declared them to be ‘one of the
least disciplined, and least intelligible, of African peoples’28.

26 Green 3.
27 Ibid, 8.
28 Agu 215.

181
There are, however, some exceptions to this common feature. The pe-
ripheral Igbo towns of Onitsha, Abo, Oguta and Osomari have a system
of centralized government called obiship, which is somehow similar to
that obtainable in the non-Igbo kingdoms West of the River Niger.
Prominent among these kingdoms is Benin in western Nigeria. “Ac-
cording to Basden, the Onitsha Kingship which spread to Abo, Oguta,
etc. originated from Benin city”29, while Osomari kingship originated
from Igala.30 The northern Igbo country of Nsukka knows a relatively
mild form of kingship which can be described as Ezeship31, which they
borrowed from their Igala neighbours.
Beside these kingship forms there exist other forms of government
and politics which differ from the general kinship and village republic
systems of government among the Igbo. These include government by
associations and/or secret societies as is practised by the Southern Igbo,
and government by age-sets or age-grades as is found among the North-
Eastern and the Cross River Igbo.32
When the Igbo refer to the entirety of Igbo-speaking peoples or Igbo
country, they use terms depicting their two extreme forms of socio-
political organizations. This is expressed in the words Igbo na Oru (Igbo
and Oru). While Igbo stands for the highland people, Oru stands for the
riverine or lowland people.33 It would have been interesting to find out
whether the attitudes of our subjects of enquiry – the Igbo seminarians –
towards constituted authority as it is obtained in the seminary exhibit any
significant correlations to their areas of origin. Unfortunately many of
our respondents failed to disclose their areas of origin.

7.2.5.2 Some Special Characteristics

Some of these features are: the kinship system, equalitarianism and
equivalence, democracy, authority and ritual leadership. We now look at
each one of them, since they each bring out a special aspect of the Igbo
epistemic world.

29 O. Imoagene, The Ibo of East-Central Nigeria, 13-15, 38-43, the quotation is from
p. 13.
30 Ibid., 15-16.
31 Nwala 19.
32 Cf. Imoagene 28-37, Nwala, ibid.
33 Cf. Agu 217. Cf. also Isichei, A History of the Igbo People, 19-20.

182
7.2.5.2.1 Kinship (Umunna)
The most important element in a socio-political set-up is the human ele-
ment. The population of an Igbo socio-political unit includes both the
living and dead members of that unit as well as their deities. According
to T. Nwala the Igbo socio-political community is

sustained by several forces which include: a) common land or primordial territorial

base with communal economic ties; b) blood relationship and a web of kinship ties.
All who belong to the same community are the umunna (children of the same fa-
ther); c) the mythical charter which embodies the history and ideology of the politi-
cal community. The charter stresses their descent from a founding father, and the
inevitable role of the gods of the community in its founding and protection.[ ..], d)
a web of customs and traditions and supernatural sanctions. The Igbo traditional
political community was really [...] ‘a spiritual commonwealth, involving union of
living blood relatives, the dead relatives and the gods of the community’; e) a hier-
archy of seniority and social status. Seniority is a function of age and birth while
social status is achieved within the open competitive social system [...]; f) a mode
of economic activity in which the collective free labour of the family or clan mem-
bers enabled social and common task to be performed34.

Kinship is one of the central nerves of the Igbo social, political and re-
ligious organization. In Igbo linguistic world the concept of kinship is
described by the words “Umunna” and “Ikwunne”. The term “Umunna”
literally means “the descendants or children of the same forefather”. The
concept depicts “a system of patrilineal organization which not only de-
termines one’s membership of a patrilineage but also determines one’s
rights and duties accruing from such a membership”35. It operates at the
three levels of traditional Igbo polity36: the micro level which is repre-
sented by the extended agnatic family segment; the messo level com-
prising of several agnatic family segments – village, and the macro level
which is in most cases the town or village-group. The village is mostly a
community of the messo lineage segments. According to Ilogu,

there are two kinds of villages: a village made up of various homesteads or com-
pounds whose owners are members of the lineages that claim ultimate common de-
scent. The other kind is a cluster of hamlets made up of homesteads or compounds

34 Nwala 167-168.
35 Onwuejeogwu 5.
36 Ibid.

183
 whose occupants are members of various lineages, all of which do not claim ulti-
mate common descent, and therefore can intermarry. The village in this latter in-
stance is mainly a geographical unit providing some considerable solidarity based
on neighbourhood rather than on immediate ‘blood relationship’37.

The government of the village is run by the village assembly. The mem-
bers consist of all the male adults in the village. “Although anyone had a
right to speak at meetings, the responsibility for taking decisions fell on
the inner caucus of lineage heads in the village”38. As in family and
umunna (patrilineage) meetings, however, everything was done to reach
a consensus. The village assembly is the highest governmental organ in
the Igbo lineage system.39 Above the village you can get a federation or
confederation of villages constituting a town.40 Nevertheless, the gov-
ernment of the village group (the town) – the village-group assembly – is
neither a federation nor a confederation. The village-group assembly
comprised of representatives of member villages. As a result of geo-
graphical mobility there are in many towns villages which have no agna-
tic connection to the rest of the majority, hence the common phenome-
non of federation or confederation. Political power and authority, social,
economic and religious activities are arranged around the kinship con-
cept. Its centrality is borne out by these words of Uchendu: “An Igbo
without umunna is an Igbo without citizenship both in the world of man
and in the world of the ancestors”41.
The term ikwunne stands for the ancestral affiliation of the individ-
ual to his mother’s patrilineage. A person may be haunted or persecuted
in his umunna, but he is sacrosanct in his ikwunne.42 These two basic
concepts offer a strong bond of relationships among the Igbo, and serve
as the basis for their equalitarian and communal predisposition.

37 Ilogu 11.
38 Imoagene 27.
39 In the peripheral Igbo kingdoms the highest governmental organ is the Obi (the
king), the administrative and executive cadre of the Age-Sets or the village group
level representatives of the secret society members. Cf. Imoagene 31 and 37.
40 Ibid. Several villages constitute a village-group or town.
41 Uchendu 12.
42 Cf. C. Achebe, Things Fall Apart. The central figure of this epic novel, Okonkw,
took refuge in his Ikwunne when he was banished out of Umufa, his village, after
accidentally shooting a fellow village youngster.

184
7.2.5.2.2 Equalitarianism and Equivalence
The equalitarian and communal predispositions are at the base of the
aphorism: Igbo enwe eze (the Igbo do not have kings); an aphorism de-
picting not only unequivocally the Igbo political system but also an im-
portant aspect of their psychology: The Igbo generally not only do not
have a tradition of kings or a system whereby political power is in the
hands of a monarch or of chiefs, they abhor such a situation whereby
someone claims or imposes such a power or authority over them. “An
Igbo does not recognize anybody as his chief or superior and so does not
see why he should entrust his welfare into the hands of another; he be-
lieves that what you can achieve he too can achieve”43, and perhaps excel
you in the same venture. In general, the Igbo have a dogged principle
which is expressed in the maxims: “strangers shall not be rulers” and
“the land is never devoid of counsellors.” S. Leith-Ross observed accu-
rately that nothing could entice Igbo men “to acknowledge the leadership
of a ‘stranger’, even though that stranger lived but a few miles away”44.
The principle of equalitarianism guarantees that no one person or
group of persons acquire too much control over the life of others. An
equalitarian society, moreover, is for the Igbo a society which, according
to Uchendu, “gives to all its citizens an equal opportunity to achieve suc-
cess”45. The price for this kind of epistemic bend is an endemic atmos-
phere of competition which many a time takes the form of very un-
healthy rivalry and fatal intrigue. A further aspect which, in our opinion,
among other factors also contributed greatly to the backward trend espe-
cially in economic development, is envy and the malicious tendency in
some people which can be best described as: ‘if I cannot be more suc-
cessful than you or at least as successful as you are, then you should also
not succeed at all’. This attitude has frustrated and set back many prom-
ising young business men and women. Although adventurism sometimes
is tolerated, there is a slight group pressure on the individual to tow the
line of the umunna.

43 Agu 217.
44 S. Leith-Ross, African Women, 22.
45 Uchendu 19.

185
7.2.5.2.3 Primary Democracy and the Nature of Representation
The organization of the Igbo state as we pointed out previously is based
on the two kinship concepts of “Umunna” and “Ikwunne”. Above the
umunna is the village or village group whose affairs are not entrusted
into the hands of any single individual or even group of persons. Each
village or village-group is an independent and autonomous political en-
tity. No one can presume to wield authority or power beyond his own
village no matter what fame, honour or achievements he may enjoy in
his own village. Two oak trees do not grow under each other’s shadow, it
is said. The Igbo themselves say: Osisi ogologo anaghi akufe mba (A
tree does not span two villages no matter how tall it may be).
Matters affecting the umunna are treated and cases are settled in ad
hoc umunna-meeting. Such meetings can be convened by any member
who has cause to do so. The same is applicable on the village level. In ad
hoc village general assemblies called Oha, Amala, and in modern times
Nzuko, cases are tried, issues handled and decisions and resolution
reached on matters affecting the village. Every member of the village is
free to attend such gatherings and everyone present has the right to con-
tribute his opinion. When the matter has been thoroughly discussed the
‘leaders’ from each lineage in the village retire for brief consultation or
deliberation (igba izu or izuzu). Any decision reached in such an assem-
bly, which is short of a consensus is unacceptable and has neither a legal
nor a moral binding force. To a stranger such assemblies would appear
like an organized chaos. To illustrate, Agu cited D. R. Smock who at-
tended such a village assembly together with M. Green during their
fieldwork among the Agbaja people:

When a decision affecting an Ibo community is to be made, several groups and or-
ganizations concern themselves with the issue and within each organization near
unanimity must be reached before discussion can be closed. Participation is on such
a broad scale that most traditional meetings have no chairman or central direction,
take no votes, permit more than one person to speak at a time, have no agenda, and
continue for long periods. A decision reached by one organization within a com-
munity that is not acceptable to another organization can usually not be imple-
mented46.

46 Agu, ibid. Cf. also Green 121-129.

186
In short, when it comes to the organization of umunna or village affair or
when it comes to decisions on matters of common concern, the Igbo
prove themselves as dogged democrats. Government among the Igbo
was an affair of the entire community.
The Igbo political system is a highly decentralized system. Author-
ity was consequently widely spread or distributed. According to B. Da-
vidson the Igbo have a system of government where “‘the common man
was his own ruler, though within a complex pattern of community
life’”47. The political participation on the village level involves every
male adult of the village. The village assembly has not only legislative
but also administrative and executive powers. In the assembly every vil-
lage, represented by its delegates, has equal voice. Green observes: “Ibo
democracy, unlike English [democracy], works through a number of
juxtaposed groups and a system of checks and balances rather than on a
unitary or hierarchical principle”48. Uchendu sums it up thus:

There is no majority decision. The village representatives are not a permanent body
of legislators but are selected at each session for their ability to represent the point
of view of their village. They have a ‘delegate’ and not a ‘representative’ status and
cannot commit their village to any matter not previously discussed and agreed upon
by it49.

7.2.5.2.4 Gerontocracy – Leadership – Authority

In the Igbo country the relationship between the generations are ordered
along a line which is best described as gerontocracy. This is in contrast
to the seminary or church institution where hierarchy is the principle ac-
cording to which interpersonal relationship between the generations is
organized.
The head of the household is the ‘paterfamilias’. The households
that constitute an umunna share a common ancestral shrine. Often they
share a common compound. The head of the umunna is the okpara,
ikenye or okenye i.e. the oldest male in the compound – the patrilineage.
He holds the ancestral staff of authority of his umunna called ofo.50 This

47 Ibid.
48 Green 145.
49 Uchendu 44.
50 The ofo is a “sacred, club-like” ritual staff from the “branch of the tree known as
detarium elastica”. Cf. Green 12 and Uchendu 40.

187
confirms and legitimates his ritual authority. The position as a lineage
head is not hereditary. This means that an incumbent lineage head, the
okpara, cannot bequeath the family or village ofo and the attendant so-
cial position to his son at death. The succession follows the adelphic
principle. The okpara of the umunna (patrilineage), however, is normally
the oldest in his patrilineage, while the okpara on the village level is the
oldest member of the most senior village lineage segment. The leader-
ship or headship function of the okpara is first and foremost moral and
ritualistic in nature. His authority derives from the position he occupies
as the closest to the ancestors of his family, or of his umunna lineage,
and on the village or village group level because of the position his vil-
lage occupies as the most senior village segment lineage. He attends to
the ancestral shrine and to the family deity, or to the village deity, offer-
ing regular sacrifices to elicit and ensure their goodwill and making in-
tercessions for and on behalf of the members of his lineage.
The okpara must possess a good number of qualities if he hopes to
command respect and cooperation from the members of his lineage.
Such qualities are essential for the qualification for this office as well as
for the enhancement of his competence and efficiency. According to
Uchendu: “Character is the overriding factor, and a candidate qualified
by the age-order principle may be turned down because he is considered
to have a questionable character. Although character is important for
election or selection for office, the personality of the office holder de-
termines how effective the office will be”51.
He must be an upright man, a man of good character and of moral
integrity, evident honesty and untarnished reputation. He must be a man
who leads what Uchendu calls a “transparent life”. He is expected to be
“accessible to all. If he holds ofo [...] he is required to vindicate his inno-
cence regularly through the rite of iji ogu – the affirmation of inno-
cence”52. A breach of this, through acts of injustice or dubious dealings,
is supposed to attract the wrath of the earth goddess, Ani, Ala, and of
course a divestment of all respect, honour and cooperation he has hith-
erto enjoyed.
One who has a leadership position in an Igbo community is ex-
pected to be moderate in the exercise of his authority. Although he can

51 Uchendu 41.
52 Ibid., 17.

188
be impeccable in character, the Igbo do not expect him to “govern too
much”. Should he attempt to do this, he must reckon with an instant
withdrawal of their respect and their cooperation. In the words of
Uchendu:

The Igbo leader ‘emerges’: he is not born or made. The Igbo saying that ‘everyone
is a chief in his hut’ [...] [means] that a dictatorial leader of the Igbo is inconceiv-
able. A leader may be a dictator if he likes, but his leadership must be restricted to
his household. A leader is supported by his followers as long as ‘he does not gov-
ern too much.’ To govern too much is to alienate them53.

Actually one of the greatest things they abhor in their socio-political life
is an authority who attempts to be despotic or autocratic.
A further quality expected of him is – very often on account of his
age – insightfulness and eloquence. He is required to be eloquent, able to
articulate ideas and to command the attention of his listeners whenever
he is presenting his case before the village or village group assembly. As
the Igbo themselves say, he must be someone who “has mouth”. This
means not only a mastery of traditional Igbo oratory which includes a
good command of Igbo proverbs, which the Igbo say is the spices with
which one enjoys a discourse (ilulu bu mmanu an’eji eri okwu). It pre-
supposes a good knowledge of the Omenani54 of the people.
A leader is not born because the necessary qualities are not given to
every man; old age neither produces eloquence nor is it a guarantee for
its existence. The village tries to forestall such a situation whereby its
case can be thrown out because of bad presentation or lack of eloquence
on the part of their village head or leader by choosing a gifted younger
member to accompany their elder and to present their case as his dele-
gate.55 It is not uncommon that an elder is made fun of or taunted and
shouted down with ignominy if he botches up the presentation of his
people’s case or flounders in announcing to the general assembly the de-

53 Ibid., 20.
54 Omenani, and Omenala are one and the same thing. The form of expression one
chooses depends on the area of Igboland one comes from. In this work we shall use
the form Omenani.
55 One can notice here a similarity with the relationship between the biblical Moses
and his brother Aaron. Cf. Ex 4: 10-17.

189
cision reached in a consultation by a council of elders.56 “Position with-
out ability was, in fact, accorded recognition but not respect”57, Green
concludes. Since merit is esteemed as well as seniority, the road was free
for competition. According to Afigbo, “‘competition kept everybody and
every group up and doing in order to retain his or its rightful place in the
Igbo scheme of things’”58.
From the ongoing discussion one can see that the Igbo socio-
political system integrates gerontocracy and meritocracy, primary and
representative democracy in a harmonious manner. While the elders have
their inalienable spiritual position and rights, men of merits, success and
achievement share in the leadership functions in the community. Thus
the society makes room for and encourages progress and development of
talents and capabilities – a sign of flexibility – but also a fertile ground
for competition. In view of these facts, one can appreciate the extent to
which a social system that operates on hierarchical principles and deci-
sions are unilaterally made, as is the case with the seminary, is a devia-
tion and to a great extent a novelty for the Igbo. In a society where “so-
cio-political integration is achieved through decentralization rather than
through hierarchical organization”59, the introduction of the latter is a
likely a source of distress for the subject who is compelled to operate
along both principles – within the seminary and more so outside the
seminary.
As we have seen the principles of Umunna and Ikwunne are the
foundation and the bulwarks around the highly priced principles of
equalitarianism, equivalence and communalism among the Igbo. The
two former principles state that

all who are morally worthy were basically equal, differences in wealth notwithstan-
ding. Anyone descendant of ancestor X was equal to anyone else in the community
[...]. Whatever has to be shared was divided equally between all participants who
chose according to seniority. In other words, barring age which was venerated in a
gerontocratic society where seniority conferred authority, all men and/or segments

56 Cf. Green 124. mnna-headship or the position as village head, as we said earlier, is
not hereditary, even though Green believes to see or recognize one among the peo-
ple of Umueke.
57 Green, ibid.
58 Nwala 173.
59 Uchendu 20.

190
 were equal. There were therefore no commoners for whom decisions had to be
made60.

Even in those areas with kingship institution the Obi or kings do not ex-
ercise absolute authority. The kings are sort of presidents of communal
councils, symbols of communal power and authority in the state and a
kind of unifying figure. I. Nzimiro writing on the position of the Obis in
Onitsha, Oguta, Abor and Osomari pointed out that a lot checks and bal-
ances see to it that they do not “govern too much”. Nzimiro writes:

Sovereignty of the people expressed through the assembly recognized in the state is
supreme [...]. The presidency of the Obi at the Council sitting is a matter of routine
since the council can proceed without him as was the case but, decisions automati-
cally bind him [...]. Thus, despite the sacredness, high respect and the dignity of the
office of the king [...] he is not above the law [...] as the present day British mon-
arch [...]. Besides, [...] though sacred, he is a politician and can be challenged, ei-
ther by his chief on behalf of the people or simply for personal aggrandisement on
the part of an individual chief [...]61.

Whatever form the leadership assumes, the primary function of leader-

ship among the Igbo is to make it possible for the people ‘to get up’.
That is to say, it is the primary function of the leader to create opportu-
nities for the individuals – and by extension, the community – to enhance
their economic, social and psychological condition. His leadership will
be judged and evaluated on the basis of how far he has been able to pro-
vide both.

7.2.5.3 Ritual Leadership

A special class in the socio-political organization of the people is the
group involved with ritual leadership. This class is of a special interest to
us considering the subject matter of this work.

7.2.5.3.1 The Lineage Head (Okpara)

Leadership among the Igbo accords special recognition and place to
seniority and to merit. Ritual leadership, however, rests first and fore-
most on the okpara of the family, of the lineage, village or village-group,

60 Imoagene 22-23. Emphasis added.

61 Nwala 172.

191
as we have seen.62 He also performs sacrifices for the family members to
Chukwu, as we shall see further down in this chapter. The okpara can be
said to be the primary ritual leaders among the Igbo.
The Igbo have an elaborate means of coping with the spiritual
forces believed to control and influence their life and destiny. However,
the knowledge of the supernatural realm and the power and gift to influ-
ence the forces that abound are not shared equally by all. The person
who understands these forces, manipulates and controls them, can as
well influence the lives and affairs of his fellow human beings. As a re-
sult such a person is held in high respect and awe. Priests, diviners,
medicine men and women belong to this group of persons. They are rit-
ual leaders in a secondary sense.

7.2.5.3.2 Priests (Dibia Aja)

Priests are ministers to particular deities and spirits to which public
shrines and cults are dedicated. These deities and spirits have altars set
apart for them. The priests are called isi-mmuo (head of the deity or
spirit) or eze-mmuo (chief of the spirit or deity). In every Igbo town or
village there are several such priests each of which is attached to a par-
ticular public shrine of a deity worshipped in the town or village. They
mediate between the deity or spirit and the people. The earth-deity, Ani,
is the greatest deity in the Igbo country. Likewise her priest (eze-ani) in
any village or town is regarded as the ‘High Priest’.
By some deities, the office of the priest is hereditary. In most cases,
however, succession to a vacant priestly office is a result of a direct in-
tervention by the deity in question. This happens through some extraor-
dinary religious experience63, which is generally interpreted and authen-
ticated through divination. The intervention is described by the Igbo as
wa (= breaking into the life of the candidate). In the case of a direct in-
tervention of the deity the candidate requires no special training. He
learns from experience guided by his deity.64 Otherwise the candidate
undergoes a very simple training. Often this is accomplished by observ-
ing the prospective predecessor. Before he assumes office the priest is

62 See subsections 7.2.5.2.3 and 7.2.5.2.4 above.

63 Cf. E. E. Uzukwu, Church and Inculturation, 13; E. I. Metuh, Comparative Studies
of African Traditional Religions, 207.
64 Compare the similarity to Ex 3: 1-12 and 4:12.

192
usually initiated. The initiation ceremony varies in solemnity according
to the importance and influence of the deity he serves. This class of
priests are resident priests. The Igbo have also an itinerant priest class.
These are the Nri itinerant priests. According to E. Metuh

The Nri priests are agents and delegates of the ‘Eze Nri’, who is believed to have
received from God powers over the mystical forces connected with the earth. Nri
priests therefore have the prerogative of performing the purification rituals for of-
fences believed to pollute the earth, like homicide, incest, suicide and theft of
yams. Since only Nri priests may perform the cleansing rituals for these offences,
many communities, welcome some Nri priest families to settle among them to pro-
vide these services65.

7.2.5.3.3 Diviners (Dibia Afa)

Diviners are those who “reveal the minds of the deities by interpreting
certain signs according to fixed principles”66. A special class of diviners
are the mediums. Mediums are those religious functionaries through
whom the deities or spirits make known their wishes to their adherents.
They practice different forms of divination in order to obtain the oracular
messages from the deities. There are others who access the deity in
question by spirit possession.
Diviners occupy an indispensable place in the Igbo society. They
help the afflicted to discover whether his misfortune is the work of hu-
man agents from the community – e.g. witches or sorcerers, or from
spiritual agents from within or outside the community – e.g. an alusi, or
from an evil spirit. When this is established, they are still needed to help
the victim find out the culprit or which particular spirit is responsible,
and also to ascertain the appropriate remedies for the disrupted har-
mony.67

7.2.5.3.4 Native doctors (Dibia Ogwu)

These are persons who possess the art of accessing the powers inherent
in nature, herbs, animals and human beings, primarily for the well-being
of their clients: healing, protection from and prevention of harm, or for
the heightening or strengthening of one’s vital force and abilities or those

65 Metuh, Comparative Studies, 207.

66 Ibid., 218.
67 Cf. E. I. Metuh, African Religions in Western Conceptual Schemes, 174-175.

193
of their clients. These professionals are generally called medicine-men in
the literature. There are, however, not only men but also women in this
profession. That is why we prefer the terminology “native doctors”. In a
society where many forces are believed to impinge on one’s life and
sense of well-being, it becomes a matter of vital importance to have
competent men and women versed in the art of manipulating, controlling
and accessing the influence of these forces. Illness for an Igbo, as is the
case for any African, is not only a physiological but also a psycho-
spiritual disorder. In the Igbo country any sort of impairment of well-
being – actual, anticipated or imagined – is the field of interest of the na-
tive doctor. His art involves, beside the knowledge of the causes (physi-
cal and spiritual) of illness and the relevant remedial approaches, also the
invocation of the spirits and gods and the performance of ritual sacri-
fices. As a doctor his function is first and foremost to protect and en-
hance life and well-being.
Every gift or talent can be misused. So also every profession, com-
petence and office. The office of the native doctor posits no exception.
There are some native doctors who specialize in means of vitiating, im-
pairing and destroying the life and well-being of their fellow human be-
ings.
In some cases the native doctor is at the same time priest and di-
viner. Since his field of work spans the three dimensions: physiological,
spiritual and psychological, he often works closely with diviners and
priests. In any case every prospective native doctor undergoes an inten-
sive and sometimes long period of training or apprenticeship. However,
the profession cannot be chosen as one would choose any other profes-
sion like carpentry or teaching. Only those into whose lives the deity of
medicine, Agwu, breaks (wa), i.e. those called, can become native doc-
tors. According to Metuh, “the call is experienced in the form of a mild
mental disturbance (ala agwu – madness of Agwu). Divination confirms
that it is the sign of a call by Agwu to serve him and the community as a
medicine-man [or -woman]. The candidate then sets up a shrine for De-
ity-deity and attaches himself to an experienced medicine-man as an ap-
prentice”68.
One would think that the presence of Western trained medical prac-
titioners and the increasing number of Western oriented hospitals will

68 Ibid., 215.

194
force the native medicine and its doctors to fall into disuse. The reality is
far from this. Not even the onslaught of missionary and Christian activi-
ties could weaken the importance of native doctors in the Igbo country.
Their resilience is underscored by the apparent great number of native
doctors in Nigerian as well as in many African cities. “Their clientele”,
Metuh observes, “come from all sectors of the community and include
politicians, highly placed government officials, university lecturers and
students, business-men [and -women] and military officers”69.
All three categories of ritual personages are ritual leaders in the
Igbo society and the Igbo assume ‘correct behaviour’70 in respect to
them. They too are bound by the same Igbo concept of leadership, which
has the primary function of creating possibilities of “high status for the
individual and progress for the entire community”71.
An important contrast to the Christian idea of ritual leadership con-
sists in the fact that among the Igbo these functionaries live the normal
life of every other citizen, except for those periods when they perform
their duties and the fact that they are accorded the social status and re-
spect in correspondence with their office and function. Permanent celi-
bacy or abstinence from sexual activities as a way of life for these func-
tionaries is strange to the Igbo traditional life. Igbo tradition demands
limited and periodic sexual activities on the part of the priests and priest-
esses (which of course seems to be a more practicable human require-
ment). For instance the traditional priest does not sleep with his wife
during the period he is on duty.72 Agu puts it thus:

Those who performed ritual or priestly functions for and among the people were
not secluded from the rest of the populace. They performed their religious duties at
the time and in the manner it was required of them, and they received their remu-
neration in accordance with omenala and were accorded the social status and re-
spect in keeping with their office and function. Outside that, they lived the normal
life of every other citizen [...]. None of these who perform ritual and priestly func-
tions in various ways is ‘a holy figure set apart from daily life’; each of them went
73
about his farming and took part in village activities as did everyone else .

69 Ibid.
70 The concept of “correct behaviour” will be explained later down in this chapter.
71 Uchendu 20.
72 Cf. Nwala 233.
73 Agu 230. Cf. also, Green 53.

195
Let us now take a look at the general belief system74 of the Igbo, which
is the bedrock on which the aforesaid rests.

7.3 General Belief System

Often when world views are being discussed, there is a common ten-
dency to a priori treat religion as an independent department. But when
we talk about frames of reference, we are talking about belief systems,
which naturally have at their roots the people’s convictions about their
place in the scheme of the universe, the meaning and goal of human life,
their relationship to the natural and spiritual forces active in their uni-
verse. To this regard, a belief system is a web of epistemological princi-
ples underlying behaviours and/or general behavioural tendencies. A
person’s or a people’s behaviour can be better appreciated if the observer
understands the underlying belief system or systems. In the subjective
experience of the person himself a conflict occurs when two or more
guiding principles can no longer simultaneously be applied without their
resulting in contradictory behaviours.75 An insight into the traditional
Igbo belief system is very necessary if one wants to understand why the
Igbo act the way they act and also to what extent their belief system dif-
fers from, say, that of a French, an German or a Briton. We shall discuss
this overarching semiotic domain of Igbo belief system under the term
Omenani, whereby we shall pay attention only to some selected areas of
the Omenani which we consider as the “root metaphors”.
Igbo general belief system is centred on the belief in the Supreme
Being and the supernatural forces. It is, therefore, bound to share certain
broad characteristics with other similar belief systems around the world,
such as the need for myth, dogma and sanctions – to describe, define and
defend beliefs –, rituals to actualise and communicate with the super-
natural forces, taboos and a web of codes of conduct and attendant pos-
sible sanctions to ensure conformity, cultural identity and the correct

74 We employ the term “belief system” here as a generic term which includes world
view.
75 Cf. R. Dilts, Changing Belief Systems with NLP, 179.

196
disposition towards the whole belief system. All these are embodied in
Omenani.

7.3.1 Customs and Tradition (Omenani)

Omenani literarily means that which obtains in the land or community,

the way things are done in the land. It means also ‘according to the way
our forefathers and our people do things’. It refers to the norms, customs
and traditions of the Igbo. Omenani refers to the guiding principles in the
relationship of the Igbo to the world around him, visible and invisible,
material and spiritual. It defines what is right and wrong in the commu-
nity. It refers to what is in accordance with the basic beliefs, ideas and
mores without which, in fact, as the Igbo say, the community loses its
identity, ceases to exist as a social entity. It includes the concepts about
the origin of the universe and its nature, structure and organization, the
nature of the order and harmony among the various beings or forces in
the universe, means of maintaining or observing such a balance, rules
and regulations governing human actions. Omenani is the Igbo expres-
sion not only for their culture, but also for the moral order. Omenani is
the compendium of the Igbo belief system as well as the actual practice
of the norms and customs as they apply to any aspect of social and ritual
life of the community. If an Igbo is pouring libation and you ask him
what he is doing, he will reply: ana m eme omenani (I am performing
omenani). If your host presents cola nuts to you, he might say: k’anyi
mee omenani (let us do omenani). Omenani is the way the Igbo view,
interpret and approach life as a whole.
The Igbo belief system or Omenani is founded on two basic convic-
tions: (1) There is an organismic unity among all things, and (2) there is
an ordered relationship, an equilibrium, among all beings in the universe.

7.3.1.1 A unitary world

The Igbo world is a unity. This is a world where the various departments
of life are in a web of interconnected relationship, such that one cannot
separate one from the other without losing an essential component. It is a
world where the various spheres: the human and the divine, the religious

197
and non-religious, the visible and the invisible are involved in such an
interaction that they mutually influence each other.
Like other African societies, the Igbo view their world as inhabited
and permeated by what we can call Life-Force. The essence of the vari-
ous realms and entities in this world is Life-force. This is why their
world is a unity. It is this Life-force that weaves the realms and entities,
which are organized in a hierarchical ontological order, into a cognitive
whole.
For the analytically minded Western scientific orientation such a
world appears primitive or unscientific. It does not fit into the grid of
Western world apprehension, which operates on the principles of dual-
ism and quantification or measurability. Since the beginning of European
intellection, dualism has been the cornerstone. It severed the universe
into good versus evil, truth versus falsity, subject versus object, natural
versus supernatural, body versus soul, matter versus form, heaven versus
hell, the human person versus nature, this world versus next world, etc.
The one always excludes the other. Later in the 17th Century while free-
ing itself from the control of church scholasticism with the help of Gali-
leo and Kepler, but without eliminating dualism, and shedding the last
grips of mythological cosmology76, Western consciousness added the
principle of measurability to its intellectual cornerstone. Having sort of
side-stepped dualism, it enthroned a kind of monism: Only what can be
measured and quantified can be known, is worth attention and is real. As
L. L. Whyte put it: “About 1600 Kepler and Galileo simultaneously and
independently formulated the principle that the laws of nature are to be
discovered by measurement [...] Where Aristotle had classified, Kepler
and Galileo sought to measure”77. In a cognitive framework which oper-
ates by exclusion and/or division, the idea of ‘as-well-as’ has no place or
recognition and an apparent paradox is an absurdity. The human being is
divided into body and soul, whereby the former is inferior to the latter;

76 This process began as far back as the 6th century B. C. in Greece when the Ionian
philosophers took the first steps towards looking at the world, explaining and inter-
preting it in naturalistic terms without recourse to supernatural forces or entities.
The climax seemed to have been reached with the Enlightenment era of the eight-
eenth century, when tradition with its myths was virtually ousted from the stage of
world perception and explanation; the individual was pitched up against the soci-
ety, and the road was straightened out for the modern individualism.
77 K. Wilber, The Spectrum of Consciousness, 20.

198
only objects are significant and real, since they are measurable and veri-
fiable; subjects have no reality. While the church and some fields of the
humanistic sciences still stick doggedly to dualistic approaches to the
universe, the natural sciences spearheaded by physics and mathematics
are rapidly giving up the principle of measurability and objectivity.78
Gradually they have come to realize that it is an illusion to believe that
you can observe something without interfering with it. This illusion gave
rise to the problem of mistaking the map for the territory79 or “our ab-
stractions for concrete realities”80, as is the case in many confrontations
between Christians and adherents of the Traditional religions. Both prin-
ciples have constituted the cornerstone of Western intellection: philoso-
phy, theology and sciences, for several centuries. Criticizing this age-old
intellectual bondage K. Wilber impatiently upbraids:

Western philosophy is, by and large, Greek philosophy, and Greek philosophy is
the philosophy of dualism. Most of the great philosophical topics still debated to-
day were created and moulded by the philosophers of ancient Greece. These in-
clude the dualism of truth vs. falsity, whose study is termed “logic”; that of good
vs. evil, called “ethics”; and that of appearance vs. reality, named “epistemology”.
The Greeks also initiated the wide scale study of “ontology”, the examination of
the ultimate nature or being of the universe, and their early inquiries centred around
the dualisms of the one vs. the many, chaos vs. order, simplicity vs. complexity.
Rooted firmly in these dualisms, Western thought throughout its history has con-
tinued to generate those of its own: instinct vs. intellect, wave vs. particle, positiv-
ism vs. idealism, matter vs. energy, thesis vs. antithesis, mind vs. body, behaviour-
ism vs. vitalism, fate vs. free-will, space vs. time – the list is endless. Thus did
Whitehead state that Western philosophy is an elaborate footnote to Plato.
This is indeed odd, for if dualistic knowledge is at the root as contradictory as try-
ing to make your finger touch its own tip or your foot step on itself, why wasn’t it
abandoned long ago, why did it exert such a pervasive influence throughout the
course of European thought, why does it still dominate – in one subtle form or an-
other – the major branches of Western intellection today? [...] One of the principal
reasons that the dualistic or “divide-and-conquer” approach has been so pernicious
is that the error of dualism forms the root of intellection and is therefore next to
impossible to uproot by intellection (Catch-22: if I have a fly in my eye, how can I
81
see that I have a fly in my eye?) .

78 Cf. Ibid., 21-24.

79 Cf. Ibid., 29-30.
80 Ibid., 33.
81 Ibid., 18-19.

199
In the Western culture where the analytical thought pattern is based, such
categories of thought like sacred and profane, religion and politics etc.
are accepted thought categories, which could be opposed to each other;
religion is looked upon as just a department of life – an activity reserved
just for special occasions: “an appendix to normal living”82. Fortunately
mystics in the Christian tradition have practised the kind of unitary vi-
sion we mean here. They have been able to jettison the shackles of dual-
ism and perceive reality unabridged, direct and as one without doing
violence to “the seamless coat of the universe”83. In fact, the Igbo do not
even have a word that renders the English word religion in their lan-
guage; the same is applicable to many other African languages.84 This
underscores the fact that the belief system, which the word religion ex-
presses, permeates all the departments of life. K. Gibran has expressed
this same idea in a brilliant manner, which we quote here in extenso.
Asked by a priest among his audience to speak to them about religion,
the wise teacher said:

Have I spoken this day of aught else? Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,
and that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever
springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom? Who
can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations? Who can
spread his hours before him, saying, ‘This for God and this for myself; This for my
soul and this other for my body’? All your hours are wings that beat through space
from self to self. He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better na-
ked. The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin. And he who defines his
conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage. The freest song comes not
through bars and wires. And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also
to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to
dawn. Your daily life is your temple and your religion. Whenever you enter into it
take with you your all. Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,
the things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight. For in reverie you cannot
rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures. And take with you
all men: For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble your-
self lower than their despair. And if you would know God, be not therefore a solver
of riddles. Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His

82 Agu 223.
83 Wilber 33.
84 Cf. Mbiti 2.

200
 arms in the lightening and descending in rain. You shall see him smiling in flowers,
85
then rising and waving His hands in trees .

Many works have been written on Igbo traditional religion.86 These

works, however, manifest the same tendency akin to Western thought
pattern: they treat religion as an independent sphere of life, as a subject
matter on its own footing. The reason or the explanation for this can be
sought in the following directions: (a) Most of these works, especially
those written by Igbo scholars are impelled and propelled by the desire
to correct the widespread wrong notion that exists among Europeans
about the Igbo and their relationship to the world of spiritual beings or to
the numinous. For A. E. Afigbo, “the enemies of our culture, especially
the missionary societies, have libelled our society and culture for so long
and to such an extent that we now have to prove to them, and to those
who think like them, that there is much in that culture that is noble, dig-
nified and praiseworthy”87. (b) Connected with this is the desire to fill up
an intellectual gap88 which such misrepresentations in the West had laid
bare: the traditional Igbo culture has no literary documentation of its
system. Just like efforts to fill up this gap in the area of philosophy89 are
yielding a lot of positive results, the area of religion and religious beliefs
has attracted the greatest attention largely due to the Christianity factor
and its perpetual negative bias and aggression towards the Igbo tradi-
tional religious belief system. Afigbo comments:

So iconoclastic did the missions become that they infuriated many members of the
colonial administration by their radical reformism. At one point Herbert Richmond

85 K. Gibran, The Prophet, 103-105.

86 E. I. Metuh, God and Man in African Religion; ibid., Comparative studies of Afri-
can Traditional Religions; ibid., African Religions in Western Conceptual
Schemes. Other works on Igbo Traditional Religion are: A. N. O. Ekwunife, Con-
secration in Igbo Traditional Religion; C. O. Obiego, African Image of the Ulti-
mate Reality; F. A. Arinze, Sacrifice in Igbo Religion; G. T. Basden, Among the
Ibos of Nigeria; V. C. Uchendu, The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria.
87 A. E. Afigbo, Towards a Cultural Revival among the Igbo-Speaking Peoples, 7.
88 E. I. Metuh’s work “God and Man in African Religion” has this as one of its moti-
vation and aim.
89 For instance the works of T. Okere, Can There Be an African Philosophy? A Her-
meneutical Investigation with Special Reference to Igbo Culture, Louvain 1971; T.
U. Nwala, Igbo Philosophy; E. M. P. Edeh, Towards an Igbo Metaphysics, Chicago
1985.

201
 Palmer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Northern Nigeria, commenting on the affairs in
Igboland, said it was the policy of the missions to destroy the fabric of Igbo life in
order to build upon the ashes thereof. It is a measure of how far the Igbo were taken
in by European cultural propaganda and blandishments that it is only within the last
few years that they became even moderately aware of the need to revive and assert
90
their independent cultural identity [...] .

(c) Also closely affiliated with the first two points is the loud and per-
sistent outcry for a cultural revival in the face of a war of extinction
waged on the Igbo cultural and traditional belief system by the mission-
ary societies and colonialism; a war which was exacerbated by the un-
critical and unrestrained Igbo longing for European culture.91 Afigbo
quotes G. T. Basden who commented on this reckless hankering for for-
eign ways of life as very unfortunate and regrettable:

The generation that represented primitive Ibo belief, with its ancient laws and cus-
toms, has almost died out [...]. The younger generation is learning to read and write
and to adopt European ideas and fashions in every detail of life, clothes, houses and
pastimes [...]. The younger generation has shed old manners and customs freely,
and somewhat hastily. They are ardently grasping at all things new and foreign.
92
Not all, by any means, can discriminate between the wheat and the chaff .

According to Afigbo the need for a cultural revival is justified and based
on the fact

first, that before we were colonized and culturally brainwashed we had a culture of
our own; second, that it was this culture which gave our fathers and those before
them their distinctive individuality; third, that though this culture, like all cultures,
had its weak points, it also had its strong points; fourth, that while casting aside the
weaknesses we can move into the modern world with aspects of that culture in or-
der to retain our separate identity and, finally, that should we cast aside our culture
in its entirety in order to embrace European ways, we shall cease to be ourselves
93
without quite becoming Europeans .

90 Afigbo 4-5.
91 European culture as introduced by the missionaries and colonialists sort of fash-
ioned a society in which the Igbo found unlimited and unparalleled opportunities
for indulging their achievement oriented attitude inculcated in them by their tradi-
tional society.
92 Afigbo 4.
93 Ibid., 5.

202
(d) The desire to present the correct picture of the religion of their people
to the wider world, coupled with the intellectual enterprise made it in-
evitable and expedient to use thought categories their audience is accus-
tomed to. Nonetheless, the difficulty and the problems of translating for-
eign concepts and phenomena into one’s own linguistic horizon – as is
the case in works by European and American authors – or African cul-
tural phenomena and concepts into foreign language and/or with words
that are foreign to it – as is case in the works by Igbo authors – are felt
throughout most of these works. This of necessity leads very often to
distortion of facts about the subject matter. E. Metuh cited an example of
such distortions in the rather cynical account made by Rev. J. During in
his report of 1878 on the nature of Igbo worship:

How they offered their prayers every morning? With their stick tooth brush. When
they chewed it to their satisfaction they took it out and slew their hand with it
around their head many times and sprinkled spits as they think and said God must
eat it, and he must give them cowries (money) and should any of their enemies
want them to die, such one must die. And in front of their houses they planted a
tree and pray through it; they said, when they speak to it, the stick conveyed their
words to God; all broken plates, cups, placed on the roots of the trees they said they
94
gave it to God .

In recognition of this problem E. I. Metuh devoted one of his works95

entirely to the problem of translation and interpretation. In this work
Metuh set out to portray the Igbo religious experience in such a way that
a “Westerner or anybody with a Western world view” can “understand
Igbo religious beliefs as the Igbo understand them”96. Whatever the
shortcomings of these intellectual ventures they have helped to articulate
and objectivate the subjective experience of the Igbo for the wider world
by rendering it in a more universal symbolism: written language, thus
making it available to the rest of humankind97 and to posterity. On the

94 Metuh, African Religions, 50.

Such an account only exposes the extent to which During is ignorant of symbolism
and the nature of symbols.
95 African Religions in Western Conceptual Schemes.
96 Ibid., xi.
97 This is in contrast to speech language which no doubt is also a powerful instrument
of externalizing subjective experience. However, until the invention of audio-visual
aids and techniques, its usefulness and efficacy as an instrument of documentation

203
background of this optimism we too venture into this cognitive land-
scape of the Igbo in order to explore and to savour the order and har-
mony in the interplay of life on this landscape.

7.3.1.2 Harmony in the Interplay of the Life-forces

The second basic conviction on which Igbo belief system rests is that
there is an ordered relationship, an equilibrium, among all beings in the
universe. The Igbo believe that their universe is full of life-forces, be-
ings, which are related to each other in an organismic manner and are in
constant interaction with each other. A basic characteristic of this inter-
action is reciprocity. Human existence and survival depends on the
maintenance and observation of the harmony and order among these
forces. (Morally) good life consists in the observation and maintenance
of this order. Any disorder is the result of an improper conduct or be-
haviour on the part of any of the forces. Any disorder affects the entire
system. The disruption can be rectified through various rituals. The
omenani contains numerous taboos (nso) and sanctions to ensure and
safeguard this organismic – cosmic and social – balance and order.
The Igbo believe that their world is inhabited by both benevolent
and malevolent visible and invisible beings or forces. The human being
is at the centre of this universe of dynamic forces. Consequently the Igbo
have developed an elaborate range of rituals and means of influencing,
securing or procuring the benevolence of the beneficent ones and pro-
tecting themselves from, warding off or manipulating the maleficence of
the malicious ones. Through the rituals an Igbo hopes to “maintain an
equilibrium and a harmonious relationship with all the beings and forces
that impinge on his life and being”98.

and information transmission from one generation to another was restricted only to
the method of oral transmission.
Furthermore, this statement does not disregard the existence of age-old forms of
written language among the Igbo: the Nsibidi and Ur ala sign language, cf., A. E.
Afigbo, The Place of the Igbo Language in our Schools, 73-74; Isichei, A History
of the Igbo People, 35-39. These writing forms, however, were not available to the
entire Igbo people; since they were secret writings, they were known and restricted
only to the members of the secret societies, especially the knk and the Ekpe secret
societies, cf. Afigbo 73.
98 Metuh, African Religions, 4. Cf. Uchendu 12-14.

204
 Among the invisible members of the Igbo world are Chukwu (Great
God), the numerous deities that are his messengers, the ancestors and
other spirit forces that roam the world. Being members of the one Igbo
world these spiritual beings are in constant interaction with the human
being.
For the Igbo all the life-forces or beings in the universe are organ-
ized in a hierarchical order. The other life-forces are not all of the same
kind and vary in their importance to the human being. They are thus dif-
ferentiated according to their power and their role in the ontological or-
der in nature. Nwala classified these beings into three broad categories
with subcategories: 1. Spirits and Forces (Mmuo na Ogwu), 2. Human
beings (Mmadu), 3. Things (animate and inanimate, plants, animals)
(Ihe).

7.3.1.2.1 The Spiritual Beings and Forces (Mmuo na Ogwu)

This class of spiritual beings are sub-grouped according to their order of
importance, power and influence:

(a) The Supreme Deity (Chukwu)

The overarching power and ultimate Life-force in the Igbo world is the
Supreme Deity – Chukwu, Chineke, Osebuluwa, Ezechitoke abiama – as
it is variously called depending on the aspect being emphasized or ad-
dressed. Referring to the transcendence and greatness of this supreme
deity, God, the Igbo call him Chukwu. Chukwu is derivative of two Igbo
words Chi (the creative destiny) and ukwu (great) meaning the Great
Chi. Chi is the “personalized creative destiny”99 of a person. “The [Igbo]
[...] believe that at the moment of conception God creates a new individ-
ual spirit who eventually is born as a human being. Sometime before his
actual birth, this spirit goes before God and is allotted his destiny (Chi)
and an ancestral guardian (Eke) who then as it were, imprints on this
formless figure some of his own physical and character traits. Hence the
reincarnating ancestor is called ‘onye noro ya uwa’ (he who welcomed
him into the world) [...]. It is not the individuality of the ancestor that is
reborn but his personality”100. This personal Chi is an emanation of God
embodying the divine providence for the person. Chi is thus a kind of

99 Uzukwu 15.
100 Metuh, Comparative Studies, 256.

205
personal God. This Chi receives a package of possible destinies for the
person from which it has to choose only one. The destiny chosen is re-
garded by the Igbo also as Chi. The person’s course of life, and what he
may get out of life are contained therein and predestined by Chukwu.
However, what the person actually gets or makes out of his package is
the person’s sole responsibility. The Igbo believe that this Chi has a dou-
ble. One remains with God and the other accompanies the individual to
oversee and assist him in realising the destiny it has chosen for him.101 In
this sense, it can be understood as the ‘spirit guardian’ of the person. Chi,
therefore, stands for three related meanings: the supreme being, the per-
sonal destiny of the person and the personal spirit-guardian.102 Which
one is meant by the Igbo at any given time is decipherable from the
context in which the word is used.103 Chi-Ukwu would then be to the en-
tire universe what Chi is to the individual person. Chukwu understood in
the above sense means ‘The Great God’ or ‘The Great Controller or
Originator of universal destiny’. Individual and global history would
then be the process of the crystallization, development and bringing into
full shape the individual and universal divine package. However, the ul-
timate goal of this movement or process, in contrast to the Judeo-
Christian tradition, is not union with Chukwu (God).104 When the Igbo
mean God’s creative power and quality, they address him as Chineke or
Chukwu Okike. The designation “Chineke” is a combination of three

101 Metuh, Comparative Studies, 175.

102 Metuh, God and Man, 24.
103 Cf. Ibid., 22-23.
Any event in the life of the Igbo, be it good or bad, success or failure, fortune or
misfortune, is called Chi (one’s destiny). A lucky person is said to be ‘onye chi
oma’ – ‘a person who has a good chi’. Faced with an arduous task, the Igbo would
affirm his self-confidence and encourage himself by saying: Onye kwe chi ya ekwe
(‘If you will or persist hard enough then your Chi will assist you’ i.e. if you are in-
dustrious your Chi becomes active and cooperates. A kind of ‘Heaven helps those
who help themselves!’). Affirming his innocence, he can say: Chi ma ije m (‘God
knows the course of my life’ or ‘God knows how I have come to this point and
where I am heading to’).
104 Cf. K. Wilber, Halbzeit der Evolution, 14-15. In his critic of the Western concep-
tual framework which separates the divine from the human, thus positing both as
different entities which have ontologically nothing in common, Wilber submits that
history is for the Judeo-Christian world the development of the treaty between God
and human beings and has the goal of uniting them with God.

206
Igbo words: “Chi”, “na”, and “Eke” (Chi, and, Eke or Okike). We have
seen what Chi means. At creation each person receives from God
(through the ancestors) another divine dimension called Eke. This divine
emanation, Eke, lets the person out into the world105, linking him with
the human society, especially with the Life-force of his umunna (pa-
trilineage), as his ‘ancestral-guardian’. The Igbo believe that once Chi
and Eke make their choices, they are irrevocably sealed and they are in-
delibly imprinted by Chukwu on the palms of the person’s hands repre-
sented by the lines of the palm, akala aka. When an Igbo refers to the
entire course of his life, he often says: Chi m na Aka m.106 Chineke thus
means ‘The Creator God’, the ‘Creating Providence’. The Igbo address
God as Osebuluwa (or simply Olisa) (‘Sustenance of the Universe’, the
‘Great Providence’, the ‘Great Life-force of the universe’ ) when they re-
fer to the fact that he is immanent in his Creation. The form Ezechitoke
abiama (Lord God Creator of the Universe) is used when His all-creating
and providential power is meant.
The special place of the Supreme Deity in the Igbo world is marked
by the fact that only non-bloody sacrifices are made to him.107 This sacri-
fice, called Aja eze enu (sacrifice to the King on High), consists usually
of a white live fowl tied onto a pole, an eagle feather, a white cloth, a
piece of yam stuck unto the pole and at the base of the pole kola-nuts.108
It can be performed by any married male adult in accordance with the
diviner’s instruction. The place of Chukwu among the Igbo is further
marked by the fact that a direct access to him can be established by any-
body and by any family through its family head. Prayers and supplica-
tions are addressed directly to him. However, a very striking and essen-
tial characteristic of the relationship of the Igbo to Chukwu is that they
do not have any intermediaries between them and Chukwu. Uzukwu’s
observation in this regard is enlightening:

No leader (ritual or political), no community, can arrogate to itself an exclusive re-

lation to Chukwu. No one can claim to mediate (through prayers, invocations or
sacrifices) as an instituted priest between Chukwu and the people. The intrinsic
worth of each human as person, and the dispersal rather than concentration of

105 Metuh 25.

106 “Aka” is a dialectical inflection for ‘Eke’.
107 Cf. Uzukwu 15.
108 Cf. Ibid.; Metuh, God and Man, 130.

207
 authority in the hands of one person is best manifested in the Igbo ritual attitude to
Chukwu. The practice whereby any adult male (i.e. married) performs priestly (sac-
rificial acts) in relation to Chukwu without being specifically consecrated for the
worship of Chukwu brings Chukwu home to each family. Just as no priestcraft
stands between ancestors and their descendants so also none stands between
109
Chukwu and the families .

Chukwu is the only Deity who does not fall within the class of nature
deities. That Chukwu often is associated with Igwe (sky), Anyanwu (sun)
or even with any other powerful deity, Nwala says, is “only an attempt to
bring closer to human comprehension and communion what is but an ab-
solute and an immaterial force or being”.110
Of a very special interest for our study is the following point: For
the traditional Igbo the ultimate goal of his life is to live a life in har-
mony with the cosmic totality, with all the forces that impinge on his life
– and this means to live a good life; his main goal for the Afterlife is to
become an ancestor; and his aim of worship is to attract the gifts and
blessings of the Supreme Being, the favours of the Deities and the sup-
port of the good spirits. Thus, the ultimate goal and value of his life is
neither the imitation of Christ, union with God, nor is the primary aim of
worship the glory of God. The traditional Igbo definitely do not see the
purpose of life to consist in the knowledge, love, worship of God so as to
live with him forever in the next world.111 There are numerous deities
that act as messengers to Chukwu. The deities that follow belong to this
category.

(b) The Deities (Mmuo)

The term Mmuo is a generic term the Igbo use for spirits or spiritual be-
ings. However, it is commonly applied to depict the deities, mostly be-
cause the other spiritual beings have their specific designations in addi-
tion. We shall employ the term “spirits” or “spirit-forces” (Arusi) to
depict that class of spiritual beings or forces, which Chukwu created and
left in nature. The term “ndi mmuo” will be used to denote the common
populace of those spiritual beings that were once human beings. The ex-

109 Uzukwu, ibid. Emphasis added.

110 Nwala 127.
111 This is the purpose for which God created the human being as is contained in the
Igbo Catholic Catechism: ‘Katechizm nke okwukwe katolik n’asusu Igbo’.

208
pression “spirits” stands, therefore, for both Arusi and Ndi Mmuo and
represents those life-forces, which in the ontological hierarchy, are be-
neath the status of the Deities, and above the status of human beings.
Which category of spirits is meant at any point in the discussion will be-
come clear within the context.
The most important among the deities are the ‘Sky-Deity’ (Any-
anwu) and the ‘Earth-Deity’ (Ani, Ala, Ajani). Together they dispense
Chukwu’s immense wealth to his entire creation – for the good of human
beings. The manifestation of sky-deity is the sun. Anyanwu (Sun) is be-
lieved to abide in the sky and thus is nearest to God. The Igbo have a di-
rect sacrifice to Chukwu112, but most often he is worshipped through An-
yanwu. The Igbo regard Anyanwu as the Deity of wealth and good
fortune. Belonging to the sky deities are also Igwe, Amadioha or Ka-
malu. Igwe (sky) is regarded as the ‘husband’ of Ani. “Just as a husband
fertilizes his wife, so Igwe, in form of rain, fertilizes Ala, the Earth De-
ity”113. The function of Igwe consists in uncovering undetected criminals.
Igwe expresses his power and vexation in thunderbolts (Amadioha) and
lightening (Kamalu).
Ani (Earth) is the most important deity in the life of the Igbo.114 It is
said that she presides over the deities below just as Chukwu presides
over the deities above. Subordinate to Ani are numerous lesser deities
like Ifejioku, Agwu, and myriads of Arusi, or local spirits of rivers, for-
ests etc. She exercises her power through them. Agwu, for instance, is the
curator of divination and diviners. It endows its candidates with the gift
of divination and knowledge of medicinal herbs, while it punishes of-
fenders by afflicting them with mental derangement.115 It is important to
note here that various deities found in any part of Igbo country depends

112 Metuh, God and Man, 128-135. Metuh identifies four types of direct offerings or
sacrifices to Chukwu among the Igbo: “The rites of Igba mkpu Chukwu, celebrating
God’s mound; Aja Eze Enu, sacrifice to God, King of heaven; Iruma Chukwu, in-
stalling the altar of God and Ikpalu Chukwu ugbo, making a sacrificial boat for God
on marriage”. Most widespread among these forms of sacrifices is Aja Eze Enu.
For a detailed description of the nature of these sacrifices, cf. Metuh, 129-132.
113 Ibid., 64.
114 Ibid., 66.
115 When someone starts behaving in an unusual or funny way, the Igbo may ask him:
Agwu ona akpa gi? Or Agwu ona ebu gi? – ‘Is Agwu in possession of you?’ That
means: ‘Are you crazy or mad?’

209
on the geographical and ecological conditions of the areas. Highland
Igbo have deities associated with hills and heights, while riverine Igbo
have deities associated with rivers and waters, for instance. The Igbo re-
gard Ani as the owner of all human beings, living or dead. She is very
dear to the Igbo, since she is responsible for fertility of human beings,
animals and plants. Besides, she provides human beings with an abode,
home or shelter and with means of livelihood. At death they return to the
Earth. She is the queen of the underworld and of the ancestors, since they
are buried in her bosom. Thus burial rites are closely associated with Ani
cult. Ani is the wellspring and custodian of omenani. Land disputes,
criminal and other offences that mitigate against individual and commu-
nal well-being are referred to her. Crimes like adultery, incest, murder or
homicide, unnatural birth116 , such as birth of twins, etc. are all crimes
against Ani. All offences against the Earth-Deity, Ani, are abominations
and are called nso Ani (‘taboos’ or things Ani abhors). Ritual sacrifices
of propitiation are made directly to Ani to atone for such crimes in order
to obviate her wrath. According to Metuh,

the cult of Ala is one of the most powerful integrating forces in traditional Igbo so-
cieties which are characterized by the absence of centralized political authority. Her
cult is organized at the family, village and clan level, so that there are family
shrines, village shrines and clan shrines to Ala. Public rites are performed at vari-
117
ous stages of the farming cycle [...] .

The most important of these rites, the new yam festival, performed annu-
ally, is dedicated to her. During the ceremony new yam seedlings, eggs
and other products of the land are offered to her in thanksgiving. After
the opening ceremony performed in the village’s central shrine dedicated
to her called Mbari, the family heads do the same on behalf of their

116 “Unnatural birth” here underscores the belief of the traditional Igbo that since
Chukwu creates and sends out each human being into the world individually, the
occurrence of twins runs contrary to this natural course of creation. Thus it is un-
natural to give birth to twins and twins themselves are bad omen. Since birth has to
do with life and the Earth-Deity is the chief custodian of life, the birth of twins is,
therefore, a crime against Ani and consequently an abomination – nso ani. Such
births are the handwork of nefarious spirits. However, this view was given up al-
ready in the early days of the contact with Christianity.
117 Metuh, God and Man, 67. Cf. also, Jan Knappert, Lexikon der afrikanischen My-
thologie, 97-98.

210
members. In Umuneke clan118 the yams eaten on that day are not boiled;
they are rather roasted and eaten with fresh palm oil, pepper and salt.
This festival is the major feast among the Igbo. It is generally accompa-
nied with great feasting consisting of music and masquerading (– be-
lieved to be the ancestral spirits parading through the villages, dancing
here and there and making visits to their erstwhile families and rela-
tives), and, of all married daughters (umuada) returning to their families
of origin (patrilineage) bringing with them offerings which the okpala
will offer to the ancestors on their behalf. They are occasions for family
reunion and strengthening of family ties with the ancestors. The greatest
and most frequent open confrontation between the participants or believ-
ers in the Traditional Religion and the Christians have been on such oc-
casions. Christians, with the support of their pastors (natives and expatri-
ates alike) and seminarians, often openly defy some of the taboos
connected with these rites, such as preventing their wives to visit their
ancestral homes or forbidding their married daughters from returning
home on the prescribed day(s), or even openly desecrating and violating
the ancestral spirits by disdainfully unmasking the masquerades in order
to show that they are human beings. Up till date this is the tenor of the
Christian approach to what for the Christians is the “problem of mas-
querading in Igboland”. In any case, the aim is to totally eradicate mas-
querading among the Igbo.119
Alusi, Arusi (local Spirit-forces) are said to be ‘metaphysical forces’
which the Supreme Being created and put in nature. They can become
concrete and real in material objects. It is believed that in this process of
incarnation they acquire varying degrees of consciousness and potency.
According to Metuh, “fortunate people especially the dibia or diviners
who first discover these Arusi bond themselves to their service and thus
become the owners of the Arusi. Hence an Arusi is usually the property
of a clan, a village, a family or even an individual”120. Alusi differ essen-
tially from the deities in the fact that they can act whimsically or irra-

118 This area forms the greater part of the present-day Udi Local Government Area in
Enugu State.
119 This is also one of the causes of the conflict between the parish priest of Amokwe
parish (see the Preamble to Chapter Six) and the town community. He, however,
did not desecrate the masquerades but he was incessantly disparaging this tradi-
tional and cultural institution in the churches.
120 Metuh 73.

211
tionally, but not immorally121. They can be invoked against enemies, or
to protect one’s properties or oneself. Christians disparagingly describe
most Igbo traditional ritual affiliations generally as igo mmuo or igo
Alusi (in Christian terminology: worshipping spirits or idols).

(c) Ancestors (Ndichie)

A group of ndi mmuo (non-corporeal beings122) very dear to the Igbo is
the group called ndichie (Ancestors). These are dead family, lineage or
umunna members, who, through a series of passage rites, most especially
burial rites, have attained admission into the spirit world and have be-
come ancestors. As ancestors, they are revered and regarded as part and
parcel of their families and communities. Since they have not yet at-
tained the full ontological form of spirits, which is the ultimate end of
human beings, their process of dying is not yet complete. As a result,
Mbiti prefers to call them the “living dead”:

They are the closest links that men have with the spirit world [...]. The living-dead
are bilingual: they speak the language of men, with whom they lived until ‘re-
cently’; and they speak the language of the spirits and of God, to whom they are
drawing nearer ontologically. These are the ‘spirits’ with which African peoples are
most concerned: it is through the living-dead that the spirit world becomes personal
to men. They are still part of their human families, and people have personal
123
memories of them .

The difference between the ancestors and the spirits is that people from
their families or lineages still remember them, their characteristic traits
and their names. The ancestors who have become spirits no longer have
any living person or family members who remember them. They have
passed into the state Mbiti calls “collective immortality”124 and have no
more family or personal ties with the living. More to this theme when we
discuss ‘spirits’. The ancestors, on the contrary, are in a state of “per-

121 Ibid., 72.

122 In need of bringing some clarity in the concepts used in the description of African
religions and cultures, Mbiti argues that the terms ‘living-dead’ be reserved solely
for the ancestors, while ‘spirits’ be used only for those non-corporeal beings in the
final states of existence, i.e. fully dead and, therefore, wholly spirit. Cf. Mbiti 83-
84.
123 Mbiti 82.
124 Ibid., 78.

212
sonal immortality”125. Commenting on the relation of the Igbo to their
ancestors Metuh has this to say:

The Igbo are very close to their ancestors. They receive more attention in daily and
annual acts of worship than the Supreme Being or the deities. As members of the
family they are invited to be present and participate in most family activities; they
are invoked to share in the kola communion, whether it is blessed at public gather-
ings or split at home to entertain a guest. They are invoked to participate at naming
ceremonies, marriages and funeral rites of other members of their family. The Igbo
morning offering, Igo ofo, ‘praying with the ofo’[...] is addressed to God, the dei-
126
ties and the ancestors, but it is made before the ancestral shrine Okpensi .

As we saw earlier, the ancestors legitimate the authority of the okpala.

Unlike the malignant spirits, the ancestors are good ‘spirits’, well dis-
posed and caring for the welfare of their descendants. As ‘living-dead’
they have enhanced powers and influence. Since they are part of their
human families, they know the needs of their people and at the same
time have full access to the channels of communicating directly with
Chukwu and the deities. Being closer to the Supreme Being and the dei-
ties, they act as intermediaries between these other spiritual beings and
their families. In virtue of their new status they have better knowledge of
the goings-on in the spirit-world. From this vantage point they can con-
stantly warn their families and umunna of an impending catastrophe and
advise them on how best “to attract the most favourable fortunes. As
members of the clan into which they hope one day to reincarnate, they
are very concerned with the continued existence and strengthening of the
clan”127. As a result they act, under the supervision of the Earth-Deity,
Ani, as custodians of the traditional norms, mores and customs on which
the survival of the lineage revolves. The Igbo, and indeed Africans in
general, involve them in their family affairs more often for minor needs
of life than they approach Chukwu.
Just like the relationship between Chukwu, the deities and human
beings requires ‘correct behaviour’, so also does the relationship be-
tween the Igbo and the ancestors. A “correct behaviour” is the demean-
our, conduct or disposition, which is in accordance with the norms and

125 Ibid., 82.

126 Metuh, God and man, 95. Cf. too Uchendu 11-12.
127 Metuh, Comparative Studies, 139.

213
customs of the people regarding, and befitting of, a given object to which
one relates. This includes the observance of proscriptions and prescrip-
tions, taboos, as they relate to the given object or person(s). It is, for in-
stance, a “correct behaviour” towards the ancestors to ‘feed them’128
regularly. And in offering them their food, it is “correct behaviour” to
treat them as part of the family but still not as if they were not dead. This
requires the befitting measure of distance and nearness.
The concept of ndichie puts up the question of how the Igbo view
the idea of afterlife. Closely connected with this question is the concept
of time. Time is for the Africans, in contradistinction to the European
concept of time, not linear but cyclic. This is not to say that Africans or
the Igbo do not have an idea of the past, present and indefinite future.
They do. A striking difference, however, is that for the Igbo life is activ-
ity, and events determine, mark and govern time. For a Westerner time is
more or less the concatenation of sequences of events measured on the
chronometer.
The linear conception of time is also at the root of the Christian
teachings on the Afterlife. Christians posit a better world in the future, in
the other world. For the Igbo there is no ‘world to come’ and there is no
better world outside this very one. The invisible world, the world of the
Deities, spirits and ancestors is almost a carbon copy of this world, and is
organized seemingly in the same way. At the end of one’s life among the
living, the ultimate desire and end of the African or the Igbo is not union
with God or entrance into heaven, but to become an ancestor and to be
able to reincarnate into one’s family. This guarantees him a continuous
participation in the affairs of his family or clan, and remembrance. That
means Ndu (Life) for the Igbo: a life materially and spiritually sustained.
According to Nwala, “hardly do the Igbo pray to be like their gods or to
be united with their gods […]”129. The general orientation of Christians
is other-worldly, while that of the Igbo is this-worldly.

128 Sacrifices or offerings made to the ancestors are called by the Igbo inye ndi nna
nna anyi fa nri – giving food to our forefathers. Since the relationship to the an-
cestors is as well governed by the principle of beneficial reciprocity and mutual re-
sponsibility, which is the maxim governing their social life, the ancestors can be
subjected to ‘starvation’ should they fail to perform their own part of their respon-
sibility towards their families and communities.
129 Nwala 183.

214
 The cyclic nature of time begins for the Igbo at creation and pro-
ceeds through birth, (adulthood,) death and rebirth. Just like cosmic
events such as the rotation of the earth, the phases of the moon, day and
night, the seasons of the year all follow the cyclic sequence, so does life
for the Igbo. The ‘rites of passage’: birth, puberty and funeral rites, all
are geared towards celebrating and reinforcing the dynamism of each
phase of this cyclic process. Each new phase brings about an enhance-
ment of the powers of the person, which he can exercise for the benefit
of his family and lineage. Appropriate and elaborate burial or funeral
rites are believed to usher the dead person into the spirit-world and en-
able him gain a place within the ranks of the ancestors. However, death
alone makes yet no ancestor. Only when the person has lived a life in
harmony with all the vital network of relationships, with nature, God, the
Deities, the ancestors, his umunna or lineage etc. can they guarantee him
the status of ancestor. Life is for the African life-in-relation.
The ‘Afterlife’ is, therefore, for the Igbo the continuing of the rela-
tionship of the dead with the living and not the ultimate end of the hu-
man being or of the world. When, therefore, one is not buried right, i.e.
not accorded the proper burial rites, the person ends up in a ‘world-in-
between’; he is not admitted into the spirit-world and is also no longer
part of the living. Such persons are believed to return to their families to
cause havoc until they are given the right burial. “The most loathsome
expectation in the Afterlife”, Metuh writes, “is to end up as a wandering
spirit, cut-off from the community and communion with one’s family
and kinship groups”130.

(d) Spirits (Ndi Mmuo)

There are myriads of spirits which co-inhabit the Igbo world. Just as
there are good and evil human beings, there are also good and evil spir-
its. The spirits are believed to dwell in the underground, in the woods,
thick forests, rivers, grooves, caves, or just around the villages. The
world of the spirits is believed to be very much like the world of human
beings. In addition to many other activities they engage themselves in,
which are unknown to human beings, the activities of the spirits are
similar to those of human life here. People report that they see spirits in
forests, in ponds, at midday, on open places, in the market place, along

130 Metuh, Comparative Studies, 251.

215
pathways, outside their villages, dancing, singing, working in their farms
or nursing their children.
Spirits themselves are invisible, but they may make themselves visi-
ble to human beings, especially to diviners and mediums. They are said
to assume different shapes like human, animal, bird, plant forms or in-
animate objects but in shadowy forms. They have no family or personal
ties with human beings, and are no longer ancestors. This fact of the ab-
sence of any family or human binding or cleavage makes human beings
to fear them. They are regarded as strangers and as such dreaded; since
one does not know how exactly to approach or deal with them correctly,
every effort is made to keep out of their way.
The evil spirits are most dreaded by the Igbo. Among the evil spirits
the most potent are the ones the Igbo call Uru Chi (Destroyer of fortune),
Ogbanje (Repeaters), Akalogeli (Wandering spirits) and Ogbonuke (Dis-
gruntled dead comrades). As a result of the effort to find an equivalent to
the Christian concept of the Devil in the Igbo belief system, the mission-
aries came to identify an Igbo Deity of war, Ekwensu, with the Christian
devil. The Christian notion of the devil as the enemy of God, who de-
rives satisfaction in inciting people to moral evil in order to alienate
them from God, is inexistent in the Igbo belief system. Ekwensu is not
the devil but an Alusi. It is generally regarded as the spirit of valiance,
bravery and valour, violence and destruction. At war time warriors and
head-hunters invoked it for valour and bravery. At peacetime Ekwensu
incites people to violence. Purification rites and some other rites are per-
formed to drive away Ekwensu, since its activities during peacetime
spells disaster for the community. Among all the spirits only Ekwensu
can make somebody to commit a morally despicable act, and that only on
one specific area: homicide against a person of the same community.
That is the only occasion in which moral evil is brought in connection
with an Alusi or spirit. Specifying Metuh writes:

When Ekwensu, which like every other Arusi is generally regarded as a good spirit,
incites somebody to acts of violence resulting in bloodshed in his own community,
it is regarded as a moral evil. Only Ekwensu, therefore, is believed to incite people
to moral evil and only in this very restricted area; thus the notion of inciting people
to moral evil enters the conception of Ekwensu and one can understand why the
131
idea of Ekwensu as the ‘tempter’ or the ‘devil’ caught on easily with the Igbo .

131 Metuh, God and man, 78.

216
On account of this thin connection, the Christians believe to have found
an equivalent of their notion of the devil among the Igbo. Following this
misinterpretation and generalization Christians and non-Christians am-
ong the Igbo today refer to every misfortune, mistake, wrong doing or
evil act as oru ekwensu (the work of ekwensu).
Akalogeli, Ogbonuke, Ogbanje are three categories of evil spirits
that have the same goal of making the lives of the living worthless by
baring them from realizing their ultimate purpose in life and their des-
tiny: long life, big family, wealth, grandiose funeral ceremonies to en-
sure a smooth passage and admission into the spirit-world and a place
among the ranks of the ancestors. These spirits are evil because they
bring misfortune upon the living. Evil spirits are not worshipped; they
are driven away by the help of a dibia.
Uru Chi is another category of non-human spirits. It is the only
spirit the Igbo regard as essentially evil. It strives to negate every effort
and every favour from Chi. Other evil spirits bring misfortune, Uru Chi
thwarts or destroys fortune. According to Metuh, “Uru Chi strives to
render null and void any favours Chi intends to send to her child, and
strives to frustrate any requests and sacrifices offered to Chi by her
child”132.
From this exposition one immediately sees how cognitively danger-
ous, theologically irresponsible and pastorally misleading it is to identify
the Christian concept of evil or devil with the Igbo concept of evil. A
concept equivalent to the Christian concept of devil, except in relation to
the deity Ekwensu, and only in that restricted sense explained above,
does not exist in the Igbo belief system. The same thing is applicable to
the concept of ‘original sin’. This, too, does not exist in Igbo conceptual
framework. Since Chineke creates each person individually, it seems ab-
surd to believe that some person or persons in the remote past committed
a sin in which each newly created person participates. Besides, what’s
the point in creating each person individually?
In accordance with their cyclic conception of time and life, the Igbo
believe that the spirit status is a more enhanced status in relation to hu-
man beings. Accordingly the spirits have more powers than human be-
ings; still yet they are amenable to manipulation, influences and control
by human experts. Thus, even though human beings dread or fear the

132 Ibid.

217
spirits, they still can drive the same spirits away or use them to their own
human advantage. Dealing with the spirits is a very delicate affair and
requires the exact know-how; the spirits (Alusi), as we saw earlier, are
whimsical and indiscriminate in their actions.
The main objective of an Igbo is to live a life of communion in
harmony with all the life-forces. To fall out of this harmony means to
fall out of communion which is disintegration; this would bring disaster
for him and for his immediate environment. His well-being consists “in
keeping in harmony with the cosmic totality. When things go well with
him he knows he is at peace and of a piece with the scheme of things and
there can be no greater good than that. If things go wrong then some-
where he has fallen out of step [...]. The whole system of divination ex-
ists to help him discover the point at which the harmony has been broken
and how it may be restored”133. From the point of view of the human
being the Igbo cosmology can be diagrammatically depicted in the man-
ner shown on page 235.
We saw that the Igbo dread the malignant spirits because of their
capability to meddle with the safe courses of one’s fortune. One has to
enlist the help of as many benevolent forces as possible to ensure a safe
realization of one’s destiny or mission, and also to shield oneself from,
as well as hold, the malignant and pernicious influences and forces in
abeyance. The most common means of controlling, manipulating and
checking the malignant spirits is ogwu.

(e) Medicine (Ogwu)

The Igbo believe firmly in the potency of ogwu. It is not easy to pin the
term ogwu down to one specific meaning. The concept of ogwu can be
understood pragmatically as practical answer to practical problems of
life, but as well as a conceptual framework.

133 Metuh, Comparative Studies, 71.

218
 Chukwu, Chineke, Osebuluwa, Ezechitoke abiama

Anyanwu Onwa

Other
life- Ndi-
forces, Mmadu ichie
deities,
etc.

Ala, Ani, Ajani

Figure 4: Tree-ring model of Igbo cosmology: The human being at the centre of the
universe and as the fulcrum of the activities of the Life-Forces.

The world of the Igbo is just one world in which all the forces of life, spiritual, hu-
man and material beings have their specific places and where the borders between
their different domains are very thin and fluid. At the centre of this world is the
human being, Mmadu. All the other life-forces vary in their importance in accor-
dance with their relevance to Mmadu. As the overarching canopy is the Supreme
134
Being, Chukwu, Chineke, Osebuluwa, Ezechitoke abiama. Since Chukwu is the
originator and creator of the entire universe, its scope of operation is unbounded.
Only Chukwu can fathom the span of the universe. This is indicated by the unbro-
ken line of the outermost circle. In relation to Mmadu and his immediate visible
world Chukwu is at the same time transcendent and immanent. The dotted arrow
indicates its distance or transcendence in relation to Mmadu compared with the rest
of the vital forces. Since it created each human being individually it entertains a di-

134 In order to avoid the problem of whether Chukwu is masculine or feminine we opt
to use the pronoun ‘it’ or ‘It’. When the Igbo refer to God either in a normal daily
conversation or in liturgical setting they either address God as a Thou or they use
the direct substantive, Chukwu, or Chineke, or Olisa. The commonest exclamation
among the Igbo is Chineke m ee! And one does not have to stay long in Igboland
before one notices how frequent the various designations for the Supreme Deity or
Being are on their lips. This can be seen as an evidence of how close they feel
Chukwu is in their lives, while remaining farthest away from them.

219
 rect relation to him through its many agents. As dispensers and custodians of
Chukwu’s bounties are the great Sky-Deity, Anyanwu, and the Earth-Deity, Ani.
The sky and the earth constitute a unity physically encompassing the domain of
Mmadu. Within this span the rest of the spheres are pervious in varying degrees as
a result of the fluidity of the boundaries. Below them are then the deities and spirits
who, as subordinates and agents of Anyanwu and Ani, depending on whether they
are benevolent or malicious, act as well as agents of Chukwu. Closest to Mmadu
are the ancestors, Ndichie. Mmadu is the recipient of all the activities of the other
life-forces, for they and the other living and non-living things are all there for
Mmadu and not the other way round.

Ogwu as answer to practical problems

Ogwu stands for anything or substance medicinal, be it for protective or
defensive, curative or reinforcement and enhancement135 purposes, or for
the purposes of attracting or securing good luck or of doing harm to
someone else. The concepts of charm and magic come within the scope
of medicine, ogwu. Ogwu can take the form of charms, amulets or herbal
concoctions. Basically they serve the same purposes as the medals,
chaplets, scapulars, the holy water, candles, olive oil, etc. of the Chris-
tians. The Igbo describe the making of medicine as igwo ogwu, the ap-
plication of medicine solely for curative purposes as ime ogwu and the
application of medicine for malicious purposes as iko or ime nsi or iko
ogwu. From this perspective ogwu can be understood as a humanly pro-
duced effect, power or force, resulting from exploiting the powers inher-
ent in natural objects or even in animals and human beings in conjunc-
tion with the powers inherent in human speech, in form of words and
incantations. Through incantations the powers of the supernatural beings
are conjured to strengthen the efficacy and potency of the ogwu. The in-
gredients of all medicines are derived basically from herbs and plants.
Occasionally they may include ingredients derived from the fauna
sphere. The specialist in making medicine is called Dibia ogwu (Medi-
cine-(wo)man).
There are ogwu for protective purposes (against evil machinations)
and ogwu for harmful purposes (as poison – nsi – or witchcraft – amusu
– or to induce misfortune upon others). There are also ogwu for en-
hancement purposes: The Igbo rely on special kinds of ogwu to enhance
their powers of achievement and success. People of different works of

135 “Reinforcement and enhancement” of one’s potencies and chances in life.

220
life like students, workers, managers and traders, etc., still resort to the
use of ogwu in order to secure success at examinations, to earn promo-
tion at work, to cover up some misdeeds at work, to win the attention of
a cathected or loved one, to make or have successful business transac-
tions, to get rich quickly etc. Many politicians, military officials, aca-
demic professionals etc. make use of ogwu as well. According to Nwala,
“with this they hope to influence their subjects and other leaders and
with it they can protect their lives by having a precognition of impending
danger and have the powers of clairvoyance, psychokinesis, and hyp-
notic powers so that they could make a man do what he would never do
by himself”136. Other kinds of ogwu are used for healing purposes: The
Igbo believe that the Creator imbued the plants and herbs with nutritive
and healing powers for the welfare of the human being and his commu-
nity. The woods and forests abound in plants and herbs with medicinal
qualities and powers, either alone or in combination with other herbs, for
the cure of several diseases and ailments. Many of them are commonly
known. However, the medicine prepared by a dibia (native doctor or ex-
pert) is more potent not only because he is a specialist, “but because he is
in possession of Agwunshi, the medicine deity. Thus, ogwu is not just
herbs; it must be charged with spiritual powers by the use of rites, spells,
and invocations”137.
Whatever the use may be, the effectiveness and potency of ogwu
depends not only on the experience and know-how of the dibia but also
very much on the diligence of the recipient in keeping to the ‘instructions
of use’, i.e. behaving correctly, as prescribed by the native doctor.

Ogwu as a conceptual framework

The Igbo use the concept of ogwu to explain certain events and phenom-
ena which supersede their knowledge or to which they cannot find ade-
quate explanation. They believe that some human beings are capable of
performing certain feats beyond the ordinary normal human capacity.
Accomplishments that exceed their comprehension or go beyond their
concept of the familiar and usual are attributed to the powers of ‘ogwu’
or alternatively to the activities of the deities. The early Europeans
evoked admiration, fascination and awe in them since they did things

136 Nwala 69.

137 Metuh, God and man, 97-98.

221
which were inconceivable for the Igbo mind: they spoke in unintelligible
languages and exhibited powers which seemed to supersede that of the
evil spirits. Nwala gave a very good example of the Igbo use of ogwu as
a conceptual framework:

During the early years of contact with the white man, he was considered as a type
of spirit. The white man did everything he did by the powers of ‘ogwu’. When the
missionaries defiled the ‘evil’ forests (hitherto regarded as the den of powerful
[malignant] spirits) and went on to build [their churches] upon them with no harm
on themselves and their followers, they were believed to possess a very powerful
138
‘ogwu’ with which they overcame the spirits [...].

7.3.1.2.2 The human being (Mmadu)

At the centre of the Igbo epistemic world is the human being. All the
beings around him are appreciated to the extent they help the human be-
ing to achieve his self-fulfilment, which is the enhancement and
strengthening of his life force or potency and the integration and har-
mony of the community to which he belongs.
The human being presents himself as an organism wrapping into
one indivisible unit several life-forces. These component life-forces or
principles constitute the channels of communication with other forces in
the universe. The Igbo distinguish four constituent principles in the hu-
man being139: (a) Breath or Heart (Obi): This is believed to be the ani-
mating principle and seat of affection and volition. It dies at death. (b)
Shadow – Self (Onyinyo): This is visible in the form of the shadow cast
by the living human body. In a tangible, concrete form onyinyo (shadow)
is the concrete, individual human being himself. It is the shadow-self that
incarnates in the body and is assigned an ancestral guardian; it in turn
can become an ancestral guardian after death. When the person dies the
shadow-self leaves the body. Hence the common belief among the Igbo
that corpses do not cast shadows. (c) Creative personal Destiny (Chi) and
d) the ancestral guardian (Eke). We already saw the last two in subsec-
tion 7.3.1.2.1 (a).
As channels of communication with other vital forces, Eke links the
human being with his ancestors and ultimately with his ancestral lineage.
While Obi links him with other mortal life-forces, Onyinyo connects him

138 Nwala 66.

139 Cf. Metuh, Comparative Studies, 175-176.

222
with other lower immortal forces. Chi keeps him in constant communion
with his Creator. Being at the centre of the universe, Mmadu maintains a
harmonious and vital relationship with nature, the Supreme Being, the
Deities, the spirits, the ancestors, his community and umunna, through
each of these principles. Thus life for the Igbo is communion, participa-
tion. Since the Supreme Providence, Chukwu, has a worked out plan for
each individual human being and his spirit, Chi, abides by each individ-
ual to guide its implementation, the mission of the human being on earth
is to realize his destiny amidst the constant threats and obstacles posed
by the many forces of evil and misfortune which abound in the universe.
In order to achieve this he solicits the aid of all benevolent spiritual be-
ings, especially those of his lineage and community, and the support of
his umunna and ikwunne (the patrilineage of his both parents) and other
social institutions to which he relates. Through divination and ogwu he
endeavours to chart the correct courses of action and to enhance his
chances and powers. When he must have done everything and still fails,
then what he gets is his destiny, for the Igbo say: Ebe onye dara n’ala ka
chi ya kwaturu ya (‘where a person falls, there his Chi let or pushed him
down’).
Chukwu, Chineke, Osebuluwa, Ezechitoke abiama

Anyanwu Onwa

Other
life-
forces, Ndi-
Mmadu ichie
deities,
etc.

Ala, Ani, Ajani

Figure 5: Tree-ring model of Igbo cosmology: The human being in a reciprocal in-
teraction with other Life-Forces.

223
 Fig. 5 above shows the two-way reciprocal track of the relationship between
Mmadu and the other Life-Forces. The same principle basically governs the attitude
of the Igbo towards his natural environment, since it is closely associated with the
Earth-Deity. The relationship of the human being with the other Life-forces is not
that of a bondage and his position is not that of a sandwich, where he is pressed to-
gether from all sides by the other Life-forces. His is rather a vantage position where
the Creator and the entire creation work for his good and well-being. His relation-
ship is one of reciprocity and gratitude. As a microcosm he embodies all the neces-
sary channels of communicating with all the Life-forces. Through rituals he keeps
up and nourishes his relationship with the forces of the invisible order. Should any
one of them, visible or invisible, renege on this mutual beneficial arrangement the
Igbo breaks up the contact. This attitude is most apparent in their relationship to the
ancestors. The ancestors can be scolded, reprimanded and starved or placated and
honoured as if they were still living. Only Chukwu remains unaffected by this prin-
ciple since Chukwu, the source of life and sustenance of the universe, is self-
sufficient. They do not associate Chukwu with capricious and wicked acts. When
Chukwu punishes, then only justly. The Igbo expect the deities to “fulfil their role
of protecting them, of giving them children, of making their land fertile, of warding
off misfortune and disease and all manner of disaster. When a deity fails in this, ef-
forts are made to have him do the right thing i.e. what they expect of the god.
Should all efforts to ensure this balance fail, the deity is discredited and falls into
140
disuse” . Uchendu concludes: “the Igbo attitude toward the gods is not one of
fear but one of friendship, a friendship that lasts as long as the reciprocal obliga-
141
tions are kept” .

The relationship of the Igbo to the other life-forces is based on the prin-
ciple of “beneficial reciprocity”142, i.e. as long as they help him to realize
his ultimate goal. The Igbo believe that no individual human or spirit is
self-sufficient. To achieve their respective goals, they need each other.
The relationship is upheld as long as this beneficial reciprocity is ac-
tively respected. Consequently a relationship is binding only when it is
mutually beneficial. This goes for the spirits and ancestors as well as for
fellow human beings. This fundamental disposition is expressed in the
aphorisms: ona abu aka-nri n’akwo aka-ekpe, aka-ekpe an’akwo aka-nri
(it is usual and proper that both the right hand and the left hand wash
each other so that both might be clean); ka an’achu aja ka ikpe n’ama
ndi mmuo (we continue to offer sacrifices so that the spirits will be the
defaulters). This latter saying pertains to the situation where a spirit

140 Nwala 137. Cf. also Agu 226-227, C. Achebe, The Arrow of God, 347.
141 Uchendu 101.
142 Uchendu 14.

224
whose caprices and mischief defy control or riddance. In such a case the
human being has only to make certain that he fulfils his part of the ‘con-
tract’ by continuing to offer sacrifices for as long as is prescribed by the
diviner. The human being is, quite all right, at the mercy of the forces
surrounding him, but he is not unequipped for them. Through ritual sac-
rifices, divination, ogwu, correct behaviour and a dint of hard work on
his part, the Igbo believe, he can manoeuvre or parry his way through.
Central to the discussion of Mmadu and his personality is the notion
of obara (blood). Blood is regarded as that principle which sustains life
by nourishing it. It not only sustains the life of the human being on earth
but also transmits his (physical and moral) traits or qualities to his off-
spring. The one thing which all kinsmen and -women share in common
is the blood of their ancestors. It is thus blood which binds them together
and defines their common descent and ancestry. Blood relationship is the
ontological basis of all kinship relations and the great spirit of equalitari-
anism, equivalence, solidarity and sense of belonging which pervades all
communal activities.143 The spilling of blood, especially of a member of
the same community, not only brings about the disintegration of life but
worst of all deprives the victim of the ancestral life-line. Besides it is an
abomination and a defilement of the land and the Earth-Deity, Ani, to
unlawfully kill a fellow human being. However, when blood is shed “in
a righteous cause, it is a sacrament and a purification”144. All said and
done, the Igbo society, like every other human society, still has its own
share of ne’er-do-wells, scoundrels, social parasites and sycophants.
There are, of course, cases where individual members refuse to abide by
common agreement irrespective of several efforts on the part of the
community or family to convince them otherwise. Such dissidents or
nonconformists normally are either tolerated or excommunicated. Ex-
communication is, however, a measure of last resort; even at that it de-
pends on the gravity of the offence committed and/or on the presence of
another member who is able to convince the assembly on the propriety
of such a measure. The message of tolerance is usually given to the per-
son concerned by reminding him that bad times lie ahead, when he most
likely will need his kindred. Anaghi agwa ebi ya epuna ogwu, mana ya
echefukwana ihapu ebe umunna ya ga ejide ya aka ma oria dakwasi ya

143 Cf. Nwala 45.

144 Ibid.

225
(No one forbids the porcupine to grow quills but it should not forget to
leave some space on its body where the relatives can place their hands to
carry it when it falls sick), they would say.
The human being is embedded primarily in his umunna as his pri-
mary source of strength. However, if the umunna is the greatest source
of strength and very important condition for the possibility of success in
life, it can also constitute the greatest source of hostility and envy. It is
one’s umunna that can accuse one of sorcery, especially if one is not so
socially inclined, or does not speak out his mind or is secretive.145
Let us now look at the third category of beings: Ihe (Things).

7.3.1.3 Things (Ihe, Ife)

Ihe in this context refers to those beings below the spirits and the human
being in the Igbo ontological hierarchy: the flora, the fauna and inani-
mate objects and the elements. ‘Things’ belong to the physical and visi-
ble realm. But in consistency with their cosmology the Igbo believe that
they also exist in the world of the spirits. Like all traditional people, the
traditional Igbo have a very personal approach to nature. Since the natu-
ral or physical order is his abode, only a personal relationship or ap-
proach to ‘things’ is the gate-way to the much needed balance or har-
mony with external nature, which ultimately serves the sustenance of
human existence. Survival is so paramount a need that to ensure this as
well as to enhance his capability to face the uncertainties of life, the hu-
man being endeavours to tap whatever forces that favour and promote
his survival. The external nature provides him with ample opportunities
for that.
Igbo culture is a culture where the content of cognition or thought is
mainly speculative, i.e. not always based on empirically established
facts.146 Such speculations and speculative stance developed in a long
process of trying to unify, explain and order experience. As a result, Igbo
thought pattern has a predominance of idioms, archetypal images, rituals,

145 Ibid., 65.

146 There is, however, much room in the Igbo belief system for empirical verification.
The Igbo is not out to believe everything; sometimes he would want to be certain
about the correctness of the information he is being fed with. For instance, an Igbo
would sometimes ask the narrator of an incident: ifuru n’anya? (Did you see it
yourself or with your own eyes?).

226
symbolisms, proverbs, myths, etc. as concrete forms of expression and
education. These serve also as the easiest means of establishing an inti-
mate rapport with the Life-forces and other mystical forces. The Chris-
tian religion is replete with such vehicles of expression and linkage.
Nwala has the following to say on this point:

Believing as the Igbo do in spiritual beings and non-material forces which are in-
visible, the need arises for establishing a great intimate rapport between themselves
and these forces and entities in nature. In the absence of a literary culture, material
objects, symbols, images, internalized in myth and stories and externalized in ac-
tion (e.g. Rituals), become the easiest way of doing this. The numerous shrines,
oracular centres, Mbari centres, the elders chambers; the effigies, skulls, bones,
shells (of tortoise, crabs and snail) stones, broken potsherds, pieces of jagged glass,
rusty nails, rags, feather, sacred groves, numerous festivities, and ceremonies,
folktales, legends and proverbs etc. all these aid the memory, act as reminders,
serve as foci of attention, channels of contact and means of internalizing the beliefs
and values which give rise to them [...]. In Christianity we find the Holy Bible, the
church and crucifix [...] ecclesiastical robes and paraphernalia, [...] cathedrals, al-
tars and [holy water], [...] Christmas, Easter [...] confession, etc. All these are built
around the Christian world-view of a created universe, the theory of original sin
and salvation, worship and everlasting life for the faithful. The ritual symbols of
Christianity serve the same purpose, i.e. as avenues of propagating the creed, of
internalizing them, of passing them on from age to age, and of giving a concrete
form and reality to what is but a body of ideas. It represents comprehensive world-
147
views analogous to the traditional Igbo world-view .

We pointed out above that the Igbo believe that material objects, trees
and animals, participate in the spiritual qualities of the mystical forces
that abide in them or use them as vehicles of their manifestation, and
consequently reverence and sometimes deify them. Thus the effigies of
the deities and the spirit forces are not only the images of the forces they
represent but are believed to possess the powers of and act like those
forces. In the same manner the Igbo also accord high respect to language
in the form of spoken words and signs. Words and signs are regarded as
things having power in themselves. By way of participatory representa-
tion they share in the power or potency of the things they represent or
symbolize, in a some what magical way.148 For instance, it is forbidden

147 Nwala 94.

148 Cf. Ibid., 92. The strongest equivalence in the Christian tradition is the context of
the Eucharistic liturgy: the words of the consecration.

227
to mention the name of snakes or spirits in the night because it is be-
lieved that the mere mention of them is sufficient to make them appear.
In the same connection there are some ready-made explanations and
meanings of certain occurrences which an average Igbo person recog-
nizes (with some local variations). They border on what one would dis-
miss as superstitions: (a) Hitting one’s foot against a stump or stone
along the road or on a pathway has a special omen (good or bad) de-
pending on which foot was hit. (b) A giant millipede appearing in the
home, an owl149 singing in the vicinity of the house in the night, a
screech owl or a black bird crying in the neighbourhood portend bad
omen. They are usually chased away with a curse. (c) A cock crowing
early in the night is a bad sign. d) Twitching or itching of the eye-lids
(depending on whether the left or the right) means that one is going to
see something good or bad.

7.3.2 The Ultimate Value: The Good Life (Ndu oma)

We have hitherto been discussing the Igbo general belief system. It is the
basis on which the traditional Igbo make value judgements as to whether
his conduct is good or bad, whether his life is meaningful or not. The ac-
tions of the human being through the ages have been determined and or-
dered in many important respects by what he believes to be the nature of
the universe and his place in it. A people’s belief system reflects their
environmental, social and historical realities. It provides the normative
basis for human moral evaluation and conduct.
In the context of the previous discussions, the good life for the Igbo
would mean what they cherish and hold dear to their very existence, i.e.
actions and conducts in keeping with their proximate and remote goals of
life: self-actualization. Self-actualization in this sense means the realiza-
tion of one’s destiny and of a harmonious interaction with the natural and
cosmic order.
We shall not attempt here to take the stance of philosophers who under-
take to define ‘good’ as an abstract concept without relating it to con-
crete practical life. Since belief systems are guiding principles for practi-
cal life, it is unrealistic to discuss moral questions without linking them

149 Cf. Knappert 99.

228
up with practical realities of life; and in the context of the Igbo and of
our work, it would be a wasted effort. According to the Greek Sophists,
morality is a social product. Morality, therefore, is created by human
beings out of definite social interests, which are conditioned by social,
environmental and historical necessities. The idea of the good in any
concrete case is the result of a mind conditioned by these necessities or
realities. The good, Ihe-oma, as the Igbo call it, is a generic term which
has meaning only in the light of concrete cases.
The highest value, the summum bonum, for the Igbo is Ndu (Life) or
Ndu oma (Good life). Ndu is that active principle, force, which all Be-
ings, visible and invisible, have in common but in their different modes.
For the Igbo, Ndu has several connotations and modes. In the most fa-
miliar and simple form it means an existence in which a Being still func-
tions in its natural mode. In this sense the Igbo understand that the prin-
ciple or animating force of its activity is still active, and consequently
that being is effective: it is alive (odi ndu). For the Igbo, to say to a man:
I nwuru anwu na mmadu (You are dead as a person), means he has be-
come inactive or incapacitated in respect of a specific activity or function
expected of him as a human being. To say to him, I di ndu, (You are ac-
tive and alive) is to mean the reverse. The same meaning is transposed to
his Chi when they say to a person, Chi gi di ndu (Your Chi is alive); this
is often expressed when the person escapes an accident or a mishap. To
be alive means to be effective. For a person to be physically existing but
ineffective is to become odi ndu onwu ka mma (living a worthless life, a
life worse than being dead). The Igbo are more familiar with the human
ndu than with the nature of the life the spirituals live among themselves.
Earlier we pointed out that the Igbo conceive time and life in a cyclic
mode. There is, however, the belief that really wicked people die a com-
plete death in the spirit (world): inwu onwu na mmuo. This is brought
about by the fact that they are not only refused reincarnation by the gods
and the ancestors, but also the living refuse to give them befitting burial.
The latter would have helped them reach the ancestral world. Nwua
onwu na mmuo (‘May you die in the spirit world’) is the worst curse one
may invoke upon an Igbo.
Ndu is a very broad concept, the ultimate good. The affirmation ndu
bu isi (Life is the supreme good), which is used both as a name and as an
expression depicts the paramount place of ndu for the Igbo. Ndu is also
existence itself, and existence can assume various forms. Every entity,

229
social or individual has its life and its specific mode of life. The per-
petuation of life is the wish and ambition of both the individual and the
group. For the individual his life is practically symbolized by his own
concrete ndu, his family and especially his children. However, the ndu of
his community, lineage, takes precedence over his individual ndu. The
reason is mainly because the individual is part and parcel of the commu-
nity and his survival depends on conditions which only the group can
guarantee. Thus they affirm: umunna bu ike (the kinsmen are one’s
strength).

7.3.3 The Instrumental Values: Communal and Individual

The realization of Ndu-oma

According to Nwala, the Igbo distinguish two basic conditions for the
realization of Ndu-oma.
(a) The material condition: When the Igbo pray for the gift of life, they
always pray for the accompanying material conditions for enjoying that
precious gift. They pray for security, ogonogo ndu na aru isi ike (long
life and good health), and prosperity (aku na uba). Suffering and poverty
are no virtues to be aspired to. Both are seen as a curse which must be
shaken off or fought against. The Igbo strive to acquire the basic material
necessities of life as well as to achieve a good measure of social well-
being. For them it is not sufficient just to exist. The quality of life, which
must be socially felt, is also very important. It manifests itself in one’s
social status measured in terms of one’s material possessions, i.e. in
terms of one’s achievements. But over and above all, his achievements
must have a communal impact or significance: the kinsmen must benefit
directly from them, after all, they argue, he could achieve all that be-
cause the community provided him the necessary support. The quality of
life, therefore, is closely related with success in life, which in turn is
manifested in the person’s communally beneficial achievements. The
latter is the touchstone on which achievement or success is weighed.
Consequently the communal and social life of the Igbo is characterized
as well by competition and open rivalry.

(b) Non-material conditions: These are conditions which are closely tied
up with the fundamental beliefs of the Igbo as they relate to the mainte-

230
nance of individual and cosmic harmony or balance. Consequently, they
have to do with the primary or most important elements of Omenani.
They include: duties towards the invisible realm of the community and
duties towards the community and individual fellow human beings.
These duties aim at ensuring the maintenance of justice, peace and order
in the community and in the cosmic order. The latter being the conditio
sine qua non for the realization of one’s destiny. The duties include the
proper performance of rituals, observing the prescriptions (taboos and
proscriptions) of Omenani, and fulfilling one’s moral obligations to-
wards fellow human beings, for instance, respect for elders, and for par-
ents. Contravening the omenani is a grievous offense (aru), and is pun-
ishable by the community. The strained situation can only be rectified by
following the necessary (ritual) steps as prescribed by omenani itself. It
is worth noting that traditional morality is not only communally enjoined
and enforceable, the responsibility for the conduct of each individual is
also communal. For the conduct of the individual member of the com-
munity has one consequence or the other for the entire community, as
they say: ofu mkpisi aka ruta mmanu ozuo ndi ozo onu (when one finger
touches oil, it spreads to or affects the rest). There is a collective respon-
sibility for the moral conduct of the individual members of the commu-
nity.
The concrete instrumental values for attaining the ultimate value of
self-actualization in the sense already defined are of two kinds: those
which stress the pre-eminence of the community. They are the so called
communal values. Among these are such values like, justice, peace, or-
der and harmony, communal cooperation, unity and beneficial reciproc-
ity, honesty, hospitality150 and generosity, respect for seniority and
community. By way of illustration, let us describe some of these values:
For the Igbo justice has to do with the freedom of everyone to pur-
sue and equally enjoy the gifts of nature without discrimination and un-
due hindrance. Their symbol of justice is Ofo. Often it goes together with
Ogu (Innocence).They say, with ofo and ogu on one’s side one will al-
ways prevail. Both principles, ofo and Ogu symbolize the collective

150 Cf. Uchendu 74. This is the trademark of the Igbo and symbolized by j (kola nut)
offered to guests. There are two species of kola nuts. The Igbo prefer the species
cola acuminata which they call oji Igbo and which is traditionally grown to meet
social and ritual obligations. The second species is the more robust and disease-
resistant cola nitida which they call oji Awusa (Hausa) or gworo.

231
moral conscience of the community. Justice means for the Igbo: Egbe
belu, ugo belu, nke si ibe ya ebena nku kwapu ya nike (‘Let the kite perch
and let the eagle perch, which ever prevents the other from perching, let
its wings break off; live and let live’).151 Justice is based on the princi-
ples of equality and equivalence, which are rooted in their concept of
kinship or blood relationship.
Honesty has to do with transparency in dealings with others.
Through the ritual of Igba ndu (oath of covenant) the Igbo aim at estab-
lishing or re-establishing mutual trust and confidence in situations where
this seems jeopardized. Persons in positions of responsibility, leadership,
are required to constantly affirm their innocence, i.e. transparency (iju
ogu). The traditional Igbo are very much concerned about their inno-
cence, their good faith, to the extent that before they serve food or drink
to their guests or to a stranger they always taste it in his presence. They
abhor a secretive person (onye ana enyo enyo – someone with a shady
character). To default on transparency is to fall prey to shame. Actually
“the major deterrent to crime is not guilt-feeling but shame-feeling”152.
Among the Igbo a person who feels no shame is avoided as far as possi-
ble.
The fact that whoever succeeds in life did so with the support and
help of fellow human beings, of his community and especially of his
kinsmen and -women, makes the Igbo cherish the virtue of generosity or
‘having a large heart’. Standing on the wagon of beneficial reciprocity
they look down upon miserly or stingy persons with contempt. They
speak of such a person as onye obi tara mmiri (someone whose heart has
dried up), onye aka chichichi (someone with a very tight hand). Beggars
did not exist in the traditional Igbo country. Such a situation would bring
discredit and great shame to their kinsmen, since it will expose their in-
ability to care for their brother or sister. They say: The kin of a blind per-
son is engulfed with shame when at meal the blind relative dips the hand
in the sand instead of into the dish of food. For the Igbo a wealthy person
who cannot help others to ‘get up’ is a wasted asset. But to steal his or
any other person’s property is an abomination. Theft is execrated as one
of the worst and most shameful crimes among them deserving extreme

151 Cf. also Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 29.

152 Uchendu 17.

232
penalties.153 Green observed among the Agbaja that “stinginess or mean-
ness is not admired [...]. On the contrary, anyone [...] dropping in when
people are eating will always be offered food and a visitor at other times
will be entertained with palm wine – mmae (sic) – and kola – oji”154.
The second group of instrumental values are those which stress
more individual virtues and the values necessary for the individual’s
ability to attain the ideal state of life or ndu. These include such values as
intelligence and wisdom, craftiness and wit, ability and courage, fidelity,
bravery and strength, honesty, patience and eloquence. These are mainly
achievement-success values.
As far as the individual is concerned, the Igbo believes that there is
nothing he cannot do and no new environment he cannot adapt himself
to. With the exception of some reserved areas for the gods and spirits, he
is convinced that the wide world belongs to him as much as it belongs to
the gods. The Igbo firmly believe that a society is as good or bad as the
people themselves, that the success or failure of an individual in achiev-
ing his ‘mission’ in this visible realm of life, depends very much on his
ability to effectively mobilize all necessary forces towards that end. They
believe that each individual has sufficient charisma to enable him
achieve a good life, even when it seems that the person is ill-fated
straight from his mother’s womb. The Igbo, thus, needs not be told that
success in life or even prosperity remains a lofty unrealizable dream if he
does not apply himself assiduously, physically and mentally. To drive
this home they say: Anaghi ano n’ulo ebuta anu agbara gburu (One does
not get the game the gods killed for him by sitting down at home). Chi-
nua Achebe adeptly portrayed this point of industriousness, achievement
and wisdom in his vivid description of the ill-fated Unoka. “Unoka had
gone to consult the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to find out why he
always had a miserable harvest”. Standing before the priestess of the
Oracle, he recounts how he always sacrifices to Ani and to Ifejioku as
prescribed by Omenani and attends to his farm the normal way. Before
he could finish his story, the priestess shot in:

‘Hold your peace!’ [...]. ‘You have offended neither the gods nor your fathers. And
when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his harvest will be good or
bad according to the strength of his arm. You, Unoka, are known in all the clan for

153 Cf. Metuh, God and Man, 112.

154 Green 88.

233
 the weakness of your machete and your hoe. When your neighbours go out with
their axe to cut down virgin forests, you sow your yams on exhausted farms that
take no labour to clear. They cross seven rivers to make their farms; you stay at
155
home and offer sacrifice to a reluctant soil. Go home and work like a man’ .

To ‘work like a man’ means to be industrious and active, diligent and

wise156. With these one can even change the course of one’s destiny or
Chi for the better. This is the belief behind the Igbo saying: Onye kwe chi
ya ekwe. Onye gba nkiti chi ya agba (If you are industrious and diligent
enough, your Chi becomes active and cooperates. If you are indolent
your Chi remains accordingly dormant).
Suffering and poverty are no virtues to be aspired to, as has been
pointed out earlier. The Igbo sees many avenues open to him for over-
coming both. In the pre-colonial and pre-Christian period success in life
was measured in terms of one’s social status, which was in turn meas-
ured in terms of one’s material possessions (cultivated farmland, food
stuff, the size of one’s yam barns, social titles and membership in several
societies, etc.), number of wives, children, size of homestead. The con-
tact with Europeans through the missionaries and the colonialists opened
up to the Igbo more avenues and possibilities. We shall talk more on that
when we discuss the Igbo and the transformation of consciousness.
The Igbo also measures his status and achievement by the network
of beneficial interpersonal contacts he has. This propels his great need or
passion for sociability, for many and continuous human contacts. Onye
nwelu mmadu ka onye nwelu ego (he who has many social contacts is
greater than he who has money) or mmadu ka ego (the human being is of
greater value than money), he says. Green observes: “The system of liv-
ing in house groups and the fact that most activities [...] are carried on out
of doors, means that even when an individual is engaged alone on a job,
he or she is not solitary [...]. Solitude is held to be a mark of wickedness
157
[...]” .

155 Achebe 28.

156 One might wonder what the Igbo think of the woman. If to work like a man means
all this, would the opposite imply working like a woman? Let us not make a gender
case out of this now.
157 Green 253.

234
7.3.4 The Psychological Expression

Just as the moral life of a people is determined by and organized around

their general belief system, so does the same influence and determine
their psychology.
On the background of the foregoing discussion of their belief sys-
tem, one can see that generally the Igbo is no fatalist who resigns himself
to the fortune chosen by his Chi at his creation. He is convinced that he
can change the course of this fortune to his favour and apply himself
consciously and assiduously to achieve optimum results. And to this end
he is ready to dare any risks. His guiding and goading philosophy
thereby is: Onye kwe chi ya ekwe; Onye gba nkiti chi ya agba (he who
says “Yes” to a goal and works assiduously towards it, can count on the
good disposition and cooperation of his Chi) and Onye na arukari ndu ya
mmanu, ikpo akwukwo ji akugbu ya (he who is over cautious of his lie is
always killed by a sheaf or even a heap of dry leaves). This explains his
paradoxical openness to new ideas, new vistas and new frontiers. The
paradox expresses itself in his aptitude to embrace Christianity and
Western culture and at the same time staunchly resisting both, saying yes
to ‘One Nigeria’ and at the same time seceding from it in the Biafra war,
being community-loving and at the same time individualistic when it
comes to achievement and status-seeking. The Igbo have been brand-
marked by foreigners as well as by their fellow Africans as: proud, go-
ahead, novelty-loving, stubborn and unruly, pushy, ambitious, daring,
industrious, energetic, domineering and democratic folk. Some call them
individualists.
As we have seen, they resent any dictation from and resist any
overlordship or dominion by another. The Igbo is king and master in his
own house and in his own affairs. When he needs assistance he asks for
it, but before them he minds his business and expects the other to do
likewise. This, however, does not prevent him from fulfilling his com-
munal obligations. Commenting on the characteristic features of the
Igbo, Forde and Jones write: “the Igbo are generally held to be tolerant,
ultra-demo-cratic and highly individualistic. They have a strongly devel-
oped commercial sense and a practical unromantic approach to life”158.

158 Agu 234-235.

235
 In a society where a great premium is placed on achievement, com-
petition is held very high. Green comments: “The spirit of open rivalry is
[...] a recurrent feature of their life. It has been institutionalized in their
social organization [...] and is one of the driving forces of the commu-
nity”159. And since achievement with no communal significance is as
good as useless, a lot of competition goes into every endeavour to help
one’s relatives and one’s community ‘get up’. The success of a member
is the pride and glory of his kinsmen and -women and of his community
in general. Fame, wealth, title-taking, all contribute to the (vicarious) en-
hancement of the prestige and fame of the community. In addition to in-
dustry and the ability to mobilize the relevant forces to one’s advantage,
the qualities described above under leadership160 help to boost one’s so-
cial standing and prestige. It is logical, therefore, that among the Igbo
smartness and eloquence, i.e. “having mouth” , intelligence and strength,
and most of all sociability, belong to the highly coveted personal virtues.
That is why the ‘go-getter’ is admired and lauded, and the urge ‘to get
up’, either as individuals or as groups, assumes the proportion of an ob-
session, while failure is explained with a tinge of paranoia. Since every
Igbo likes to be his own king and master, ascribed status is unknown
among them; whoever wants to have a status must achieve it.
He tends to overestimate his ability, thus exhibiting behavioural
tendencies reminiscent of that infantile omnipotence which his strong
embedment in his Umunna and Age grade helped to keep in check. Fur-
thermore, his conviction of being at the centre of his universe and of be-
ing the ultimate recipient of the benevolent activities of all Life-Forces
often leads him to an unbridled desire for success and for material well-
being. The fact that he is sometimes ready ‘to walk over corpses’ not just
to satisfy this need but also to do this within the shortest possible time
indicates how strong, alive and influential the experiences of the oral
stage of his infancy still are. The self-destructive effect of this stage is
what the Omenani tried to check with the prescription of generosity and
communalism. Let us conclude this brief discussion on the psychological
expression of the foregoing themes with the honest and terse remark of
the British anthropologist Sylvia Leith-Ross. While reflecting on what
the Igbo really thought about the white colonialists, she said:

159 Green 255.

160 Cf. Subsection 7.2.5.2.4 in this work.

236
 But one thing is certain: the Ibo does not think very much of us [...] When he
strives to copy us, it is not because of the courage or wisdom, the virtues or the tal-
ents he may see in us, but simply because we represent to him Success. In our-
selves we do not interest him except in so far as we contribute to his own interests
[...]. I never cease to wonder at and be a little disturbed by their lack of reverence,
if I may use so portentous a word, for anyone superior to them. Admiration, re-
spect, prestige, were dead words to them, either when used in connection with the
white man or with themselves. True democrats, no one was better than themselves
but yet they were somehow better than anyone else. This self-assurance was some-
times a little frightening. The Ibo men and women are continually in the right and
so busy proving that everyone else is in the wrong. They want to learn from us but
only such things as may be materially productive as soon as possible. They tolerate
us because they need us. They do not look upon us resentfully as conquerors but
complacently as stepping-stones. What will happen when they can, or think they
can, mount alone and have no further use for the stepping-stones, no one can
161
tell .

7.4 Summary

In this chapter we have introduced, as faithfully as possible, the socio-

political, cultural and epistemic world of the Igbo people of Nigeria prior
to the invasion of Western foreign elements. Special and extensive at-
tention has been paid to the dominant semiotic domain of their belief
system under the concept of Omenani. In the process of the discussion
we aimed at letting their unitary, systemic vision of the world come to
light. The traditional and pre-colonial Igbo saw his world and lived in it
in mutually inclusive domains. It is the one and only one world, the do-
main of all the beings that are, natural and supernatural, visible and in-
visible. In this world all these beings co-exist in an ontological hierarchi-
cal order, they interact, modify one another and are mutually
interdependent on a beneficially reciprocal basis. At the centre of this
world is the human being. On him lies the great responsibility not only
of caring for the deities and the ancestors with whom he interacts, but
also of maintaining the harmony and balance of the interplay of these
life-forces. The omenani provides him with the necessary ritual and so-

161 Leith-Ross 356-357.

237
cial-psychological paraphernalia for this task, whereby at the end he
stands to gain. His is a world that is as profane as it is sacred. The dis-
cussion of the ultimate and instrumental values gives an insight into
those ends or goals which give his life, activities and behaviours orienta-
tion, organization and direction. Finally a reflection on the expression of
this vision of reality and of the place of the human being in the scheme
of things in the psychology of the Igbo – as individuals and as a people –
, aimed at marking out and underscoring some dominant elements of
their psycho-social dynamics.
Living between two worlds means living in a border zone, being in
a state of “no-longer and not-yet”, as is the situation of the seminarians.
It was consequently necessary to throw some light on what they were as
a people and as individuals. The ultimate aim of this chapter, therefore,
has been to delineate those elements which constitute the Igbo identity.
The Igbo society portrayed in this chapter has been undergoing very
radical changes. Many of the domains described here have since changed
radically while many others have resisted the change. In a way the tradi-
tional life persists side-by-side with an emerging modern society. It is
clear that social changes are always accompanied by transformations of
consciousness of the people affected and a disintegration of those links
that hold the society today. With the breakdown of their system, the Igbo
are left at the mercy of those psychological forces that have been kept in
check by the Umunna. In the next two chapters we shall look at the na-
ture of this transformation and the impact on the Igbo world.

238
8. THE IGBO AND THE TRANSFORMATION
OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The disturbing effect was an odd sensation which was sub-

sequently to come over me on many other occasions. I can
only describe it as a progressive diminution in my mind of
the simian nature of the figures round me in relation to their
1
function or the position they held in society .
Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes.

In the previous chapter we discussed the Igbo and their epistemic world
prior to the contact with Europeans. This fundamental predisposition has
been changing since the contact with cultural elements from Europe. Let
us now look at the nature of this culture contact.

8.1 Culture Contact

Human culture, we said, is a systemic unity of the third-order and as

such can only undergo changes in accord with its internal pattern or or-
ganization. A transformative contact with other cultures can take the
form of a seduction or an allure in a direct, “face to face” or an indirect,
“distant” encounter or of a gradual developmental process guided by
mutual respect and interest or of violence and invasion, as something
imposed from without. Culture contact in the first two forms can occur
by way of a gradual process of acquaintance with persons or things or
ideas from other cultures. However, in the third form culture contact is
always a violent experience for the culture visited. This is the case with
people invaded, defeated at war or colonized. The period of colonialism
in Africa was a period of cultural and psychological violence to the Afri-

1 Boulle 151.

239
can peoples and cultures. To impose one’s culture on another people is to
rob their culture of the quality of being a matrix of personal development
with its own homoeostatic capability, creativity and authenticity. Ac-
cording to D. W. Augsburger, the outcome of this, “is tragic, the impact
a renewal of colonialism and psychological imperialism, paterna-lism, or
maternalism”2. It disrupts the entire fabric of the people’s lives, the inter-
subjectivity of the meanings they give to their world which make life
worth living. In other words, any encounter between peoples of different
cultures has an effect on the consciousness of the peoples concerned.
This consciousness is most of the time a pre-reflective, pre-theoretical
one.3 Hence the truth in the words of Okwu B. Eboh that “whatever hap-
pens to a human being, happens to him in the mind”4. Let us now con-
sider these forms of culture contact.

8.1.1 Forms of Culture Contact

We consider Bitterli’s5 differentiation of forms of culture contact useful

for a better appreciation of the impact of the meeting of these forms of
being in the world on the later development in the world of the Igbo. In
his treatment of the nature of the contact of European culture with over-
sea-cultures before the period of industrial revolution, Bitterli differenti-
ates three basic forms of culture contact: (1) Culture contact or touch
(Kulturberührung), (2) Culture collision (Kulturzusammenstoss), and (3)
Culture intercourse (Kulturbeziehung). One can lead to the other, but
they must not follow from one another. They can appear in mixed up
forms or even run concurrently. Their boundaries are very fluid.

2 D. W. Augsburger, Cross-Cultural Pastoral Psychotherapy, 132.

3 According to Berger et al., “all social reality has an essential component of con-
sciousness. The consciousness of everyday life is the web of meanings that allow
the individual to navigate his way through the ordinary events and encounters of
his life with others. The totality of these meanings, which he shares with others,
makes up a particular social life-world.” Berger et al., The Homeless Mind, 12.
4 O. B. Eboh was one of our erstwhile philosophy professors.
5 Bitterli 17-54.

240
8.1.1.1 Culture Contact – (Domain of Perturbation)
This refers to the very first and brief meeting of a group of Europeans
with representatives of a foreign culture. The meeting can be brief or
followed by long breaks in between. Culture contacts of this kind have
the character of the early discovery journeys. By such a contact, the ap-
proach of both sides to each other was often characterized by an attitude
of reciprocal friendliness. This friendliness, usually very superficial, was
out of caution. For the Europeans, however, every step they took on arri-
val on foreign coasts was geared towards establishing that with their
presence a new dispensation has arrived. To the natives these strangers
seemed like some beings from another planet; some even saw in them
some kind of gods or godlike beings. This was at least so in the first
phase of the culture contact, before they were discovered to be mortals
too. In any case, the Europeans failed to realize how precarious the
friendliness was and consequently were incapable of realizing too when
they outlived their welcome. Thus culture contact was destined to turn
suddenly into a culture collision.

8.1.1.2 Culture Collision – (Domain of Destructive Interaction)

This occurs when the natives begin to feel that their established cultural
habits are being jeopardized by the presence of the strangers, and also
when the respect for and trust in the strangers have been lost. This was
the case, for instance when the Europeans began showing their real in-
tention: They have not only come to stay, but also to establish ownership
of the land in which they were visitors – to colonize the people. As soon
as the Africans realized this, they became suspicious of the Europeans. It
didn’t take long and this suspicion turned into open hostilities on both
sides. In this respect, the Europeans spared no means to subjugate the
Africans. This reached its climax in slavery, in the partition of the conti-
nent and in colonization.
One could ask himself, why the contact with European culture was
able to have such a devastating effect on the Igbo culture? After all, the
Igbo country was not the only country in the world that was colonized.
South Korea, for instance, was colonized by Japan, but she was able to
retain, to a great extent, her cultural identity. India was also colonized by
Britain. She still retains her cultural identity.

241
 It should not be forgotten that colonialization and colonization of
black Africa did not come about by accident. The road was prepared for
it centuries before its occurrence. Although generalizations are odious,
“colonialism” and “colonization” derive both from the same root with
the term “culture”. Basically both mean organization, arrangement. The
colonists – those who settle in a region, – as well as the colonialists –
those who exploit a territory by dominating a local majority – have all
tended to organize or transform non-European areas into fundamentally
European constructs. This might sound one-sided. But be it as it may,
any person who has gone through the colonizing experience would af-
firm that colonialism is responsible for cultural and religious estrange-
ment in any area it occurs. It is only a question of the extent of such an
estrangement.
The “colonizing structure”, as Mudimbe calls it, completely em-
braces the physical, human and spiritual aspects of the colonizing expe-
rience. This structure manifests itself in the following complementary
moments: the domination of physical space, the reformation of the na-
tives’ minds, and the integration of local economic histories into the
Western perspective. This colonializing structure6 brings about the pro-
duction of marginal societies, cultures, and human beings: traditional
versus modern, oral versus written and printed, agrarian and customary
communities versus urban and industrialized civilization, primitive ver-
sus civilized persons or societies. At the cultural and religious levels the
colonializing enterprise diffused through schools, churches, press, and
audio-visual media new attitudes which were contradictory and much
more complex models in terms of culture, spiritual values and their
transmission. Thus, it broke the culturally unified and religiously inte-
grated scheme of most African traditions. According to P. Bigo, “there is
no doubt that direct or indirect colonialism always provokes in the coun-
tries that experience it cultural constraint, a contamination the more pro-
found as it is hidden. Lifestyles and modes of thinking of the dominant
nations tend to impose themselves on the dominated nations. Moreover,
they are accepted, even sought after. Models spring up, alienating factors
for the people who adopt them”7.

6 Cf. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa, 4.

7 Mudimbe 5.

242
 As we said above, colonialization of Africa was the ultimate result
of an age long preparation. The trans-Atlantic slave trade (henceforth
“TAST”), was only a fore-taste of what was to come! Its forerunners can
be found in what might be termed the “African bias”. This is the attitude
and practice of equating Africa with inferiority, backwardness, primi-
tiveness, savagery, innate indolence, barbarism, everything negatively
not-European. If anything to the contrary should be found there, then it
must have been put or brought about by a European or an Arabian. On
the basis of this bias, fed and nurtured by explorer’s accounts, the West
created an Africa which fitted into her epistemological grid. Right down
to the first century A.D., there are traces of this. For instance, “during the
reign of Hadrianus (A.D. 76-138), the poet Florus from the African
province was denied a prize because, according to a witness, ‘the em-
peror [...] did not want to see Jupiter’s crown going to Africa’”8. For
centuries Herodotus, Diodorus of Sicily, and Pliny belonged to the most
important creators of images of Africa. In the fifth century B.C. for in-
stance, Herodotus while describing the eastern part of Libya was able to
state: “‘I know and can tell the names of all the peoples that dwell on the
ridge [of the Tritonian lake] as far as the Atlantes [on Mount Atlas], but
no farther than that’”. That said, he went on to recount, “that west of the
Tritonian lake is savage, full of wild animals and strange creatures: ‘dog-
headed humans’, ‘headless peoples’, and ‘human beings who have their
eyes in their breasts’, ‘besides many other creatures not fabulous’”9. In
his chronicle, Pliny described an area around the “‘black river which has
the same nature as the Nile‘[...]. Strange beings live there: peoples who
do not have individual names, cave-dwellers who have no language and
live on the flesh of snakes, the ‘Garamantes’ who do not practice mar-
riage, the ‘Blemmyae’ who are headless, satyrs, strapfoots, etc.”10. Actu-
ally, the most widespread European knowledge of Africa till right into
the nineteenth century was that of land of “Savages” and “Primitives”.
This knowledge was propagated and fostered by the explorer’s accounts,
given scientific coverage by anthropologists and theological gab by mis-
sionaries. Artists and painters conjured images of savagery basing on the
explorers’ accounts. Their models were of course their fellow Europeans

8 Ibid., 69.
9 Ibid., 70.
10 Ibid., 71.

243
but once on their canvas, they imagined schemes and infused savagery or
racial difference into their model.
One may not be too wrong to suppose that it is the same bias which
led the Spaniard soldier and priest, acclaimed later as the Indio-defender,
Bartolomé de Las Casas, in the year 1516 to make the ominous advice.
Therein he recommended that black African slaves be brought to the
West Indies to replace the Indios – whom the Spaniards had worked to
death – in the gold mines. This recommendation brought doom over the
black African continent: the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. Although he
deeply regretted this act in his later years before he died, black African
slaves stood for him on the lowest rung of the value scale. In his eyes
they were most probably on the same value level with beasts of burden,
which anybody (especially the Portuguese) had the right to capture and
dispose of at will. A system which devastated and almost obliterated the
Indios from the face of the earth, and against which he fought to save
them with all the power in his soul, he judged good enough for the Afri-
cans! Many years later, as the “TAST” raged on unabated, he wrote in
his Historia de las Indias:

The advice that it be allowed that black slaves should be brought into these coun-
tries was given first by the cleric; but he was unaware of the injustice with which
the Portuguese caught and enslaved them; but having run into this error, he would
not give [the advice] for everything in the world again; for he was of the opinion,
slaves were always made unjustly and tyrannically. Whether they [black Africans]
11
or Indians, the reason is always the same .

Even die Era of Enlightenment did not bring any positive change in this
epistemological atmosphere. It rather defined the characteristics of sav-
agery. Voltaire explained, for instance, the inequality among human be-
ings through the metaphor of the inequality of trees in a forest. Hegel
devoted some contemptuous pages on blacks and “Savages” in general.
Lévy-Bruhl on his part asserted that “primitives seem frozen in a state of
prelogism, thousands of years behind Western civilization”12. More re-
cently, K. Jaspers interpreted the history of “primitives who simply van-
ish in the presence of Western culture”, while B. Malinowski posits a
“theory of cultural change, involving the African’s dream of becoming

11 G. Gutiérrez, Gott oder das Gold, 176. Translation from German is ours.
12 Mudimbe 72.

244
‘ifnot European, then at least a master or part master of some of the de-
vices, possessions and influences which in his eyes constitute European
superiority’”13. A host of other myths, like the “beastly savages,” “bar-
baric splendours,” “white man’s grave,” contributed to pave the way for
the kind of approach the Europeans took in their encounter with Africans
and for the devastating effects of this encounter on the African, and con-
sequently on the Igbo culture. Beside the explorer and the soldier, the
anthropologist and the missionary also played very decisive roles in
shapng Europe’s knowledge of Africa and in bringing about an episte-
mological shift in the African towards himself, as we shall see later. The
missionary, however, was the most potent. His main objective remained
constant through the years: the conversion of African minds and space
through the expansion of the absoluteness of Christianity. In the face of
these forces: the invasion of formidable strangers, a distorted and dehu-
manized image outside, and split or damaged identity within, the African
had no alternatives left, if he were to survive, than to “drink the cup” of
estran-gement. We thus share Mudimbe’s conclusion that

a person whose ideas and mission come from and are sustained by God is rightly
entitled to use all possible means, even violence, to achieve his objectives. Conse-
quently, ‘African conversion,’ rather than being a positive outcome of a dialogue –
unthinkable per se – came to be the sole position the African could take in order to
survive as a human being14.

In spite of this general negative and patronizing attitude towards Africa

and the Africans there were some exceptions which eventually had some
far reaching effects on the later Europe-Africa-relationship. For instance
many anthropologists and missionaries started undergoing an epistemo-
logical shift. A noticeable shift from the search for justifications for the
processes of conquering and creating an Africa according the conceptual
framework of their homelands as well as for the processes of its exploi-
tation and methods for its “regeneration” was creeping in. They no
longer sought primarily to exploit but rather to understand the continent
and its peoples. They began to speak about Africa and the Africans.
Some of them went through what can be described as a “conversion”. To
illustrate: There was the seventeenth-century Italian Giovanni Francesco

13 Ibid.
14 Ibid., 48.

245
Romano. He worked as a missionary in the Congo from 1645 to 1654. In
his report of fewer than one hundred pages on his voyage and sojourn in
the Congo kingdom, published in 1648, only very few derogatory words
could be found. In his ethnographic description of the people and their
customs, the latter are neither curious nor bizarre. Only in his description
of the social structure of the kingdom he applied the model of a Christian
European kingdom with its dukes, earls, barons and peasants. Except for
the king and his courtiers, all the inhabitants of the Congo were for him
“pagan and poor”, questi gentili, quei poveri. Another example is the
twentieth century Belgian Placide Frans Tempels, a missionary in Cen-
tral Africa from 1933 to 1962 and author of Bantu Philosophy. Tempels
lived more than ten years among the Luba Katanga people, sharing their
language and culture before publishing his experiences in a more or less
philosophical treatise, in 1959. Commenting on this Mudimbe writes:

Rather than as a philosophical treatise, his Bantu Philosophy could be understood

simultaneously as an indication of religious insight, the expression of a cultural
doubt about the supposed backwardness of Africans, and a political manifesto for a
new policy for promoting ‘civilization’ and Christianity. But this complexity is not
15
what is commonly discussed when specialists speak of Tempels’ philosophy .

This change of attitude did not restrict itself to the continent. It was also
occurring in Europe in the first half of this century among intellectuals in
a more or less revolutionary form aimed at dismantling colonialism
wherever it existed. This involved not only Europeans themselves but
also African intellectuals in Europe and America then. People like the
existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre through his association with
Frantz Fanon (Black Skin, White Masks; The Wretched of the Earth) and
Leopold Sedar Senghor (Négritude) were also affected by epistemologi-
cal ruptures. Sartre, for instance, stated in his article Black Orpheus:
“Today, these black men have fixed their gaze upon us and our gaze is
thrown back in our eyes; black torches, in their turn, light the world and
our white heads are only small lanterns balanced in the wind”16. Then he
went further: “A Jew, white among white men, can deny that he is a Jew,
can declare himself a man among men. The Negro cannot deny that he is
Negro nor claim for himself this abstract uncolored humanity [...]. The

15 Ibid., 50.
16 Jean-Paul Sartre, Black Orpheus. Présence Africaine. Paris, 7-8.

246
Negro who vindicates his négritude in a revolutionary movement places
himself, then and there, upon the terrain of Reflection, whether he
wishes to rediscover in himself certain objective traits growing out of
African civilization, or hopes to find the black Essence in the wells of his
souls”17. This ideological rupture led inevitably to the nationalist move-
ments of the fifties and sixties. Some sociologists and historians like
Basil Davidson contributed their own quota by opposing the widely ac-
cepted conceptions of “living fossils” and “frozen societies”. And finally
in the outgoing 20th century it is crossing the minds of many Christians
in the Catholic world that a black African might possibly become a Pope.
All these – the anthropological and missionary commitment to Afri-
can values, the intervention by some Western sociologists, historian and
philosophers, and the “awakening” of African intellectuals who began to
speak about their past and their culture and attacked, or at least ques-
tioned, colonialism and its basic principles, and today of African theolo-
gians18, with their emphasis on négritude, blackness, African heritage
and experience – blend to portray the complexity of the epistemological
shift or change that is taking place on the larger African cultural system
and in particular on the smaller Igbo cultural unity.19

8.1.1.3 Culture Intercourse – (Domain of Reciprocal Structural Cou-

pling)
This is a lasting relation of mutual contact on the basis of a balance of
political power or of a stalemate. A condition for this, is the interplay
between demand and supply. The Africans had goods which the Europe-
ans desperately needed and likewise the Europeans had goods which the
Africans came to desire. On the side of the Europeans the traders and the
missionaries were carriers and transmitters of European culture. They
needed the natives not only for the success of their mission, but also for
survival in the unfamiliar and harsh tropical climate. The Africans, on

17 Ibid., 17.
18 Very popular among them are Uzukwu, Mveng, Hebga, Mudimbe, Oduyoye and
Bimwenyi: the protagonists for a theology of incarnation, and many others.
19 For further interest on this theme of the above discourse, a visit to the edifying and
scholarly work of V. Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa, is as imperative as it is
rewarding, especially Chapter I: Discourse of power and knowledge of otherness,
and Chapter III: The power of speech.

247
the other hand, had discovered that they could enhance their political
status and their technological know-how through contact with the Euro-
peans. Both the traders and the missionaries made efforts to create and
maintain an atmosphere conducive enough for achieving their aims. The
missionaries, especially, even tried to adjust their social behaviours to
some extent to fit into the social behaviour patterns of the areas they
found themselves. While the traders and the colonialists made use of
middle-men (Africans or mulattoes) in their interaction and transactions
with the natives, the missionaries sought direct contact with the people.
In spite of all that, they remained in their core exponents of European
culture, for whatever concessions they ever made, the orthodoxy of their
doctrine dared not be tampered with. It is the paradox of the early mis-
sionary history, however, that those places where they tried to make use
of the cultural elements of the people, they actually ended up contribut-
ing to the decline of the culture.
In whichever way the culture contact occurred, a process has set in,
which will alter the cultural habits of the Igbo people. Such changes
bring about a re-organization or a disorganization of the person’s con-
ceptual horizon. The person progressively feels ill at ease or even es-
tranged in his usual epistemic world. This state is the kind many find
themselves who live in more or less transcultural environments. What
Pico Iyer wrote on the situation of the current generation of transcultural
writers aptly portrays the kind of state we are talking about here. He
writes:

The novels that descend from this tradition of multiple homes are invariably con-
cerned with identity, and their central theme has been the plight of those who are
torn between motherlands and mother tongues, the ‘not quites’, as the Indian writer
Bharati Mukherjee calls them. Looking both ways at once, neither here nor there,
they end up citizens of nowhere, or somewhere in the mind. Their situations are
universal enough to cross all kinds of boundaries [...]. All these rootless souls be-
20
long to a common place whose name is dislocation .

M. Landmann’s analysis of this state is so impressive that we would like

to conclude this section with it:

20 P. Iyer, The Empire writes Back, 52-53. Emphasis added.

248
 Just as [we can live] in several social embedments we can also live in several in-
tellectual traditions [...]. The various intellectual traditions [...]which we bring to-
gether in ourselves do not lie unrelated close to each other. There results some
synthesis between them as well as frictions and rivalries [...]. Not quite at home in
one and from the other not quite accepted, we feel every where, like Othello, ‘un-
housed’ [...]. Whoever stands in a single or in a dominant social embedment or tra-
dition will identify himself fully with it. He owes his personality quite alright to it,
but it is a full, objectively richer personality. But whoever, on the contrary, is sur-
rounded by a multiplicity of social embedment and traditions, susceptible now to
one, then to the other and choosing between them, maintains a neutral distance to
all of them. He withdraws time after time from them, remains free and at the end
untouched. He manipulates them without their truely becoming part of him. As a
result he quite alright is more individual and independent than the former person;
21
but at the same time his individuality is lacklusterer and hollower .

8.2 Igbo Culture and Change

Igbo culture, like any other human culture, is not static but always trans-
forming in accordance with the changes in the environment. For a people
who have a special bent for individual and group achievement and status,
change can only be a welcome phenomenon: every change carries po-

21 Landmann 46-47. Translation is ours. The original version is as follows:

“Ebenso wie in mehreren Sozialeinbettungen können wir auch in mehreren Geis-
testraditionen leben [...]. Die verschiedenen Geistestraditionen [...], die wir in uns
vereinigen, bleiben nicht beziehungslos nebeneinander liegen. Es kommt zwischen
ihnen zu Synthesen, ebenso aber auch zu Friktionen und Befehdungen [...]. In der
einen nicht mehr ganz heimisch, von der andern nie ganz rezipiert, fühlt [derjenige]
sich überall, wie Othello, ‚unhoused‘ [...]. Wer nur in einer einzigen oder doch ei-
ner dominierenden Sozialeinbettung oder Tradition steht, der wird sich ganz mit ihr
identifizieren und durchtränken. Er hat dann zwar seine Persönlichkeit von dort
her, aber sie ist eine gefüllte, um Objektives bereicherte Persönlichkeit. Wer dage-
gen von einer Vielheit von Sozialeinbettungen und Traditionen umringt wird, bald
von dieser, bald von jener angesprochen und zwischen ihnen wählend, der behält
ihnen allen gegenüber eine neutrale Distanz. Immer wieder nimmt sich von ihnen
zurück, bleibt er frei und im letzten unberührt. Er manipuliert sie, ohne daß sie ihm
wahrhaft zu eigen würden und zuwüchsen. Daher ist er zwar in höherem Maß als
jener individuell und auf sich gestellt; aber gleichzeitig ist seine Individualität
farbloser und leerer“.

249
tentials for new avenues to status, opens up new alternatives to existing
goals and/or enhances the opportunities open to a greater number of aspi-
rants. On the other hand, every change constitutes a threat to established
social institutions and privileges; it whips up discordant and deviant be-
haviours and attitudes in respect to established and age-old norms and
values. Thus a positive or negative attitude towards change and its re-
ceptivity are dependent on many factors internal or extraneous to the in-
dividual. We shall briefly consider the various stages of this change.
Later on we shall look at the nature of the transformation.

8.2.1 The Stages of Social Change

Murdock enumerated four different stages in the process of social

change, which are observable in the approach of the Igbo to Western
culture. They are: (1) innovation, (2) social acceptance, (3) selective
elimination and (4) integration.

8.2.1.1 Innovation
Innovation is the introduction of something new into an established set-
ting. But when it involves the introduction of elements of habitual be-
haviour from one context to another, it can be of various kinds. The most
common, and for our study, the most important form of innovation is
cultural borrowing. This is the process of diffusion of some elements of
an alien culture through culture contact, which can occur in any of the
forms described earlier. Incentive is very necessary for borrowing. Bor-
rowing can only occur, if the foreign culture shows itself to be of great
reward and to possess the capacity to satisfy the needs of the society. For
instance, in a society where oral method was virtually the only form of
transmission of history and tradition, the alien element of formal educa-
tion, whereby people learnt to read and write other people’s thoughts and
their own too, proved to be very rewarding. Besides, those who attended
the schools had more access to better paid jobs. But they also learnt
some of the craftiness and secrets of the ‘white people’. It enhanced their
social status as well. Most often what is borrowed is only the general
idea of the foreign culture trait. No borrowed cultural element remains or
develops in its original form. Once a cultural element has been moved

250
from its original context, it transforms itself, assumes a new function and
enters into a new horizon of meaning.22 It is also interesting to note that
not every member or institution of a society is in like manner open to in-
novations. As a rule, young people, and in many cases, socially under-
privileged are more susceptible to new and alien ideas than elderly
ones.23

8.2.1.2 Social Acceptance

After the introduction of the new idea, the phase of social acceptance
follows. This is the stage where the society develops structures of action
and of thought congenial to the new idea. With this, internal or vertical
diffusion begins to take place, now championed by members of the soci-
ety itself rather than by the carrier or representatives of the alien culture.
Chinua Achebe captured these momentous phases in an unparalleled
manner in his monumental Trilogy: “Things Fall Apart, No longer at
Ease and The Arrow of God”.

8.2.1.3 Selective Elimination

As soon as the new ideas have been accepted, they have now to establish
their right of existence in the encounter with the already existing cultural
institutions. Unsuitable or maladaptive ones get ejected whilst the con-
genial ones proceed to the next phase. It is important to stress here that
the selection is in most cases not necessarily substitutive but additive.24
We do not, however, share the opinion of these authors on literacy,
schooling and religion: According to them, “the desire for literacy is a
response to a need which can be satisfied without inducing cultural con-
flict. Even when considered as modes of speech rather than techniques,
the new European languages in which instruction is given are advanta-
geous to learn but do not necessarily replace the African ones”25. This
might be so especially with respect to the older generation. New lan-

22 Cf. Bitterli 53: Auf dem Gebiet der Heidenmission geschah es “häufig, daß christ-
liche Begriffe und Rituale mit fremden Bedeutungsinhalten befrachtet oder einer
angestammten Religion wesensfremde Heilserwartungen unterschoben wurden”.
23 Cf. Berger et al., The Homeless Mind, 154-155.
24 Cf. M. J. Herskovits and W. R. Bascom, The Problem of Stability and Change in
African Culture, 6.
25 Ibid.

251
guage introduces new concepts and ideas which often have no equiva-
lence in the native language. Every concept has emotional component(s)
associated with it, which in turn evokes a specific reaction. This gives
rise, in many cases, to new behavioural patterns, the effect of which may
be positive or negative in relation to established patterns. It is positive
when it augments or consolidates the existing behavioural habits. It is
negative when it leads to a constant deviation from them, and conse-
quently triggering new adjustments. More often than not, this brings
about a state of mutually exclusive tendencies in the individual. Besides,
the language of instruction assumes with time the role of the official
means of verbal communication. With that it gains an edge over the na-
tive language. When this is coupled with greater opportunities to “better
living standards”, it becomes a status symbol. It will, therefore, be a
gross underestimation to believe that this condition will be without cul-
tural conflict. The danger of substitutive selection is, at any rate, higher
among the younger generation Igbo, who no longer can speak their na-
tive language properly, having started with the foreign language much
too early in their lives. The same thing applies to religion. In the latter
case, there is likely to occur a state of religious homelessness. In several
sectors of life in the Igbo society today, this is the phase in which many
foreign cultural elements still find themselves. As Herskovits and Bas-
com rightly observed,

there is no African culture which has not been affected in some way by European
contact, and there is none which has entirely given way before it [...]. Elements
from outside, accepted generations ago, have been adapted to traditional African
patterns. Tobacco, cassava, peanuts, and maize, which were probably introduced
from the New World by the early Portuguese explorers, have been incorporated
into many African cultures without weakening them. European legal principles and
procedures, whatever their degree of acceptance, have not [completely] displaced
the sanctions of traditional law – though in many cases both have been modified in
the course of adaptation. Monogamy has been sanctioned in law without prohibit-
ing polygyny when marriage is by “native law and custom.” Despite the intensity
of Christian missionary effort [...] African religions continue to manifest vitality
everywhere. This is to be seen in the worship of African deities, the homage to the
ancestors, and the recourse to divination, magic, and other rituals. A growing num-
ber of Africans, to be sure, have been taught to regard the religion of their forefa-
26
thers as superstition and to reject other beliefs and customs as outmoded .

26 Ibid., 3.

252
Stages (2) and (3) are highly volatile and conflict-ridden periods in the
process of interaction between the two cultures.

8.2.1.4 Integration
Integration is reached when the new ideas have found durable institu-
tions capable of expressing them. That means, they get diffused in the
existing interpretational horizon of the home culture. This in turn brings
about a re-definition of the norms guiding social behaviours, relation-
ships and expectations, which in their turn, generate clear inter- and in-
trapersonal relationships. The period of time between innovation – in the
sense of cultural borrowing – and integration is called “cultural lag”. In-
tegration implies a period of relative stability. But, all societies are con-
stantly in change, some at a more rapid pace than others. As a result such
a stability remains far-fetched for a culture caught up in rapid social
change. The tragedy of the situation is that many African peoples, the
Igbo inclusive, are expected, and here and there being prodded, to make
a leap comparable with say a leap from 18th century into the 21st century.
For instance, while Europeans are grappling today with the problem of
adjustment to the changes being unleashed by Cyberspace, Africans are
still battling not only with the problems of modernisation and techno-
logical advancement but also with the upsurge and invasion of computer
technology coupled with the impacts of the globalization of communica-
tion network – all introduced from without. A continuous culture inter-
course invariably involves rapid social change. Such changes, no doubt,
cause much “pain and confusion”27 in orientation and expectation, espe-
cially in intra- and interpersonal relationships. “Integration is [thus]
reached when such conflicts and pains remain unnoticeable”28, albeit not
totally resolved.
These different stages of social change show clearly the futility of
every effort which is aimed at reproducing European Christianity on Af-
rican soil, which the early missionaries inadvertently thought they could
do in Igboland. Actually Europe had a strong missionary consciousness
and zeal in relation to establishing and spreading her culture or cul-

27 Augsburger 138.
28 Ilogu 7.

253
tures29. With this theory in mind, let us now see what transformations
took place in the Igbo consciousness and how they came about.

8.3 The Nature and Agents of Change

The encounter with European commercialization of slavery30, which

culminated in the heinous “TAST” coupled with colonialism and Chris-
tianization crusades had not only cataclysmic impacts on Igbo life and
culture, it also offered new avenues to status achievements. Of greater
interest for us are those changes which occurred as from the fifteenth
century, when the Europeans set out in “search of Christians and
Spices”31 and touched down on the west coasts of Africa.
The 15th to the 19th centuries witnessed an unprecedented and sud-
den emergence of the terra incognita – Africa – on the world scene.
Herskovits and Bascom described “the suddenness with which Africa
has emerged onto the world scene” as “one of the striking happenings of
our day”32. In contradistinction to the changes prior to this period, the

29 This consciousness arose out of the 19th Century imperialism spawned by biolo-
gists of the same era. This led to the belief that some races were superior to others.
Catchpole enumerated four basic ideas which emanated therefrom and became cur-
rent. These deserve full citation here, because they throw light on the psychological
and mental propensity of some of the agents of Western cultures who came into Ig-
boland. Moreover, they offer some explanation for the economic and cultural ex-
ploitation perpetrated on the Igbo and on all other non-Western cultures coming
into contact with Western cultural agents. These ideas are as follows: “1. Western
culture is superior to non-Western cultures. 2. Europeans are descended from a dif-
ferent race from everybody else. The differences between Europeans and other
people can therefore be explained in biological terms. 3. European cultural superi-
ority must be hereditary. That superiority can be transmitted from one generation
to the next. 4. Other cultures will always be inferior because they are bound to
transmit that inferiority from one generation to the next. As Philip Curtin pointed
out in his study of imperialism, ‘The result for Western thought was a wave of un-
questioning cultural arrogance that arose steadily until well into the twentieth cen-
tury’”, Catchpole, vii-viii.
30 Cf. J. Ki-Zerbo, Die Geschichte Schwarz-Afrikas, 214-220.
31 Ibid., 214.
32 Herskovits and Bascom 2.

254
year 1472 – the year the first Portuguese came to southeastern Nigeria33
–, ushered in a long period of far-reaching radical changes in Igbo cul-
ture and cognitive horizon.
As we said in the previous chapters, whenever social behaviour is
persistently at variance with established cultural codes of conduct, i.e.
whenever existing borderlines are incessantly overstepped so that the
existing codes no longer apply, it results, according to G. P. Murdock,
“‘in modifications, first in social expectations and then in customs, be-
liefs and rules’”34. Thus social change results from the existence of social
behaviours following other guidelines which deviate from established
norms and when the existing institutions of a social system have become
incapable of accommodating them. By social system we mean Kroeber
and Parsons’ designate for that “‘specifically relational system of inter-
action among individuals and collectives’”35. Social change and trans-
formation of interactive maps bring about adjustments, change(s) on the
cognitive level. Changed visions allow new “worlds” and new “realities”
to emerge. The necessary socio-psychological adjustments to be made
may be more or less conflict-laden depending on whether the change of
vision took place in one or a small group of persons or in a greater col-
lectivity. Let us now look at some of the agents of change and transfor-
mation:

8.3.1 Slavery and the Slave Trade

The Mali Report distinguishes three distinct periods of slavery in Africa:

“(a) domestic slavery and prisoners of war in feudal times; (b) the slave
trade with the establishment of trading posts; (c) the replacement of the

33 E. Isichei, A History of Nigeria, 42.

34 Ilogu 6.
35 Kluckhohn, 556. Cf. also: Vester 38: “The events in systems seem even to be inde-
pendent of the nature of the things themselves, but all the more dependent on their
interactions, on how they are organized in relation to one another and on what kind
of structure they create” (Ja, das Geschehen in Systemen scheint sogar ziemlich
unabhängig von der Art der Dinge selbst zu sein, dafür um so abhängiger von ihren
Wechselwirkungen, von der Art, wie sie zueinander organisiert sind, welche
Struktur sie bilden).

255
slave trade by a ‘system of exploitation’”36. The first period of slavery in
Africa depicted the kind of slavery in vogue since the ancient times. In
the New Testament St. Paul in his letter to Philemon made efforts to free
Onesimus, who was a slave in the house of Philemon at the time of his
conversion by St. Paul.37 In the Middle Ages slavery was a symbol of
social-economic status.38 Slavery was also common in Africa. In general,
however, one distinguished between “house or domestic slaves” and
“war slaves, i.e. prisoners of war”. The latter became, in the course of
time, domestic slaves. In any case, they were treated as human beings,
albeit of a lower social status.
With regard to the European contact with Africans, one might in-
clude the periods between 1440 and 1451 in this first phase of slavery in
Africa. That is the first periods of Portuguese slavery activities in West
Africa. Having been initiated by Gonzalvez who was at the service of
Prince Henry ‘The Navigator’ of Portugal and Nuno Tristão in the year
144139, the machinery of inhumanity and human depravity was soon to
develop into a global commerce which was to go on unstopped for well
over 400 years! The first public commercialization of Africans as slaves
took place “on 8 August 1444 [...] at Lagos in the presence of Prince

36 M. Duchet, Reactions to the Problem of the Slave Trade, 49.

37 Cf. The Jerusalem Bible: Letter of St. Paul to Philemon.
38 Cf. Ki-Zerbo 217.
39 Going from the study done by S. U. Abramova, Gonzalvez had already taken ten
captives from Africa back to Portugal by the year 1441. Ki-Zerbo, however, dates
this incident after the year 1442. Da Veiga Pinto ascribed the first slaves to be
taken from the west coast of Africa to Nuno Tristão in 1441. Whatever the case
may be, whether they were only two or ten Africans who were forcibly uprooted
into Europe, the fact remains: “‘that unhallowed commerce of traffic in the Souls
of Men’” as Ezra Stiles put it, was set off by the Portuguese between 1441 and
1442. With time it became a sign of affluence to hold black slaves in one’s house-
hold in Europe, and for the Portuguese sailors it soon became obvious that a couple
of African slaves brought along with other commodities like elephant tusks, gold,
pepper, etc. augmented the price offered them for these commodities. About the
year 1550 African slaves amounted to one tenth of the entire population of Lisbon.
Cf., S. U. Abramova, Ideological, doctrinal, philosophical, religious and political
aspects of the African slave trade, 16; Ki-Zerbo 219; F. L. da Veiga Pinto and A.
Carreira, Portuguese participation in the slave trade, 119-120; P. J. Staudenraus,
The African Colonization Movement 1816-1865, 5.

256
Henry, instigator of the African expeditions. The choicest slaves had
previously been offered to the church”40 – to Pope Eugene IV.41
The second period of slavery was the period of that heinous scram-
ble for Africans as “live cargo”, which drained the blood of youth from
the veins of Africa for four long, tortuous and gruesome centuries: 1451
to 1870! The claws of hell were partly let loose upon the continent and
her children when the Pope, desperate to regain the countries dominated
by Islam and to check its further expansion in the world of the second
half of the 15th century, divided the world between Spain and Portugal42:
Africa, Asia and Brazil went to Portugal while the rest of America went
to Spain. With the bull Dum Diversas of 145243 Pope Nicholas V granted
the King of Portugal, “Alphonso V, the right to seize lands and enslave
heathens in regions discovered by that time in Africa and in those that
would be discovered”44. Christians at the time felt the moral obligation to
wage a “just war” against infidels: Moslems and heathens, and convert
them to Christianity, willy nilly.45 It is true that slaves were baptized, but
nonetheless sold. François I, the King of France, was known to have
made the contentious but laconic statement in reaction to this papal deci-
sion: “I am very curious to see that clause of Adam’s testament with
which he excluded me from participating in sharing the world”46. With
the geographical revolutions of Copernicus and Galilei it became con-

40 da Veiga Pinto and Carreira 119-120.

41 Abramova 16.
42 These two countries were known at the time as the “Catholic countries”.
43 Mudimbe 45. “Dum Diversas clearly stipulates this right to invade, conquer, expel,
and fight (invadendi, conquirendi, expugnandi, debellandi) Muslims, pagans, and
other enemies of Christ (saracenos ac paganos, aliosque Christi inimicos) wher-
ever they may be. Christian kings, following the Pope’s decisions could occupy
pagan kingdoms, principalities, lordships, possessions (regna, principatus,
Dominia, possessiones) and dispossess them of their personal property, land, and
whatever they might have (et mobilia et immobilia bona quaecumque per eos de-
tenta ac possessa). The king and his successors have the power and right to put
these peoples in perpetual slavery (subjugandi illorumque personas in perpetuam
servitutem)”; Also Ki-Zerbo, 220.
44 Abramova 17.
45 On the cultural and mental situation in Europe at this time, cf. H. Goldstein, Was
geschah 1492? Was geschah 500 Jahre lang? Was sollte 1992 geschehen?, 490-
500, especially 491-492. Actually, slavery was deemed justifiable and legitimate as
long as it contributed to the propagation of Christianity. Cf. also Duchet 33.
46 Ki-Zerbo 220.

257
ceivable to go to the spice markets of India by following the sun, i.e.
westwards! In 1492 Christopher Columbus, at the behest of the Iberian
monarchy, Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon, set
sail for India westwards and later found himself in the New World. Sub-
sequent voyages brought Spanish settlements into the West Indies and
riches in gold back to Spain. Having worked the native Indios to death in
the gold mines and in the plantations, they turned over to Africans whom
they considered more resistant to tropical climate, docile and more ro-
bust – having experienced them earlier on Portuguese farms. With that
the road was opened for unrestrained raids for African slaves and deple-
tion of the African population. Holland, France, Great Britain all re-
ceived concessions, asiento, from Spain to sell African slaves in the
Spanish American colonies. Britain47 and the United States of America48
later abolished slavery in 1807 and 1808 respectively. However, the
trade went on, though “illegally”.
The following period constituted the third period of slavery, which
was the period of a systematic exploitation of the Africans in their own
country. With the British proscription of the “TAST” there set in the pe-
riod which the British styled the period of “legitimate trade”, as if the
trade in African slaves was not for many centuries “legitimate” dealing
of the British. In Igboland, this period was marked by trade in vegetable
oil. By 1870, when slavery was finally abolished49 or rather given up,

47 Great Britain pioneering and championing the war against the Atlantic slave trade
was certainly not motivated by humanitarian convictions alone. The breaking away
of her North American colonies compelled her to take some punitive measures
against them. The best way, of course, was to squeeze off the supply of slaves to
their large plantations and ultimately to debilitate their economic mainstay.
48 Besides the mounting insurrections and revolts of slaves on the slave islands and
the plantations, and increasing humanitarian movements, at the core of the motiva-
tion to abolish African slave trade and slavery in the United States of America was
a very strong racist angst: the fear of racial infiltration of the “superior white race”
by the “inferior black race”. According to Staudenraus: “Emancipation and re-
moval of Negro slaves were urgent. Jefferson detected a steady increase in the Ne-
gro population foreboding ‘a revolution of the wheel of fortune’ that could reverse
the roles of master and slave and bring tragic paroxysm to the land. ‘I tremble for
my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever’”.
For further interesting reading on the background of the anti-slavery and coloniza-
tion movement in America, cf. Staudenraus, ibid. The quotation above is from p. 2.
49 Saudi Arabia was the last country to abolish slavery and slave trade in 1962.

258
well over 29.4 million recorded Africans were taken into slavery: about
15.4 million among them through the “TAST”.50 The report of Captain
John Adams “‘who made ten slaving voyages to West Africa between
1786 and 1800’” confirms the projections which hold that the majority of
slaves exported through the Niger Delta to the New World were Igbo
and Ibibio (68% Igbo and 26% Ibibio)51:

This place (Bonny) is the wholesale market for slaves, as not fewer than 20'000 of
whom are members of one nation, called Heebo (the Igbo), so that this single na-
tion [...] during the last 20 years (exported no less) than 320'000; and those of the
same nation sold at New Calabar (a Delta port), probably amounted, in the same
period of time, to 50'000 more, making an aggregate amount of 370'000 Heebos.
The remaining part of the above 20'000 is composed of natives of the Brass country
52
[...] and also of Ibbibbys (Ibibios) or Quaws .

Numbers can be measured and quantified, but one cannot measure or

quantify human inhumanity, misery and psycho-spiritual depreciation.

8.3.1.1 The Effects of the Slave Trade

The slave trade has far reaching effects both on the African continent and
the receiving countries.53 We are particularly concerned with the effects
on the peoples of West Africa to which the Igbo people belong. The ef-
fects of slavery, however, are similar all over Africa.
The “TAST” led to a massive depopulation of the West African coun-
tries, especially the nations on the west coast: millions of able bodied

50 Cf. J. F. Ade Ajayi and J. E. Inikori, An Account of Research on the Slave Trade in
Nigeria, 248. These figures are estimates. Every book on African slave trade con-
tains figures which due to varying sources and often incomprehensible data are
bound to differ; some underestimate, while others overestimate. In any case, if one
adds about four to five African slaves who did not make it to their various destina-
tions of captivity to each of the recorded figures, then one gets a chilly feeling
about the immensity and enormity of this depletion. Cf. also Ki-Zerbo 228-229.
51 Cf. Isichei, A History of Nigeria, 96-97.
52. Agu 244.
53 For more information on the effect of Slavery on the receiving countries consult:
UNESCO publication: The African Slave Trade: From the fifteenth to the nine-
teenth century; J. Ki-Zerbo, Die Geschichte Schwarz-Afrikas; P. J. Staudenraus,
The African Colonization Movement 1816-1865.

259
young men and women were forcibly exported from their home coun-
tries to Europe and to the Americas.
The European slave raiders and dealers introduced firearms (guns
and gun powder) and hot drinks – often in exchange for “live wares”.
These weapons not only gave rise to a state of social, economic and po-
litical instability, but also exacerbated and nurtured it for centuries. Life
in Africa remained insecure for four bloody centuries! In such a state of
long and deadly insecurity and brain drain nothing can develop. The un-
settled conditions of those centuries made political stability, social and
economic development impossible
The trade plunged the continent into a chaos of gory internecine
wars. Wars provided slaves, and firearms produced more casualties and
deaths. The European ever increasing, incessant and insatiable demands
for African slaves instigated new wars. According to J. E: Inikori, “fire-
arms gave steam to imperial ventures aimed at controlling the sources of
slave supply. The conflict between these nascent empires over the con-
trol of slave supply on the one hand, and the need for self-defence
against their activities by their victims or potential victims on the other
hand, created a slave-gun circle”54.
The brutal nature of the slave trade and slavery itself served the con-
firmation of the Europeans’ feeling of and belief in the supremacy of the
white people over the black people55, of the white race over the black
race; but we would rather say: it only confirmed the depravity and in-
sanity of the perpetrators of the “TAST” on one side, and the naivety and
avariciousness of their native suppliers on the other hand. Such power
demonstrations created a mental state of docility in the Africans – the
sole position open to them if they were to survive as human beings.
In addition, these long years of enslavement and subjection to a
state of servitude, produced in the African the consciousness of not only
being a second class being but also of a subjugated and tolerated race.
This state of affairs held up the image of the African as a timid, primi-

54 J. E. Inikori, The Slave Trade and the Atlantic Economies, 1451-1870, 72.
55 In his publication, “Africa: A Biography of the Continent”, J. Reader criticizes this
arrogance. He blames the developmental disasters of the continent on the importu-
nities, intrusion and interruption of her natural developmental course, on Europe,
the migrants from Africa, who, returned 500 years ago “behaving as though they
owned the place”. John Reader, Africa. A Biography of the Continent. Penguin
Books. London 1998.

260
tive, docile and resistant “beast of burden”, which had been on course
among Europeans for centuries. This forced status of a second class hu-
man being furthermore gave rise to an infectious sense of inferiority and
aggression, and an often uncalled-for “I-am-as-good-as-you-are” air in
their later dealings with Europeans and Americans. This deportment
seems to be propelled by an internal compulsion to justify one’s right to
existence or right to be here and now. Consider the effect which the six
years of World War II had on the consciousness of the industrialized
world, and then imagine the effect that four centuries of slavery had on
the entire social and cultural ethos of the rural Igbo country and Africa in
general.
The Igbo had hitherto thought that they were the only race in the
world. This is not surprising for a people whose only means of transport
and channels of communication were their legs and their pathways, their
voices and their drums or gongs. Beside occasional bloody conflicts
between villages and village-groups, the Igbo do not know of any wars
between them and other tribes. The absence of a political unit favoured
this situation. The society and the people lived relatively intact and un-
disturbed in their accustomed way of life until the slave trade broke out.
With that the peace and isolation were gone forever. The slave trade in
which they participated as victims and as agents brought them into con-
tact with other Africans and with the light-skinned people of an unknown
provenience. Through slave trade the Igbo got introduced to a new eco-
nomic sector in addition to the subsistence economy they practised. Soon
also they began to develop a taste for hitherto unknown (foreign) com-
modities.56 Those who participated rose in influence, power and status,
which in turn ignited and sustained the crave for foreign commodities
and the need to supply more slaves to the dealers or their middlemen
(e.g. their fellow Igbo of Arochukwu).

8.3.2 Colonialism

When it became no longer expedient and economical to export Africans

to Europe and America, when Europeans and Americans became afraid
of an increasing Black population in Europe and America and when

56 Such as guns, gun-powder, boots, helms, liquor, iron, and cloth.

261
many Europeans started realizing the depravity and the self-destructive
nature of their own actions, instead of making acts of repentance, they
switched on the machinery of colonialism. Some in a bid to becalm their
own conscience and others propelled by the need to meet the challenges
of the industrial revolution by exploiting the most out of the African raw
materials and natural resources, they evolved the idea of civilizing the
African savages and primitives. Christianization, which meant at the
same time Europeanization, became a central and suitable instrument on
that program. The ultimate goal was to program the African minds to see
their enslavement, colonization and Christianization as acts of charity
and not as intrusion and uncalled for acts of cultural and cognitive vio-
lence. Besides, as J. B. Metz in his Faith and History once said, “it is the
principle of colonialism to make the colonized forget his past”. Impelled
by social, economic, political and religious problems in Europe, the
Europeans set out in search of “Newfoundlands”. According to V. Y.
Mudimbe, three major figures, from the fifteenth century to the end of
the nineteenth, determined modalities and the pace of mastering, colo-
nizing, and transforming the “Black Continent”. They are the explorer,
the soldier, and the missionary.57

8.3.2.1 The Explorer

The explorer, at the end of the fifteenth century was looking for a sea-
route to India. In the course of subsequent expeditions he began mapping
out the continent, thus opening the routes into the African hinterlands to
the soldiers, later colonizers and colonialists, and to the missionaries. In
the nineteenth century, he engaged himself with compiling information
and organizing complex bodies of knowledge, including medicine, geog-
raphy, and anthropology.58 With such bodies of knowledge he “colo-
nized” the minds of his country men and women, about what and how
the “African Child” and his continent looked like.59 By solving the enig-
ma of the River Niger, the Lander brothers, Richard and John, opened
the way into the Igbo country for their country men and women.60

57 Cf. Mudimbe 46. Cf. also J.-M. Éla, African Cry, 9-27.
58 Ibid., cf. also Ki-Zerbo 438.
59 Ibid.
60 Cf. Ozigbo 26; Ki-Zerbo 440.

262
8.3.2.2 The Soldier
With the abolition of the slave trade other trading commodities such as
palm oil and palm kernel, cotton, millet etc. surfaced. As the new trade
expanded and its economic benefits became more and more apparent, the
conflict of interests among the Europeans led to the partition of Africa.
The soldier, now equipped with the knowledge provided by the explorer,
was dispatched to protect the economic and political interests of his na-
tive country against native uprisings and foreign incursions. “The soldier
constituted the most visible figure of the expansion of European juris-
diction. He built castles and forts on the coasts, was in charge of trading
posts, participated in the slave-trade, and, in the nineteenth century, im-
plemented colonial power”61. In any case, it took him several years of
military expeditions – from 1900 till after the First World War – before
he could bring Southeastern Nigeria to finally capitulate and submit to
colonial rule.62
Once he had bombarded, burned and plundered his way into the
Igbo country, and eventually established his control, what the Igbo
feared and resented the most was, according to Agu, “a fait accompli:
foreign domination in all its shades and colours”63. The infamous “sys-
tem of indirect rule” – rule through imposed Warrant Chiefs – had be-
come a paradigm of British colonial power in the Igbo country. In spite
of the fact that it was a blunder and a failure, the very introduction of the
Warrant Chief system cast its shadows on Igbo society and political life
to the present.64 To secure his control over the area and the access to the
local natural resources, the soldier went straight to constructing road and
railway network to facilitate the movement of the troops, officials, and
trade – and “to maintain law and order.” This program was clearly con-
ceived and mapped out as James Coleman pointed out: “It was necessary
to establish political control, and then to construct communication, in-
stitute a common currency, and encourage African production of tropical
export crops, and finally to stimulate a desire for European manufactured

61 Cf. Mudimbe 47.

62 Cf. Ozigbo 111-114.
63 Agu 247-248.
64 A reminiscent of this system is the institution of “Igweship” in present-day Igbo
political organization.

263
goods”65. To ensure the cooperation of the people direct taxation was
imposed66 payable only in the new currency, thus furthering its circula-
tion. To be able to pay every household was eventually constrained ei-
ther to turn to wage labour or to the production of cash crops. In this way
the economy of the people was totally transformed, and worse still,
equally totally in the hands of the foreign power.

8.3.2.3 The Missionary and Missionary Enterprise

Finally, there was the missionary. He, also equipped with a similar body
of knowledge provided by the explorer and with the Christian zeal, came
to save whatever “soul” may inhabit the body of the savage and primi-
tive through evangelization (– which is also a form of colonization, al-
beit spiritual, but consequently, more radical). He, as much as the colo-
nialist, devoted himself very much to the expansion of European
civilization, even though this was not his primary objective. The first
half of the 19th century witnessed a change in European attitude and poli-
cies towards West Africa. The ensuing anti-slavery movements in Brit-
ain and the African Colonization Movements in North America67, com-
bined to create a state of real chaos in West Africa. In the midst of this
unclear state of affairs the churches attempted another missionary incur-
sion in the region of Southern Nigeria after the ill-fated efforts of the
Portuguese missionaries in the second half of the 15th century.
The objective of the missionary, throughout the centuries the most
consistent, has been the expansion of “the absoluteness of Christianity”
and its virtues. Quoting Hammond and Jablow, Mudimbe affirms: Prin-
gle’s 1820 vision sums it up nicely: “‘Let us enter upon a new and nobler
career of conquest. Let us subdue savage Africa by justice, by kindness,
by the talisman of Christian truth. Let us go forth, in the name and under
the blessing of God, gradually to extend the moral influence [...] the ter-
ritorial boundary also of our colony, until it shall become an Empire’”68.
The missionary’s objective is not necessarily connected with the colonial
aims of the soldier or the explorer/merchant. He has the unfortunate

65 Agu 249.
66 This led to the famous Aba Women’s Riot of 1929 against the British Colonial
Administration. Many women were killed in that incident.
67 See Staudenraus, The African Colonization Movement 1816-1865.
68 Mudimbe 47.

264
situation that his appearance on the coasts of Africa coincided with that
of the soldier. As a result, he has to live with that stigma of being (often
justifiably) accused of having come with the Bible in one hand and the
gun in the other. Thus paradoxically, the propagator of the Gospel Mes-
sage of Jesus Christ became the best symbol of the colonial enterprise,
namely: the expansion of European civilization, the dissemination of
Christianity, and the cognitive and spiritual restructuring of the colo-
nized.69 In the eyes of some colonialism and evangelization were so
complementary that the former was a necessary instrument for the lat-
ter.70 However genuinely motivated by true evangelical zeal to proclaim
the Good News of Salvation to all humankind, the missionary had, of

69 The Protestant missionary societies dominated the field during the first half of the
19th century. In West Africa the following missionary societies were active at the
time: the Baptist Missionary Society in Freetown (1795), the Church Missionary
Society (C.M.S.) (1804), the Wesleyan Methodist Mission (1811), the Basle Mis-
sion (1835), the Presbyterian Mission (1846), the Bremen Missionary Society in
Togo (1847). The only Catholic missionary societies on the West African mainland
at the time were the two congregations of St. Joseph Cluny (S. M. A.) and of the
Holy Ghost Fathers (C. S. Sp.). The first Catholic missionaries to arrive West Af-
rica were from the United States of America led by Father Edward Barron in 1842.
Having lost most of his missionaries, Barron was fortunate to team up with the
French cleric and Jewish convert, Father Francis Mary Paul Libermann, who a year
previous had founded the missionary society of Sacred Heart of Mary in France.
Libermann had missionaries but no mission field. Barron had mission field but lit-
tle or no missionaries. With bishop Barron’s resignation in 1845, the Propaganda
Fide transferred the responsibility for the Vicariate of the “two Guineas” (spanning
the countries between the Senegal River and Angola) to Libermann. Around 1860
some part of this vast vicariate – the area from the Volta to the Niger Rivers – was
transferred to the S. M. A. by the Propaganda Fide. The British had already occu-
pied the Niger down to its delta; the trade in that region was under the control of
British commercial firms, which later were brought together under the name United
African Companies and later in 1886 as Royal Niger Company. The latter favoured
the missionary activities of the C. M. S. on the Niger. On the invitation of some
French merchants on the Niger the C. S. Sp. and the S. M. A. sent missionaries to
the Niger. With the creation of the Prefecture of Lokoja at the confluence of the
two Rivers Niger and Benue in today’s Nigeria, the C. S. Sp. decided to establish a
mission on the Niger, at Onitsha. Cf. Ozigbo 36-40.
70 For Portugal and Spain the spreading of the Christian message was the major legal
justification for their colonizing ambitions, involvements and activities. This was
also confirmed and sanctioned “auctoritate Apostolica” by the roman curia. For
further reading, Cf. Bitterli, Alte Welt-neue Welt, 48-49; Gutiérrez, Gott oder das
Gold; Catchpole, The Clash of Cultures.

265
necessity, to adjust his objective to become co-extensive with the politi-
cal and economic aspirations of his fatherland. Sometimes extraneous
factors necessitated such adjustments, for instance, the need for political
or military protection and/or permission for entry into the occupied re-
gions. According to Mudimbe, the missionary’s objectives, obviously,

had to be co-extensive with his country’s political and cultural perspectives on

colonization, as well as with the Christian view of his mission. With equal enthusi-
asm, he served as an agent of a political empire, a representative of a civilization,
and an envoy of God. There is no essential contradiction between these roles. All
of them implied the same purpose: the conversion of African minds and space.
Christopher rightly observes that ‘missionaries, possibly more than members of
other branches of the colonial establishment, aimed at the radical transformation of
indigenous society [...].’ They therefore sought, whether consciously or uncon-
sciously, the destruction of pre-colonial societies and their replacement by new
71
Christian societies in the image of Europe .

It is obvious that the missionary, being an apostle, was sent. His speech,
therefore, is always predetermined, pre-regulated and conditioned not
only by the message he is meant to convey but also by his understanding
of the perspective and authority of his master. Besides, he carries into his
mission his developmental background and the cognitive bearings –
“den Zeitgeist” – of his time. In effect his language depends upon a
normative discourse already given and definitely stipulated. In this con-
nection Mudimbe observes:

Missionary orthodox speech, even when imaginative or fanciful, evolved within the
framework of what [...] I shall call the authority of the truth. This is God’s desire
for the conversion of the world in terms of cultural and socio-political regeneration,
economic progress and spiritual salvation. This means, at least, that the missionary
does not enter into dialogue with pagans and ‘savages’ but must impose the law of
God that he incarnates. All of the non-Christian cultures have to undergo a process
of reduction to, or – in missionary language – of regeneration in, the norms that the
72
missionary represents .

71 Mudimbe 47.
72 Ibid., 47-48.

266
As if following Pringle’s vision of subduing savage Africa by justice, by
kindness and by the talisman of Christian truth, in 188573 the missionary
arrived in Igboland. He pitched his tent at Onitsha, which in 1889 be-
came a C. S. Sp. Prefecture, officially known as the “Prefecture of the
Lower Niger”.74 Soon after his arrival, he embarked on charity works as
means of winning the good-will and the conversion of the people to the
Catholic faith. Convinced of his cultural and religious superiority and of
his call to disseminate his civilization and save the poor souls from per-
ishing in the wilderness of evil, he plunged himself into his mission,
shying no hardship, setbacks and dangers. He dedicated all he was and
all he had to this one mission. His reward was to be heaven as well as the
fame not only among his countrymen and women but, most of all,
among the evangelized. Ozigbo described the missionary enterprise as a
“marriage of interests and philanthropy”, as an “investment for which the
expected dividends would be spiritual and psychological.75 It was a do ut
des.

8.3.2.3.1 The Soldier and the Missionary in Igboland

In considering the activities of these two key figures in the scheme of
transformation of the Igbo world, we shall pay special attention to the
missionary. The soldier used the force of arms to subjugate the people
and impose foreign legal and political structures on them. The mission-
ary76 not only infiltrated their minds but also estranged their souls thus
irrevocably destabilizing the cognitive and spiritual edifice which gave
meaning and unity to the life of the people.

73 The first Catholic missionaries to set foot in Igboland were French C. S. Sp. mis-
sionaries led by Father Joseph Lutz. The other members of his crew were Father
John Horne and two lay brothers, Hermas Huck and John of Gotheau. Cf. Ozigbo
41.
74 Ozigbo 52.
75 Ibid., 58.
76 Henceforth the term “missionary”, used as a noun, in singular, refers to the mis-
sionaries of the Holy Ghost Congregation (C. S. Sp.) who evangelized this eastern
part of the country. Since we are not enquiring into the effects of each individual
missionary on the Igbo, but rather the effect of missionary activities among the
Igbo, we consider it more expedient to address the “missionary” rather than the
“missionaries”. We shall, nonetheless, use the term “missionaries” when we make
some specifications between the different nationalities within the C. S. Sp.

267
 Taking off from Onitsha at the bank of the River Niger he moved
into Igbo heartland, equipped with a strong four-itemed program: (1) the
provision of medical services, (2) the redemption and rehabilitation of
slaves – i.e. purchasing of slaves77 who were later baptized and allowed
to live within the Church premises, gathering, baptizing and habilitating
the marginalised of the society, such as, social outcasts, social misfits
and the helpless, (3) the deliberate play on the psychological and aes-
thetic susceptibilities of the converts, and (4) the education in literacy
and vocational training.78
With his selfless medical attention to the sick the missionary won
the greatest sympathy of the people. Disease, illness and ultimately
death, are the forces which, from their very nature, constantly tend to
submerge human life and experience into a nightmare of meaningless-
ness and chaos. They not only constitute “a threat to the continuity of
human relationships”, but also “threaten the basic assumptions of order
on which society rests”79. As a result, anybody or institution that helps to
combat, or augment the efforts of human beings against disease, illness
and death, or even help them to go through those terminal or border
states, is greeted with great sympathy and respect. The result of this
medical strategy was formidable: the Igbo responded in great numbers to
the call of the missionary. They went even further to attribute super-
human powers to him. In the report from Aguleri in 1894 we read for in-
stance:

77 The paradox of the whole affair was that the missionary, through his enthusiasm
and zeal for the freedom of the slaves, unwittingly and indirectly encouraged the
inhuman business among the Igbo for four good years (1886-1899). Ozigbo’s ac-
count of this event is very enlightening. He even reports that the Prefecture contin-
ued to receive annual grants from “slavery fund” established by Rome until the
1930’s. “Boys, girls and women ranging from 2 to 35 years of age were redeemed.
The greater number of these were females. They were all paid for with bags of salt,
rolls of tobacco, pieces of cloth (cotton goods), or bottles of gun-powder, which the
missionaries bought from the Royal Niger company’s trading factory at Obosi. The
records show that few of these slaves were purchased from the open market at the
Onitsha wharf. Most of the sales were made in the Holy Trinity mission station.
The people brought the slaves to the mission to sell them to the missionaries”,
Ibid., 66-78. The quotation is from p. 67.
78 N. I. Omenka, The School in the Service of Evangelization, 58
79 Berger, The Sacred Canopy, 23.

268
 Our great influence comes from the care which we extend to the sick who come to
us from several miles around. The good Lord had also permitted us to give salva-
tion to some of the desperate cases. Besides, the people say that we have power to
cure any disease, and that if sometimes we fail, it is because we are unwilling to
heal. Thanks to medicine, we have been able to baptize a large number of children
80
and many converts have been won .

In all that, the missionary “objective” stood first and foremost: Patients
who indicated their unwillingness to accept or submit to the new religion
were sent away unattended to.81 Baptism and the new religion, which
very often meant living around the church premises82 or in the ill-fated
Christian villages83, were usually the prerequisites for medical treatment.

80 Ozigbo 63.
81 Cf. Ibid., 64.
82 When parents refuse to leave their children behind after treatment, the pioneer mis-
sionary saw it as an act of ingratitude. The anguish expressed in the following cita-
tion underscores this point: “One thing [...] which causes us much pain is ingrati-
tude. Parents in extreme anguish bring their children [...] [with the promise to leave
them] with us once they regained their health. But was such a promise kept? [...]
We now make them sign an agreement to leave the children with us till they reach
the age of marriage, in the hope of making them good Christians, who will in turn
raise Christian families [...].” Omenka 32.
83 Ibid., 66.72-75: “Though life in the Aguleri Christian village was regimented, its
population nevertheless, steadily increased. By November 1896, twenty two Chris-
tian and ten catechumen families were recorded. Five Christian marriages were
also celebrated there that year. By July 1898, the population had shot up to 202 of
which 150 were baptized and 52 were catechumens. The number of families in the
village stood at 41. Chief Idigo of Aguleri, the patron of the village, became its un-
official catechist and time-keeper. He gave the rising sign each morning at 5
O’clock [...] [and] went round [...] to make sure that everyone was up for the 5.30
a.m. prayers and Mass. Evening prayers were also communal in the chapel. [Not all
the missionaries, however, were happy about this monastic regimentation of life in
the village]. Fr. Bubendorf blamed Fr. F.X. Lichtenberger, then in charge of Agu-
leri, for demanding too much from the villages”. The admission into the village
was conducted under strict observation of the following rules: “The man must have
one wife or promise to have only one. This must be done before he comes into the
village; He must have nothing to do with idols; he must be willing to be instructed
in the Christian faith and to follow other Christians in the exercise of piety and to
live unreproachful life. If any of these is broken later, the person is immediately
expelled [...]. We try to repress the ancient habits by limiting the contacts of our
Christians with their pagan countrymen and even with their friends and relations
(même avec leurs amis et parents)”, 73-74. Emphasis added.

269
There is no gainsaying that this response was motivated by the material
need of attaining sound health again, rather than by the spiritual appeals
of the teaching of the missionary. This fact is borne out by the fact that
many, who on admission agreed to let their sick children get baptized or
that they themselves be baptized on recovery, reneged on the agreement
without remorse. For the missionary this was a sign of gross ingratitude.
The initial members of the Christian folk in Igboland consisted of
ransomed slaves, social outcasts and misfits. Reporting to the Propa-
ganda Fide in 1912 Father Shanahan (the most popular of the Irish mis-
sionaries in Igboland) recalled the experiences of the pioneer missionary
with the infamous slave trade in Onitsha:

On the sandbank before our eyes, in Onitsha, slaves were once publicly marketed,
and our Fathers redeemed them daily to the extent their meagre resources permit-
ted. Soon hundreds of these unfortunates were living in the Mission, and it was no
small task to feed, clothe and house them; no easy task to dress their hideous
wounds and gradually to instruct them and change them to a Christian way of
84
life .

The missionary was soon to realize that this second program option had
no prospects of success for his objective, if any other thing, it was rather,
in the long run, going to be contra-productive: In Igboland free sons and
daughters of the land do not mix or commune with social outcasts – a
custom which, from a Christian point of view, is very deplorable. None-
theless, were the missionary to have followed this course, he would have
marginalised a greater part of the society.
Religious conversion, real or superficial, is essentially a radical
change of a person’s religious views and attitudes from one religion in
favour of another. The use of charity to lure the Igbo into abandoning
their traditional belief system in order to embrace the new dispensation
and religion dawned on the missionary as a very fleeting and superficial
instrument of evangelization. It became clear to him that the wheel of
conversion – aimed at by the use of charity – for most Igbo does not turn

The missionaries had hoped that with the conversion of Chief Idigo his entire town
would follow him. However, they did not know that in the Igbo society the title of
chief yielded prestige rather than power: At his conversion and subsequent entrance
into the Christian Village the chief had to leave behind his town with an estimated
population of 15’000, cf. Baur 149.
84 Omenka 35.

270
full circle. As a result, he began to appeal to the psychology of the con-
verts, in order to elicit the desired response: permanent membership of
the Catholic folk.
A great importance was given to a solemn celebration of the liturgy
and the sacraments. Since such solemnity and attitude towards rituals
and symbols were not totally strange to the Igbo, it appealed very much
to them. Besides, the idea of the Holy Mass as a “sacrifice”, the sacra-
mentals and the air of mystery surrounding their performances, are
things the Igbo only too easily incorporated into their existing cognitive
edifice. Since not properly understood, and the goal being ultimately
similar, it seemed like replacing one nomenclature with another; the
content and subjective relationship to such ritual activities remained
more or less unchanged. On the other hand, it also augmented the possi-
bilities open to the Igbo for accessing the benevolence of the forces that
abound in his world.
In addition, the unintelligibility of the language – Latin and English
– fitted properly into the Igbo conception of and attitude towards the
spoken word and the efficacy of ogwu as prepared by a Dibia. The Gre-
gorian Plain chant had its own toll of appeal on the aesthetic feelings of
the people. It seemed to bring the numinous much closer and more con-
cretely felt by the participants. To sing in an unintelligible Latin lan-
guage became somewhat a status symbol, for it brought you closer to the
mystique of the white people and the hopes for a better life he represents.
For the novelty-loving Igbo it was no problem for the converts to iden-
tify with this mystique.
To hallow these externals and give them a base, the concept and
idea of the sacred had to be expounded. The dogmatic doctrines of the
Church provided this needed legitimation and grounding. Since these
were in a more or less esoteric language, it became necessary to translate
them into some exoteric, intelligible forms which the neophytes could
understand. Attempt was made to initiate them through a process of
doctrinal instruction, the most potent vehicle of which was the Cate-
chism. This was simply indoctrination. Since the language of dialogue
was essentially contradictory to missionary speech and objective, the
contents of the catechism were then to be learnt by rote. This explains in
part the missionary’s preference for children, the ignorant and the gulli-
ble. Since these doctrines were imbibed and internalised without the
guiding light of the Spirit of understanding, the faith grew in most Igbo

271
not beyond their childhood catechism stage. Many of the strife and fa-
natical activities among Catholics against the traditional Religionists and
their traditional culture could be traced back to this point. Among candi-
dates for the Catholic priesthood and already ordained this shows itself
in an over-zealous and intolerant attitude towards the Igbo traditional
culture and religion.
A very remarkable feature of the missionary speech and of the
Catechism he introduced is that the language is a language of derision. In
this connection the idea of the Supreme God becoming a human being in
the person of Jesus of Nazareth fascinated the people, since such an idea
was hitherto totally strange to the Igbo. The idea of a God, who so loved
his people that He was prepared to sacrifice His son Jesus to save human
beings really touched the emotional nerve of the Igbo. The traditional
Igbo deities and spirits were then derided and ridiculed as capable of
nothing. Having dismissed the ritual symbols and icons of these deities
as idols, the missionary condemned the ritual reverence accorded them
as idolatry, thus mistaking the icons for the deities themselves. The dei-
ties were derided as man-made, work of the devil, incapable of speech,
motion or thought. The traditional religious belief system was said to
lead consequently and ultimately to damnation, or at best, it was said to
be a mark of primitiveness, backwardness and savagery. To become a
Christian was to become modern, civilized and saved. V. Y. Mudimbe
captured this fact in his assessment of the missionary’s language and Af-
rican conversion, when he cites the Cameroonian philosopher, Ebousi-
Boulaga, saying:

Christianity is the inheritor of Greek reason and it is the continuation and the
achievement of the Judaic revelation. By these two traits it is the critic of the false-
hood of other religions and denounces their mythological character. Its proper ele-
ment is language and history, but not the obscure regions of the cosmos nor of the
imaginary [...]. The missionary’s discourse [...] always presented five major fea-
tures. First of all, it is a language of derision, insofar as it fundamentally ridicules
the pagan’s Gods. And one must not forget that since its birth Christianity has ap-
propriated for itself both the only way to true communication with the divine and
the only correct image of God and God’s magnificence. Second, it is a language of
refutation or systematic reduction: all pagan religions constitute the black side of a
white transcendental Christianity, and this metaphoric opposition of colours means
the opposition of evil and good, Satan and God. The third feature illuminates the
missionary’s pragmatic objectives: his action is supported by a language of demon-
stration, which reflects God’s truth. In order to sustain his derision for and refuta-

272
 tion of non-Christian beliefs and practices, the missionary emphasizes the Christian
faith in terms of its historical coherence and transforming virtues. Religions and
biblical categories enter into the logic of his civilization, thus making sacred a cul-
85
tural model and giving it a divine seal .

8.3.2.3.2 The Missionary and School

To drive home his conviction of the superiority of the Euro-Christian
civilization over the traditional culture and civilization permanently –
although the African traditional civilization was considered an un-
civilization, primitive and savage –, the missionary turned in his fourth
item on the program: school. The objective was, of course, not to enable
the missionary understand the Igbo culture and way of life for a later
philosophical and theological dialogue with their hosts. Rather, the aim
was to bias the minds of the pupils against their own society and culture
in favour of the new teachings. The Igbo and their endemic crave for
novelty snapped at the bait, generally uncritically. Hence the school86
caught up with the people like wild fire. Looking back on the efforts of
the missionary in those early years, one cannot but admit with gratitude
the outstanding merit of his effort on this sphere.
With the backing of the highest Church quarters, the missionary in
Igboland invested practically everything he had into the school program.
The slogan was: Evangelization through school. Schools were built with
such an incredible rapidity. Almost every village that wanted had a
school, since every school compound was the mission compound. Where
the missionary himself could not be, he posted a catechist. As the de-
mand for education and for quality became higher, propelled by the edu-
cational developments on the Anglican side, the need for trained teachers
became imperative. While the colonial administration subjugated the
Igbo hinterland through successive and protracted military expeditions,
the missionary, aimed at subjugating the Igbo through school education.
For him the school provided a formidable instrument for making con-

85 Mudimbe 51.
86 We prefer to use the term “school” instead of education, since we are of the opinion
that education is to be likened to midwifery: attending to someone, an expectant
person to bring forth the capabilities, qualities and talents developing in his person,
to attend and assist the person develop these qualities and capabilities in order to
enable him live a meaningful, fulfilled and socially beneficial life. Such an outlook
and disposition is different from and incompatible with indoctrination.

273
verts. The colonial administration’s need for educated personnel eventu-
ally brought about a government involvement in the mission education
affairs.87 Despite this intervention the Catholic missionaries were insis-
tent on using the school for their primary missionary interest. The fol-
lowing missionary report from Onitsha in 1906 supports this point:

Our objective would not be to train clerks or employees for commerce or for the
government. Our aim, especially in this big town [Onitsha], which is like a gate to
the interior, is to form future catechists and future school masters for the Igbo
country.[...] In accordance with the strict demands of the government educational
regulations, the pupils are scrupulously drilled in reading, writing, arithmetic, ge-
ography, English composition, and some elements of science. However, the em-
88
phasis is on religious instructions, catechism, church songs, and the Scriptures .

However, the colonial government’s promise of financial support, and

the prospects of gaining a position of influence in the territories to be
opened by its military expeditions in the hinterland, lured the missionary
into an open league with the colonial government.89 Further factors that
compelled the Catholic missionary to ally with the colonial authority was
the obsessive fear of losing the terrain to the Protestants from whose
schools in Lagos and Sierra Leone the colonial government in Eastern
Nigeria was already recruiting civil servants. The Igbo becoming in-
creasingly indignant over this fact were eager to send their children only

87 On government intervention in education cf. Omenka 70-129 and 151.

88 Omenka 97.
89 Cf. Ozigbo 110-143. Roman Catholicism profited immensely from such a mar-
riage. When the colonial government introduced the infamous “system of Indirect-
Rule” with its machinery of “Warrant Chiefs”, the missionaries eagerly used the
chiefs to secure a strong foothold for the new religion and its fledgling adherents
within the apparent areas of jurisdiction of the respective chiefs. Often such an alli-
ance with the chiefs was exploited to keep the Protestants at bay or completely
away from those areas. Of course, the chiefs used the missionaries to strengthen
their imposed authority over their areas, and to compensate for the negative image
they have as collaborators. Chief Onyeama of Eke in the then Udi Division, for ex-
ample, was dreaded for his uncompromising authority, his active participation in
slave trade and the terror he breathed out in the entire neighbourhood. Both he and
the Catholic missionary got on well with each other: He allowed the missionary to
build schools and establish the new religion; the missionary, by his mere presence
and principle of non-interference in the chief’s activities, contributed immensely
and actively in augmenting and consolidating the authority and powers of the chief.

274
to such schools that met the colonial governments demands for educa-
tional programs that would prepare the natives for more involvement in
the economic development of their country. Through the introduction of
industrial subjects and the eminent role given to English language, the
Catholic schools endeavoured to make their schools more attractive to
the natives. English was considered as a symbol of progress. It “was the
surest guarantee for all job opportunities in the colony. Since the Protes-
tants90 gave special attention to the vernacular rather than to English, the
Catholics were, as a result of the premium placed on English, able to at-
tract more children to their schools than their rivals in Eastern Nigeria”91.
The bitter rivalry between the Catholics and theAnglicans92, which Baur

90 When we talk of “Protestants” missionaries in southeastern Nigeria in these early

years, we mean specifically the missionaries of the Church Missionary Society, the
Anglicans.
91 Omenka 99.
92 Initially the British colonial government was represented in the Niger country –
southeastern Nigeria – by the Royal Niger Company (R. N. C.) which had the mo-
nopoly of trade and licence to a sole occupation of the area. The first Catholic mis-
sionaries in the area were French. Since missionary objective was very often co-
extensive with the political and economic aspirations of their native countries, it
was therefore, not a thing of surprise that the R. N. C. was not unreserved in the
welcome it accorded the French missionaries at the arrival of the latter. The rela-
tionship between them remained one of mutual suspicion. Since the French spoke
French and not English in an English colony, it soon became necessary for the fu-
ture of the mission to replace the French with English-speaking missionaries.
The unhealthy relationship which had been existing between the English and the
French back in Europe was carried over by the French missionaries into their mis-
sion activities in Igboland. The Churches both planted grew up to see each other as
arch enemies to the present day. The faithful they groomed, without having the
flimsiest idea of the root of the French aversion for the English or rather for the
Anglican Church, looked down on their fellow brothers and sisters with scorn sim-
ply because they belong to the Anglican Communion. Songs of derision and anec-
dotes directed towards the other were taught and learnt on both sides. Population
wise the Anglicans and Catholics constitute the greater part of the Christian folk in
Igboland. They being the closest are at the same time the worst rival and enemy to
each other till date. The unhealthy and unchristian competitive attitude that marked
their relationship right from the first day the Catholic missionaries set foot on the
bank of the Niger at Onitsha, is one of the unfortunate legacies which overshadow
every relationship between the Catholic and Anglican clergy in Igboland today. For
further details on the relationship between the missionaries and the British trading
company and later the British colonial administration in Eastern Nigeria, and the
relationship between the Anglican and Catholic missionaries in Igboland, interested

275
described as “one of the most bitter denominational competitions in Af-
rica”93, contributed immensely to a change in policy on the Catholic side.
The Catholic missionary was convinced beyond all doubts that the sal-
vation of the people was only possible in and can be guaranteed only by
Catholic education. Such a conviction justified any means of attaining
the highest place of influence in education and all efforts towards out-
doing the Protestant rivals in the colony.94
As soon as the economic, social and political benefits of Western
education started dawning on the people, there occurred a kind of
“school epidemic”: in no little time, there was an unprecedented prolif-
eration of Mission schools. By 1928 there were already as many as 300
primary schools in the area. For 19 of them the missionary received
some financial aid from the colonial government. The Table below indi-
cates a concentration of these schools in the Owerri province, which is
the core and the heaviest densely populated area of Igboland.

Table 1: Catholic Mission Primary Schools in Eastern Nigeria by the year 1928

Province Nr. of Schools Enrolment Attendance

Assisted Unass. Assisted Unassisted Assisted Unassisted.
Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls
Onitsha 14 136 3,477 325 50 – – – 32 –
Owerri 5 145 1,190 5 11,449 49 847 3 6,782 42
Source: Adapted from Omenka, p. 110. He compiled his data from, Annual Report on
the Education Department, Southern Provinces, For the Year 1928 (Lagos: Government
Printing Office, 1928), pp. 20-25.

Of course, there were not as many missionaries as there were schools,

not to talk of classes. Since his main objective was proselytization, it
seemed sufficient to him to make extensive use of the Catechists – who
can be described as “the local missionaries” in the real sense of the word.
The Catechist, usually chosen by the missionary from the group of con-
verts because of his exceptional zeal for the new faith, served as the
long-arm or extension of the missionary in the mission station entrusted

readers may refer to the works of: N. I. Omenka, The School in the Service of
Evangelization, I. Ozigbo, Roman Catholicism in Southeastern Nigeria, and E. Isi-
chei, The Igbo People and the Europeans.
93 Baur 149.
94 Cf. CSE: Bulletin, 24 (1907-1908), 144.

276
to his care. As a teacher, however, he lacked every teaching training
whatsoever.95 His main functions were the ministration to the people in
lieu of the missionary, the preparation of the catechumens for the sacra-
ments mostly through teaching the catechism. Since he learnt to speak
English language from the missionary, he acted as interpreter for the
missionary as well. In the course of time, the use was made of brilliant
pupils to assist the teachers as “Pupil-Teachers”96. The latter received
teaching lessons outside the school hours from qualified teachers. Their
task was mainly to assist the teachers in helping their fellow children
who lagged behind. The seminaries created in the twentieth century em-
ployed this system heavily. The difference between the “Seminarian-
Teacher” and the “Pupil-Teacher” of the eighteenth century lay in the
fact that the “Seminarian-Teacher” was treated as a teacher on his own
account – albeit without any teaching training –; he did not have to assist
any teacher. This method is still much in use in most of the minor semi-
naries in Igboland.
Later, when the colonial government required the schools to pro-
duce qualified personnel for the civil service, the idea of founding a
Teacher Training College became an urgent and existential issue for the
Catholic Mission. Since the Mission hinged on a “good” teacher, it was
then logical that the training of future qualified teachers had to be a kind
of seminary training. Consequently, the teacher training institution was
to serve as well as a seminary for the training of Catholic native clergy.97
The establishment of the first Catholic Teacher Training College at Ig-
bariam in 1913, run by Irish missionaries, seemed to fulfil this hope.
Omenka commenting this great innovation writes:

It was at Igbariam that some privileged pupils of the Prefecture were called ‘stu-
dents’ for the first time. It was also there, more than in any other Mission, that the
saying that the Missions produced teachers who were more of theologians than
schoolmasters was given a sound justification [...]. The first priorities in the new
98
College were discipline, character formation, religious and moral education .

95 Cf. Omenka 135-139; Ozigbo 184-187.

96 Cf. Ozigbo 185; Omenka 140-142.
97 Cf. Omenka 143.
98 Ibid., 150.

277
The Igbariam experiment survived only the first five years and had to be
closed down on account of lack of qualified European teaching person-
nel. By 1928 another teacher training college at Onitsha, St. Charles
College, was already in operation. This second attempt survived the hard
tests of time. The college was to produce Higher Elementary School
Teachers.99 But soon the Mission could no longer pay these teachers.
The idea of creating more Higher Elementary Teacher Training Colleges
had to be given up in favour of a more viable and financially less bur-
densome Elementary School Teacher Training Centres. The latter were
to produce Teachers who were to organize the village schools. The ac-
tivities of these teachers were minutely controlled by the missionary. For
instance, “they were not allowed to be absent from their stations, even on
their free days, without the permission of the Fathers in-charge. When
schools closed for holidays, teachers were held back and given some du-
ties to keep them busy, the idea being to ward off idleness, or what was
described as ‘a great moral danger to the station’”100. Decisions pertain-
ing to their profession were made for them but without them. Since the
missionary considered the teacher more of an apostle, a missionary, than
an ordinary schoolmaster, it was therefore, not surprising that they were
required to live lives above the ordinary. This requirement can only be
appreciated on the background of the fact that the school was the centre
of the visible Church among a non-Christian community. Thus the
teachers were compelled to teach the people by good examples; they
were to serve as touchstones for the rest of the community with regard to
Christian life. Later developments in the Mission administration-teacher
relationship seemed to indicate that not many teachers were happy with
this, coupled with the low wages they received. Both sources of discon-
tentment finally fuelled the state take-over of all Mission schools in Ig-
boland at the end of the Biafra-Nigeria civil war in January 1970.101
Until 1945 the emphasis in the secondary schools, beside English
language, had been on discipline, physical education, religious instruc-
tion, vocational and practical education such as carpentry, masonry, ag-
riculture, etc. After this period this emphasis was shifted to subjects like
English, History, Geography, Elementary Mathematics, Biology, Chem-

99 Cf. Ibid., 154.

100 Ibid., 162.
101 Cf. D. B. Barret, World Christian Encyclopedia, 528.

278
istry, Physics, Additional Mathematics, French or Latin.102 C. K. Meek
reporting on the overall development in the Igbo country between 1906
and 1931 wrote:

In 1906 Government schools were opened at Onitsha and Owerri, and by 1931
there were in Onitsha and Owerri Provinces 11 Government schools, 74 schools as-
sisted by the Government, and 1,092 non-assisted schools. The total number of
scholars was returned as 61,526 and there were 2,935 African teachers. In these
two provinces, also, there were in 1931 298,081 ‘adherents’ of Christian churches,
so that the total number of professing Christians in Iboland may be estimated at not
less than 600,000. It is evident from these figures that the Ibo are strong in their
demand for Western education, and that there is a powerful movement towards
103
Christianity .

Reasons for the Success of the School program

One should not be misled to think that the motivation for this rush for
schools was congruent with that of the missionary. This was certainly
not the case: In the eyes of the people the school was a symbol of pres-
tige and often a stratagem in inter-village rivalry. Over and above all, it
was a doorway to modernity and to the “power-house” of political and
social influence. The people responded to the enticements of the mis-
sionary neither so much out of a dissatisfaction with their traditional re-
ligious beliefs nor out of the need to belong to any wider religious com-
munity, as Donders citing Barret would want to believe: “‘The
conversion movement at the grassroots level [in Africa] is due to the fact
that Africans are turning away from their local tribal religions because
they see no ‘salvation’ in those organizations anymore. They want to
belong to a larger human and religious community’”104. Obviously, the
motivating factors are, as the Indonesian born East African missionary,
Adrian Hastings, analysed, “not specifically religious but social and psy-
chological”105. For the missionary, however, the aim was clear and une-
quivocal: proselytization. Nevertheless, it is in satisfying social and psy-
chological needs that conversion can possibly arise. The people found in
literacy, which the school represented, the most formidable strategy to
cope with the indescribable humiliation the forcible subjugation by the

102 Of course the content and illustrations of these subjects were totally European.
103 Agu 275.
104 Mudimbe 55.
105 A. Hastings, Church and Mission in Modern Africa, 121.

279
colonial intruder meant for them. This strategy lay in the mysterious lan-
guage of the white people: English. It is the firm belief of the Igbo that
“when a fish is bigger than another fish, it swallows it” – (azu karia azu,
o noo ya). Consequently they were bent on not resigning to this fate;
they were intent on discovering the tricks of these white people and on
participating in the power and prestige they enjoy. For the Igbo that was
the only alternative to getting swallowed by, as Agu describes it, “the
monster they could neither repulse nor dislodge”106. Achebe in his Arrow
of God captured this Igbo thought pattern in a vivid manner. Ezulu, the
Chief Priest of Ulu, was summoned to the office of the administrative of-
ficer at Okperi. Their he made a very humiliating experience for a man
of his dignity and social standing. Convinced of the wisdom of his deci-
sion to send one of his sons to go and acquire the white man’s knowl-
edge, he instructs his son:

I have sent you to be my eyes there (in the school). Do not listen to what people say
– people who do not know their right from their left. No man speaks a lie to his
son; I have told you that before. If anyone asks you why you should be sent to learn
these new things tell him that a man must dance the dance prevalent in his time [...]
When I was in Okperi I saw a young white man who was able to write his book
with the left hand. From his actions I could see that he had very little sense. But he
had power; he could shout in my face; he could do what he liked. Why? Because he
could write with his left hand. That is why I have called you. I want you to learn
and master this man’s knowledge so much that if you are suddenly woken up from
sleep and asked what it is you will reply. You must learn it until you can write it
107
with your left hand. That is all I want to tell you .

This is a typical early Igbo thinking of education as a means of catching

up and being on a par with the white people and their power; a thinking
exacerbated by the unscrupulous and flagrant abuses perpetrated upon
their own people by the semi-literate Igbo Court Clerks and largely illit-
erate Court Messengers. Added to this were the unrestrained abuses of
power by the imposed Warrant or Paramount Chiefs, who were installed
by the colonial administration to act as intermediaries between her and
the people. Although the chiefs largely did not understand English, they
wielded a lot of power and influence by their mere closeness to and pact

106 Agu 271.

107 Achebe, Arrow of God, 514. To do something with the left hand is to do that thing
with ease; it is a sign of absolute mastery.

280
with the whites. All this summed up to create and nourish the impression
that whoever was close to the white people had not only access to an un-
questionable power but also knew what the white people knew. Bishop
Shanahan cashed in on this pattern of thinking and exploited it fully to
attract more people to the Catholic schools:

When pleading with the people to accept a Catholic school he would argue: ‘Why
was the European D. O. in charge of tens of thousands of Ibos? Was it because he
had more money or more wives or more influence? No, the answer was that he was
more educated. Why was the interpreter so contemptuous of local views and so in-
sistent on heavy bribes before he would explain a case properly? Because he knew
English which he had learnt at school, and because no local knew enough English
to follow what he was saying. And look at the Court Clerk and Court Messengers,
the most influential and the most feared men in the district. Why were they chosen
108
for their jobs? Simply because they had been to school and understand English‘ .

Besides, the Igbo saw that almost all their social drop-outs, outcasts (the
Ohu or Osu), and sons whom their parents considered too feeble for farm
work, who joined the new Religion and went to their schools of doctrinal
instructions had become very influential government officials. Not only
did they have a new and coveted social status but the new currency with
which they were paid, paved the way for them in the new dispensation.
Many of those who rushed to the schools themselves were certainly not
conscious of all these material advantages; they merely wanted to escape
the hardship of rural farm life. The benefits only dawned on them much
later. Like a bomb shell it exploded into the awareness of the Igbo that a
new society had made its debut with new measures of social evaluation,
and there was no going back.109 Either you join the bus or you are left
behind. “Education” in this sense properly meant the emulation of the
white people in every respect. Mr. E. J. Hussey, the director of Education

108 Afigbo, The Place of the Igbo Language in our Schools, 78-79. D. O. means: Dis-
trict Officer.
109 Moses, a convert explaining to his town’s people the futility of wanting to get rid
of both the colonial administration and the Christian Mission, said to them: “I can
tell you that there is no escape from the white man. He has come. When suffering
knocks at your door and you say there is no seat left for him, he tells you not to
worry because he has brought his own stool. The white man is like that [...]. As
daylight chases away darkness so will the white man drive away all our customs”,
Achebe, Arrow of God, 405.

281
in Nigeria from 1929 to 1936, offered a revealing definition of such an
education:

In a country which is under the tutelage of a European Power, the term education
can with propriety be applied to all the local activities of the ‘tutoring’ Power – the
general administration and maintenance of law and order, the work of technical de-
partments of government, the day-to-day undertakings of the European planters in
countries where there is a European settlement, and last, but by no means least, the
self-sacrificing labours of the missionaries, who, quite apart from the instruction
provided in their schools, do so much through the examples of their lives and
through the force of the religion which they preach to educate the people up to no-
110
bler ideals and more civilized standards .

To be educated meant ultimately to be freed from arduous farm life of

the rural country. After school one soon departed for the urban centres
where there were white collar jobs. Consequently there is a very signifi-
cant correlation between the general downward trend in and neglect of
agriculture and spread of western education. The social and psychologi-
cal make-up of the people were in total disarray.

8.3.3 Indigenous Clergy

As early as 1887, the school idea stood firm on the Catholic missionary’s
program in Igboland. This did not come as a revelation. It was rather a
result of the re-evaluation of the missionary objective in Europe after the
lessons of the French Revolution and the tragic failure of the missionary
activities of the Jesuit Order in Asia and Latin-America, to mention but a
few examples. The re-evaluation of the biblical injunction: Euntes docete
omnes gentes111 led to different and differing opinions among Christian
missions. Those who laid emphasis on the “salus animarum” found the
catechumenate as the most logical instrument. Thus neophytes were ad-
mitted and instructed in the doctrines of the Catholic faith and then bap-
tized. Once baptized, then the salvation of the soul of the neophyte was
guaranteed. Others opted for “plantatio”. For them it was not sufficient
merely to baptize the heathens, a permanent presence of the church

110 Omenka 111-112.

111 Mt 28: 20; Mk 16: 15.

282
among them would insure not only a continuous existence of the faith
among them but also help augment their numbers. Such a goal is only
attainable by systematic measures which will give rise to the emergence
of a local clergy and hierarchy in the mission countries. Accordingly the
primary concern of the missionary came to be the implantation of the
visible church, namely, the organization of an indigenous clergy; a task
unthinkable per se without school and education. A driving force in this
enterprise was Pièrre Charles, a Belgian Jesuit, who called on the mis-
sionaries to “planter l’église visible”112. Targets were the youth. This was
in accordance with the motto: “Whoever has the youth has the future”
which was passionately acclaimed in Europe in the nineteenth century. A
visible church was to ensure a permanent grip of the new dispensation
and belief system on the minds of the so educated and converted. It was
to be the permanent presence and representation of the new way of life
among the people. It was to serve as a symbol and agent of radical
change and break with the traditional belief system. Very instrumental to
this changed missionary vision were Popes Benedict XV, Pius XI and
Pius XII. In his Maximum Illud Benedict XV accentuated the essential
position of the indigenous clergy in the establishment of self-sustaining
local Churches. For the Pope any Catholic mission that was not engaged
in the production of local clergy was not doing its work well. Accord-
ingly he urged missionaries to make the education of the indigenes the
primary purpose of their enterprise.113 On the same matter, Pius XI wrote
in his Rerum Ecclessiae in 1922, that the clergy of the apostolic era were
chosen not from people of alien cultures but from the natives.114 Going a
little further than Benedict XV he insisted that the missions must have
indigenous nuns, religious brothers and monasteries. He even made all
Catholics throughout the world co-responsible for the missionary work
of the church; an idea which found a worthy resonance in Ad Gentes of
the Vatican II Documents. In connection with this goal, he advised mis-
sionaries to build hospitals and schools instead of magnificent churches
and palaces. According to him, the latter would be taken care of in their
appointed time.115 W ith his Quum Huic of 1929 he finally took over all

112 P. Charles, Les Dossiers de l’action missionnaire, quoted in H. Berger, Mission und
Kolonialpolitik, 120.
113 Cf. Benedict XV, Maximum Illud, 444-445.
114 Pius XI, Rerum Ecclesiae, 74.
115 Ibid., 80-81.

283
the Catholic missions from their various religious missionary societies
and placed them under the direct control of the Vatican. The effect of
this change in the mission in Nigeria was the reinforcement of the edu-
cation program and a closer cooperation with the colonial government on
this issue. In the wake of the Nationalist Movements in the European
colonies in the early 1950s, Pius XII gave expression to his affirmation
and commendation of the school apostolate in very lucid words:

The youth, especially those of them who have gone through high schools, will
control the destiny of their countries in the future. The importance of education at
the elementary, secondary, and university levels is generally recognized as deserv-
ing of the greatest care. For this reason, therefore, we exhort mission leaders with
fatherly endearment to spare no effort or expense in the development of these in-
stitutions. The elementary and secondary schools have, in addition, the advantage
of creating valuable relationships between the missionaries and the natives. The
youth in particular, who are as flexible as wax, can easily be educated to under-
stand, value, and accept Catholic doctrines. The well-educated among them shall
one day have leading positions in Government, and the masses shall have them as
116
their leaders and teachers .

It is striking to note that the Pope, in his commendation, stressed the

centrality of the recent developments in the colonies and of an emerging
new class of natives, without diminishing the importance of the original
missionary objective. As he rightly observed, the future of the Church in
these countries depended very much on the nature of the relationship
between the missionaries and the nascent local political leaders. The
sooner the expatriate missionaries were replaced by native clergy and hi-
erarchy, the better for the co-existence of the local Church with their na-
tive government. Thus by placing the school apostolate at the service of
the social and political aspirations of the native, the Pope wanted to kill
two birds with one stone: establish an indigenous clergy and create a
congenial atmosphere for the operation of the Church in the mission
countries.
As early as 1904, the great initiator and propagator of the school
evangelisation in Igboland, the French missionary, Léon A. Lejeune
C.S.Sp., decried the lack of interest among his predecessors and contem-
poraries in the Nigeria Mission with regard to the formation of indige-
nous clergy:

116 Pius XII, Evangelii Praecones, 514-515.

284
 Not one of the [Catholic] Missions in the English territories of West Africa edu-
cates its pupils beyond the primary school. When I look at Sierra Leone, Ivory
Coast, Benin, and Nigeria [...], I see at least five Black Anglican Bishops – John-
son, Oluwole, Phillips, Smith, Crowther, the latter being a former Yoruba slave; I
see a number of Black medical doctors, barristers, magistrates with degrees from
Oxford and Cambridge, but I do not see a single Black Catholic priest, and not
even a Seminarian. At least some efforts are being made in the French colonies, but
117
in the English territories – nothing! .

The realization that the entire missionary enterprise was inevitably going
to experience a calamitous end if the missionary’s work of evangeliza-
tion was not continued by local religious personnel made the issue of
preparing a native hierarchy a matter of urgency. This timely realization
goes to the credit of the insightful Lejeune, who hoped to achieve this
aim through formal education: school. He, unfortunately did not live to
execute this idea or see it materialize. In spite of this early realization,
his successors remained very reluctant about the issue. By 1950 when
Nigeria became a Church hierarchy – almost ninety years after the first
arrival of Roman Catholicism in the country (in Western Nigeria) – there
were only very few indigenous priests and not a single native bishop.
Taking the fact that the natives were considered by the missionary as still
heathen prone and hence unripe for such a noble office, irrespective of
the fact that the aspirants made every effort to excel in all aspects of the
training, such a reluctance would not surprise any longer. The observa-
tion of Bishop Shanahan, throws light on this point:

If our number of native priests are already not much greater, it is because we put
them through a long course of preparation. This is not because they are not good
students, or because they do not give sufficient promise in the Seminary. On the
contrary, the general comment of those in charge of the Seminary is that they are
too keen on their studies, and are over-exemplary in conduct. But these young men
118
have only just emerged from centuries-old pagan tradition and habits .

8.3.3.1 A Seminary Institution

In order to bring forth a greater number of youngsters freed from these
“centuries-old pagan traditions and habits”, an organized program of in-

117 Part of a letter of Fr. Lejeune to Propaganda Fide in 1904, October 20, Calabar,
Omenka 143. Cf., too Ozigbo 146.
118 E. Isichei, Entirely for God: The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, 32. Emphasis added.

285
tellectual and cognitive re-orientation and a corresponding seminary in-
stitution became increasingly a matter of urgency. At last a Seminary
was established at Igbariam in 1924 which was a combination of a minor
and a major seminary. Beside an Igbo119 and perhaps one or two Irish
students, none of the students possessed an adequate post-primary edu-
cation.120 There were on the whole six students on minor seminary or
secondary school program and three students on major seminary or post-
secondary school program who were given courses in philosophy. To
balance the disparity between a secondary school education and a semi-
nary training, the candidates were taught English, Latin, Mathematics,
Liturgy, Church History, and Church Music.121 The reason officially
proffered for the choice of the Igbariam site was that it was a small Mis-
sion station isolated from the noise and the distractions of daily life, and
of a parish with its schools, its relationships with the whole mission, its
thousand and one distractions.122 The town lies in the Anambra valley
very close to Aguleri where the ill-fated Christian village experiment
took place. Its location close to the Anambra River naturally made the
seminary and the seminarians easy prey to the myriads of mosquitos in-
festing the area – a danger not only for the Expatriates but also for the
native seminarians themselves. However, the choice of this remote and
isolated area is a clear witness and confirmation of the prevalent ten-
dency in the Missions to turn seminaries and houses of religious forma-
tion into semi-monasteries. There the students followed a strictly
guarded and guided daily routine of prayers, studies, and manual labour
– which began at 4.00 a.m. and ended at 9.10 p.m.123
When in 1928 the first Teacher Training College in the Mission was
established at Onitsha to meet the need for the long desired qualified
teachers, the Seminary moved from Igbariam to this college. The reason

119 John Cross Anyogu, who ordained as the first Igbo Catholic priest in 1930 – forty-
five years after the Holy Ghost Congregation (C.S.Sp.) established their mission at
Onitsha – became an Auxiliary Bishop in 1957 and later the first Bishop of Enugu
Diocese in 1963.
120 Cf. C. I. Eke, Priestly and Religious vocations, 305-306; Omenka 263.
121 Cf. Omenka 263.
122 Cf. Ibid., 263-264: Igbariam was “a small station isolated from the noise of gov-
ernmental and commercial worlds, as well as from the distractions of the daily rou-
tines of a parish”.
123 Cf. Isichei 28.

286
being that the only qualified teachers who were to run the college were
the Fathers at Igbariam. With this union the long envisaged college-cum-
seminary came into being. For the seminarians, however, the union
brought about an unusually prolonged period of seminary training. They
were expected to teach for two or more years in the college as part of
their “probation”. After their secondary education they were expected to
acquire some pastoral experience by acting as catechists in several mis-
sion stations for more than one year. This was to be repeated after their
philosophical studies and for a third time several months before the ordi-
nation. This long period of training, coupled with the constant doubts
about their sincerity and maturity by their European Superiors124, espe-
cially by the Head of the Prefecture, Bishop Joseph Shanahan himself,
and rigorous trials they were subjected to, made many of the candidates
become disillusioned. Some left on their own. Some others were ex-
pelled for several reasons ranging from trivial illness to the whims of the
Superior.125 Commenting on this state of affaire Richard Gray has this to
say:

If the sacrifices demanded of the seminarians in those days were severe, so also
were the consequences of concentrating scarce missionary resources on the semi-
naries. Cut off for almost ten years from their families, forbidden to speak their
vernacular languages, provided with Cicero as recreational reading, regularly re-
quired to pass the standard examinations, few among the seminarians survived to
126
take up their career of life-long celibacy .

124 For instance, the Prefect of the Lower Niger Mission, as Eastern Nigeria was called
in those days, Fr. J. Shanahan, himself had this opinion about his seminarians: “In
spite of undeniable qualities, most of these young people lack character and con-
viction. They are changeable, egotistical and proud. They lack a clear idea of sacri-
fice and abnegation”. Even Fr. D. Kennedy, the Rector of the Seminary then, had
the following to say: “We often asked ourselves, could we ordain to the priesthood,
boys who were only baptized as teenagers, whose non-Christian parents expected
to be faithful to the family and take part in family life? They were very good under
supervision in school. But ordained and sent out alone on ministry in the bush,
what would happen? How could celibacy succeed in such an environment? Would
they resist the temptation to divert the funds of the mission to their relations and
friends”. For both quotations, see: Isichei 27 and 26 respectively.
125 Cf. Ibid., 29-30.
126 Eke 309.

287
If the seminarians were subjected to an unduly long period of training for
the priesthood in those days, it was not due to their incapacity to inter-
nalize what they were being taught. Beside the often expressed misgiv-
ings concerning the non-European and non-Christian backgrounds of the
students, there was also the prevalent conception among the Europeans
of the intellectual inferiority of the Africans and general racial prejudice.
Even the appeals of Pius XI and the intellectual and moral excellencies
of many Africans were not able to dissipate and relegate this bias per-
petually to history. The words of the Pontiff are self-explanatory:

It is rather a flawed policy to regard the natives as inferior human beings, and as
people of dull intellects. For experience has long shown that with regard to the
acuteness of the mind, the peoples who live in the farthest East or South are not in-
ferior to our people, but capable of competing with them. […] You, honourable
Brethren and beloved Sons, can be witnesses to this yourselves. We too can also
give a convincing proof here, namely, that, the natives [from the Third World] who
before our very eyes, are pursuing studies in diverse disciplines in the Roman Col-
leges are with regard to intellectual abilities and academic achievements not only
equal to our own students, but also outmatch them oftentimes. This is all the more
reason why you should not rate the indigenous priests lowly and assign to them
only mean jobs, as if they do not possess the same priestly dignity and as if they do
not share in the same apostolic vocation as you yourselves. On the contrary, you
must have an eye particularly to them, because some day they will be the ones to
lead both the Churches you have built up with so much sweat, and the future
Catholic communities. For this reason, there should be between the European and
native missionaries no distinctions made and no lines of demarcation drawn; rather
127
the one should be united with the other in a bond of reverence and love .

That this appeal did not make much impression on the Holy Ghost Mis-
sionaries in Igboland could be assessed from the careers of the two first
Catholic priests in the area: Mr. Delaney, an Irish lay missionary, who
came into the mission as a volunteer in 1910 and John Cross Anyogu, an
Igbo young man. After some years in the mission Mr. Delaney sensed
the call to the priesthood. Having made this known to his Superiors, in-
stead of being sent back to Europe to do the training to the priesthood
there, he was given private classes by the Fathers in the mission. By July
1919 he was thought ready for the Orders, and was ordained Deacon; a
week later he came to be the very first person to be ordained a Catholic

127 Pius XI 77.

288
priest in the entire region.128 The road to the priesthood for John Anyogu,
on the contrary, was extremely long and arduous. Having declared his
intention again and again, together with one other boy, to “learn priest”
to Shanahan between 1910 and 1912, he began to be tested in several
ways. First of all the news came to the European missionaries in the
Mission like a bombshell, so much so that the Superior, J. Shanahan, had
to seek the opinion of the Mother House in Europe. John’s parents and
those of the other unidentified boy were later made to pay 500 French
Francs annually for their secondary school studies overseas. In 1912 they
were sent to Castlehead, England, to the school of the Holy Ghost Fa-
thers. After his secondary school studies there, Shanahan could bring no
religious House of Formation in the whole of England and Ireland to
admit John Anyogu to do his training to the priesthood there. Frustrated
and disenchanted he recalled John from Castlehead back to Onitsha in
1919. Back to Onitsha John started his studies under the direction of one
of the Fathers. However, instead of applying the same program of philo-
sophical studies for John, as was for Delaney, the former was made to
spend the next five years serving as catechist and teacher in several sta-
tions and parishes. It was only in 1924, when the seminary at Igbariam
was opened, that he was able to start his philosophical studies. He was to
spend the next six and half years as a senior seminarian.129 For the Holy
Ghost Fathers an indigenous priest was not on the same pedestal with
Europeans, and moreover a secular priest was a mere auxiliary to the re-
ligious priest. Anyogu was neither a European nor did he belong to the
C. S. Sp. or any other religious congregation. As a result, it became ur-
gent to convene a meeting to determine the religious, social and financial
status of the future first indigenous priest before he could be admitted to
the Holy Orders. He was at last ordained on December 8, 1930. This
distinction between “religious” and “secular”130 priest has survived till
date among Igbo priests and seminarians, especially among the religious.
One wonders too why Shanahan did not send Anyogu to the missionary

128 He was ordained by Bishop Broderick, the Apostolic Vicar of Western Nigeria at
the time.
129 Cf. Omenka 269.
130 The members of the religious congregations tend to downgrade secular or diocesan
priests. The former extol their “vita communis” as the ideal form of Christian life.
The latter, in return, consider the former as having abandoned the work of God in
the world; as true vicars of Christ they are closer to the people of God.

289
college of Propaganda Fide in Rome which trains seminarians for the
missions after failing to find a seminary to take him in Ireland and Eng-
land. Even the letter sent by Cardinal van Rossum to all missions ex-
pressing the readiness of the Propaganda Fide to accept and train semi-
narians from the missions, including their transportation costs, at little or
no cost for the mission131, seemed to have eluded his awareness.
Having sojourned at Onitsha as a part of St. Charles’ Teacher
Training College and in the first Catholic Secondary School, Christ the
King College (C.K.C.), which was opened later in 1933, the seminary
was moved again from Onitsha in 1934 to Eke in the present day Udi
Local Government Area of Enugu State. This move was necessitated by
the fact that at that time the Franciscan Brothers took over the admini-
stration of the C. K. C. Onitsha. In order to keep the education and for-
mation of the future indigenous priests under their control, the Holy
Ghost Fathers felt it necessary to move the seminary away from Onitsha.
The site at Eke had similar characteristics with Igbariam, with the ex-
ception that instead of being in a valley, Eke Seminary was set on a hill-
top with practically no water resources. Eke was far-removed from the
inhabited villages around and poorly accessible.132 Of the nine pioneer
indigenous seminarians who went through Igbariam, Onitsha and Eke,
only four became priests in the end: John Cross Anyogu, William
Obeleagu, Michael Iwene Tansi and Joseph Nwanegbo.133
In 1929 the Conference of the Ordinaries of Nigeria and the British
Cameroons had decided to found a “Regional Major Seminary” for the
entire country. However, the immediate implementation of this idea was
prevented by the unhealthy rivalry between the various religious congre-
gations in the region. Ten years later, in 1939, the Conference decided to
site the Seminary at Enugu in Eastern Nigeria due to the centrality of
Enugu and its easy accessibility by rail from Lagos and Port Harcourt in
the South and Kano in the North, and from Buea and Bamenda in Cam-
eroon. The new “Regional Major Seminary” was to be given the name

131 Cf. Ozigbo 238.

132 Many years after the seminary had moved out from this site, it was occupied by the
Benedictine Monks and presently is serving as the Pastoral Centre for the Enugu
Catholic Diocese. But irrespective of all the changes in proprietorship or occu-
pancy, the conditions there have not changed at all till date.
133 With the exception of Anyogu, the rest were ordained priests in 1937. Michael
Iwene Tansi was beatified by John Paul II in the spring of 1998.

290
“Bigard Memorial Seminary” in memory of the two French women,
Stephanie and Jeanne Bigard.134 The Association of St. Peter the Apostle
founded by them in 1889 for the training of native priests in the Missions
financed the building of the seminary blocks. The work on the building
was interrupted by the Second World War.
During the years of the war until 1950 the seminary moved from
Eke in 1939 to the Holy Ghost Cathedral Compound, Enugu. Later it
moved again from Enugu to Okpala in Owerri in 1942. In 1951 it re-
turned to Enugu with 24 students to occupy the newly completed build-
ing under the new name: Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. Later the
SS. Peter and Paul Major Seminary was opened in Bodija, Ibadan, for
the Lagos ecclesiastical province in the West by the S.M.A. and St.
Augustine’s Seminary, Jos, for the Kaduna ecclesiastical province in the
North by the Augustinians. Consequently Bigard came to serve the Onit-
sha ecclesiastical province in the East and the Cameroons.
In the course of the years the number of seminarians in Bigard grew
steadily. With the progressive increase came also the problem of ac-
commodation. By the late 70s the number had increased to such an ex-
tent – over 600 students in 1975 – that the philosophy faculty of the Bi-
gard Memorial Seminary had to be moved to Ikot Ekpene, Cross River
State, in 1976.135 By 1982 the seminary became one of the most popu-
lous seminaries in the Catholic world. To ease the congestion in the phi-
losophy campus a new philosophy faculty was opened at Owerri with the
name: Seat of Wisdom Seminary. Now with three functioning campuses
of one mother seminary in the region, the need arose to maximize the
usefulness of their facilities. In response all three campuses were raised
to the status of autonomous seminaries. Consequently the faculty of
philosophy returned to Enugu, while the faculties of theology were
opened in the seminaries at Ikot-Ekpene and Owerri in the 1989/90 aca-
demic year.136 With the new status the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Phi-

134 For a little insight into the life and activities of the two French women, cf. C. A.
Obi, The Bigard Ladies and The Foundation of the Society of St. Peter the Apostle
– Opus Sancti Petri and the Impact on Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, 12-28.
135 Cf. C. A. Obi, The Development of Priestly Vocation in Igboland and the Genesis
of the Bigard Seminary, 10-21.
136 This explains the absence of records for philosophy and spiritual year students in
the column for 1988/89 in the Appendix B3 on Admissions into Bigard Memorial
Seminary, Enugu, in the past decade.

291
losophy Campus, Ikot Ekpene, assumed the new name and identity as St.
Joseph’s Major Seminary.
One would expect that a great number of turnouts would be the re-
sult of such an explosion of vocation to the Catholic priesthood since
1924. Considering the fact that this part of the country has the largest
population of Catholics in the entire country one would expect more or-
dinations to the priesthood. Unfortunately the turn-outs do not run con-
current with the admissions: Between 1924 and 1974 1,037 students
were admitted but only 361 of that number eventually finished as priests
among whom 12 became bishops.137
The investigation of the reason for this very low turnout is a subject
matter for discussion which really calls for a separate study. Let it suffice
here to point out that since 1924 the promotion of the indigenous clergy,
the actual intellectual and spiritual training of the candidates rested in the
hands of the missionaries of the Holy Ghost Congregation (C.S.Sp.) until
March 1970.138 It was only after the Nigerian civil war (Biafra), when
almost all the European missionaries in Eastern Nigeria were expelled
out of the country by the Nigerian Government, that the running of the
Seminary was officially handed over to a team of seven indigenous
priests. Despite the injunctions of Pius XII and the good intentions of the
various Superior Generals of the missionary congregations towards the
active and urgent promotion of indigenous clergy, the respective mis-
sionary on site followed his own individual predilections in assessing the
situation. The Holy Ghost Fathers of the Nigerian Mission in general re-
sented the idea of once handing over the rein to the natives in general,
and to secular clergy in particular. The lengthy years of priestly forma-
tion were aimed at gaining sufficient time to alienate the candidate from
his cultural background and traits in favour of the missionary’s image of
a priest, or ideal Christian. The protracted length of the formation years
and the preference of only the indigenous members of their congregation
as Ordinaries in the newly created dioceses all attest to the unwillingness

137 Cf. Concise History of Bigard Memorial Seminary, in: Golden Jubilee 1924-1974,
10. Since it was not possible to obtain the records of the turn out of ordinations
from the various dioceses in the area under consideration, we cannot give any in-
formation on the actual number of ordinations for the last twenty years.
138 Ibid., 6.

292
of the missionary to promote local clergy.139 It is, therefore, not surpris-
ing that turnouts between 1924 and 1974 had been abysmally low as
against the progressive increase in the number of admissions within the
same period.
With regard to the length of the formation years, not much has actu-
ally changed. The program still runs eight years of philosophical and
theological studies, one or more years of probation as the case may be,
eight weeks of “apostolic work140” during the long vacation throughout
the years of training. If one adds the years of junior seminary education,
one may come up with at least fourteen to fifteen years of seminary for-
mation. Since this has been so right from the first day of seminary train-
ing in Igboland, this length of time has been taken for granted. A good
number of factors, most of them psychological in nature, helped to keep
this in shape: going from their experience of the first indigenous semi-
narians, the Faithful and the indigenous trainers (the bishops and the
seminary staff), mostly themselves trained by the missionary, look at the
long formation years as an indication and a guarantee for high quality
products. The seminarians see it the same way too; for them that is the
norm and the nature of seminary training. Some songs help to drive this
fact home and aid in promoting it to the level of an instrumental value.
For instance:

139 This point is supported by the fact that the first indigenous Catholic Local Ordi-
naries in Eastern Nigeria were not secular priests but native members of the C. S.
Sp.: Anthony Nwedo (Umuahia Diocese) and Godfrey Okoye (Port Harcourt Dio-
cese). Both were the first Nigerians to become professed members of the Holy
Ghost Congregation. Irrespective of the fact that John Anyogu and Dominic Ekan-
dem were the first indigenous Bishops of the region – ordained bishops in 1957 and
1954 respectively –, however, not belonging to any religious congregation, they
remained Auxiliary Bishops until 1963 and 1962 respectively. At the creation of
Enugu diocese in 1962, Anyogu was then made its first Local Ordinary, while
Ekandem became that of Ikot Ekpene diocese, created in 1963. According to the
Bigard Memorial Seminary Golden Jubilee Pamphlet, p. 28, Nwedo entered the
seminary in 1939, while Ekandem and Okoye joined the seminary in 1941.
140 This is a period of pastoral practice during the long vacation, which is actually
meant to keep the seminarian abreast with the concrete issues and questions of the
people outside the seminary and in the parishes. During this period the seminarian
is sent to a parish for a kind of practicum under the guidance and direction of the
parish priest of the area.

293
 It’s not an easy road; we are travelling to heaven
For many are the thorns on the way
It’s not an easy road, but the Saviour is with us
His presence gives us joy every day
No! No, it’s not an easy road
But Jesus walks beside me and brightens the journey
141
and lightens every heavy load .

This song used to be eagerly passed on to every new generation of semi-

narians. Of course for the seminarian the long years of training, the hard-
ships and trials compound together to really make the road not easy,
dark, and the load heavy. In as much as the need to meet up with the
academic degree requirements of the Nigerian National University
Regulations helped to entrench and legitimatize the four-year academic
program for philosophy and theology respectively, the length of the for-
mation years is in its core still one of the missionary heritage, a reminis-
cence of the long catechumenate introduced by Shanahan with his infa-
mous “Circular No. 10” of 1924.142 The need to safeguard the institution

141 This is, no doubt, a very inspiring song and can be very helpful as a coping strategy
not just for seminarians alone but also for every Christian. It makes a special im-
pression on the new entrants into the senior seminary when it is sung with enthusi-
asm and devotion by the older students on the day of investment of the new ones
immediately after the latter had been clad with their new soutanes and walk into the
seminary chapel in a solemn procession.
142 According to Ozigbo, the Circula No. 10 introduced a “two-tier catechumenate.
The Inquirer or Aspirant stage, and the catechumenate proper. The first stage lasted
for 3-6 months, while the second endured for 2-5 years, depending on the progress
made by each individual catechumen [...]. It required that ‘a public retraction will
have to be made in the church before the congregation on three successive Sundays
and the public sinner must express sorrow. The priest will impose adequate pen-
ance before allowing him back to Confession’. Even then, it demanded that ‘a pub-
lic sinner is to be debarred for 3-6 months or more after the expression of sorrow
[...] public sinners may attend Mass but they must remain at the back of the
church’. The vicar Apostolic rained excommunications and interdicts like a medie-
val Pope on the understanding that ‘excommunication will prevent bad examples
from corrupting others’. Concerning marriage, the Circular ruled that ‘civil regis-
tration of all marriages is obligatory’. It banned all feasting on the eve of the
Christian marriage. The couples were to spend the day exclusively in preparation
for the reception of the sacrament. On schools, it insisted that ‘in places where
there are Catholic schools, no Catholic is allowed to attend a Protestant school [...]
A Catholic must not enter, on any account, a Protestant institution as a boarder. To
do so would mean mandatory excommunication for him’”. A few of the French

294
from interferences of any civil government precipitated its affiliation to
the Pontifical Urban University in Rome immediately after the civil war
in 1970. While securing a great degree of independence from any Nige-
rian political institution and authority, it bonded the seminary to the ex-
ternal tutelage of Rome. This affiliation made the curriculum of studies
subject to sanctions and approbations from Rome. Such a close bonding,
of course, has the effect that the curriculum gives more attention to those
courses which are in correspondence with those of Urban University,
both in name and in content. For instance, a look at the courses offered at
Bigard Memorial Seminary143 confirms this point:

COURSE OF STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY

Major Courses Credit loads
Introduction to philosophy 3 credits
Logic 18 credits
Epistemology 18 credits
Metaphysics 12 credits
Philosophy of Religion 12 credits
Natural philosophy 9 credits
Psychology 12 credits
Philosophical anthropology 6 credits
Sociology 12 credits
Ethics 18 credits
Politics 6 credits
History of philosophy 18 credits
African Culture/Thought 9 credits
Minor courses
Spiritual theology 18 credits
Introduction to scripture 9 credits
Languages
English 18 credits
Latin 3 credits
French 3 credits
New Testament Greek 3 credits

priests in the mission and all the Irish accepted the Circular. Many of the French
priests opposed it vehemently, describing it as “too harsh and ultimately ruinous in
its demands and implications”. Ozigbo 230-233. The quotation is from pp. 231-
232.
143 The data on the courses shown below were received, with much gratitude, from the
Secretariat of the Seminary late 1997.

295
COURSE OF STUDIES IN THEOLOGY
Major course Credit load
Biblical Studies 63 credits
Dogmatic Theology and History of Dogma 60 credits
Moral Sciences 33 credits
Religious Pedagogy 24 credits
Academic Exercises 20 credits
Minor course
Canon Law 18 credits
Church History 12 credits
Ancient Christian Writers 12 credits
Ministerial course
Liturgy 24 credits
Spiritual Theology 12 credits
Pastoral Theology 3 credits
Auxiliary subjects
Administration 6 credits
Accountancy 6 credits

Remarkable in this curriculum is the very few hours accredited to Afri-

can Culture / Thought in Philosophy and the abysmally low rating Pas-
toral Theology has of only three credit hours. This gives one the impres-
sion that this very important aspect of practical theology, the sphere in
which concrete pastoral ministration with its attendant real-life questions
is meant to be reflected on, is just on the program for want of courage to
drop it off entirely. One cannot resist the impression that dogmatists,
biblicists and moralists are being trained rather than pastors. From the
most recent Academic Calendar144 of the same Seminary there is, never-
theless, a great effort to integrate African Culture and Religion in the
actual program of lectures. For instance, a professor is designated to
teach Liturgy, Patrology and African Traditional Religion, while another
is designated to handle Church History, French and African Christian
Theology. In the faculty of philosophy O. Onwubiko, who has also pub-
lished a couple of works on the area, teaches African Thought and Cul-
ture. The seminarians for their part, see the affiliation to Rome as a mark
of excellence and prestige: One does not just have an academic degree,
but a foreign one for that matter.

144 BMS Academic Calendar 1997-1998. For the detailed charting of the lectures, see
Appendix B2.

296
 According to A. Ekwunife three distinct periods mark the develop-
mental history of seminary formation in Nigeria. The periods are: The
early beginnings 1930-1960; the post-independent period 1960-1980; the
modern period 1980- and beyond.145 Since the early beginnings date
back to 1924 in Igboland, we put this period to read: 1924-1960. Each of
these periods is marked by some specific atmosphere and emphasis in
the formation.
The early period of 1924-1960 can be said to be characterized by
monastic “isolationism coupled with over-cautious selectivism and in-
stant dismissal, paucity in number, foreignness of the general curricu-
lum, unquestionable obedience, [and] [...] purely devotional spiritual ori-
entations without depth theology to prop them”146. Today the pioneer
indigenous priests of these early periods are generally regarded as ideal
priests. However, one can imagine the criteria of evaluation of their lives
and pastoral effectiveness: the more one internalized the foreign charac-
teristics of the missionaries and gave up every iota of inquisitiveness and
incredulity with regard to the authority of the formators and the more
alienated one becomes to his native culture, the more priest-like one be-
came.
The post-independent period of 1960-1980: Three major events
helped to shape this period: the political independence from British co-
lonial government, the Second Vatican Council and the Nigerian civil
war. These events triggered off an avalanche of changes in and outside
the church. The process set off by these events has variously been de-
scribed as “indigenisation”, “self-affirmation”, “aggiornamento”, “cul-
tural revival”, “inculturation”, “Africanization”, “naturalization”, “ad-
aptation of Christianity”.147 The seminary formation of this period is
characterized by “indigenisation, vocation boom, structural growth and
minimal positive attitude towards African religious culture”148. While
this process was gathering momentum in the political and social arenas,
the seminary formation and the life in the church generally remained
relatively unaffected. The relationship between the seminarians and the
seminary authority was marked by blind obedience on the part of the

145 A. N. O. Ekwunife, African Traditional Values and Formation in Catholic Semi-

naries of Nigeria, 53.
146 Ibid.
147 Cf. also Mudimbe 56.
148 Ibid., 55.

297
former and intolerance towards seminarians’ individual initiatives and
creativity on the part of the authority.
Those three events aroused a strong clamouring for more respect
and tolerance towards indigenous cultures. While native music instru-
ments and songs in vernacular were being allowed in the seminary lit-
urgy, the students were at the same time meant to tolerate this as a sort of
spiritual excursion into some exotic domain and to believe that the ideal
liturgy is the one performed in Latin or English. The attitude towards the
traditional culture remained, nevertheless, hostile. Native dances, music
and masquerading were performed in the minor and major seminaries.
However, the aim was not so much that of affirmation and acceptance of
their cultural and religious values and signification. It was more or less a
demonstration of the superiority and victory of the Christian religion
over the native culture149, and at best a mere cultural recreation with no
religious connotations or content whatsoever. Out of a genuine concern
for a healthy dialogue between cultures and peoples and the Christian
Gospel Gaudium et Spes aptly asks:

What must be done to prevent the increased exchanges between cultures, which
ought to lead to a true and fruitful dialogue between groups and nations, from dis-
turbing the life of communities, destroying ancestral wisdom, or jeopardizing the
uniqueness of each people? How can the vitality and growth of a new culture be
150
fostered without the loss of living fidelity to the heritage of tradition? .

With this concern in mind, the Fathers of the Council went further to
identify some principles of proper cultural development as it affects the
spread of the Good News of salvation. Thus we read further:

149 The present author remembers the first time they were permitted to organize mas-
querades in the minor seminary as a part of the Easter celebration – that was 1974.
He and his fellow seminarians, together with their masked colleagues, made their
way into the nearby village just to show the villagers that if the seminary can have
masquerades, then the masquerades can impossibly be the ancestral spirits who
have returned to the world of the living as the tradition has it. And that if this was
the case, then all the attendant taboos were ineffective and meaningless. The vil-
lagers quickly got the message. As soon as we returned to the seminary that day a
delegation from the village followed, warning against any further such provocation.
150 Vat. II, GS Art. 56.

298
 There are many links between the message of salvation and human culture. For
God, revealing Himself to His people to the extent of a full manifestation of Him-
self in His Incarnate Son, has spoken according to the culture proper to different
ages. Living in various circumstances during the course of time, the Church, too,
has used in her preaching the discoveries of different cultures to spread and explain
the message of Christ to all nations, to probe it and more deeply understand it, and
to give it better expression in liturgical celebrations and in the life of the diversified
community of the faithful. But at the same time, the Church, sent to all peoples of
every time and place, is not bound exclusively and indissolubly to any race or na-
tion, nor to any particular way of life or any customary pattern of living, ancient or
recent. Faithful to her own tradition and at the same time conscious of her universal
mission, she can enter into communion with various cultural modes, to her own en-
151
richment and theirs too .

In his encyclical Evangelii nuntiandi Paul VI reminds the entire Catholic

world that evangelization in the modern world with its sole aim of
“building up of the Kingdom of God cannot avoid borrowing the ele-
ments of human culture or cultures” and that “individual Churches [...]
have the task of assimilating the essence of the Gospel message and of
transposing it [...] into the languages that these people understand”152.
Even while talking specifically to the Bishops of Africa at Kampala in
1969 he impressed upon them:

You can and must have an African Christianity. Yes, you have human values and
characteristic forms of culture that can be brought to a superior and original per-
fection of their own that is truly African [...]. You will be able to remain Africans
in all sincerity even in your interpretation of Christian life; you will be able to for-
mulate Catholicism in terms that are completely appropriate to your culture, and
you will be able to bring to the Catholic Church the precious contribution of the
153
Black races of which it stands so much in need at this point in its history .

From the above citations it is clear that it is not as if the importance of an

open and healthy dialogue between representatives of the Christian re-
ligion and the African traditional culture had not been stressed even from
the highest quarters of the Church. No. We are rather of the opinion that
the inability to make any practical sense of these repeated injunctions
and fatherly exhortations is liable to the age-long and stratified negative

151 Ibid., Art. 58.

152 Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, No. 20 and 63.
153 Paul VI, 1969, in J. Osei-Bonsu, Christianity and Culture, 56.

299
bias against the African traditional culture and religion handed down
from one generation of formators to the next.
The period after 1980: As far as the Catholic Church in Igboland is
concerned this period seems to be the most viable. The seed of growth
which started budding in the 1970s blossomed in this period. It is also
the period in which the Church celebrated its centenary in this part of the
world. Furthermore, it witnessed the creation of many more dioceses,
archdioceses and an additional ecclesiastical province, not to talk of the
teeming number of new parishes. The religious congregations – male and
female alike – expanded and are still expanding enormously. This period
also witnessed the peak of religious and priestly vocation boom; minor
and major seminaries expanded their accommodation capacities greatly.
The startling numerical progressive leaps can well be illustrated by the
statistical data of Admissions into the Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu
between 1988/89 and 1997/98 academic session. The data below covers
only the admissions from the dioceses within the Igbo culture area under
discussion.154

Table 2: Admissions into Bigard Memorial Seminary 1988-1998

Acad. Stage 1988/89 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1994/95 1996/97 1997/98 Total
Spiritual Yr 78 102 106 150 176 183 795
Philosophy 61 125 185 257 310 427 514 1879
Theology 329 318 281 256 209 170 161 168 1892
Total 329 457 406 543 572 630 764 865 4566
Source: Academic Calendar, Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. For the distribution of
the figures according to diocese, see Appendix B3

The above phenomenon is indicative of a tendency in Nigeria and the

entire African continent. A 1985 Vatican statistical report shows, as
Mudimbe comments, that in Catholicism “the number of Diocesan
clergy is increasing in Africa, South America and Oceania”. In Central
America, the figures remain “almost the same”. In North America, the
report notes a “modest drop,” and “the most notable reduction [is] found

154 For statistical details on the overall enrollments in Bigard Memorial Seminary from
1924 to 1987 cf. Obi, The Development of Priestly Vocation in Igboland, 19-20.

300
in Europe”155. But the most significant shift is in the percentage of the
world’s major seminarians produced by different parts of the world. In
Africa it jumped from 6.7% in 1973 to 10.7% in 1983, while in North
America it dropped to 10.9% from 19.2% in the same period. In Europe,
the percentage went down to 34.4 % from 41.1%. If European Catholi-
cism seems to be aging dangerously, the dynamism of its African coun-
terpart belongs either to a holy nightmare or, if one prefers, to an in-
credible miracle. There is not enough room in seminaries for candidates
to the priesthood, yet despite the increase in vocation, particularly in the
countries with the highest fertility rates – Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania,
Congo (formerly Zaïre) – the number of priests is considered to be low.
In spite of this numerical strength of the Catholic church among the
Igbo with a largely indigenous clergy-men as formators in the seminar-
ies, the quality of formation seems to be devoid of deep cultural orienta-
tion which will encourage dialogue and a healthy cohabitation with Afri-
can traditional religion and culture. The attention paid to African
traditional religion and culture as a subject on the academic curriculum
appears more of a mere lip service since this seems not go beyond the
class room preoccupation.
It is undeniable that colonialism with its new political system and
the missionary Christianization crusade with its formidable school ma-
chinery and the establishment of a local clergy all helped to pave the way
and usher in an inevitable process of modernization.

8.4 Modernization and Technological Developments

To be human means to live in a world – that is, to live in a reality that is

ordered and that gives sense to the business of living within a given
space and time. It is a socio-cultural world. As such it is not divine and
eternal but rather human and transient. The events following the contact
with Europeans since the 15th century ushered in an ongoing process of
modernization in the Igbo “life-world”156. The power and force of the

155 Mudimbe 54.

156 Berger et al., The Homeless Mind, 63.

301
colonial machinery, the daring courage of the explorers, the wit and
mystique of the missionary, the charm and the power of the “House of
Book” – as the School is called in Igbo language157 – to turn paupers into
princes, and this is conspicuously the case with the priesthood, all com-
bined to conjure up in the Igbo consciousness an image of a great possi-
bility of overcoming hunger, disease and death. Once the seminarian is
ordained a priest, the destitute condition of his family background auto-
matically gives way to the status of one of the most powerful men in his
society! The psychological effects of such a sudden leap up the social
echelon must be overwhelming. All that is part of the magic of moder-
nity.

8.4.1 The Magic of Modernity

Modernity is always associated with the expectation of being delivered

from the forces of limitation and meaninglessness. According to P.
Berger et al., “modernity has about it a quality of miracle and magic
which, in some instances, can link up with old religious expectations of
delivery from the sufferings of the human condition”158. This direct con-
tact with modernizing forces coupled with the indirect contact with them
through the products and symbols of technological advancement159 unite
to create and disseminate the imagery of modernity in Africa. Examples
of such products are the transistor radio, the ballpoint pen, the wrist-
watch, journals and newspapers, television, school and books, aero-
planes, automobiles, tarred roads, different forms of clothing, etc. etc.
Through these various carriers and transmitters “a stock of knowledge
about the modern world, the character of advanced industrials societies,
as well as about what is going on in one’s own society and the prognoses
as to that society’s future”160 are widely diffused.

157 “School” is called in Igbo language uno-akwukwo which literally means “House of
Book”.
158 Berger et al. 139.
159 According to the authors of The Homeless Mind, “technological production and
bureaucracy” are the key phenomena of modernization and the primary carriers of
modernity.
160 Ibid., 140.

302
8.4.2 The City – The Mystique of Modernity

Cities and townships developed around centres of production and indus-

try during the colonial period – around mines, plantations, wharfs, colo-
nial headquarters and administrative centres, etc. Running concurrently
with these was the construction of a network of roads and railways to
connect these centres and the sea ports. These enhanced the means of
mobility and communication greatly. Soon the cities were beaming with
life and activities. The Igbo country, as we pointed out earlier, is one of
the most thickly populated areas in the country. With their teeming
population their land was becoming increasingly too small and over-
populated. Initially prevented from migrating into other parts of the
country due to the Aro menace and slave raids, now with the roads and
railways available, they flocked into the cities all over the country. Cit-
ing J. S. Coleman Agu expounds that

throughout the heavily populated Igbo country there were no cities with a popula-
tion of more than 20,000 even as late as 1931. ‘By 1952, however, there were four
cities, each with a population of more than 50,000, of which 85 per cent was Ibo.
The rate of growth of these eastern urban centres during the three decades from
1921 to 1952 (688 per cent) was far higher than elsewhere in Nigeria. Yet this
rapid and intensive urbanization of the Ibo peoples since the British occupation is a
phenomenon not only of the Eastern Region, their homeland. Ibos also constitute
more than one-third of the non-indigenous population of the urban centres in the
Northern and Western Regions [...]. These figures are important not only as evi-
dence of the intensive, rapid, and widespread urbanization of the Ibo peoples, but
161
also as a partial insight into their vanguard role in the nationalist movement .

The city and its correlate, city life, became powerful magnet, drawing
people from the countryside. The city became the centre of action and
attraction. To move to the city meant to move into that place where
things happen; it meant boarding the bandwagon of progress and a better
future. On its face value people moved to the city often with the expec-
tation of finding better employment and better material conditions of life.
But on the deeper side of this attraction lies something almost mystical
in character: the mystique of modernity, as Berger calls it. The city is
one of the most powerful manifestations of modernity. It is this mystique
that holds the myriads of stranded and uprooted souls whose hopes of

161 Agu 253.

303
better life conditions and other rational expectations have shattered back
from returning to their villages. “The mystique”, [...] Berger writes,
“tends to be stronger than the rational expectations. It survives the disap-
pointment of the latter. Whatever its frustrations and degradations, the
city continues to be the place where things are happening, where there is
movement and a sense of the future”162.

8.4.3 The Sacraments of Modernity

The symbols of modernity ensure a perpetual presence of the vision or

imagery of modernity in the African consciousness. The billboards, the
adverts, the films and the (very often unreal) hopes they suggest, prod-
ucts like coca cola, mineral drinks, chewing gums, maggi cubes, enamel
wares, tooth-paste and tooth-brush, books, etc, all bombard the tradi-
tional mind with new visions. Some of them, like the ballpoint pen and
the wristwatch, have even acquired a sacramental status, and therefore,
can be seen as the sacraments of modernity and its promises. They are
the outward, visible signs of an inward transformation of consciousness.
They confirm the credibility, the viability, and the power of the new vi-
sion over the traditional mind. The ballpoint pen stands for the school
and the school for a wealth of information spanning centuries of human
experience and vision.
The school, as we have seen above, is the most powerful symbol of
modernity and the most powerful instrument of cognitive transformation
among the Igbo. The ballpoint pen and the wristwatch symbolize the
modern status of the person who possesses them. The former represents
literacy, the power of the written word, and the immense new stock of
knowledge which literacy opens up. The latter represents that new
structure of time which is characteristic of modernity or modern society,
and which lies at the roots of modern technological production and bu-
reaucracy. It is no longer a cyclic event-oriented mode of temporality,
but a linear mode of temporality guided by the wristwatch; it governs
activities and human interaction in the modern society. Modernity runs
of necessity on the time that can be measured on a wristwatch. In addi-
tion, the traditional ways of life-planning (– the various initiation or rites

162 Ibid., 142.

304
of passage, modes of family planning) and of apprehending the stages of
biography became increasingly diffused as the process of modernization
proceeds. They became increasingly replaced by new ones like, school
age, work age, retirement age, baptism, first Holy Communion, Confir-
mation, marriage, etc. One began celebrating birthdays annually instead
of the various biographical stages, which were more “other-related” than
“self-related”.
In any case, be it the school, the church, the automobile, the electri-
city, the “singlet” which Leith-Ross described as the “[...] Ibo’s first step
towards civilization”163 or the urban city, all of them express the colli-
sions, the conflicts and even the rituals brought about by the intrusions of
modernity into traditional life. All of them are related to the mystique of
modernity and its promise of a better life. All of them are inimical to the
traditional patterns of village life.

8.4.4 Modernity and the Redefinition of Reality

Naturally, as the process of modernization proceeded, there inevitably

occurred a drastic epistemic transformation, both in the organization of
knowledge and in cognitive modus, in what was known and in how it
was known. Reality got redefined and reclassified in almost all sectors.
Reality was no longer conceived as a living and generally interconnected
fabric of beings encompassing the visible and invisible realms, as a
unity, but as organized into components that can be apprehended and
manipulated in isolation. Consequently it had become possible to isolate
economics from politics, politics from art, art from religion, days for re-
ligious worship from days for work during which the religious is strictly
and purposeful bracketed out. To the extent that this idea of the possibil-
ity of being isolated from the corpus of one’s life-world extended even to
the realm of social relations and to the individual’s experience of him-
self, it tended to be experienced as uprooting and alienating.

163 Leith-Ross 131-132.

305
8.4.5 Modernity and Social Distribution of Knowledge

The presence and availability of new bodies of knowledge brought about

a new social distribution of knowledge. In a society in which wisdom
used to be associated with old age there occurred a sudden reversal as the
young plausibly presented themselves as privileged interpreters of the
mysteries of modernity. The privileged traditional position of the elders
as the custodians of wisdom and knowledge about events and times be-
came critically challenged by the nouveaux sages. This kind of situation
produced mixed feelings about the change in the dethroned elders.
The change in the organization of knowledge called for a new clas-
sification of expertise or competence. Modernization legitimates new
experts and at the same time de-legitimates old ones. The legitimation
can be informal. For instance, the coal-miner of Enugu returning to his
village on leave suddenly acquired prestige as the man who has experi-
enced and can tell about the mysteries of the great city. There were, on
the other hand, highly formal and institutionalized processes by which
the new experts were legitimated. The most important of these legiti-
mating agencies was and still is the school – and the seminary. They be-
stowed honour and status upon those who have begun, in whatever
measure, to acquire the new lore. It did not matter much whether they
comprehended what they learnt or not. It is a part of the mystique of
modernity. As a matter of fact, it might be argued that something was
gained by incomprehensibility; somehow it adds to the mystique of the
new dispensation. In other words, it was not at all necessary that the lore
transmitted by the school be intelligible, let alone useful. This is, in most
cases, still the case with the words of the liturgy as well as the series of
prayers164 recited in musical rhythms by the catechist or the metaphysical

164 The use of Latin language in the liturgy, which many of the older generation Igbo
Catholics still long for in nostalgic reference to the good old days when the holy
mass used to be Holy Mass, was a case in point. Even till the present day such
terms like, Eucharist, Grace, Mass, Penance, Sacrament, Matrimony, Holy Orders,
Extreme Unction, Confirmation, have remained untranslated. In some way the at-
tempt to translate Eucharist as “eucharistia”, Grace as “grasia” looked ridiculous.
Not only are these words totally inexistent in the Igbo language but also the use of
such Igbo concepts like “nso” and “nwa aturu” to translate the English words
“holy” and “lamb” respectively only helped to augment the general cognitive con-
fusion. The word “nso” among the Igbo is used generally in connection with ta-

306
themes which dominated the seminary lecture hours and engaged the
seminarians in hours of heated discussions afterwards. They all belong to
that essential characteristic of modernity which we have called its “mys-
tique”.

8.4.6 Modernity and Social Typification

Modernization brings with it new social typification. Every society has

its operating typologies, be it according to age, sex, class, groupings, etc.
Modernization entails reclassification, often of a more radical and vio-
lent kind, whereby declassification and reclassification go hand in hand.
In the Igbo traditional society where one’s fellow men and women are
classified in terms of tribal and kinship affiliations, these now are over-
laid by totally different social typologies like, Civil Servant – Non-Civil
servant, Student – Teacher, Ndi obodo – Ndi uka165 or Christian – Pagan,
Catholic – Protestant, Literate – Illiterate, Clergy – Laity, etc. Economic
status, occupation, political party and religious affiliation or urban

boos, prescriptions, and proscriptions in relation to a deity, a custom, a community,

group or a person. It does, therefore, neither translate nor describe the word “holy”
or “sanctus”. The lamb or sheep is for the Igbo one of the most stupid creatures in
the universe and has nothing to do with innocence. It is also not normally used in a
sacrificial rite. It is not clear what the Igbo actually thought about the Son of God
being portrayed as “Nwa aturu”. Certainly this was never reflected on since it all
belonged to the mystique of the new religion. The same is applicable to the foreign
words which the catechumen mumble away in the catechism classes.
It is also not clear what the translation of the prayer “Act of Contrition” as “Omume
nke ime ebele” – which actually is better translated as the “Act of being merciful” –
is intended to convey. Irrespective of the apparent dissonance in the wordings of
the text, it remains the most popular prayer of contrition among the Igbo Catholics.
In a way, this attitude of acceptance without reflection confirms the overwhelming
nature of the new religion, of modernity. It also confirms the fact that the mission-
ary enterprise and the continuation of the same by the natives themselves is intoler-
ant to dialogue.
165 Christians are called “Ndi uka” – i.e. “the people of the church”. Among them they
distinguish between Roman Catholics – “ndi uka fada” and Anglicans – “ndi uka
C. M. S.”, etc. Those who remained faithful to the traditional Religion are called
“ndi obodo” – i.e. “the people of the land or the natives”. One does not get the im-
pression that the people are aware of the note of estrangement contained in the ex-
pressions.

307
neighbourhood now vie with tribe or kinship as relevant criteria for
grouping people. The epistemic distortion has gone so far that the people
are not even aware of the implication of the two definitions: the non-
Christians as “the people of the land or the natives” and the Christians as
“the people of the church” is a statement about estrangement. The Chris-
tians are not part of the natives any more but strangers; they now belong
to some foreign “organization”. Perhaps they have become members at
best of a universal community and at worst of some global organization.
No longer at home in the cognitive world of their own people and not yet
in tune with the spirit of that universal community, very many end up
somewhere in-between joining the company of those homeless souls
whose common characteristic is dislocation.
On the individual level a fundamental social psychological process
gradually sets in: as the individual’s apprehension of the social world is
changed by modernization, so is his apprehension of his own identity. If,
for example, it no longer makes sense for him to identify others in terms
of tribe or kinship only, it will sooner or later make no sense for him to
do so in his own case.166 This can have devastating consequences for all
concerned. Not only is the world redefined, with others reclassified, but
the individual no longer knows who he is. At this point all of reality be-
comes uncertain and threatened with meaninglessness, thus bringing
about the state of anomie which C. Achebe described so vividly in his
epic African Trilogy.167 Okonkwo’s suicide in the first book of this Tril-
ogy: Things Fall Apart, was an attempt to escape such an imposed
meaninglessness.
One might argue that these changes are similar to the changes
Europe underwent in her past. Well, there is no gainsaying that Europe
experienced similar social transformations. The difference, however, lies
in the manner the changes are brought about. Modernization in Europe
and North America is a product of an internal metamorphosis and re- and
evolution, a process from within. Not only is Africa a latecomer to mod-
ernization, but also the process reached and still reaches her largely as an
invasion, from without, from Europe and North America. Reviewing
John Reader’s Africa P. Hawthorne writes:

166 Berger et al. 152.

167 Things Fall Apart, No Longer At Ease, and Arrow of God.

308
 Were it not for the ‘importunities of Europe’, [...] Africa might have enlarged upon
its indigenous talents and found an independent route to the present – one that was
inspired by resolution from within rather than example from without. It was a
168
‘moment passed’ and lost forever during the 15th century .

8.4.7 Modernity and Cognitive Bargaining

It is important to stress that the transformation of consciousness brought

about by the collisions that took place did not occur at the same time in
every person and in all situations. In some the change was rapid and
devastating. In others it took longer. Besides, the effectiveness of the
transfer of the carriers of modernization, such as the technological prod-
ucts, to other areas of social life also varied. In some places they were
broadly accepted, in others they were resisted. Even after their introduc-
tion, their modernizing effects were contained within a highly specific,
limited sector of social life for a considerable period of time. In other
words, modernization may be encapsulated, contained in a kind of en-
clave, around which the traditional patterns of life go on substantially as
before. This later form of coping with the invasion of modernization –
encapsulation – is one extreme in a continuum of coping strategies. The
other extreme is the one previously mentioned: a total identification with
the vision of modernity, a total readjustment of one’s identity to fit into
the new definitions, (reclassifications), of modernity.
Between these two poles there is a great variety of cognitive ar-
rangements possible. These kinds of arrangements are described by
Berger et al. as “cognitive bargainings”169. By this they mean the com-
promises on the level of consciousness which the individual daily makes
between traditional and modern patterns. For instance, one witnesses
such a bargaining in the job market sector. A person, with the necessary
qualifications, looking for a job often activates all traditional channels of
communication and influence – unconsciously bringing the traditional
principles of communal cooperation or solidarity and beneficial reci-
procity into play around the modern bureaucratic and technological
structures, – and very often with startling success. This, no doubt, breeds
nepotism, partisanship and favouritism, in a modern setup with an insti-

168 P. Hawthorne, In and Out of Africa, in: Time, November 3, 1997.

169 Berger et al. 155.

309
tutionalized impersonal criteria of merit and fairness. It is, therefore, not
surprising that a good number of modern economic and political struc-
tures cannot function properly or at all in such a situation. The same fate
awaits long term economic planning in a society where immediate re-
sults and satisfaction of achievement needs constitute one of the central
forces in the social interaction of its members. If such cognitive bar-
gaining is possible on other sectors of social interaction without the indi-
vidual necessarily getting the feeling of having at any point abused, for
instance, the criteria mentioned above, it may not be that easy on the re-
ligious sector.
Religion is the most powerful integrative force in traditional socie-
ties; an integration which is critically challenged by the onset of mod-
ernization. With religion reduced to just one out of many other sectors of
life in a modern society, it loses that overall integrating power. Law and
order in social interaction are no longer determined by religion but by
that sector of the new system of government called Law, be it Church
Law or Civil Law. Not much compromise can be undertaken here, ex-
cept perhaps between the Igbo traditional and the Christian religious be-
liefs and practices. We agree with Berger et al., when they say: “Once
traditional religious jurisdiction begins to be eroded it becomes increas-
ingly difficult to arrest the process”170. The process in which the tradi-
tional religion became radically displaced in its function as the general
integrative force in Igbo society is in fact no longer retractable. Practi-
cally the entire events have forced it into the defensive position; on the
surface level one wonders how much longer it can withstand the on-
slaught. The continuous downward trend observable in the number of
overt adherents of the traditional religion in Igboland can be traced back
to this phenomenon.171 The fact that there is a continuous decline in the
number of those who openly confess the traditional religion does neither
indicate nor confirm a complete disuse of and/or disaffection for the tra-
ditional belief system in the daily life of the Igbo. We feel more com-
fortable to see it rather as an indication or symptom of an imposed
change from without. Such a change brings about transformations of

170 Ibid., 158.

171 The fact that many Igbo Christians still surreptitiously practise their traditional re-
ligious beliefs can be explained by the fact that the hour-hand of their clock of con-
version to Christianity did not turn full circle.

310
consciousness quite alright, but in many cases they are more or less su-
perficial. In any case, the crisis of traditional religion reveals in a very
dramatic way the essential nightmare of modernization, namely, the col-
lective and individual loss of integrative meanings. The same factor can
be said to be responsible for the crisis of Christianity in the West172; and
if this pace of modernization is maintained, it is very likely to invade
Christianity in Nigeria, as well, before it reaches five hundred years of
age!
One can say that at the end both the originator and the user eventu-
ally suffer from the same viral infection for which there have been de-
veloped as yet no proper vaccines. However, while the originators of
modernization – the West – may have accumulated a lot of experience in
the use and application of modernization and its by-products in the
course of the centuries, thus its effects are not totally unexpected, the
“latecomers” and end-users have presently no time to spend in the accu-
mulation of such experience. Often not comprehending the logic and the
history of the machinery of industrial production they respond only to
the enticing and glistening end-products; the effects are sudden, bewil-
dering and negative especially on the level of their sense of self-worth,
of their consciousness of the other and of themselves. The Igbo expres-
sion of bewilderment and awe at Western products: Bekee bu maa! or
Bekee wu agbara! (“The white man is a god!”), attests to this.

172 It is also co-responsible for the crisis of modernity itself. The paradox of the chief
carrier of modernity, technology and technological production, is that, on one hand
it is the passport and creator of modernity, and on the other hand it has provoked an
uprising against modernity, especially, the self-alienation and bunch of homeless
souls it has produced and still producing. There are more isolated, homeless and
disconnected individuals in the industrialized, technologically advanced nations
than in the so-called Third World. The present obsession with globalization and fu-
sion on the economic and industrial market can be seen as an attempt to cope with
the unavoidable product of modernization: turning human beings into machines of
production and consumption.

311
8.5 Summary

The period between the second half of the fifteenth and the first half of
the twentieth centuries can be considered as the periods in the history
and development of the Igbo consciousness which have brought the most
violent and humiliating experiences, the most dislocating economic and
social changes, and the most estranging encounter with an alien culture.
The commercialization of slavery and the brutality used by the
European, especially Portuguese, slave dealers in the procurement of
their human cargo left untold humiliating and depopulating impacts on
the African continent. This and the wedge of hostility it drove into the
relationship between villages and clans on account of their collaboration
as slave-hunters or victims served as forerunners that set the stage for the
onslaught of colonialism and missionary activities among the Igbo. The
body of knowledge put together by the explorer and adventurer provided
the final preparation for the invasion.
The strongest and far-reaching cognitive changes were brought
about by the school through the missionary. This is so because the school
aimed at children and the youth and attacked the religious mainstay of
the people, thus cutting off the source of continuity of the traditional way
of life and discredited the ultimate foundation on which the traditional
culture rests. To ensure some permanency and continuation of their ef-
forts trained personnel was envisaged. The mission stations and the vari-
ous colonial structures served as constant reminders of the presence of
the conquerors. The introduction of seminaries became the last safeguard
for continuity and an assurance that Christianity and European Christen-
dom have been firmly planted in Igboland. The overwhelming numbers
of seminarians and seminaries attest to the apparent success of this mis-
sionary enterprise.
All these set the stage for the entrance of modernity with its mys-
tique which was to erode what was left of the traditional culture and
subject any resistance to the position of enclaves and to the status of an-
tique. It thus perfected the confusion by providing disintegrating poten-
tials not only for the traditional way of life but also for Christianity itself.
In the next chapter we shall discuss the impact of these changes on the
Igbo consciousness especially on the formation of seminarians.

312
9. THE IMPACT OF THE CHANGES ON THE
IGBO MIND

I must now admit that I adapted myself with remarkable

ease to the conditions of life in my cage [...]. I even grew so
accustomed to this situation that for more than a month,
without feeling how outlandish or degrading it was, I made
no attempt to put an end to it [...]. My superiority over the
other prisoners [...] made me the most brilliant subject in
the establishment. This distinction [...] sufficed my present
ambitions and even filled me with pride1.
Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes

We have already discussed the impact of the slave trade on the Igbo so-
ciety and consciousness. Since colonialism and missionary evangelism
broke into the life horizon of the Igbo simultaneously, we shall consider
their impacts together. This methodical decision is supported by the fact
that they complimented each other in their various individual objectives.
Modernization, which can be considered as the seed sowed by both, has
long budded and is waxing stronger and stronger. Although we have
touched on some of its impact while discussing it as the fourth agent of
change, we shall mention briefly some of them again.

9.1 Emergence of New Commodities

The trade in palm produce which replaced the heinous slave trade led to
the opening of many markets and trading centres in the interior of Igbo-
land. It also paved the way for some European firms. As soon as the Igbo
realized that the export of palm produce had become the sole means of

1 Boulle 101.

313
procuring the European goods which were now increasingly being re-
garded as essential for a more comfortable life and as status boosters,
they dived head-long into the business. The introduction of European
goods was an irresistible bait. Farming and animal husbandry which had
been the sole source of economic subsistence and livelihood gave way
substantially to external trade. Trading, for instance, which hitherto was
the reserve of women found men now actively participating in it. Even
though the traditional Igbo man, for whom yam was the most prestigious
food item, and who depended on his farm for his sustenance, made fun
of those male traders with such contemptuous expressions like, or mgbe
aha lr (one who feeds only by buying from the market), trading, never-
theless, had now become a social reality and an accepted source of live-
lihood on its own footing. With it emerged a new value system and new
status symbols.2 The new commodities and food stuff were immediately
absorbed into the traditional set-up. This initial, so to speak, peaceful
contact through trade prepared the way for the later total colonial occu-
pation of the Igbo country.

9.2 Emergence of a New Social Order

The school and direct contact with the Europeans led to the emergence
and acted as great catalysts of dissemination of new forms of social
manners and norms of interpersonal interaction akin to European ways
of life. The European form of clothing and the uniforms of the school
children, the layout and structure of the Mission compounds3, the bun-
galow and/or the storey-building of the missionary and the colonial ad-
ministration, introduced new patterns of clothing and architecture. Those
natives trained in the schools of vocational education as masons, car-
penters, brick-layers, etc., helped to spread the new patterns. I. Ozigbo
adds:

2 Cf. Agu 246.

3 This comprised very often of the house of the missionary or Fathers’ house, school-
church building, the Teachers’ quarters, garden etc.

314
 New forms of house furniture were popularised. The frock replaced the semi-nudity
of the women. The loin-cloth was exchanged for pairs of shorts, sometimes com-
plete with stockings and shoes. New culinary habits – of food and beverages – as
well as new mannerisms and etiquette, became symbols of social prestige. It was
easy to pick out the convert from the crowd by his attire or social manners. Eating
with fork and knife, seated at dining table, replaced the earlier squatting on the
floor and the licking of the fingers. The blessings of literacy, new standards of
4
sanitation and modern scientific medicine were objects of wonder and curiosity .

9.3 A New System of Law and Order

As the colonial army and the missionary conquered their way through
the Igbo country, they tore into the central nerve of the society. The bit-
terness and grief at realizing this too late can be felt in the discussion
between Okonkwo and Obierika over the court settlement of a land dis-
pute:

‘What about that piece of land in dispute?‘ asked Okonkwo. ‘The white man’s
court has decided that it should belong to Nnama’s family, who had given much
money to the white man’s messengers and interpreter.’
‘Does the white man understand our customs about land?’
‘How can he when he does not even speak our tongue’. But he says that our cus-
toms are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our
customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have
turned against us? The white man is clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his
religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has
won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the
5
things that held us together and we have fallen apart‘ .

In dire need to create an atmosphere congenial for the achievement of

their various objectives: the missionary sought the soul of the people
while the colonialist sought the material benefits thereof, they unsym-
pathetically subjugated, humiliated, and in many cases, destroyed what-
ever integrative forces that held the Igbo society together. Desperate to
win as many souls as possible and to report back to his home country an

4 Ozigbo 284.
5 Achebe, Things Fall Apart, 144-145. The quotation is from p. 145.

315
ever rising figures of those baptized he lost no patience with those Igbo
cultural elements which did not fit into his own cognitive grid. He sim-
ply bulldozed his way through the spiritual and cognitive fabrics of the
natives. J. Munonye captures this point vividly, when he writes:

In this our early phase, with so many Christian denominations literally pouring into
that pagan world, our first emphasis must be on statistical successes. We must
bring the Word of God to as many as possible at the same time. We want on our
side the vast numbers who in Africa of the future will sustain the church with their
numerical strength. Call it vote of the masses if you like. In pursuit of that objec-
tive, I am afraid we have got to be impatient with the culture of the people. There
just is not time to sort out first and label their customs as acceptable and unaccept-
able. To be ruthless in our method and yet successful in our aim, we must ensure
that all along we present to the people good tangible evidence of the advantages of
6
Christianity .

In the schools and the Catechism classes a lot of indoctrination was car-
ried out. The teachers and instructors had little, if any, theological or
biblical training. What they had in abundance was enthusiasm and they
employed it to the full. The actual polemics against the traditional beliefs
and practices were carried out in the villages by the converts themselves
under the superintendency of the catechist-teachers. Their weapon was
Fr. Lejeune’s Catechism. The expatriate missionaries merely encouraged
them, and supplied the necessary “spiritual” backing. The missionary, no
doubt, believed in the rightness of his course and the absoluteness of his
mission. Consequently he was most often unaware of how much his
cultural cognitive background coloured his apprehension of the people
among whom he was working. E. Nida reiterates this fact saying: “Fully
equipped with our own sets of values, of which we are largely uncon-
scious, we sally forth in the world and automatically see behaviour with
glasses coloured by our own experience”7.
The traditional religious belief is the base on which law and order in
the traditional society stood. It served as its integrative force and the le-
gitimation of order. While the missionary attacked this ultimate integra-
tive force, which had to give way if he was to succeed in establishing an
alternative force, the colonialist attacked its political and socio-economic
expressions. Both assaults brought about a more or less general feeling

6 J. Munonye, The Only Son, 193.

7 E. A. Nida, Customs and Cultures, 2.

316
of resignation and disillusionment in many Igbo, especially in the con-
verts, with the existing traditional systems. The missionary preached his
way through with hospital and school, building church-schools on places
dreaded by the natives as being “alive with sinister forces and powers of
darkness”8, gathering abandoned twins, breaking exactly those taboos
which, according to the belief of the natives, usually would have merited
the instant wrath of the gods. The greatest shock was not these but the
fact that days and years passed by, nothing pernicious happened, neither
to the strangers nor to their converts. If any thing at all, the number of
converts grew constantly and the influential power of the missionary
grew. The gods seemed either defeated, incapable and/or unwilling to
fight their course. The following narration of Chinua Achebe offers some
insight into the great disappointment the people felt:

‘They [the missionaries] want a piece of land to build their shrine,’ said Uchendu to
his peers when they consulted among themselves. ‘We shall give them a piece of
land.’ He paused and there was a murmur of surprise and disagreement. ‘Let us
give them a portion of the Evil Forest. They boast about victory over death. Let us
give them a real battlefield in which to show their victory.’ [...] They offered them
as much of the Evil Forest as they cared to take. And to their greatest amazement
the missionaries thanked them and burst into song. ‘They do not understand,’ said
some of the elders. ‘But they will understand when they go to their plot of land to-
morrow morning.’ And they dispersed. The next morning the crazy men actually
began to clear a part of the forest and to build their house. The inhabitants of
Mbanta expected them all to be dead within four days. The first day passed and the
second and third and fourth, and none of them died. Everyone was puzzled. And
then it became known that the white man’s fetish had unbelievable power. It was
said that he wore glasses on his eyes so that he could see and talk to the evil spirits.
Not long after, he won his first three converts [...]. It was well known among the
people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and
would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them. But even in such cases they
set their limits at seven market weeks or twenty-eight days. Beyond that limit no
man was suffered to go. And so excitement mounted in the village as the seventh
market week approached since the impudent missionaries built their church in the

8 Achebe, Ibid., 123. In those days “every clan and village had its ‘evil forest’. In it
were buried all those who died of the really evil diseases, like leprosy and small
pox. It was a dumping ground for the potent fetishes of great medicine-men when
they died. An ‘evil forest’ was, therefore, alive with sinister forces and powers of
darkness. It was such a forest that the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries.
They did not really want them in their clan, and so they made them that offer which
nobody in his right senses would accept”.

317
 Evil Forest. The villagers were so certain about the doom that awaited these men
that one or two converts thought it wise to suspend their allegiance to the new faith.
At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. But they were
still alive [...]. That week they won a handful more converts. And for the first time
they had a woman9.

The effect of such an overt and ignominious capitulation of their gods on

the consciousness of the people was devastating. With their inferiority as
against the apparently more potent and superior god of the white man,
the Igbo who adored the successful and have not much time lost for the
weakling, of course, knew they have sooner or later to change camps, at
least to have a share in the secrets of that success.
With their military subjugation, the thing they cherished most and
protected jealously was the very first thing to be put out of action,
namely, their independence and ultra-democratic political system. The
forced labour, taxation, military presence and occasional harassment and
imprisonment10, and worse still, the imposition of artificial “miniature
monarchs” in the form of Warrant Chiefs were the concrete signs of this
humiliating loss. Through the introduction of the inglorious system of
Indirect Rule with its paraphernalia of District Officers, Warrant Chiefs,
Native Authorities and Courts, Court Clerks and Court Messengers, a
new political superstructure was imposed on them. It was no longer their
Omenani which determined what and how things were to be done but the
missionary and the colonial government. The opinion of the gods was no
longer binding on all. A process of polarization was set in motion.
An undeniable positive effect of their intervention was definitely the
liberation from the ignorance which was at the root of the idealization
and deification of the white man, at the root of the killing of twins, the
practice of ordeals and other barbaric acts. These and such other prac-
tices like “child marriage11” were taken for granted by the people until

9 Ibid., 123-125.
10 Cf. Ibid., 143-145, 156-159.
11 This is the practice whereby parents or guardians destine that their child will marry
another particular child. Often the nuptial ceremony, which normally consists of
several stages, is initiated when both children are as young as a year old by the lit-
tle boy’s family in order to forestall that another person approaches the little girl
with the same intention. In some parts of Igboland this is called “igbanye mmanya
n’eju” (pouring wine in a jar – i.e. proposal of a bonding). The period between this
first declaration and/or celebration of the intention and early adolescence or when

318
they were opposed by the missionaries and their converts without any
negative repercussions. In as much as such acts were in tune with the
world view of the Igbo12, they served as grave sources of pain and sor-
row, enmity and hatred for the persons affected. With education one
came to understand the biological processes behind such developments
like twins better.

9.4 A Dichotomy of Social Worlds

With the introduction of a new system of government which operated

parallel to the traditional system of social and political organization and
often overruled the latter, it became possible to belong to one or to both
social worlds or even to travel back and forth between them. The degree
of involvement or internal commitment to either of them depended on
the concrete or envisioned benefits and the circumstances of the individ-
ual concerned. One could settle interpersonal conflicts along traditionally
stipulated strategies of conflict resolution or take recourse to the magis-
trate courts. One could pitch his tent in the city and at the same time
build his house in the village. One fulfilled his obligations in his resident
quarter in the city and still was obliged by his kinsmen and kinswomen.

the young man gets economically ready for the remaining nuptial steps is spent by
both children and their families in acquainting themselves with each other.
12 For instance, the killing of twins was justified on the background of the belief that
Chukwu, the Great God and Creator, created human beings individually and singly.
Twins were, therefore, considered to be aberration of this divine norm. Since
Chukwu cannot go against his own norms, the existence of twins must have its
source from some recalcitrant spirits that just want to bring doom on the parents or
relatives of the twins. Twins were consequently seen as bad omen; and the best
way to ward the impending doom off from the society was to throw such children
into the evil forest, i.e. back to those evil spirits, in a kind of “return-to-sender”.

319
9.5 Emergence of a Religious Enclave

This possibility of standing in or shuttling between two worlds is much

more hazardous on the religious sphere. The shuttling cannot be under-
taken without running into serious doctrinal conflicts. With the introduc-
tion of a new religion it became possible to choose a religion. The Igbo
society, like other African societies, knew only one religion in its tradi-
tion and culture in tune with their unitary cosmology. No section or spot
in their world is profane or exclusively sacral. Oblations could be placed
at any spot or place in the community. The emergence of a religious en-
clave and religious denominations perforce gave rise to the need to dis-
tinguish between heaven and earth, sacral and profane times, precincts
and acts.

9.5.1 Possibility of a Religion Divided in Itself

The religion introduced by the missionary is a religion divided in itself.

Christianity was introduced in Igboland by a motley caravan of faith cru-
saders vying for territorial control. Leading among them were the C. M.
S. of the Anglican Church and the C. S. Sp. of the Roman Catholic
Church. The tragedy of it all was the bitterness and the scandalous man-
ner with which they waged war13 against each other – mutual recrimina-
tions, each one denying the other the possession of truth and each one
openly accusing the other of misleading its faithful and disseminating
falsehood. Catholics excommunicated their members who entertained
dealings with the Anglicans. Both employed the school as weapon in this
interdenominational warfare, while the war led to the proliferation of
schools. The school was the surest guarantee for converts. The denomi-
national hostility was carried further into their homes and kindred by the
adherents. Catholic parents risk excommunication if their son or daugh-
ter dared marry an Anglican unless the latter converted to Roman Ca-
tholicism before the marriage. The Catholic Women Association of the

13 In his peculiar manner of seeing enemies everywhere Shanahan wrote his Mother
House: “‘We have been in an atmosphere of war and conquest! War with the Prot-
estants [...] war with the pagans, war with enemies of different forms’” Agu 282.

320
various mission stations assume the task of fanatically overseeing its
execution. Ecumenism in this regard was and is still unknown among the
Igbo. Mixed marriage requires the prior conversion of – usually – the
woman to the faith of the man. This mutual hostility has remained the
hallmark of the relationship between the Anglicans and the Catholics up
to the present day, not just on the religious but also on the political arena.
The scary thing about this is that the people are engaged in a religious
warfare they do not know how and why it is necessary in the first place.
As scary as it is incomprehensible is also the blend of torpor, arrogance,
fanaticism and inability to think which characterise their behaviour and
attitude in this regard.
Even though this bitter denominational rivalries divided families
and villages and introduced new aspects of hostilities between them, it
gave the Igbo exactly what he desperately wanted: an increased multi-
plicity of choices. This fact is supported by Hinfelaar’s observation in
East Africa. Christianity, he notes, „came with the material superiority of
the Europeans and unfortunately many chose from one of the many
Christian denominations as a way to enter Western modernity. In the
minds of a great deal of people, Christ is one among various powers to
be tried when in trouble”14. In addition to that the Igbo received Western
education through the schools, which they saw as the passport for joining
the bandwagon of successful, powerful, “modern” people. On the other
hand it led to a rapid spread of Christianity among the Igbo, and aug-
mented the choices the Igbo has for spiritual assistance. According to
Agu,

The Igbo, a people whose traditional ‘religion’ knew neither heresy nor orthodoxy,
and among whom, consequently, religious departmentalization, confrontation and
intolerance was never heard of, had now a choice of varying religious wares. It
must also be taken as one of the principal factors that led – and still do lead – to the
proliferation of denominations and sects of all shades and colours among the Igbo
15
today .

In spite of the wide range of choices open on the religious market, many
Igbo refused and still refuse to join any one of the denominations. A
good number of those who did, joined not so much out of any religious

14 H. F. Hinfelaar, Evangelization and Inculturation, 14.

15 Agu 283.

321
conviction but rather because it was fashionable and because it was seen
as the means of becoming part of an emerging modern folk.16
The bitter struggle for territorial control certainly did not bring any
clarity into the already existing chaos of a colonial life condition. This
apparent contradiction in a religion which preaches peace and unity and
the historical schizophrenia from which Christianity has been suffering
since it became a European religion led the West-Indian born Liberian
citizen, statesman, educator, diplomat and pastor (a Presbyterian pastor
but later resigned from this Church), Edward Wilmot Blyden, to make
the vindication of the African from the tutelage of European Christianity
his personal mission. Having experienced how American clergymen and
proponents of slavery and racial discrimination used Christianity to in-
duce Black submissiveness he became convinced that Christianity, ad-
mittedly the highest form of religious experience, is in the long run un-
suitable for the African quest for identity.17 He saw it, therefore, as an
impossible task for Europeans to

‘carry Jesus whom they slew into Africa’ [...] [for] it is nowadays, difficult to say
what Christianity is. It seems to depend a good deal upon forms: indeed, in some
parts of Christendom various devices are invented to allure professing Christians to
Church. And, then, even among the most earnest adherents of the religion there
exists considerable diversity of opinion; and these divergent views are brought to
Africa and insisted upon by the different sects. Who, then, is to tell poor African by
18
which particular door he is to enter the precincts of heaven? .

Many Europeans – merchants and members of the colonial administra-

tion – lived lives completely opposed to the morals which the missionary
preached. Most of the Igbo who lived with the Europeans either as stew-
ards, labourers, or as close agents – let it be recorded that they were all
baptized converts – became witnesses of a life style of wanton and unre-

16 Cf. Hastings. According to A. Hastings, “there are surely many, many Africans
whose conversion is basically the same [as that of St. Matthias Kalemba]: a search
for truth and the conviction that they have found it in Christianity, a conviction
much helped by the striking goodness of missionaries they encountered. Neverthe-
less all missionaries have not had the beauty of character of Père Lourdel, nor do
many Africans appear to have shared that dissatisfaction with their existing beliefs
that characterized Kalemba”, 119.
17 Cf. Kwame Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 6-14.
18 Agu 285.

322
strained debauchery and occasional cruelty in the house of their Euro-
pean masters. Some of these converts were even prevented from attend-
ing Sunday worships and made to work on such days, which the mis-
sionary ( – whom they brought and gave military protection –) preached
and held holy. Such apparent disregards worked against the morals
preached by the missionary and against everything that promoted the
credibility of the new religion and the strengthening of the faith of the
newly converted. One can imagine how frustrating this state of affairs
must have been for the missionary. There were certainly lukewarm or
even cold adherents in the traditional religion, but openly flouting its
ethics and restraining others from worship and getting away with it scot-
free was something completely strange to the Igbo. In addition to this,
worship in the new religion and the exercise of religious duties were
more or less reserved on one special day in the week. Thus there are days
for work and activities of no special religious accent and days for relig-
ion. This and the seemingly a-religious life-style led by some of the
European compatriots of the missionary added up to impress upon the
people that life is compartmentalized in various isolated departments, of
which religion and the attention one pays to the gods is just one of them.
In effect, religion governs only a very small, isolated, sphere of social
life, unlike in the traditional culture where it acted as the air the society
breathed, the blood which nourished it and the ligament which held the
various spheres of the society together. The greatest danger to Christian-
ity, however, did not lie in this compartmentalization itself. It lay and
still lies in the discrepant life lived by Christians themselves. It is a scan-
dal that all the global evils of yesterday and today such as practical racial
discrimination, commercial slavery, holocaust, environmental pollution,
economic exploitation, all originated and were perpetrated by the coun-
tries of ancient Christianity or which propagated Christianity.19
It is said that a rolling stone gathers no moss. Quickly procured
conversion does not reach deep. Conversion to Christianity, under the
atmosphere of denominational rivalry and hostility, wrought through the
school was propelled initially by the material promises it presented,
rather than by the spiritual values it embodied. Certainly there were sev-
eral Igbo who converted to Christianity because of the more or less
spiritual values like, the selflessness with which the missionary cared for

19 Agu 294.

323
the sick, the poor, the marginalised and the abandoned. But a greater
number sought for the less spiritual values of a more material nature.
Today materialism, which is the concrete sign of success and achieve-
ment in a modern world, has been retained by most Igbo, the clergy in-
clusive, while the spirituality has remained in its very undeveloped state,
if not completely overlooked. A society which enthrones materialism
without the necessary checks of spirituality or religion is condemned to
destroy itself. The distortion of the balance between material and spiri-
tual, the dissolution of that web which held the society together, which
characterized the traditional Igbo culture, has called into being a spiritu-
ally dislocated Igbo society. And this can be considered as one of the
most destructive legacies of political, cultural and spiritual colonialism
for the Igbo. Besides, the fact that many Igbo scholars20 are now laying
bare many of these incongruities and deficiencies in the history of Chris-
tianity among their people and publishing some of their works does not
help the cause of Christianity in Igboland much. However, such disclo-
sures should serve as warning for the Christians to strike a balance be-
tween the faith they profess and the life they live, to manifest their faith
in word and deed. One of the biggest shocks many of these scholars ex-
perienced during their sojourn in those ‘Christian countries’ of Europe or
North America is that the face of the Church they experienced in these
countries was everything but the same as the face of the Church they
learned to recognize back home in Nigeria. To their greatest embarrass-
ment many churches were not only virtually empty on Sundays, some of
them have even fallen into disuse and been converted into restaurants,
museums, warehouses, and at best into semi-museums. A common scene
in many age-old historic churches is people walking around, while the
Holy Mass is going on, admiring their artistic and exquisite adornments
with little or no religious attention. The practice of Christianity is a mat-
ter of taste and convenience. In some cities and states markets and shops

20 A good number of these scholars studied in Europe or in North America and many
of them are members of the clergy of the several Christian denominations. One can
say that they are now using the very same instrument, which the missionary used in
discrediting their culture and tradition and in winning them over to Christianity in
uncovering these malaise and the crass injustice and ethnocentrism in historical
writing. They have shown that they can understand and “write the language of the
white man with their left hand”.

324
are open and people go about their business on Sundays, but back home
in Africa these things constitute very serious sins.
Such discrepancy is one of the main causes of a certain religious in-
difference among many Igbo intellectuals. Consequently they keep their
distance from the church. In the wake of the nationalist movements of
the forties and fifties, this formed one of the bedrocks on which the erst-
while products of the Christian missionary schools in Igboland built their
opposition against the political and religious colonialism of the time. It
reached its high point in Igboland with the forceful state appropriation
and take-over of mission schools and property in 1970.21

9.6 A Break With the Traditional Way of Life

The native mores and customs came under heavy attack and suppression
from all sides – from the missionary and his schools, from the colonialist
and from modernity. The school with its new lores set the children
against their parents. This situation quite alienated the older generation
to the point of indignation. Some of them even became hardened up and
ready to defend their traditional way of life. This state of affairs is be-
hind several confrontations between the people and some seminarians
and/or priests. Many seminarians and priests often overstep the bounds
of prudence and evangelical restraint in the name of pastoral zeal. They
openly deride, castigate and desecrate the traditional religious customs
and symbols. The violent confrontation of July 1996 between the parish
priest of Amokwe town and the youth (Christians!)22 is a case in point.
Following the tradition of “the strongest will rule”, the diocese, instead
of apologizing to the people for the abuses they suffered in the hands of
the priests, placed the parish (the town) on interdict for almost eight
months requiring the people to apologize for defending their dignity in

21 For a detailed analysis of this event as one of the landmarks in the process of secu-
larising Christianity in Igboland cf. Agu 310-324.
22 Amokwe is a one-town Catholic parish. Cf. also the Preamble to Chapter Six in this
work.

325
the face of arrogant and erratic priests who are actually supposed to be
pastors.
The introduction of western education sensitively disrupted the tra-
ditional distribution of labour. Children spent the time for farm work
mostly at school. Farm work came increasingly to be replaced by white
collar jobs. Moreover, with their newly acquired status and stock of
knowledge the youth developed a contemptuous attitude towards their
largely illiterate elders, the local and traditional authorities and institu-
tions. With a concatenation of laws, promulgations and decrees many
cultural and customary practices and pastimes like mmawu (masquerade)
cult, fattening, hunting, dances, games, etc., were suppressed and made
illegal for Christians. The prohibition of these activities inflicted irrepa-
rable damages on the rural economy since the local industries they sup-
ported like craft gilds, blacksmiths, weavers and carvers were forced to
disappear.
Certain issues, however, could not be smothered by Propaganda or
political repression because of their deep-seated connections with the so-
cial existence and the traditional structure of the society. Because most
of the converts were either school children or youths, any clash with
mission orthodoxy and practice was neither immediate nor frontal. The
tension built up slowly as more and more children matured into the tra-
ditional adulthood. The first signs of opposition came from the older sta-
tions of Onitsha and Aguleri. Many began to argue that some of the
banned traditional practices were not really against Christian doctrine.
Since there was no general consensus over such thorny issues of tradi-
tional cultural practices like z title taking, polygyny, masquerading as
they pertain to Christians, these continued to be objects of dissension and
conflict among Christians. As a matter of fact, the first Catholic Con-
gress held at Onitsha in 1915, convened and dominated by Fr. Shanahan,
was supposed to handle these issues. Giving approval to the missionary
views and solutions, the Congress merely ruled that the z title and similar
titles, masquerades and bride price (which the report on the Congress de-
scribed as “wife selling and buying”) were evil and pagan, and conse-
quently forbidden for Christians. The Congress, nevertheless, failed to
touch the problem of triple marriage (traditional, government statutory
and Church marriage) and polygyny. The latter was taken care of in
Canon Law which prohibited polygyny for Catholics. The problem of z,
however, remained and continued to claim many Catholic victims until

326
the direct Intervention of Rome in 1957. In 1960, Archbishop Heerey
conditionally authorised the Catholics to take the traditional titles. Those
historic decisions of 1915, to a large extent, still guide the policy and
practice of the Catholic church in Igboland today.23 The S.M.A. mission-
ary, Hugo F, Hinfelaar appalled by such eurocentric inconsideration and
insensitivity towards indigenous cultures on the part of the missionaries,
regretted:

The more I was given the time to reflect and to study in the past, the more I real-
ized that we, missionaries of Europe, have not always followed St. Elizabeth and
John the Baptist. We did not allow ourselves to be moved by the presence of the
embryonic Christ within the womb of people’s cultures. We cut away age-old trees
of custom without looking at the fruits, we burnt the good seed of tradition with the
chaff and at times threw away the Christic baby with the dirty water. But we had
good intentions and did not always mean to destroy where we should have brought
completion. We simply behaved as Victorian children of Jansenistic times. And I
think that a more genuine and better adapted evangelization is the debt owed by the
24
Church to the people of Africa .

9.7 A New Concept and Feeling of Time

In the development of a new sense and feeling of time and time compu-
tation, the school and the churches played a very powerful and very deci-
sive role. At school activities were planned and divided according to the
clock. The wristwatch and the book symbolize modernity. The wrist-
watch represents the new structure of time which lies at the roots of
modern technological production and bureaucracy. Time can be divided
now into digital or analogous symbols on the chronometer in a circadian
rhythm and in a twelve month calendar cycle. It is no longer a cyclic
event-oriented mode of temporality, but a linear mode guided by the
chronometer; it governs activities and human interaction in the modern
society. Modernity runs of necessity on the time that can be measured on
a wristwatch. In addition, the traditional ways of life-planning and of ap-

23 For further details of this Congress and its rulings cf. Ozigbo 195-197.
24 Hinfelaar 3.

327
prehending the stages of biography became increasingly diffused as the
process of modernization proceeds. Through written words one can
reach far into long distant pasts and the events that compose those past
times, and partake of a stock of knowledge that had shaped the lives of
generations gone-by and the course of world history. With the aid of the
calendar one could also project far into latent times in the future.
A strong as well as strange temporal cognitive shift in the Igbo
cosmology is, however, the introduction of the idea of eternity – endless
time. In close connection with this idea of eternity, of a future time
where time varnishes into timelessness, is the idea of heaven or other-
world, a better world, which is contrary to this-world. For the Igbo there
was no ‘world to come’ and there was no better world outside this very
one. Neither heaven nor hell was the reward of this earthly life; both
concepts were foreign to the Igbo mind. With the introduction of this
new conception of time, the ultimate end of human life became rede-
fined: The ultimate end of life is no longer the attainment of the status of
ancestor or ascension into the ontological collective status of spirits but
henceforth union with God in heaven. With the Christian concept of the
After-Life the gap between human beings and the Ultimate Being seems
to close up or dwindle. In Igbo cosmology, however, a union with God,
Chukwu, or with the gods is out of the question. Christians place higher
premium on the other-worldly; they see life here on earth as transitory,
ephemeral and as “the valley of tears” on the long road to the real life in
eternity. Moreover, under the burden of platonic dualism and idealism,
the human body was seen as an inferior, cumbersome confinement pre-
venting the soul from ascending to the highest heights of freedom and
divine union. Hence, just as the world is inferior to heaven so also is the
body inferior to the soul. The introduction of the concept of eternity and
heaven also gave fresh wind to the hopes of many Igbo of a better con-
dition of living in the other world. For the Igbo the invisible world is or-
ganized in a similar manner as the visible world. A rich man will live
there as a rich man, a saintly woman will be there as a saintly woman, a
pauper will arrive there as a pauper unless he tries to change the course
of his destiny while still on earth. The prospect of a place where life will
be eternally better than in this terrestrial existence appealed, therefore,
mostly to the poor and underprivileged of the society.
With this new concept also came a changed attitude towards death
and the dead. Death, for the traditional Igbo, is a passage into the next

328
phase of the temporal cyclic process, what explains the absence of a
“death-cult” as is common among Christians in Europe with their elabo-
rate cemeteries. The funeral rites are, in effect, very essential in the life
of the Igbo as a celebration and reinforcement of the dynamism of this
new phase. Each new phase in the temporal evolution brings about an
enhancement of the powers of the person, which he can exercise for the
benefit of his family and lineage. Appropriate and elaborate burial or fu-
neral rites are meant to usher the dead person into the spirit-world and
enable him to gain a place within the ranks of the ancestors. For the
Christians, however, the burial rite in itself does not have this central
function. Moreover, the dead is easily decoupled from his/her lineage
and placed in the collectivity of all dead Christians. That link between
the dead and their surviving relatives, for which Africans are known,
loses its attraction, as far as Christians are concerned.

9.8 Suppression of Igbo Language

It is a mark of African hospitality that one offers one’s own simple house
to the guest and not that of another, even if the latter’s would be a palace.
This applies a great deal to the language of a people. Language is nota-
bly one of the strongest carriers and transmitters of culture and thought.
The development and growth of any language means at the same time
the development and growth of the culture which it expresses. The urge
to radically transform the culture and consciousness of the Igbo was
most remarkable among the Irish missionaries who were least ready to
promote the Igbo language. In this he found a very ready support in the
negative and largely scornful attitude of the colonial government towards
the Igbo vernacular. While the Anglicans (C.M.S.), under the leadership
of bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther – an ex-slave from Yorubaland – on
their arrival in Igboland in 1857 already had printed copies of Igbo25 and
Hausa Primers for their schools, the Catholic missionary upheld English
language as the language of instruction and communication not only in

25 Cf. Ozigbo 80.

329
the Catholic schools but also of his apostolate. Despite the efforts of the
French Catholic missionary, Father Aimé Ganot, to make some publica-
tions in Igbo language: Grammaire Ibo (1899), Katechismi Ibo (1901),
and the efforts of Lejeune who fully supported the publication of Father
Charles Vogler: Catechism of the Catholic Faith in the Igbo Language
(1903)26 – all aimed at availing subsequent missionaries in the area of the
opportunity of learning the language of the people among whom they
lived and for whom they worked, the attitude of the missionary and co-
lonialists towards the Igbo language remained that of aversion. This
culminated in the abject rejection of the first serious efforts to coordinate
the many Igbo dialects into one “Union Igbo” language by the Nigerian
Catholic Ordinaries in 1929.27 In their words, “a new scientific lan-
guage”, as they called the Union Igbo, “would be a hindrance to the
propagation of the Catholic Faith and Teaching”. D. Westermann writing
in this regard advised that “any educational work which does not take
into consideration the inseparable unity between African language and
African thinking is based on false principles [...]”28. Deploring the un-
willingness of his confrères to learn Igbo language Father Joseph Soul
visiting Nigeria in 1929 observed:

No Father teaches catechism: this is the responsibility of the Catechists, just as in

Cameroon. I would also say that no Father gives his Sunday sermon in the native
language: one preaches in English and an interpreter translates each sentence. Even
the gospel itself is also read and translated [in this manner]; but I really wonder
what a poor translation a Catechist would make of issues that are very difficult, and
which generally demand the greatest care [...]. There is still neither a prayer-book,
29
nor a translation of the Sunday gospels in Igbo .

It is worthy of note that the initial missionaries among the Igbo were
French. These were later replaced by the Irish because of the advantage
of the Irish in relation to the English language in an English colony as

26 All these publications were possible only through the inestimable help of the na-
tives, most especially the catechists who were in fact the linguistic bridge linking
the missionary and the natives. They were the extended presence of the missionary
in the villages, his interpreters and his guides.
27 If one takes into consideration the fact that these Ordinaries comprised virtually of
expatriates at the time, then this stance ceases to surprise anyone.
28 Omenka 192.
29 Ibid., 198.

330
against the French. Since the French did most of the pioneer work which
compelled them to live very close to the natives, they took interest in un-
derstanding their hosts. Consequently the few works published in Igbo
language were produced by the French missionaries. The Irish missiona-
ries, who succeeded them, were most preoccupied with the school where
the vernacular was often a taboo or even expressly prohibited. As a result
the initial promising work of the French missionaries in the Igbo lan-
guage became obliterated. In his observation in 1929 Father Soul pointed
out that “the Fathers who had completely renounced the study of the
vernacular were those engaged with teaching work in the Seminary and
in the Training College”30. Although the choice of the subjects of instru-
ctions in the schools during the colonial period till well into the 1970s
was significantly determined by the availability in Nigeria of overseas
examinations, especially the Cambridge and London local Examinations,
the aversion towards the native culture and language made it compelling
to introduce those subjects that will bring about the desired cognitive
transformation.
One would be very unfair to heap the whole blame on the mission-
ary and their European colonial counterparts; the natives were also partly
responsible for this educational blunder on themselves. The proposal to
make room for some local elements in the English School Certificate
Examination curriculum in those early days was opposed by the Nigerian
elite themselves. They saw it as being contrived to perpetuate their infe-
riority as against the Europeans.31 This misjudgement of the proposal
had very far-reaching negative effects on the course of education in Ni-
geria today. However, one might ask: why did they reject the proposal?
How far was the colonial government actually ready to go in including
some local elements in the educational curriculum at that time since the
educational committees comprised mainly of European officials? Who
could have competently overseen such courses among them considering
the fact that their general attitude towards the culture of the people they
wanted to civilize was that of scorn and derision? Besides, for example,
none could speak the Igbo language properly or even at all. A system can
be modified or radically transformed much easier if one understood its
internal logic and mode of operation. Such an occupation would nor-

30 Ibid., 203.
31 Cf. Ibid., 176-177.

331
mally demand openness towards the object of enquiry; openness de-
mands honesty and both demand a basic readiness to appreciate the value
of the object of enquiry. This sort of appreciation would, of course, have
stood in great contradiction to the missionary and civilization objective:
an eradication of the ‘primitive’ native culture and its values and the
“implantation” of ‘civilized’ European culture and values. It is doubtful
if these elites could have taken such a step had they not been epistemo-
logically so biased that they equated their equality with the white people
with the knowledge of the latter’s background and culture at the expense
of their own native culture. In a world where the process of globalization
was still in its baby shoes and racial prejudice was the order of the day, it
was then not strange that the piper dictated the rhythm to be danced. The
revered strangers dictated the music, ruled on the language, and deter-
mined the values to be aspired to. After a period of mental and spiritual
reorientation where these elites, and their associates, learnt that to learn
more about their native culture was a sign of backwardness and inferior-
ity, and that to know less of it while growing more in the knowledge of
the culture of the colonial masters and their countries was a mark of pro-
gress and modernity, it was therefore logical for them to oppose what-
ever seemed to perpetuate this “primitive” stage from which they believe
to apparently have been liberated. The effect is that today the Igbo pejo-
ratively describe their fellow Igbo who speak their native dialect as “ig-
botic”.32
Igbo language – expressive in words, arts and signs – has not also
received the befitting attention it deserves in the formation of seminari-
ans, as a major transmitter of Igbo spirit and culture. An honest and in-
tensive occupation with the language would, of course, mean going
against the missionary legacy. The seminarians are being trained as fu-
ture multipliers and active disseminators of the new social and spiritual
culture. Consequently the subjects of instruction in the seminaries were
accordingly chosen. In a measure designed to safeguard the reputation
and orthodoxy of the academic certification, the curriculum of the semi-
naries in Igboland was carefully sculpted to fit the patterns followed in
European seminaries. As a result, little or no room was left for manoeu-
vres with regard to the introduction of local elements in the syllabus. It is

32 This expression is meant to portray a sort of primitive, unschooled – because one

learns to speak English at school – manner of speaking.

332
hence not unusual to find seminarians and priests who are at home with
the world of the classics and the different philosophies that have trans-
formed European culture, and who could quote freely from Shakespeare,
Immanuel Kant, Karl Rahner and the Bible, but who have no knowledge
of the world view that permeates and over-arches the historical and cul-
tural realities of their own Igbo country. Also not unusual was, and still
is, the phenomenon of finding Nigerians, especially among the Igbo,
who have proficiency in English language, and any other European lan-
guage, but cannot hold simple conversation, talk less a scientific or
theological33 discourse in their vernacular without adulterating it pro-
fusely with foreign words and expressions. Having learned to disdain
and look down on one’s own mother tongue as inadequate, the seminar-
ian sees no need to improve his mastery of his vernacular. The reverse is
the case: the more grandiloquent one is in the use of English, with a lot
of -isms and -ities34 nicely spiced with a good dosage of Latin words, the
more erudite and intellectual one is taken to be. As a result of this gen-
eral negative attitude towards the Igbo vernacular, the language has re-
mained mainly retarded in its development. The efforts of the Society for
Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture and the Institute of African
Studies of the University of Nigeria Nsukka to expand the Igbo language
vocabulary have not been finding encouragement from the Igbo elite
populace due to the deep seated penchant for English.

33 In a bid to correct this shameful situation and also in response to the demands of
inculturation theology the Archdiocese of Owerri has in recent years taken a very
laudable step. It made it mandatory that priests who have papers to deliver during
their annual diocesan seminars must do this in Igbo language. The effort one puts
into finding proper and adequate expressions in the vernacular compels one to con-
stantly have the faithful in the parishes in mind while formulating and committing
one’s ideas to paper. These faithfuls – the majority of whom is in the villages – are
after all the end users of such theological discourses and they have no access to the
stock of knowledge and information available to the priests.
34 C. Achebe captured this phenomenon in his usual keen sense of observation in the
second book of his trilogy: No Longer At Ease, 198-200.

333
9.9 Shift of Emphasis from Spiritual to Material, from Moral
to Intellectual

The impact of these changes is also strongly felt on the spiritual and
moral sphere. It is no longer the need for a good rapport between the in-
dividual and the others in his social-spiritual world, the need for the con-
gruity of the relationship between him and the gods of his people that
gingers, dictates, and guides the individual’s behaviour and actions.
Material needs of social and economic security now stand in the fore-
ground. The Igbo, quite rightly, have always adored the “go-getter”, the
industrious, encouraged all the qualities associated with them, and
craved for the benefits arising therefrom. However, the changes have
brought about an unbridled and excessive lust for Western form of mate-
rial goods and welfare. Wealth became might. Impatience in the acquisi-
tion of material wealth advanced to the status of a common experience
among the people. Many people are all out to make quick money. In this
bid they are ready to walk over corpses to achieve their goal. In the tra-
ditional society, “having mouth” had to do with eloquence and oratory.
In the modern Igbo society eloquence is still admired but it is no longer
sufficient for “having mouth”; one must have money: “Money talks”,
they say today among the Igbo.
The most recent unfortunate manifestation of this shift of paradigm
is the adoption of what we want to call the “American religious style”
among the Catholic clergy in Igboland. By this we mean the commer-
cialization of the sacraments and sacramentals: Many priests and their
seminarian apprentices exploit the fundamental religious penchant of the
people and their unbroken traditional affinity to the “world-in-between”
to stack their pockets full with money. Instead of leading their “flock” to
green pasture, they have turned into predators, having prepared them
prior to that with sufficient doses of negative and intimidating theologi-
cal soporifics. Many so called Centres of Healing Ministry, Prayer Min-
istry, etc., are sprouting here and there like mushrooms at such a dis-
turbing rapidity within the Catholic folk.35 The “American religious

35 One might decide to understand this phenomenon as a Catholic response to the in-
surgence of the Independent Churches with their elaborate healing crusade pro-
grams. The Catholics have been observing this phenomenon with scepsis and sus-

334
style” consists in the maxim: “If you are sick, possessed or whatever, if
you are in need, and you want to be healed or you feel that your need can
be helped spiritually, come, we have an answer to your problems. We
can help you – and of course, free of charge; you just give what you feel
appropriate to the help you wish to receive. But do not forget: God loves
a cheerful giver”. As human beings are usually prepared to give a fortune
to secure deliverance from any form of limitation and pain, the people
give readily and magnanimously too. In a way these “healing clerics”
help support the national economy by wandering from place to place
thereby augmenting the demand for public means of transport by their
followers and the prospective ones. The petty traders around their cru-
sade centres also benefit from the presence of these spiritual pilgrims and
tourists. Unfortunately, however, they succeed in producing hosts of re-
ligious addicts and neurotics, and of course, a goodly number of fanatical
devotees not to talk of piles and litters of garbage the latter leave behind.
The Catholic priesthood opens the door to all categories of people,
rich and poor alike. Over and above all, it offers the priest life member-
ship in the upper caste who must live at least an upper middle class life
that is above that of the people he is sent to “serve”. For many seminari-
ans (the majority of whom comes from very wretched and peasant family
backgrounds), this is a chance to break out of this destitute condition.
The prospects of being adopted by this or that rich man or woman as a
“godson” or “family friend”, of possessing a car and several other basic
and comfort amenities – with little or no personal efforts and contribu-
tions –, of living in a well furnished parish mansion, of freedom from the
perennial fear of hunger and thirst, in short: of being materially secure,
serve as a good cushion on the otherwise long road to the priesthood as
well as exercise a great influence on the seminarian’s actions and com-
portment. This notwithstanding, many seminarians and priests go to the
extent of exploiting their relationship with those responsible for the an-
nual re-/allocations in their dioceses to obtain postings to seemingly
well-to-do communities, preferably in the cities.

picion for a fairly long time and they have also registered with consternation that
many troubled Catholics were pilgrimaging to such events and to make it worse,
many were even decamping from the Catholic folk. In response the Catholics
started themselves offering such programs in order, among other things, to halt
further desertion. However, soon they discovered that a lot of money can be made
therefrom.

335
 The colonial years have shown in very powerful ways the impor-
tance of western education in the changing world. The advantages of and
the possibilities western education has opened up for the Igbo are indis-
putable facts for which gratitude goes to those indefatigable early mis-
sionaries. The resultant epistemological shift with its social implications
did not wait long to manifest itself: The power of the ballpoint pen came
to triumph over old age and the power and attraction of moral probity
fashioned along the traditional and cultural norms and customs. Perhaps
believing that the formation of the intellect will in turn produce a mor-
ally integral personality, very high premium is placed of the intellectual
formation in the seminary. Under normal circumstances intellectual for-
mation should enhance moral integrity. However, since the academic
formation occupies itself chiefly with contents alien to the cultural, so-
cial and economic conditions of the students themselves, not to talk of
the people that are later meant to be ministered to, the primary objective
of learning, therefore, has not grown beyond the goals associated with it
since the early missionary and colonial days. It has remained the gate-
way to power. Very proud of having sent one of their sons, Obi, to study
in England and exalting themselves at his return, Ogbuefi Odogwu, the
eldest man of Iguedo village in Umuofia articulated the changed vision
very succinctly:

‘I am happy that you returned home safe,’ said Matthew to Obi. ‘He is a son of
Iguedo’, said old Odogwu [...]. ‘Iguedo breeds men’ [...]. When I was young I
knew them – Okonkwo, Ezeudu, Obierika, Okolo, Nwosu.’ [...] These men were
great in their day. Today greatness has changed its tune. Titles are no longer great,
neither are barns or large numbers of wives and children. Greatness is now in the
things of the white man. And so we too have changed our tune. We are the first in
36
all the nine villages [of Umuofia] to send our son to the white man’s land .

Western education is the sure way to greatness – directly or vicariously.

It is a prerequisite for the training to the priesthood and the attainment of
that material and economic security. After all, dunces and academically
weak students have little or no chances of completing the training. In ad-
dition, since the structure and atmosphere of the seminary do not permit
critical examination of the stuff learned, on the background of its rele-
vance to the actual life-world of the Igbo, the spiritual and intellectual

36 Achebe, No Longer At Ease, 217-218. Emphasis added.

336
formation assume the nature of indoctrination. Thus, the thin varnish of
European civilisation, which the seminarian thus receives, is mistaken
for a genuine spiritual and mental metamorphosis.37 The religious belief
system has been the bedrock and nourishment of life in the traditional
Igbo society. Now overtly no longer adherent to this belief system and
not yet spiritually deep-rooted in the Christian and priestly vocational
evangelical38 vision of Jesus of Nazareth, i.e. converted, it therefore,
does not surprise when moral probity among priests and seminarians, in-
stead of being an internal disposition informed by genuine spirituality,
becomes a matter of opportunism and/or a mere ascribed quality. It be-
comes ascribed since the people take it for granted as integral to the of-
fice of a priest and all who would become one. In effect there has been a
noticeable wane of that befitting specific demeanour the Igbo call ‘cor-
rect behaviour’ among many priests and seminarians.

9.10 Institution of an Aristocratic Priesthood

Right from its beginnings the priesthood in Nigeria and in Igboland in

particular was clothed in an impermeable aristocratic garment. The
negative attitude of the missionaries towards the people’s culture and its
various modes of expression not only made the missionary the sole judge
of what is right or wrong in Christian life but also turned the seminaries
into incubation centres for a new priestly aristocracy: Out there, beyond
the safe walls of the seminary, are the bunch of the damned and
wretched of this earth, in there, within the seminary walls, are the new
elite, the new breed for a new world, the heirs to religious power and
authority.
Having gone through a strictly regimented program of acculturation
into European culture (for instance, the habit of regular siesta – during
which he dares not be disturbed for whatever reason, three square meals

37 Cf. Bediako 8.
38 This word here refers to the Greek root: euangelion meaning Good News (of lib-
eration and freedom to true sons and daughters of God).

337
daily served with an aristocratic regularity39, European social etiquettes
and mannerisms, – mode of dressing and comportment –) at a very im-
pressionable age, the seminarian came to regard himself and be regarded
as a better part of the society at large. After all the ultimate intention was
a pervading cognitive and consequently cultural rebirth, which would
launch him unto the upper caste of the society. With emphasis on classi-
cist culture and classicist academic curriculum, the seminarian was con-
sidered suitable for the priesthood the more he drifted away from his
cultural traits and came closer in semblance to a European well-bred lad.
Preference was given to the languages alien to the general populace:
Latin, Greek, Hebrew and English, whereby the first three are considered
the legitimate languages for the sacred scriptures and the liturgical rites.
They are the esoteric languages of the select and initiated elite.40 The use
of the latter, English, was a matter of exigency and of accommodation.
There are no doubts about the necessity and usefulness of these lan-
guages for serious scholarship. There are also no doubts about their eso-
teric nature with regard to the rest of the People of God, which, because
uninitiated, is condemned to the position of mere receivers, according to
the motto: “You are there. We are here. You have to be there and we
have to be here, so that we can think for you”.41 Whether intended or not,
the impression is disseminated that the seminarians – and the clergy –
are the better Christians, if not the real Christians. The rift between in-
side and outside the seminary walls widens more and more in the course
of the seminary training. This is also favoured by the fact that theological
and ecclesiastical information necessary for a critical spiritual develop-
ment in the Christian faith is more or less restricted to the seminarians
and priests. Since the education of the Christian community does not
keep pace or run concurrent with the education of the clergy , the laity,
having been denied access to the relevant sources of theological infor-

39 As seminarian on apostolic work or as a priest a little deviation from the meal

timetable earns those attending to him – the “servants” – some rounds of chastise-
ment. Some times the manner in which they are shouted at or reproached is in no
way commensurate with their purported offence.
40 “Esoteric” here is in the sense described in the chapter on Methodical Approach to
Cultural Analysis.
41 The former rector of one of the major seminaries in Southeastern Nigeria, now
bishop of one of the dioceses in Igboland, used to address the seminarians in those
words in order to stress the distinction in hierarchy, responsibility and authority.

338
mation and knowledge, remains minors when it comes to ecclesiastical
and religious issues: things that actually pertain to their faith and mission
to be salt of the earth and light of the world. As a result “many confuse
the unwarranted elitism of native priests with authenticity”42 just as
many mistook the European culture of the missionaries for apostolic or-
thodoxy. The cleros-laos polarity widens. The horde of ignorant and
uninitiated laity on one side and the class of the educated and initiated
priests – the seminarians inclusive since they are regarded as “small
Ps”43 – on the other side.
The location of the parish houses – the mission houses – helps to
accentuate this segregation. The houses located very often at the fringes
of the village or town, away from the centre of village life, reminisce the
negative attitude the missionaries had towards the people they evangel-
ized. Such a location seems to indicate a reluctance to accept or even an
overt rejection of the life style of the people. This sort of aloof life was
carried over from the seminary. Since it is the priest – the seminarian of
yesterday – who trains the parish community as to how to relate to their
priest, he is likely to expect from the parishioners the same servile de-
meanour as he had experienced during his seminarian years. The Chris-
tian community learned to regard the priest as one belonging to the ranks
of the white man – and the seminarian by extension – and expect him to
live accordingly44: they were expected to eat eggs and other European

42 F. Nwatu, A Paradigm shift in clergy Formation, 108.

43 That is: Small Priests.
44 The present writer nearly bit one of his teeth off on one occasion. As a seminarian
back home in Nigeria, he was sent on apostolic work during one of the long vaca-
tions to a parish in the country side; a largely peasant community. He lived with
one of the Christian middle class families. One morning, he was hurrying to go for
catechism class while his breakfast was being prepared: Tea with toast bread fried
in eggs. Taking one of the slices of bread with the fork and in a bid to take a bite he
unwittingly bit into the fork. The following year he was sent again on apostolic
work in another country parish. The family he was living with could hardly afford
one good meal a day. But the pregnant wife of the host, acting on the instruction of
the parish priest, combined her farm work with attending to the feeding of their
special guest: He was served warm meals three times daily and at such a regular
precision. Each meal was accompanied by at least two boiled eggs! These were
meals that the normal family in the area could not afford, talk less of taking so of-
ten in the week. When after a few days he objected to this feudal treatment, re-
questing that the entire family partook of the same meals, his hostess felt that she
was not cooking good enough for him. Besides, the family could not share the

339
food just like the European missionaries, to eat with fork and knife, etc.,
and preferably in a separate room. While visiting him the primary school
teacher of the present writer declined the former’s invitation to have
breakfast with his erstwhile pupil with the excuse that he (the teacher)
was not “from the white man’s rank” and as a result is not worthy to sit
at table with a priest – who incidentally is his former pupil.
In many aspects the parish or mission station is so much an exten-
sion of the seminary, that when the local people have little or nothing to
eat, there was plenty in the seminary. One thing is sure: A priest in the
parish can never go hungry. Since the priesthood is no longer defined
from the perspective of the Christian community but rather as a profes-
sion, as a call to a specific life style, a status, it does, therefore, not sur-
prise that the priest is not judged on merit. Moreover, since the church
considers the candidate as chosen by God, and the attitude of the priests
and the life in the seminary confirm the implications of such a definition,
the only posture left for the People of God seems to be that of servants,
whereas the reverse should be the case. Instead of being thought how to
serve his community the seminarian learns how to be a distinguished
dignitary reminiscent of the pre-Vatican II priestly identity in Europe or
a medieval lord. He is expected to live above the normal living standard
of the local people. As if to concretize this shift of allegiance, the semi-
narian was judged more suitable for his new role the more he distanced
himself from his people and their way of life. In effect it became neces-
sary for him to be oscillating between presbyteries during the vacations
until he returns to the seminary when the vacations were over. Having
imbibed this idea and air of being something special and better, some
seminarians consider it normal and as their divine right to boss the faith-
ful around. F. Nwatu commenting on this deplorable situation writes:

same food with him since the food stuff was contributed by the entire Christian
community of the town for the maintenance of the seminarian. At the end of his
stay, the entire community accorded him a send-off. Food stuff and other materials
ranging from several kilograms of rice, several dozens of eggs, packets of deter-
gent, some fowls, etc. etc. To make up he left these things for the family to use in
caring for the expected baby. Even among his own family relatives, he was often
asked what kind of food he would want them to prepare for him since they believed
that his stomach would no longer recognize the usual food he was used to before
entering the seminary!

340
 There have been instances of seminarians coming to rural areas for the summer va-
cation apostolic work and giving the local Christians a run around for all kinds of
conveniences. They come believing that it is their divine right to be served and
waited on by the people, with all their wants, however profane or vain, provided
with servile precision. With time the poor Christians adopted that mentality – after
all, seminarians, as many Igbo people believe, are ‘ndi Chukwu rotalu – those cho-
sen by God’. In light of this, and given the self evident truth that the child is the
father of man, it is legitimate to ask what kind of a priest the community hopes to
get from a seminarian who, upon being sent to a rural station for the summer vaca-
tion apostolic work, presents to the people a menu of exotic dishes, with instruction
that they be served with meticulous regularity; plus a shopping list which included
batteries for his tape recorder? [...]. The foregoing points up to the moment when
the future African priest was led to misread his ‘status’ and especially his relation-
45
ship with his own people [...] .

The over bloated and distorted image of the priesthood lies at the base of
many generation conflicts and abuses reported of priests and seminari-
ans. Reinforced by that reassuring song: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum se-
cundum ordinem Melchizedek with which each new priest is welcomed
by fellow priests and in the seminary, the young priest unwittingly gets
reminded of his new won royal office. Thus king Melchizedek46 has be-
come the role model instead of Jesus the Christ. Unfortunately the old
Jewish concept of kingship differs from the experience of kingship
among the Igbo, thus distorting its more positive connotations which is
more akin to shepherd than to lordship. Such a distorted and bloated im-
age of priesthood is, moreover, indicative of an insensitivity or oblivi-
ousness of the fact that the Igbo waste little or no respect for anybody
who tries to “rule too much”. With some bit of coercion, like the use of
force (police or legal) or threat of eternal damnation in the next world,
one can elicit a temporary compliance. As long as some blood is still
flowing through their veins, they will sooner or later put out a formidable
resistance against any sort of overlordship.47 In addition such an over
bloated conception misleads to disregard the fact that in the Igbo society

45 Nwatu 104.
46 Gn 14: 18.
47 The Amokwe crisis cited earlier is an example. A similar incident occurred in an-
other parish of the same diocese many years ago, where the women in the parish
could not take the unending insolence, verbal and physical abuses from their parish
priest any longer. They got poised one day and thrashed him properly in their as-
sembly.

341
any office whatsoever, priest or chief, yielded prestige with its attendant
respect but not unlimited and unquestionable power. Not even the gods
have it.
Another important consequence of this aristocratic professionalized
and status priesthood, which is harmful not only to Christianity but also
to the understanding of the meaning of ecclesia and the ecclesial spirit,
is, as Nwatu rightly noted, the disappearance of the community’s claim
on the priest. Nwatu recalled the decree of the Council of Chalcedon
“according to which any ordination would be invalid if the candidate has
not been put forward by a stable community that needs his services”48.
The community in question is a local Christian community and not a
diocese. Following this Council, which belongs to the great traditions of
the Church, the practice of ordaining candidates who have not been put
forward by a specific community that needs his services, of posting
priests to parish communities where they are complete strangers, as is
found in the present day Church, is actually wrong. In the course of his-
tory theology and the church’s practice have shifted greatly away from
the ruling of this Council. The priest is no longer bound to a community
for the validity of his office. The priesthood has become a profession. An
important landmark in this respect is the decision of the Lateran Council
III of 1179 that the ordination “brands” on the recipient an indelible
character. As such he is a priest with or without a coetus stabilis that
needs his services – a legacy of the feudal Middle Ages. The ensuing
problem was a great number of vagabond priests without parishes and
consequently without material support. According to E. Schillebeeckx:

Given the economic and social conditions of those days, with their many vagrant
priests, the provision of support for the clergy was certainly an acute question [...].
The old titulis ecclesiae was in fact reduced to the purely feudal question of a
beneficium […]. The implications are clear: the ordained man simply waits for the
place the bishop will appoint him as priest! Ordinatio remains, in the abstract, [...]
the claim of the community, which was originally an essential element of ordina-
49
tio, disappears .

The fact that it is basically possible to become a priest without a concrete

Christian community to work for opens the way to many people to enter

48 Nwatu 109.
49 E. Schillebeeckx, Ministry: Leadership in the Community of Jesus Christ, 53.

342
the priesthood for material ends and consolidates the status and class
feeling among the clergy. That is why the importation of foreign wine (at
the expense of the locally produced wine) for the celebration of the
Eucharist even in the rural peasant Christian community causes nobody
to frown.

9.11 A Misplacement of “Theo-Logical levels”

Although the “coupling”50 (cultural intercourse) of Euro-Christian and

Igbo cultural systems caused some structural (social and psychological)
changes in the Igbo cosmology, its internal organization remained rela-
tively intact. The following can throw some light on what we mean here:
Many Igbo (Catholic) theologians ask: What aspects of Igbo culture can
be integrated into the Christian culture? And usually, ‘Christian’ culture
means the European interpretation of the Christian message which is
most often taken to be universal and therefore unchangeable.51 But they
forget that this message is only “valuable” as it makes sense to and is in-
carnated in particular cultures. Barbara Zikmund puts this in a very
beautiful way:

A theology which takes incarnation seriously, ‘is hard put to find universal values.’
The scandal of particularity reminds us that God does not engage the human condi-
tion ‘in general,’ but always in particular acts and events, through a chosen people

50 Cf. Maturana and Varela 180-181.

51 Such a stance is in tune with the compromise of an African theology of adaptation.
Such books like Parrinder’s African Traditional Religion (1954), and Witchkraft
(1958) were read in the hope of finding ways to transform traditional religion or, at
least, of using some of its elements in the process of adapting Christianity. A.
Shorter, a missionary in Kenya and Tanzania for many years assesses the reception
of this theology in Africa: “At first, the concept of ‘adaptation’ was hailed on all
sides, by African Christians as well as by missionaries. Even though it was not seen
as committing the Church to religious dialogue with African tradition, and perhaps
because of this, adaptation, as the means by which the African Church could de-
velop its own life-style, was highly welcome. It was only slowly realized that the
concept of adaptation contained within itself the seeds of perpetual western superi-
ority and domination. The reaction has been quite violent” (Mudimbe 57).

343
 or through the Christ event we encounter the Divine. So [...] instead of saying that
cultures need to be permeated through and through by the gospel and its values,
perhaps we need to say that the gospel needs to be sought more and more diligently
52
in the many cultures of the world‘ .

God reveals himself to humans who are in turn embedded in particular

cultures. It follows that particular cultures must be taken serious if the
Christ-event – itself a particular event – is to find the universal validity
it claims. The question should rather be: What is the specific implication
of the Christ-event for the Igbo and his culture? How best can this gospel
be sought in the cultural “soil” and experience of the Igbo? How best can
these two cultures, the Christian53 and the Igbo cultures, be made to enter
into a kind of “cultural coupling”?54 To illustrate the problem at stake
here, let us take a brief look at the Igbo use of and ritual relationship to
God, Chukwu Okike. In this connection we ask: When the Igbo Chris-
tians use the word “God”, like Christians all over the world do, and ad-
dress a priest as the “priest of God”, are they saying the same thing as
their European counterparts for instance? The Igbo believe to perceive
their Christian priests as the mouthpiece of God (Chukwu). One of the
most outstanding Igbo Catholic theologians calls us to mind that:

52 Augsburger 142. This sort of thinking lies at the base of the African theology of in-
carnation, whose aim it is to find possible ways to reconcile Christianity with Afri-
canity. “A theology of incarnation”, Mudimbe, writes, “was promoted with a par-
ticular emphasis on new premises: négritude and black personality as expressions
of an African civilization, African history with its own symbols as a preparation for
Christianity, and finally the experience of slavery, exploitation, and colonization as
signs of the suffering of God’s chosen ones [...] The most striking feature of these
intellectual positions resides in the theoretical distinction between the program of
political liberation which should permit a transformation of the traditional civiliza-
tion and of rethinking Christianity as an integral part of the local culture [...]”, 58-
59. The reason for this orientation, writes Mary A. Oduyoye, lies in the identity cri-
sis: “The identity crisis in Africa, especially among the urbanized, the Western
educated, and the Christians, may be attributed to the loss of a dynamic perspective
on life, which comes from knowing and living one’s religio-cultural history. We
cannot expect those who cannot tell their story, who do not know where they come
from, to hear God’s call to his future”, Mudimbe 59.
53 This, of course, presupposes that it is possible to extricate Christianity – the Christ-
message – from Western history and culture.
54 By “cultural coupling” we mean the same process described by Maturana and
Varela as “third-order structural coupling”. Cf. Maturana and Varela 180-201.

344
“Chukwu is Okike (Creator). There are no priests of Chukwu [...]. He is
for everybody and can be approached by anybody and by any family
through its head [...]. No one can claim to mediate (through prayers, in-
vocations or sacrifices) as an instituted priest between Chukwu and the
people”55. Only minor gods or deities have priests mediating between
them and the people. The following words of R. M. Brown should be
thought provoking: “We must be in dialogue not only with the Bible but
also with Christians in other parts of the world who read the Bible in a
very different way [...]. When third world Christians listen to the Bible,
they hear different things than we hear. It often seems as though they
and we are reading different books”56. However, what do we intend to
say here? The ritual relationship of the Igbo to Chukwu Okike and the
priests does not tally with the Judeo-Christian ritual relationship to the
same God and their priests. The Igbo Great God, who would be some
how equivalent to the Christian God, has little or no direct involvement
in the day-to-day life of the Igbo. As Creator, he is high above the heav-
ens, and thus does not constitute a source of fear or danger to the life of
the Igbo. Metaphorically the Igbo refer to him as Eze bi n’igwe ogodo ya
n’akpu n’ani (The King living high above the skies with his loin cloth
touching the earth). This apparent existential link between Chukwu and
his “earth” notwithstanding, the Igbo believe that God is not in the habit
of coming down from heaven to meddle with individual or people’s af-
fairs. He is not a personal God. There is consequently not the need for
human intermediaries, for a priestcraft. The lesser gods do need them be-
cause of their nearness to human beings. This difference has, not in very
few occasions, led to grave disappointments and conflicts, for through
the priests (intermediaries), one can bargain with the gods or deities they
serve. Perceived thus, the Igbo unconsciously expect the same of the
Christian God. The famous Igbo historian E. Isichei told an anecdote of
the experience of the Presbyterian missionaries in Umon which helps to
stress this point:

Mr. Goddie expounded the laws and exhibited the grace of God. At the close old
Asuqa said that they would think of what has been told them, and we must return
the next morning, and tell them again all the things God liked and did not like; and

55 Uzukwu 15.
56 Augsburger 129-130.

345
 then they would tell us what things they could agree to, and what not; and as far as
57
they could keep them, they would take oath to that effect .

9.12 A Demonisation of the World-in-Between

Ordained and consecrated persons in the African Traditional Religions as

well as in Christianity are as it were placed between the not-ordained and
the group of the living-dead. The Igbo cosmology, as we saw, is like the
life-circles, the rings of a tree, those concentric bands of wood corre-
sponding in number to the tree’s age. There is an inner core of those
alive, of the source of life through which new life is being reproduced.
Slowly this inner core moves outwards to make place for a new genera-
tion of those alive and becomes increasingly part of the living dead.
Further outwards are other and older rings of more transcendental pres-
ence: the circular ring of the family or village deities and spirits, fol-
lowed by nature divinities, the messengers of the Divine and finally the
outer circle that encompasses everything, the one of God, Chukwu, who
as parent envelopes all of it and holds everything in the hand. The or-
dained and consecrated are members of the inner core. On account of
their office and function they are placed as it were on outermost regions
of the inner circle from where they can traverse the borderline sphere
between the outward circle and the inner core. They act as go-betweens,
intermediaries, who have a greater contact with the transcendent, with
what is called the world of the in-betwixt. It is a great honour to be cho-
sen to perform duties of a go-between. It is also a responsibility executed
with great care, skill, diplomacy and humility and it raises considerably
the status of any person, female or male, chosen to do so.
The missionary among the Igbo condemned the belief in a world in-
between, of the living-dead (the ancestors, the forebears) and the belief
in a spirit-world as pagan. Now these spirits have become evil and irre-
deemable where traditionally they might have been regarded as ambiva-
lent and placable; the ancestors as well are denied all recognition in the
life-world of the Christians. Oblivious of the fallacy of this logic the

57 Uzukwu 20.

346
missionary introduced the saints and angels as if they were something
else other than his ancestors, and the spirit-messengers of the Divine
God Himself. In the course of the seminary training the seminarians in-
ternalize this fallacy and indoctrination, learning to invoke the saints –
but oblivious of them being ancestors – in prayers; they learn to invoke
the spirits (inhabiting the words and works) of dead European philoso-
phers and theologians in order to legitimate and buttress their view-
points, and to entrust themselves to the care of the angels, while at the
same time damning the ancestors and sages of their own people and the
spirits.
Fortunately or unfortunately this realm of the in-betwixt has proved
itself resilient in the consciousness of the people, and has been providing
sufficient stuff for conflict among Christians themselves and between
Christians and African traditional religionists. In this regard many semi-
narians and priests play the ostrich: unwilling or incapable of engaging
in an honest, critical and in-depth examination or analysis of this realm –
as such an endeavour most probably will not leave the fundamental
question of the concept of the Catholic priesthood in an African and Igbo
context unscathed 58 –, they bury their heads in the sand. With the rest of
their exposed body and within the deepest crevices of their souls they af-
firm, nonetheless, the reality of this realm.

9.13 A Disintegration of the Igbo Concept of Authority

Among the many peoples of Africa the political and social structures and
relationships are marked by decentralized planning, shared decision-
making, and collegial leadership. The African is a totally relational be-
ing, a focal point of an intricate complex of relations. Participo, ergo
sum. Hinfelaar stresses this point when he writes: “Not only must every-

58 In this connection too the question imposes itself: since Chukwu as the Creator, the
encompassing outermost circular Ring, is Benevolence Himself, and His qualities,
for the Igbo, do not necessitate any mediation through a priestcraft between Him
and His Creation, which God then does the priest in African Christianity minister
to?

347
body know exactly one’s place and role but the relations between the dif-
ferent members must be seen as wholesome and productive of the com-
mon well-being”59. Earlier we saw that a central characteristic of the po-
litical and social relationship among the Igbo is democracy and geronto-
cracy, communality and beneficial reciprocity, and that leadership and
authority have basically a spiritual rather than a political legitimation.
The epitome of Igbo concept of authority is the circular model with
the members of the household as the centre, who through communal
consent and by listening to the voices of the surrounding ancestors come
to certain decisions that will be binding for everybody. Let us recall the
model of the life-circles (of a tree) we proffered shortly above. Each ring
represents a source of authority, an augmentation of the life-force. All
these sources, increasingly important as they grow wider, are spiritually
directed towards and tuned in to the needs and welfare of the inner core;
they are involved in the life of the centre. They are all dependent on the
quality of life of the central core. The life-stream of authority is not so
much hierarchical – i.e. pyramidal –, from high to low, but reciprocal
from outwards to inwards and back again, all mutually dependent on
one another.
The elders, “the presbyteroi of the community”, as Hinfelaar calls
them, are placed on the borderline of the first circular ring surrounding
the inner core. Due to their closeness to the ancestors they assume the
function of bridge-builders, as the pontifices, the intermediaries between
the inner circle of the living generation and the ancestors. True enough,
priests, shamans, etc., on account of their special calling and training
belong to this category of border-traversers and pontifices. Their author-
ity, nonetheless, derives from their call and training60, while that of the
presbyteroi derives from their proximity to the forebears. This paradigm
of authority came under heavy attack through the introduction of colo-
nial administration and pyramidal pattern of hierarchy where the pope is
the extension of Christ, the bishops are the extension of the pope, the
priests the extension of the bishop and the laity that of the priests. In the
eyes of the laity, however, the seminarians are the extension of the priest.
But in the eyes of the priests the seminarians belong to the laity. As a re-
sult of this paradigmatic shift it is easy for seminarians and priests to act

59 Hinfelaar 9.
60 Cf. H. Stenger, Eignung und Identität, 32-53.

348
as lords over the people they are meant to lead to pasture. It is true that
this shift occurred many decades ago but as Hinfelaar observes, “the
common people always kept this vision of the consensual procedure as
the ideal of proper authority and subsequently of a transcendental hierar-
chy”61. That is why they complain that priests are inclined to become
one-party leaders or autocrats, that too often they are being sheltered
from having to account for their conduct and that certain moral problems
are settled behind a veil of secrecy which betrays the transparency and
accountability, and the credibility they preach to others.62 The fate of
seminarians in this respect, on the other hand, is like that of the sand-
wich: any untoward behaviour on their part is treated by both the laity
and the clergy like a capital offence.

9.14 Membership of a Universal Christendom

Another impact of the missionary enterprise on the Igbo consciousness is

the link to a universal religious community. The sense of being a mem-
ber of a universal church meant going beyond the ‘border restrictions’ or
the ethnic character of the traditional religion. The sphere of influence of
the various deities is restricted to their various areas of operation. The
same applies to the priests and priestesses who minister to them. The
Christian God, on the contrary, wields his influence wherever there are
Christians. The priests can minister to him in all the places dedicated to
him all over the world. Christians can take part in rituals dedicated to
him anywhere in the world. Thus Christianity, in contrast to the Igbo tra-
ditional religion, links one up to a greater and wider humanity. This is
still so irrespective of the internal schism which have characterized
Christendom since Constantine. However, this universality cannot and
should not be used as excuse for the intolerance exhibited by many Igbo
priests and seminarians towards the traditional religion of their people.

61 Hinfelaar 11.
62 A lecture of A. W. Richard Sipe’s “A Secret World: Sexuality and the Search for
Celibacy” is very educative in this regard.

349
9.15 Conclusion

From the foregoing theoretical and historical deliberations one can now
appreciate:
(1) That Euro-Western and African world-views are two different, and in
many respects, divergent modes of being in this world.
(2) That every world-view is culturally conditioned. When two cultural
modes of apprehension converge in one individual, the person will expe-
rience some psychological tensions and/or conflicts in respect to some
specific objects of his cognition.
(3) That as far as the Igbo are concerned, the school and the churches are
the most potent transmitters of Western cultural traits and elements and
therefore very potent agents of cognitive transformation. The one aims at
the cognitive restructuring of the mind, while the other aims at the spiri-
tual and ultimate psychological restructuring of the soul. Both create and
inform new values, needs and attitudes, which govern and moderate self-
expression in behaviour and cognition. Since some enclaves of the Igbo
world-view have remained resistant to change, many of those affected by
church and school, especially seminarians and priests, live a life of ‘in-
between’, which is usually tension-laden.
(4) That the seminary in its present organisational form is caught in the
mesh of the missionary and colonial negative and downgrading legacy
with regard to the native culture. Thus striving hard to achieve its aim of
bringing about a generalized cognitive restructuring in the seminarians, it
falls victim to an epistemological miscalculation of reductionism and de-
nial. By this we mean that it assumes that the European program of
training – ratio fundamentalis – can be applied in the African context
without much adaptation into a veritable ratio localis. Consequently
there does not seem to be much sense in paying undue attention to the
cultural factor. All too often the seminary denies the existence of some
of the experiences of the seminarians with their traditional cultural
world, for instance in the area of the use of spells or magical forces
(ogwu) or contact with some spirit forces. In the cause of time, the semi-
narians themselves begin to play the same game of denial while precon-
sciously affirming the same. This kind of institutionalized system of de-
nial creates a favourable atmosphere for insincerity and “schizophrenia”:

350
the seminarian learns to disbelieve the reality of his personal experience,
and sometimes believes and disbelieves the same, i.e. wavers between
the institutional position and his own experience. This epistemological
miscalculation inevitably leads to wrong conclusions: (i) there is no need
to waste the precious lecture hours discussing such experiences, talk less
of integrating them in the existing theological and philosophical subjects;
(ii) the seminarian who openly affirms this (i.e. admits this before the
seminary authority)63, most probably, has no strong vocation and needs
to be observed more closely. In effect the seminary everyday life-reality
estranges itself from the existential questions and the factors influencing
concrete daily life outside the seminary walls.
In any case, cognitive changes are the desired goal of the training
and are, therefore, taken for granted. Equally taken for granted are the
pains associated with giving up what one has been used to and what
hitherto has served one as the compass on the turbulent sea of daily liv-
ing. The denial leads also often to an inappropriate interpretation of the
sporadic manifestations of these pains. A wrong interpretation notably
leads to a wrong, and sometimes dangerous treatment prescription. There
is a high level of unawareness among the seminarians themselves con-
cerning the fact that a good part of the inner pains they experience arises
from these epistemic changes and the atmosphere of denial.
The dislodgement of the traditional basis and legitimation of
authority and the establishment of an aristocratic priesthood paved the
way for the rampant abuse of power and position, and for an inordinate
approach to material and social security observable among Igbo Catholic
priests and seminarians.
With this extensive description of the Igbo epistemic world and the
changes it has been undergoing since its contact with Europeans on the
background, we will now focus our attention in the next chapters – Part
Three – on the epistemic world of the priestly vocation in connection
with intrapersonal conflict.

63 This is not the same with narrating the experience of another to fellow students,
since such a narrative report is usually not seen as indices for the subjective attitude
of the narrator in regard to the narrative object.

351
This page intentionally left blank
PART THREE: INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT
AND PRIESTLY VOCATION
This page intentionally left blank
10. INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT AND
PRIESTLY VOCATION

Intrapersonal conflict we saw in Part One of this work has to do with the
cognitive and affective assessment of a given event in relation to self.
We saw also that this assessment takes place within the confines of the
individual’s epistemic systems of reference, which is ontogenical1, i.e.
historically evolved and consequently cultural.

10.1 The Priestly Vocation as a Call

We said in our introductory chapter that the Igbo society in general is

engulfed in a whirlwind of rapid changes on all levels – political, relig-
ious, economical and cultural. In Part Two we saw some of these
changes, a very central agent of which is the Euro-Christian church2 and
as far as the cognitive influence on the Igbo is concerned, the Roman
Catholic Church. This is the background from which the Igbo seminarian
comes. The seminarian himself is a part of this change.

1 This socio-cultural ontogeny on its own sphere is equivalent to a parallel

phenomenon on the biological sphere. Stuart Kauffman wondering at this wonder
of life said: “One of the most awesome aspects of biological order is ontogeny, the
development of an adult organism […]. The magic of ontogeny lies in the fact that
genes and their RNA and protein products form a complex network, switching one
another on and off in a wondrously precise manner [...] most of the beautiful order
seen in ontogeny is spontaneous, a natural expression of the stunning self-
organization that abounds in very complex regulatory networks”, S. Kauffman, At
Home in the Universe, 24-25.
2 By “Euro-Christian Church” we mean all denominations of the Christian Church as
they were brought to the Igbo by the missionaries, who all came from Europe. The
Christian faith in its cultural form as the Igbo received it was European and is still
in many of its core and expressive forms very much European, irrespective of the
fact that the personnel is no longer European but native Igbo.

355
 In this chapter we will consider the epistemological framework of
this Church as it pertains to the seminarian and his raison d’être within
her institution. Thereafter our attention will be focussed on the intraper-
sonal vocational conflict in relation to this frame of reference. In Part
Two we worked out the Igbo cultural factor which adds a new dimension
to the conflict the seminarian experiences as a part of a Euro-Christian
institution in an African milieu.

10.1.1 The Call to a Special Stand in the Church

The seminarian aspires to a leadership status in the Church. In the lan-

guage of the Church such an aspiration is said to be a call to a special
life and stand in the one Body of Christ, namely: to the priestly vocation.
According to Vatican Council II, the seminarian should be modelled af-
ter our Lord Jesus Christ, “who was Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd”3. He
is called to be specially trained to serve the People of God later as a
priest4. His raison d’être is, therefore, a call, vocation, from God to a
special life and service within the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.
His presence in the seminary can5 thus be understood as the answer to
the call. This call is the basis on which the seminarian is and will be
vested with a specific competence6 within the self same ecclesial realm.

3 Vat. II, OT, Art. 4.

4 Cf. Vat. II, LG, Art. 28.
5 We use “can” here to accommodate our conviction that not every student in the
seminary is there as a result of this call of God. Many have some other ulterior
motives, which are less spiritual in nature.
6 This kind of competence is accessed already through the admission into the semin-
ary and will later be given through the admission to the sacrament of holy order
and concretely through the deaconate or priestly ordination itself. This, of course,
should be a further development of the basic competence all Christians share
through baptism. Through baptism, we all participate in the common priesthood of
Christ as is evidenced in the following biblical passages: “[...] so that you too, the
holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made
acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house [...]. But you are
a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart [...]” (1
P 2: 5.9a); “He [Jesus Christ] loves us and has washed away our sins with his
blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father; to him,
then, be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen” (Rv 1:5b-6). Cf. also Vat. II,
LG: “The baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are

356
10.2 The Threefold Basis of Ecclesial Competence

According to H. Stenger7 every vestment of this sort is founded on a

threefold competence or responsibility which has been declared and es-
tablished by God. This divine declaration consists in:

10.2.1 The Empowerment to Live

This contains the fact of our being as creatures and the call to employ all
the powers in our being to make and organize life in such a way as to
meet up with our individual personal mission or commission in creation.
The will to an active involvement in the organization of life is nurtured
by the belief in the “creatio continua”, i.e. the belief in the continued op-
eration of God in history, and right into the individual histories of each
and every human being. An inalienable component of this “creatio con-
tinua” is the “vocatio continua” to a salvific life. Each and every human
being is called to a life of wholesomeness, unfettered by the exigencies

consecrated into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood” (Art. 10). Also relevant
are Arts. 10-12.
We want to point out here that competence is accessible through various means: 1)
gratuitously through the grace of God. Thus it is a charisma: A gift of the Holy
Spirit. 2) through the process of formation and the philosophical and theological
studies. This aspect has an inherent relationship to, and actually is dependent on,
what Hermann Stenger called the “architecture of personal identity” (die Architek-
tur der personalen Identität): a mature and strong or solid ego (as proffered in the
epigenesis of personal identity by E. H. Erikson in Childhood and Society, especi-
ally the chapter on the “Eight ages of man”, 247-274.) and a social balance of
personal identity (as developed by G. H. Mead). By “social balance of personal
identity” Mead means the balance between the “I” (i.e. the self in relationship to
itself, namely, to its own individual needs, value concepts and ideals) and the “me”
(i.e. the self in relation to its environment or the world around it, in the form of
social expectations – roles – from its social milieu). By this, one attains a social
communicative competence, which is indispensable for the ministry after the model
of Christ. 3) through conferment as has been indicated at the beginning of this
footnote: through an official act of the Church or her representative organ. For a
detailed reading cf. Stenger, Kompetenz und Identität 31-122.
7 Stenger 34-38.

357
and limitations of earthly life; called to the full participation in the life of
Him whose image each and every one of us is and bears within his soul:
the divine life. The will to an active involvement in the organization of
(one’s) life has consequently an ethical import, namely: each person
must be conscious of the fact that he or she is as well called or empow-
ered to a life as a human among humans. Thus the empowerment to live
ultimately means the acceptance of responsibility for the world and for
the earth as the living abode of all God’s creatures.

10.2.2 The Gratuitous Selection to Believe

St. Paul expressed the gratuitousness of this selection very succinctly:

Having been and lived as an ardent persecutor of the faith in the risen
son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, and of all his followers, he was chosen to
share that same faith in Jesus Christ in a very special way, namely, as an
apostle. This choice was not out of merit, but entirely out of God’s grace
and unfathomable mercy. The truth of this cannot be better expressed
than in the words of St. Paul himself: Through the grace of God, I am
what I am: “I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the
Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace
that is what I am [...]”8. God chose us9 without any merit on our side and
by that self same act of selection or election “infused” us with the capa-
bility to believe in the redemptive mission of his Son. This gratuitous
selection for the faith in Himself and in His Son means that God reposed
so much trust in us that he made us members of his priestly and kingly
council.10 In other words through his grace and trust he made us co-
operators and co-executors of his divine will and plan: salvation for his
creation. The awareness of such a selection has a twofold implication:

(1) A constant awareness and knowledge of the “redemptio continua”, the contin-
ued effect of the redemptive power of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in
human history and in the individual history of each and every Christian.

8 1 Co 15: 9-10.
9 “Us” here stands for every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
10 Cf. Stenger 36.

358
 (2) A constant readiness to take up responsibility in the Church11 for the Church.
Every Christian is by virtue of his baptism a “spiritual vocationer” and possesses a
basic spiritual-pastoral competence. As a result he is entrusted with the care and
concern for the living space of all who are called to the faith. That is, he is co-
responsible for a Church which is proud of herself and her identity as a whole and
in her members even in the face of the vicissitudes of each given era.

Since the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is not a merit but a gift, given
gratuitously out of the abundance of God’s grace, each and every Chris-
tian is, therefore, invited to remain open to the influence of the Holy
Spirit; he is not to allow personal or group idiosyncrasies to block the
workings or activities of the Spirit towards a constant renewal of the face
of the earth, starting with the Church herself. The prayer: “send forth
your Spirit, O Lord, that the face of the earth be renewed”, has its place
within this divine invitation.

10.2.3 The Call to a Pastoral Ministry

In accordance with his own divine consideration and judgement, God

adds the call to a pastoral service to that of the empowerment to live and
the selection for the faith. In the exercise of pastoral competence, all
Christians who are actively involved, starting from the bishops through
the priests and deacons down to the catechists and Church wardens,
should be united by a sense and awareness of a common pastoral profes-
sion and vocation. The basis for that is the knowledge of the special
claim God lays to the individual, out of which every pastoral activity en-
sues. The unifying factor is the fundamental call to join hands “in the
work of service, building up the body of Christ”12.
According to Stenger, the awareness of this call to a pastoral service
can give rise in some of those called to a feeling of superiority over oth-
ers, or even to arrogance and a wasting of useful energy in unnecessary
rivalry among those vested with pastoral competence. The question of

11 The “Church” is understood here as the communion and community of all who
believe and share the faith in the redemptive and salvific work of God wrought
through the man of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, for His entire creation and especially
for the whole human race.
12 Ep 4: 12.

359
“who is the greatest among them”13 can only arise where the awareness
of the implications of the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ has fallen into oblivion. Similarly such a question can only arise
where the consciousness of the fact that every vocationer is, at the same
time, an empowered and a chosen among others who are equally em-
powered and chosen, has likewise been lost.
Every Christian called to a pastoral ministry or service is, by virtue
of this call, responsible for the creation and maintenance of an atmos-
phere where such rivalries and wastage have no existential opportunity
or at least are extremely minimal.14 A constant awareness of the afore-
mentioned points and of the unequivocal example of the “washing of the
feet of the disciples”15 during the Last Supper, will help in curbing such
spirits of rivalry. Besides, it will help in concentrating one’s energy in
assisting the recipients of the service to develop from “objects” to “sub-
jects” of the pastoral service. The movement from “object” to “subject”
is the actualisation of the life of the person who has been empowered to
live and of the faith of the person who has been chosen to believe.
The special call to a particular state and competence in the life of
the Church, as we have seen, is preceded by and founded on this three-
fold divine legitimation, from whence it draws its strength and vigour.
The concept of the life of a seminarian as vocation, as a call from God to
a special ecclesial existence, with the threefold divine legitimation of the
same, forms the overarching frame of reference with and within which
the seminarian has to organize, cognitively order and constantly assess
his life as a seminarian or aspirant to the priesthood. The core or bedrock
of the personality of the seminarian has consequently to be formed and
informed by this frame of reference.
The implication of this for the formation and life of the seminarian
is that the seminarian during his formation has to cultivate and grow in
those cognitive, evaluative, affective-conative internal dispositions con-

13 Cf. Mt 18: 1-5; Mk 9: 33-37; Lk 9: 46-48.

14 Talking to the priests the Vatican Council II in the decree on the Church stressed a
similar point: “In virtue of their common sacred ordination and mission, all priests
are bound together in an intimate brotherhood, which naturally and freely manifest
itself in mutual aid, spiritual as well as material, pastoral as well as personal [...]”.
This cooperation extends itself to all “called to serve the People of God”. Vat. II,
LG Art. 28.
15 Cf. Jn 13: 4-15.

360
sonant with this frame of reference, while at the same time learning to
channel those needs that are less consonant with it so that they become
positively generative.

10.3 The Frame of Reference

Conceptual frameworks, like every other system with operational clo-

sure, have a structure and a component. The structure is basically the
same everywhere and in every organism of a specific class or genius.
This means that human beings have generally and basically similar
structures, be it biological, be it psychological (cognitive). We are much
more interested in the latter. The content, however, may vary in their ex-
pression from one organism to another and from one cultural society to
another. The nature and the configuration of the various components of
the content and their internal relationships with one another often give
rise to conflict both on the intra- and interpersonal levels.
In relation to the seminarian, the structure of the frame of reference,
as we will show, is basically the same irrespective of his cultural prove-
nience. The content – taken on its own – is the same for every Christian
and, therefore, for every seminarian. The cultural factor, to a large ex-
tent, conditions its expression. In order to understand and appreciate the
intrapersonal conflict in relation to the seminarian in Igboland, we have
to attend to these two dimensions of the frame of reference: structure
and content. In this we will rely extensively on the innovative and pace-
setting work of L. M. Rulla, F. Imoda and J. Ridick: “Psychological
Structure and Vocation”16. Since this work is mainly psychodynamic in

16 The title quoted here is the 1988 edition of the findings of their research on the
intrapsychic dynamics of those entering and leaving the religious vocation. In these
monumental works published respectively in 1971 and 1976 the authors went on to
answer the central question of what factors could be operative in persons entering
the religious life, in those who persevere and those who eventually drop out in the
USA.
In this work, however, the authors employ the term “religious vocation” to include
both the vocation to the mission of a priest as a member of a particular diocese and

361
approach, we shall also draw from the contribution of K. Schaupp17 and
K. Berkel18 on the question of suitability for and proclivity towards ec-
clesial professions. Let us now look at the content of such a frame of ref-
erence:

10.3.1 The Content

From a theological point of view, based on the documents of Vatican

Council II19, the vocation to the priesthood is primarily an invitation by
God. By this call, God invites a person to consecrate himself to the three-
fold mission of our Lord. According to the document on priestly forma-
tion, the major seminary is a seminarium, where the grace of the call

the vocation to a life of the evangelical counsels with the vows of poverty, chastity
and obedience. Without denying the merits of such an approach or overlooking the
unity of the goals shared by the two forms of devotion to the discipleship of Jesus
Christ, we will, nevertheless, try to hold the two forms of vocation, as far as
possible, apart from each other, just for our own convenience. In their various
approaches to God’s call to a special life, the religious life, in accordance with its
affinity to the monastic tradition, constitutes the expression and organization of its
life around the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, and in communities.
The (diocesan) priestly vocation, without being alien to these vows, does not
organize itself around them (in the sense of taking them as vows), nor is the life
community oriented. Thus many diocesan priests are more prone to loneliness and
its attendant psychosocial problems.
Over and above all, we shall not lose sight of the fact that the approach of the
authors is from a psychodynamic point of view of depth psychology and therefore
shares the limitations of that view.
17 K. Schaupp, Eignung und Neigung, 195-240. Schaupp, in his contribution,
broadened the scope delimited by Rulla et al. by reaching out to incorporate some
social psychological studies and findings.
18 K. Berkel, Eignungsdiagnostik, 135-194. Since the life and success of any social
institution or organization, like the Church, depends very much on the quality of
her leaders – the ministers –, the aspect of leadership must constitute an important
dimension of the frame of reference when considering suitability of the seminarian
for pastoral ministry. Pastoral ministry has to do with the concrete presence and
representation of the Church and what she herself represents within a concrete
human community. Berkel, in his contribution, having noted this deficit in the
official church documents on priestly formation, complemented this by giving this
dimension a central place in his contribution.
19 Vat. II, LG and OT.

362
should be nurtured and the qualities and capabilities necessary for the
execution of the threefold mission should be helped to develop. In its
own words: “Major seminaries are necessary for priestly formation. In
them the whole training of students ought to provide for the development
of true shepherds of souls after the model of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
was Teacher, Priest, and Shepherd”20. In line with this, the seminarians
should prepare themselves during the course of their training in the
seminary

[...] for the ministry of the word, so that they may always grow in their under-
standing of God’s revealed word, may know how to grasp it through meditation,
and express it through word and conduct;
[...] for the ministry of worship and sanctification, that by their prayers and partici-
pation in sacred liturgical ceremonies, they may know how to exercise the work of
salvation through the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the other sacraments;
[...] for the ministry of a shepherd. They should know how to represent Christ be-
fore men. He did not ‘come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ran-
som for many’ (Mk 10:45; cf. Jn 13:12-17). Becoming the servants of all, let them
21
win over that many more (cf. 1 Co 9:19) .

10.3.1.1 Jesus Christ – The Model

Since the seminarian has to model himself after our Lord Jesus Christ, let
us try to find out some of those qualities and characteristics of this
model, which are of central relevance for him, first of all as a Christian
and then as minister in spe:
(1) Jesus Christ is the new covenant between God and humankind. His
entire mission on earth was to establish the kingdom of God among hu-
mans. Through his incarnation he brought heaven, he “earthed” heaven,
in our world; through his ascension he took the finitude of our earth and
our human nature into the infinity of his divinity, into his celestial, di-
vine sphere. He unites heaven and earth in his life, in order to lead hu-
mankind back to God, the origin of life, the Creator of the universe.
Hence, for the Christians, union with God is the ultimate end of all hu-
man terrestrial striving. In order to achieve this ultimate goal of life, he

20 Vat. II, OT, Art. 4.

21 Ibid.

363
enjoined his disciples to emulate his life, to “learn from me, for I am
meek and humble of heart”22.
(2) Jesus Christ lived a life morally beyond reproach. He was chaste.23
The interaction with the sacraments, especially with the holy Eucharist
and the holy Gospel, deserves no better quality of character. A chaste life
is congruent in itself. Such a congruency is especially emphasized for the
ministry of the Word by the Council thus: “[...] they [the priests] labour
in words and doctrine (cf. 1 Tim 5:17), believing what they have read
and meditated upon in the law of the Lord, teaching what they believe,
and practising what they teach”24. The seminarian has, therefore, to strive
towards a life morally beyond reproach.
(3) Jesus Christ was rich but became poor, in order to make us rich.25 He
divested himself of all his glory as God and took our human nature, in
order to restore to the state of humanity that divine quality that makes
humans the image of God: “God created man in the image of himself
[...]”26. According to Warren Quanbeck, Jesus accepted “in the Incarna-
tion the hazards of historical existence, a full involvement in the relativi-
ties of human life and history”27. The ancient hymn of the early Christian
community as contained in St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians expresses
this self-renouncement beautifully: “His state was divine, yet he did not
cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condi-
tion of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was
humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross”28.

22 Cf. Mt 11: 29.

23 There has always been the tendency to reduce the meaning of chastity to mere
abstinence from sexual activities. This is an injustice to that term. Such a reduction
in connotation has led to various kinds of inhuman and unchristian attitudes and
behaviours among priests and religious, while ardently abstaining from sexual
intercourse or erotic relationships.
Chastity means basically decency, purity, modesty, virtuousness in thoughts, words
and action. An ideal worth striving after. One should note here that this virtue can
be practised in every state of life, married or celibate, and thus is distinct from the
rule of celibacy.
24 Vat. II, LG, Art. 28.
25 Cf. 2 Co 8: 9.
26 Gn 1: 27.
27 W. Quanbeck, A Response, 460.
28 Ph 2: 6-8. Cf. also the relevant passages on the washing of the feet of his disciples:
Mt 18: 1-5; Mk 9: 33-37; Lk 9: 46-48.

364
(4) From the above citation, we come in touch with a basic and general
characteristic of Jesus of Nazareth: the general disposition and propen-
sity to subordinate himself to his father’s will. He freely chose to be
humble and consequently poor in the midst of abundance and glory.
Humility, obedience and poverty – as opposed to destitution –, seen from
this perspective, are qualities of that centre of the human being called
“heart”; their exercise is an act of the will. Their exercise is consequently
always in tune with an ideal or a value. Since they are acts of the will,
they are free and intentional. Any coercion compromises this essential
volitive dimension. The highest act of humility and obedience to an ideal
or value, as Jesus said, is the gift of one’s life29 in that special act of the
will called “love”.30 This quality of character is the bedrock of the min-
istry of a Shepherd. The shepherd devotes his life for his flock.31

10.3.1.2 Leadership
A further essential consequence of having Jesus Christ as the model is
the aspect of leadership. Jesus Christ was the shepherd. The shepherd is
a leader.32 Jesus identified wholly and entirely with the will of his Father,
which is the goal and value of his followers; he knows the way and is at
the same time the way to that goal; he is the unifying figure of his fol-
lowers; he was in constant dialogue and communication with them and
thus was able to inspire them to devote themselves to the goal.
This aspect of leadership has unfortunately been neglected in the
relevant documents on the formation and training of priests. When refer-
ring to the ministers in the Church, people talk of or refer to them as
“church leaders”. It is, therefore, surprising that the official documents of
the Church seem to be silent on this theme. The Church documents33 all

29 Cf. Jn 15: 13.

30 Cf. M. S. Peck, The Road Less Travelled, 83. In section II of this book Peck
excavates with such a psychiatric astuteness imbued with a deep spirituality the
spiritual and core dimensions of Love. Besides, the basic and highest distinguishing
attribute of the Christian life is the virtue of Love: “By this love you have for one
another, everyone will know that you are my disciples” (Jn 13: 35).
31 Cf. Jn 10: 10–21.
32 Cf. Jn 10; 13: 1–17a; 18: 1–11; Ac 20: 28-29; 1 P 5: 1–4. Also relevant are such
passages dealing with authority and power, for instance: Mt 21: 23–27; Lk 4: 36;
12: 11 Jn 17: 2.
33 CIC, cc. 1029, 1032; Vat. II, SC, Art. 9–11, PO, Art. 2, 12-13, 15–19, OT.

365
provide and describe the necessary requirements to qualify for a pastoral
ministry. These requirements are, nevertheless, not entirely adequate
considering the kind of function and task the minister is expected to ful-
fil. Strictly speaking, the qualities are no special prerogatives of pastoral
ministers. They constitute a general and common orientation expected of
every Christian.
It is, nonetheless, a common feature of groups and communities that
they often require of the members, whom they entrust with leadership
functions, those qualities, virtues and ideals operative in them, especially
the ones they consider central. The leader has to reflect and represent
such ideals. It is not surprising that the relevant documents and even the
New Testament follow this same tendency. That is, they describe the
qualities of the ideal disciple. The vocation to an ideal discipleship of Je-
sus of Nazareth is no special reserve of any one Christian. All are called
to it. Leadership is a very essential aspect of the ministry of the priest.
The shepherd must be a leader. According to K. Berkel, leadership is not
a moral category, it is no moral injunction. Leadership is

a function, a task, within a specific group to which very well defined and specified
abilities and capabilities (‘social competence’) belong. Such abilities and capabili-
ties are not automatically acquired with personal maturity or by ardently practising
the Christian faith. They are not identical with both either. The leader executes or
carries out a function, a ‘service’, for the community, by inspiring the other mem-
bers towards their common goal. Leadership is an activity within the context of so-
cial relationships or interactions by which the leader influences the activities of the
group through piloting, directing and motivating it towards the achievement of its
34
goals, and by which he/she integrates and unites the members of the group .

One can, thus, say that the act of leadership is a success if and only if
these tasks are fulfilled. The fulfilment of such a task, on the other hand,
entails behaviour patterns and inner dispositions, which are indicative of
a specific competence. It is, accordingly, important that the seminarian
as well as the seminary institution, in the assessment of the seminarian’s
suitability for the priestly ministry, be in touch with those specific char-
acteristics which have a vital relationship with the special demands of
the profession. We saw previously with Stenger that, the legitimacy of
such an ecclesial competence is based on a threefold divine justification.

34 Berkel 148. (Translation is ours).

366
 Pastoral competence is measured not on the possession of a number
of skills, but rather on the ability of the person to find answers – that is,
to respond correctly – to the constantly changing situations and exigen-
cies of life, answers which manifest the spirit of Christ. Pastoral compe-
tence can, consequently, only be deduced and assessed from the person’s
manner of approaching and handling concrete life situations. Quoting
Argyris, Berkel enumerates what pastoral competence entails35: (1) Reli-
able information: Competence manifests itself when one succeeds in in-
teracting with oneself and with others in such a way that correct und reli-
able information about oneself and about others becomes possible. The
person is able to arrive at a genuine information about himself and also
help others achieve the same about themselves. Credibility arises from
such a personal disposition. (2) Free decision: Competence reveals itself
wherever human beings are enabled to decide freely on matters affecting
them. The person is able to create an anxiety-free atmosphere or a con-
dition which allows for a relatively free decision on any given issue in
relation to self. This entails the involvement of all concerned in the proc-
ess of decision making. (3) Deep internal sense of obligation: Compe-
tence manifests itself wherever it helps people to act according to their
inner convictions. A decision taken freely on the basis of a reliable in-
formation enables the person to feel committed to it and to act in accor-
dance with this feeling and sense of commitment. The person is able to
feel committed to his decision as well as to win others and awaken in
them the same feeling of commitment to their common goal, and to act
according to their common or individual conviction.
It is, nevertheless, not very possible to always have a very clear and
binding goal in relation to the central pastoral tasks: liturgy, deaconate,
communion and proclamation of the gospel. Each pastoral minister has
to set his own goal – within the confines of legitimate ecclesial goals – in
accordance with the exigencies of his community. This he has to do in
union with the members of his community. His task is, thus, to formulate
in correspondence with concrete situations of his community concrete
goals, which represent or cover only a very small aspect of the wide
range of ecclesial goals.
Since there are no external objective criteria to measure the success
of his endeavour, the person has to be able to accommodate ambiguity.

35 Ibid., 151.

367
This means, he must be ready and able to forego or do without final con-
firmations of success. For a good number of times, the tasks have open
ends.
As a result of the nature of the ministry, he must be able to commu-
nicate and cooperate with the members of his community in the search
for and formulation of goals. Since he constitutes only a very minute part
of the entire community, he needs to remain in constant communication
with the others about ends, so that he does not set goals which are far
removed from the concrete life of the people or alien to their life reality.
As a leader, therefore, the minister has to possess the following quali-
ties36:

(1) Ability to personally identify with the values of the gospel and with the Chris-
tian faith; an identity which is imbued and nurtured by a personal spirituality.
(2) Ability to carry the members of his group along on their way to the realization
of their common goal. That means, he has to be able to direct and pilot the social
processes in the group by positively influencing the members towards this goal. It
entails that he has to have a good sense for dealing with people in an appealing and
pleasant way. In other words, he has to possess a social competence in his interac-
tion with people, groups and institutions.
(3) Ability to think and act systematically. With the agreed goal in view, he coordi-
nates the activities of the group, notices problems and analyses them in view of
solution, keeps on watching and reviewing the goal, and searches for alternative
ways of achieving the goal, when need be.
(4) He has to be active and in action. That means the readiness to take up leader-
ship roles, motivate others, to acquire the proper attitude to work, to autonomously
assess and judge situations and act, and never to lose sight of the goals.
(5) Ability to clearly communicate his ideas, values and goals to others and to win
them over for appropriate action towards their attainment or realization.

Leadership Through Empowerment

The essence of leadership is primarily the empowerment of the follow-
ers, so that inspired and animated by the spirit and the vision that guide
the leader, they themselves will work, freely and delightedly, towards the
realization of a common goal. W. Bennis and B. Nanus brilliantly
worked out this aspect of leadership in their edifying work37. According
to them empowerment consists in making the people one is working with

36 Cf. Berkel 153-162.

37 W. Bennis and B. Nanus, Leaders, especially pages 73-78. Also for more detailed
reading on Leadership cf. B. M. Bass, Bass & Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership.

368
feel that they are “making a difference both for the organization and in
the greater context of the world”. Furthermore, it consists in creating a
vision that gives those concerned “the feeling of being at the active cen-
tres of the social order”. The “centres” are areas in society where its
leading ideas and institutions come together to create an arena in which
the events that vitally affect people’s lives take place. The involvement
with such arenas and with such momentous events translates intentions
or visions into reality. The involvement of Jesus with such arenas like
those of prostitutes, lepers, outcasts, afflicted and disabled, self-righteous
and hypocrites, translated his vision of a new kingdom into reality – a
kingdom where the value of a person arises from the mere fact of having
God as Father.
The second component of empowerment is competence. It provides
the persons concerned with opportunities of acquiring and developing
the necessary skills and knowledge on the task. Such knowledge includes
the acquaintance and alignment with the visions and goals of the organi-
zation. It involves a communication of this vision at every level of the
organization in such a manner that (almost) everybody understands and
can identify with it. However, such a vision cannot be easily accepted if
the people do not understand the “why”, that is, its meaning. Meaning in
this context

goes far beyond what is usually meant by ‘communication.’ For one thing, it has
very little to do with ‘facts’ or even ‘knowing.’ Facts and knowing have to do with
technique, with methodology, with ‘knowing how to do things.’ That’s useful, even
necessary [...]. But thinking is emphatically closer to what we mean by ‘meaning’
than knowing is. Thinking prepares one for what is to be done, what ought to be
done. Thinking, though it may be unsettling and dangerous to the established or-
der, is constructive: it challenges old conventions by suggesting new directions,
new visions. To depend on facts, without thinking, may seem safe and secure, but
in the long run it is dangerously unconstructive because it has nothing to say about
directions. The distinctive role of leadership (in a volatile environment especially)
is the quest for ‘know-why’ ahead of ‘know-how.’ And this distinction illustrates,
38
once again, one of the key differences between leaders and managers .

Getting across the vision or the meaning of a message may require the
development of innovative approaches, like the use of metaphors or

38 Bennis and Nanus 38. Emphasis added.

369
models.39 Jesus employed a lot them, for example, his numerous par-
ables. Metaphors or models can drive the message home to any person
who has got some associative ability, no matter how little. Vision helps
focus and concentrate attention and action. Meaning helps create a com-
monwealth of learning, constructive individual initiatives, and promotes
reliability, credibility and commitment.
Thirdly, it consists of the experience of those concerned of some-
thing akin to “family”, to community. The empowered feel united in
some common purpose; they feel a sense of reliance on one another to-
ward a common cause.
The fourth component of empowerment is thrill and enjoyment in
the work one is doing. This aspect is elevating because it lifts one be-
yond the mere quest for the satisfaction of basic needs of avoiding pain
and gaining pleasure. Through empowerment one seems to get so en-
grossed in the “game of work” that one forgets basic needs for a long pe-
riod of time.
Most importantly empowerment means enhancement of the sense of
self-worth in one’s followers. Positive self-worth seems to exert its force
by creating in others a sense of confidence and high expectations. Posi-
tive self-worth manifests itself in: (1) The ability to accept people as they
are, not as one would like them to be. That includes the ability to put
oneself in the position of another in order to understand the person from
the person’s own perspective.40 (2) The capacity to approach relation-
ships and problems in terms of the present rather than the past. This,
however, does not mean overlooking the past or the future. It only entails
using the present as a point of takeoff, since problems are experienced as
such only in the present. (3) The ability to treat those who are close to
oneself with the same attention that one extends to strangers and casual
acquaintances. This involves, on one hand, a conscious and constant
struggle against the dangers of over familiarity, which results in “selec-
tive deafness”, as Bennis and Nanus call it, and on the other hand, an ac-
tive training in the art of attentive attention.
(4) The ability to trust others, even if the risk seems great. Even an over-
dose of trust that at times involves the risk of being deceived or disap-

39 Cf. Bass 112 and Bennis and Nanus 100.

40 Jesus’ meeting with Zaccheus, Mary Magdalene, Matthew, the tax collector, etc.
bears witness to the transforming force of this point.

370
pointed is wiser, in the long run, than taking it for granted that most peo-
ple are incompetent or insincere. Jesus trusted Peter even when he knew
that Peter was going to disown him three times during those critical
hours in the court yard; at the end, it paid off. He trusted Judas Iscariot
and was disappointed. (5) The ability to do without constant approval
and recognition from others. The emotionally wise leader realizes that
the quality of work that results from collaborating with other people will
suffer when undue emphasis is placed on being a “good guy”. Positive
self-worth establishes standards for thinking about human possibilities
rather about human limitations.
Leaders transform their followers into empowered communities and
individuals, i.e. into leaders who can become agents of constructive
change. According to J. W. Gardner:

Leaders have a significant role in creating the state of mind that is the society. They
can serve as symbols of the moral unity of the society. They can express the values
that hold the society together. Most important, they can conceive and articulate
goals that lift people out of their petty preoccupations, carry them above the con-
flicts that tear a society apart, and unite them in the pursuit of objectives worthy of
41
their best efforts .

The authors, Bennis and Nanus, call the capacity of such leaders “trans-
formative leadership”42. Like Jesus of Nazareth, transformative leaders
can shape and elevate the motives and goals of followers. Transforma-
tive leadership is a transaction between leaders and followers. There is a
subtle interplay between the followers’ needs and wants and the leaders’
capacity to understand these collective aspirations.43 Transformative
leadership can invent and create institutions that can empower the faith-
ful to satisfy their needs. It is morally purposeful and elevating. That
means that leaders can, through deploying their talents, choose purposes
and visions that are based on the key values of the followers and create
the social architecture that supports them. Finally, transformative leader-
ship can move followers to higher degrees of consciousness, such as lib-
erty, freedom, justice, solidarity with the less privileged and self-
actualisation.

41 Bennis and Nanus 200.

42 Ibid., 202.
43 Cf. also Bass 115-116.

371
10.3.1.3 Discipleship and Leadership: a Totally Encompassing Call
From the foregoing deliberations one easily deciphers that the vocation
to the discipleship of Jesus Christ from its aspect of leadership is a con-
suming call. According to Rulla et al., “this call of God lays claim to the
total existence of the person [...] It is a call to a new existence, in which
the religious element has to be the dominant motivation that integrates
and unifies the whole person”44. It is this total demand of self-
commitment to the mission of Christ and its program that confers on this
call the characteristic of transcendence. The person called is at the same
time invited to dedicate himself to the service of others; to adhere
wholeheartedly to the injunction “do this in memory of me” as it applies
not just to the commemoration of his suffering, death and resurrection in
the Eucharistic celebration but also in the “washing of the feet”. Thus the
person has to transcend himself, his ego boundaries, for the sake of the
Kingdom of God, in order to reach the lives of many members of God’s
unredeemed45 household: the human race. This is, in a sense, an exten-

44 L. M. Rulla, F. Imoda, and J. Ridick, Psychological Structure and Vocation, 4.

The word “dominant” indicates the quantitative difference between the vocationer
and every other Christian, since every Christian is called to the discipleship of
Jesus; and this call mainly does not accommodate half-heartedness. In every work
of life, this call demands a complete and whole-hearted acceptance of the spirit of
Jesus of Nazareth.
45 The term “unredeemed” is used here in an extended sense. Used in this sense, it
includes the Pauline sense of those who have been chosen to receive the spirit of
Christ: to have faith in Jesus Christ, and are on that account redeemed, but at the
same time are still unredeemed in the sense that they have not yet attained the full
participation in his glory. (Cf. Rm 8: 23-25: “[...] and not only creation, but all of
us who possess the first fruits of the spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for
our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved [...]
but [...] we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet [...]”. Also relevant
here is 1 Co 13: 12: “Now we are seeing a dim reflection in a mirror; but then we
shall be seeing face to face. The knowledge that I have now is imperfect; but then I
shall know fully as I am known.”) We have been redeemed but not yet redeemed –
“schon und noch nicht”. In our usage here “unredeemed” makes room for those
members of the human race who have not at all heard of Jesus Christ and his
message or even do not believe in him. They too are legitimate members of God’s
household. Since Jesus died for the whole humankind, they too have a share in that
redemptive act wrought by him. Having, however, not at all heard about him or no
faith in him, they are thus also yet unredeemed as well as have yet not attained the
full participation in his glory.

372
sion and/or exceeding of oneself, one’s ego boundaries, which is the
main and basic act and product of love.46 Such an extension is a very
wilful, effortful act47 and, therefore, entails sacrifice. Rulla et al. insist
consequently that the whole personality48 of the seminarian must be con-
sistent with the “self-transcendent” character of the vocation. It is fun-
damentally an act of and a call to charity. Hence they termed the theo-
retical framework of their study, “the theory of self-transcendent
consistency”49. One can see that spiritual values are central in the voca-
tion to the priesthood.

10.3.1.4 The Principal Contents

According to Rulla et al. the principal components of priestly vocational
epistemic framework comprise of values, needs and attitudes, whereby
“values” constitute the most central of them.

10.3.1.4.1 Values
Borrowing from Rulla et al. the relevant values associated with Jesus
Christ and fundamentally involved in the vocation to the priesthood can
be summarized as follows: “union with God and imitation of Christ”.
The authors called these two the “terminal values” or end values. These
values can be attained by concretely living or at least striving after those
basic characteristics of Jesus, as we described above, namely, a life of
chastity, poverty and obedience. These are at the same time the evangeli-
cal counsels. Since they are means of attaining the terminal values, the
authors called them: “the instrumental values”.

46 It is not surprising, therefore, that Jesus made “love” the greatest of all command-
ments. Cf. Mk 12: 30; Mt 22: 37–39; Lk 10: 27; Dt 6: 5; Lv 19: 18.
47 Cf. Peck 89.
We say self-transcendence is a wilful, effortful act, in order to make clear that not
every one responding to the call of God in the seminary or as a priest is actually
involved in this act of self-transcendence. This is typical of those who entirely
identify with the seminary institution or with the Mother Church as a means of
satisfying their need of dependency or power and authority. In such cases, it is no
longer an act of self-transcendence, of exceeding one’s ego boundaries, but rather a
partial or total collapse of the same.
48 Cf. the definition of personality given by Ulich in 2.3.1.2 above.
49 Chapters 1 and 2 of their publications on this are concerned with a detailed explica-
tion of this theme.

373
 Values are related to a person’s life-goals. The question as to the
very nature of values led axiologists to develop the idea of subjective
and objective values. This confusion originates from the fact that values
are not independent of objects or their carriers. They need things, ab-
stract or concrete to reside in. Such carriers are often termed “goods”.
Goods are equal to valuable things, that is, things plus the value they
embody. Values are values. They are neither things nor experiences. Ac-
cording to Frondizi, they are unreal qualities.50 Since qualities cannot
exist by themselves, values belong to that class of objects which Husserl
calls “not independent”. Values are, therefore, properties, qualities sui
generis, which certain objects called “goods” possess. Value is “objec-
tive” if it is independent of a valuating subject. By this is meant, if it
does not owe its “valueness” to the person valuating the object or carrier
at any given time. On the other hand, it is “subjective” if it owes its ex-
istence, meaning and validity to a valuating subject, that is, if its value-
ness is dependent on the meaning it has for the person beholding it.
Sometimes it can be very confusing to hold these two aspects apart.
K. Schaupp proffered a very good and pragmatic solution to that: the
word value or values will be used to designate the objective aspect, while
the word ideals refers to the subjective aspect.51 Values challenge the in-
dividual to take a stand in relation to them. It attracts and sometimes fas-
cinates. Values stand here for those ideals of life a person proposes to
live or to attain. They are those “enduring abstract ideals of a person,
which may be ideal end-states of existence (terminal values or ends) or
ideal modes of conduct (instrumental values or means) which are the
ideal ways of conduct for attaining the terminal values”52. For the semi-
narian, therefore, they are: union with God, imitation of Christ, and the
virtues of poverty, chastity and obedience. According to the Second
Vatican Council these are very essential virtues of the priestly ministry.53
The other principal contents, according to Rulla et al. are needs and at-
titudes.

50 Cf. R. Frondizi, What is value?

51 Schaupp 198.
52 Rulla et al. 32.
53 Cf. Vat. II, OP, Art. 8-11.

374
10.3.1.4.2 Needs
A Need is, on the one hand, “something or some state of affairs which, if
present, would improve the well-being of an organism. A need, in this
sense, may be something basic and biological (food) or it may involve
social and personal factors and derive from complex forms of learning
(achievement, prestige). [On the other hand,] it is an internal state of an
organism that is in need of the thing or state of affairs”54. Some psy-
chologists have attempted providing a list of what these needs are and
working out a hierarchical order among them. For instance, A. Maslow
in his Psychology of Being proffered an order of seven needs, whereby
the lower the need the more prepotent it will become if unfulfilled. The
seven are: 1. Physiological needs: food, water, etc. 2. Safety needs: free-
dom from threat, security, etc. 3. Belongingness and love needs: affilia-
tion, acceptance, etc. 4. Esteem needs: achievement, prestige, status, etc.
5. Cognitive needs: knowledge, understanding, curiosity, etc. 6. Aes-
thetic needs: order, beauty, structure, art, etc. 7. Need for self-actualisa-
tion: self-fulfilment, realization of potential. Thus, the origin of needs
can be physiological (need for food, water, sleep, breath, etc.), cognitive
(need for knowledge, direction, etc.) or psycho-social (need for recogni-
tion or appreciation, order, achievement, friendship or affiliation, etc.) in
nature.
Rulla et al., define needs as “predispositions to action that are inher-
ent in the very nature of the human person, in his organic, emotional, and
spiritual dimensions”55. Modern psychology, they say, “has developed a
list of about twenty needs which are considered fundamental: for exam-
ple, the need of affective dependence, the sexual need, the need for
autonomy, the need for knowledge, etc.”56. Attending to this aspect of
content, the authors drew from H. A. Murray’s list of needs. For the in-
terest of our African readers, we would like to list these needs and their
definitions as reproduced by Rulla et al. Where we feel the need to ex-
patiate a need by indicating the special57 Igbo (African) accent in relation
to a specific need, we shall put them in square brackets:

54 Reber 465.
55 Rulla et al. 7.
56 Ibid.
57 “Special accent” here pertains to those needs that are, to this present day, of very
individual and social importance in the Igbo world in contradistinction to the

375
 Abasement: to submit passively to external force. To accept injury, blame, criti-
cism, punishment. To surrender. To become resigned to fate. To admit inferiority,
error, wrong-doing, or defeat. To confess and atone. To blame, belittle, or mutilate
the self. To seek and enjoy pain, punishment, illness and misfortune.
Achievement: to accomplish something difficult. To master, manipulate, or organ-
ize physical objects, human beings, or ideas. To do this as rapidly and as independ-
ently as possible. To overcome obstacles and attain a high standard. To excel one-
self. To rival and surpass others. To increase self-regard by the successful exercise
of talent.
Acquirement: to gain possession and property, to get goods or money for oneself.
Affiliation: to draw near and enjoyably cooperate or reciprocate with an allied other
(another who resembles the subject or likes the subject). To please and win the af-
fection of a cathected object. To adhere and remain loyal to a friend. (Two-way re-
lationship. See succorance) Negative schizoid.
[The Igbo place a very great importance on the need for a wide range of network of
relationships. In accordance with their world-view, they express this thus: Onye
nwelu mmadu, ka onye nwelu ego (he who has affiliations is richer or greater than a
person who is rich, who has just money, but no friends/affiliation)]
Aggression: to overcome opposition forcefully. To fight. To revenge an injury. To
attack, injure or kill another. To oppose forcefully or punish another.
Autonomy: to get free, shake off restraint, break out of confinement. To resist coer-
cion and restriction. To avoid or quit activities prescribed by domineering authori-
ties. To be independent and free to act according to impulse. To be unattached, ir-
responsible. To defy convention. [Not all aspects of this definition apply to the
highly cherished need of the Igbo for autonomy. They love their independence and
detest domineering authorities. Among the many peoples of Nigeria, the Igbo are
known to have no tradition of kings, or executive rulers. Somehow ultra republican,
they say: Igbo enwe eze (the Igbo are not used to authoritative leaders or kings)].
Avoid censure or failure: defendence – to defend the self against assault, criticism
or blame. To conceal or justify a misdeed, failure or humiliation. To vindicate the
ego. Passive conformity, or Infavoidance – to avoid humiliation. To quit embar-
rassing situations or to avoid conditions which may lead to belittlement: the scorn,
derision, or indifference of others. To refrain from action because of the fear of
failure.
Change (Novelty): to change, to alter his circumstances, environment, associations,
activities, to avoid routine or sameness.
Knowledge (Curiosity): to know, to satisfy curiosity, to explore, to acquire infor-
mation or knowledge.
Submission (Deference): to admire and support a superior. To praise, honour or
eulogize. To yield eagerly to the influence of an allied other. To emulate an exem-
plar. To conform to custom. Active conformity. [To some extent, one can include

Western world, where they have been practically relegated to the status of relics of
time long past.

376
 here the importance the Igbo place on respect for elders, a need much cherished
among them].
Domination: to control one’s human environment. To influence or direct the be-
haviour of others by suggestion, seduction, persuasion, or command or enticement.
To dissuade, restrain or prohibit.
Excitement: to be easily aroused, stimulated, excited or agitated.
Exhibition: to make an impression. To be seen and heard. To excite, amaze, fasci-
nate, entertain, shock, intrigue, amuse or entice others.
Avoid injury (Harm avoidance): to avoid pain, physical injury, illness and death. to
escape from a dangerous situation. To take precautionary measures.
To nurture (Nurturance): to give sympathy and gratify the needs of a helpless ob-
ject: an infant or any object that is weak, disabled, tired, inexperienced, infirm, de-
feated, humiliated, lonely, dejected, sick, mentally confused. To assist an object in
danger. To feed, help, support, console, protect, comfort, nurse, heal.
Organization (Order): to put things in order. To achieve cleanliness, arrangement,
organization, balance, neatness, tidiness, and precision.
Playfulness (Play): to act for ‘fun’ without further purpose. To like to laugh and
make jokes. To seek enjoyable relaxation of stress. To participate in games, sports,
dancing, drinking parties, cards. Daydreaming.
Recognition (Social approval): to gain prestige, to win honours, to get praise and
recognition.
Sexual gratification: to form and further an erotic relationship. To have sexual in-
tercourse.
Succorance: to have one’s needs gratified by the sympathetic aid of an allied ob-
ject. To be nursed, supported, sustained, surrounded, protected, loved, advised,
guided, indulged, forgiven, consoled. To always have a supporter. One way rela-
tionship.
Counteraction: to strive persistently to overcome difficult, frustrating or humiliat-
ing or embarrassing experiences and failures versus avoidance or hasty withdrawal
58
from tasks or situations that might result in such outcomes.

These needs are fundamental and common to every human being. Needs,
like values, are just needs. They are neither good nor bad. They exert a
lot of influence on our actions and behaviours. Our specific modes of re-
action to or management of the needs are acquired and therefore, cultur-
ally determined. As a result, it is in the management of the respective
needs that problems or complications arise, since their influence is very
often ambivalent.59 For instance, a person can react to the need for
achievement by mobilizing all his energy, talents and determination to-
wards attaining the set goal. In the process of this, he can also arouse and

58 Rulla et al. 203-204.

59 Cf. Schaupp 202.

377
mobilize the interest of others and request their aid for his project and at
the end show appreciation for their assistance. This is a positive ap-
proach or response to this need. Another person may, on the contrary, re-
act to the same need in a less constructive or even in a destructive way.
He can, for instance, employ dubious means to do away with all sus-
pected hindrances towards achieving his goal.
Albeit needs are very ambivalent in nature, Rulla et al. indicated
that there are some which are more compatible with the Christian values,
while some are less compatible. Some others comport themselves very
neutrally in relation to the values. Those less compatible ones often give
rise to some irresolvable conflicts in the individual. Those needs com-
patible with the self-transcendent character of the values of the priestly
vocation are said to be consonant or consistent (e.g., counteraction,
achievement, affiliation, submission, etc.). The ones that are less com-
patible are dissonant or inconsistent (e.g., abasement, acquirement, suc-
corance, avoidance of failure, etc.).
Human beings have several and, very often contradictory or oppos-
ing, needs (for instance, need for autonomy and affective dependence).
The natural tendency or need to avoid pain and frustration leads the indi-
vidual to either face up to the contradictory need and gratify it or find
other channels for its gratification or to avoid it by suppressing it or de-
nying its existence. Thus in an unattended state the need leaves a lacuna,
which instead of helping to uplift the quality of life of the person, rather
forms a hindrance to it.

10.3.1.4.3 Attitudes
Attitudes are internal affective orientations towards objects and situa-
tions. In social psychology, attitude is understood as a mental and neural
state of readiness of a person to respond to objects and situations with
which it is related.60 In P. Sbandi’s German translation61, he emphasized

60 G. W. Allport, Attitudes, 798-884. Cf. also B. F. Green, Attitude Measurement,

335. See also Footnote 61 below.
61 “Einstellung ist ein mentaler und neuraler Bereitschaftszustand, der durch die
Erfahrung strukturiert ist, und einen steuernden dynamischen Einfluß auf die Reak-
tionen eines Individuums gegenüber allen Objekten und Situationen hat, mit denen
dieses Individuum eine Beziehung eingeht”. The emphasis and the translation are
ours. Sbandi offered this definition during his lecture on 13.3.1991. Cf. also the
translation of M. Rosch and D. Frey, Soziale Einstellungen, 297.

378
that this “mental and neural state of readiness” is structured by experi-
ence. The translation draws our attention to the fact that attitudes are not
innate states of readiness or disposition. They are acquired. They depend
very much on environmental62 influences. Consequently they vary from
culture to culture and from reference group to reference group. Attitudes
are regarded as intermediate variables since they act as “mediators” be-
tween the individual and the object of his perception. They act as the
“mouthpiece” or the expressive organs for the values and the needs of an
individual. Attitudes, like needs, are not objects of direct observation.
They can only be inferred from a person’s or a group’s concrete and ob-
served behaviour. Besides, some attitudes have a good measure of cog-
nitive affective consistency, thereby displaying a higher temporal stabil-
ity. Such attitudes are good predictors of behaviour or behaviour
tendency.63
In contradistinction to “beliefs” and “behaviour intentions”64, atti-
tudes are emotional or affective reactions towards the object in question
(e.g. Emeka appreciates and encourages the participation of women in
the daily life of the Church; Uche loves the seminary rules). Belief refers
simply to what a person thinks about the object of his attitude (Emeka
believes that women have all along been at the most decisive turning
points in salvation history; Uche believes that obeying the seminary rules
is the safest way to becoming a priest). Behaviour intentions are predis-
positions to behave or act attitudinally in specific ways towards objects
of attitude; that means, they characterize the intention or readiness to
carry out the said action or to omit it (Emeka intends to endorse the letter
calling for higher offices of responsibility for women in the Church;
Uche intends to keep the seminary rules to the letter). Attitudes, like val-
ues, are relatively enduring action tendencies. Nevertheless, they differ
from values. Values “are relatively general action tendencies [e.g. re-
spect for elders], while attitudes pertain to the more specific and change-
able activities [e.g., seminarians, priests and religious are first grade
Christians, while the others are mediocre Christians]”65. Attitudes are,

62 “Environmental” in this work, we call to mind, refers to the psycho-social world of

the person.
63 Cf. Stahlberg und Frey 164.
64 Ibid., 146.
65 Rulla et al. 32.

379
besides, more numerous than values. Unlike needs and values, they are
most amenable to cultural influences.
The Functions of attitude
This function of a “go-between” makes the role of attitudes very out-
standing: They stand at the service of both values and needs. A person’s
(attitudinal) reaction towards a particular object is an indication of the
psychological importance or meaning the person attaches to the said ob-
ject. Attitudes serve, therefore, as indicators of those values the person
associates with the object. Summarizing the various studies66 on the use-
fulness of attitudes for those persons who possess them, Stahlberg and
Frey67 came out with four main functions:
(1) D. Katz, taking off from a psychoanalytic point of view, found out
that attitudes have a self-defence function. A person can take up attitudes
or maintain the ones he has already in order to defend himself against
some inner negative conflicts. In this respect he can use the defence
strategies of rationalization or projection. These devices should help him
cope with the conflict, where the ultimate goal is repression, which is at
the same time a defence strategy. For instance, a seminarian who has dif-
ficulties in entertaining a healthy relationship with people of the opposite
sex, may find himself in the forefront of those who condemn and advo-
cate expulsion for fellow seminarians who write love letters or entertain
love relationships with women. Thus he tries to cope with his own diffi-
culties by fighting them in others through the mechanism of projection,
and of course by repressing these feelings in himself.
(2) Furthermore, Katz indicates that attitudes have the function of exp-
ressing one’s own values and self-actualisation. He assumes that human
beings have the need to express attitudes which convey their own central
value concepts or important aspects of their self-concept. That means
that individuals develop attitudes which help to anchor or ground their
actions or behaviours in the values, which they hold in high esteem. For
instance, regular visits to friends and relatives. They help the self-
actualisation of a person who is absolutely convinced of the importance
of maintaining a wide network of affiliations, not just to enhance one’s
social status, but also to keep abreast of the happenings in the world out-

66 Cf. D. Katz, The functional Approach to the Study of Attitude; W. J. McGuire, The
nature of Attitudes and Attitude Change.
67 Stahlberg und Frey 155-156. Cf. also Rulla et al. 77-78.

380
side the seminary – expansion of knowledge. Attitudinally he reacts to
rules restricting regular visits to friends and relatives with a sneer.
(3) Instrumental, utilitarian or adaptation function: The expression of an
attitude can help someone to attain a desired goal, like reward or privi-
lege, or to escape some uncomfortable events, like punishment. For in-
stance, a student who wants to gain the favour of the Rector, can assume
or express those attitudes he believes to be similar to the Rector’s or at
least acceptable to the Rector.
(4) Knowledge and economic function: Attitudes serve as a frame order-
ing and organizing the myriads of information we receive daily. They
help us classify and categorize new information and experiences ac-
cording to already existing evaluative dimensions and grids. Thus they
help us simplify and arrange the complex world of our experiences in a
more understandable form. In this way, they make our world somewhat
predictable. Furthermore, they filter the information we get to suit the
existing frames and concepts, and consequently direct and guide our
search for new information68. Attitudes influence our knowledge of what

68 Cf. the theory of cognitive dissonance by L. Festinger. According to this theory,

persons generally feel the need or urge to actively search for information in relation
to the particular objects which is congruent or in consonance with their attitudes
towards those objects, and to avoid or shun contrary or dissonant information, in
order to stabilize decisions already taken or their attitudes towards the said objects,
and in this way maintain cognitive consonance and/or avoid cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive dissonance means an aversive feeling of cognitive tension. To keep off
cognitive dissonance, persons usually avoid incompatible information and rather
actively look out for compatible and congruous information with regard to the
object of knowledge or evaluation in question. See, L. Festinger, A Theory of Cog-
nitive Dissonance. Standford 1957; Cf. also F. Heider, The Psychology of Inter-
personal Relations. N.Y. 1958; H. H. Kelley, Causal schemata in the attribution
process. N.J. 1972. This confirms the stabilizing effect of operational closure in
autonomous entities, and by extension epistemic systems are autonomous unities.
The theories of cognitive consistence all go from the assumption that persons very
much aim at keeping their cognition (beliefs, attitudes, perceptions of their own
behaviour and action) as far as possible free of tension. That is why G. Bateson
declared that: “Mammals in general, and we among them, care extremely, not
about episodes, but about the patterns of their relationships [...]. They are concer-
ned with patterns of relationship, with where they stand in love, hate, respect, dep-
endency, trust, and similar abstractions, vis-à-vis somebody else. This is where it
hurts us to be put in the wrong. If we trust and find that that which we trusted was
untrustworthy [...] we feel bad. The pain that human beings and all other mammals

381
we know regarding the attitude object and the way we know it. Likewise
attitudes are relatively amenable to new knowledge, although they do
this only very slowly.
Since they are acquired response readiness or tendencies, they can
originate from values or from needs, or even from both at the same time.
For instance, the readiness to help, to be at the service of others, to attend
to someone in need, may arise from the virtue of Christian charity or
from the need for succorance or affective dependency, – according to the
principle: do ut des (give in order to get). Rulla et al. point out that
seemingly positive attitudes may in the course of time assume the status
of values. For instance, self-discipline, subduing one’s inordinate de-
sires, can take the form of a virtue or value, as a means of attaining the
terminal goals – e.g. the virtue of mortification. However, it could origi-
nate from the unconscious need for sexual gratification, i.e. from the fear
of it, since this is dissonant with the declared values of priestly vocation.
As we have seen, attitudes can arise from values or from needs. As
a result the functions we were able to separate from each other can be
embodied in one single attitude. That means, in concrete life a particular
attitude can have several functions at the same time. It may even happen
that the more obvious function is not even the main operative one. For
instance:
69
In an interview Stan , a fourth year theology seminarian, stressed several times the
importance of carrying out orders or instructions of those higher than oneself in
dignity or those in authority in the seminary without much hesitation. If one analy-
ses this, one can come out with different functions of the attitude which Stan ex-
pressed above. For instance:
– It can serve as a means of self-defence (Stan is known among his peers for being
very recalcitrant and stubborn when it comes to carrying out instructions from
other persons, especially those supposed to be authorities. Since this has very often
brought him into trouble with some junior authorities and some fellow students, he
hopes perhaps that maintaining this attitude will help him cope with this problem
and also with the uncomfortable subconscious feeling of isolation and prospects of
being without real affiliations).

can suffer from this type of error is extreme” (cf. Bateson, Steps to an Ecology of
Mind, 478).
69 This is a pseudonym.

382
 – It can serve as an expression of the virtue of obedience (Obedience to one’s sen-
70
iors or those in authority in the seminary or in the diocese).
– It can be at the service of one’s own advantage – utilitarian function (Being him-
self in his last year of seminary training, he expects through the enforcement of this
tacit seminary rule an unalloyed obedience or subordination or compliance of those
below him but perhaps elder to him in age, whom he would otherwise not dare to
command around outside the seminary. Besides, he might be expecting to be con-
sidered favourably as an obedient seminarian by the seminary and diocesan
authorities and so ultimately have good chances of being admitted to the holy or-
der).

From the above one can see that it is of central importance to decipher
which function of attitude is most dominant when considering a conflict
event.

10.3.2 The Centrality of the Contents

By way of conclusion, the contents of the frame of reference of the

seminarian are the ideals of the profession of and vocation to the Catho-
lic priesthood. These are the five values mentioned above, the attitudes
and those needs compatible with the values on one side, and the values
(terminal and instrumental), attitudes and needs he acquired along the
way of socialization from the more or less christianised social and re-
ligious milieu in which he lives or grew up, and to which he returns
when not in the seminary, on other side. The contents consist, therefore,
of values, attitudes, and needs.
As we have seen, these three contents are very crucial for the inter-
play and the quality of the interplay between the individual and the or-
ganization he belongs or intends to belong to. They embody in a very
compact form the past experiences of the person and serve as the yard-
stick – organization and order – for measuring the intensity and direction
of his future actions and behaviours. For the life of any institution and
for the health of its members in relation to the goals it is out to achieve,
these three dimensions are more basic and essential than mere skills and
capabilities which the members possess and/or should possess. Accord-
ing to K. Berkel, “the quality of organizations and institutions are essen-

70 By “senior” we mean those ahead of oneself in the seminary or in the house of

formation or in the ministry.

383
tially dependent on how far all their members are ready to or do person-
ally acquire and represent the ‘spirit’ and the ‘ethic’ of their organization
or institution”71. Furthermore, the consideration of this dimension is very
necessary especially in professions that have basically and chiefly to
with human beings. Berkel stresses that individual skills like conducting
and leading discussions, conferences, retreats, counselling, management
of offices, delivering sermons or homilies and the like, primarily gain
their full effectiveness only on the background of a marked and distinc-
tive value orientation. Without such a value orientation they degenerate
into pure and mere social technique.72

10.3.3 The Structure

In the cognitive organization and assessment of any given event or situa-

tion, the individual carries out this operation not only in terms of what
aspect(s) of his personality is (are) involved: values, attitudes and needs,
but also, depth psychologically speaking, in terms of the various compo-
nents of his personality. That means: in terms of what he is at any given
moment – his “actual-self” – and what he would like to be – his “Ideal-
self”73. In other words, in terms of his present and futures states. These
are the structures within which the contents are arranged. The frame of
reference of a person has, therefore, not only a content but also a struc-
ture. The structure organizes and arranges the content, while the content
at the same time expresses itself through the structure.
Content asks the question about what the frame of reference is made
up of, the structure asks the question of how it is arranged. In other
words, in the cognitive and affective assessment of any given event,
situation or object in relation to self, one’s action or behaviour in relation
to the event is consciously and/or unconsciously directed by and organ-
ized around the questions: what aspects of my personality are affected
and how are they affected? Does it or do they appeal to or impress my
ideals or value concepts, and/or offer or hold prospects of meeting my
array of needs, and/or harmonize with my attitude to life or towards such

71 Berkel 144. (Translation and emphasis are ours).

72 Ibid.
73 Rulla et al. 31-32; See also Schaupp 205-206.

384
objects or events? Does the event or situation affect my present and/or
my future – what I am and what I would like to be? Human beings react
to events and situations because of their relevance to their present and
future states. Their response to them tailors itself in correspondence with
their perception and assessment of the event or situation. The centrality
of the importance the persons ascribes to that event or situation depends
as well on how crucial and weighty it seems to be for the person’s an-
ticipated future state. This makes all the more sense when we recall that
the human being lives primarily in the dimensions of time and only sec-
ondarily in those of space. The manner and the actual anticipation of a
future state is always on the background of the past and present states.
The present remains, however, the fulcrum on which the past and the
future exercise their various influences.
According to Rulla et al., “from the point of view of structure, the
personality may be considered on two levels: the ideal-self which is con-
scious, and the actual-self which may be either conscious or subcon-
scious. On the one hand, therefore, there is what the individual desires to
be or to become; on the other hand, there is what he really is, which he
may or may not know, and also the way in which he acts habitually”74.
Let us look at these aspects:

10.3.3.1 The Actual-Self

The actual-self can be inferred from the needs and partly from the atti-
tudes of a person.75 It comprises of
(1) the manifest self-concepts or conscious self: This aspect corresponds
to the person’s cognition about himself or his present behaviour. It in-
cludes all his personal qualities and characteristics which he himself is
conscious of. Simply put: it means what the person thinks he usually is
or does.
(2) Subconscious or hidden self – Latent-self: This component signifies
all the characteristics and qualities of a person which he himself is not
conscious of but which can be made manifest to others by means of spe-
cial instruments like the projective tests.

74 Ibid., 6f.
75 Schaupp 205.

385
(3) The social-self: This stands for all the characteristics of a person
which he and his reference group or environment are aware of. That is,
the person and his qualities as seen by others – the “me”.

10.3.3.2 The Ideal-Self

The nature of the Ideal-self can be inferred from the values and partly
too from the attitudes a person or an institution consciously declares or
makes manifest. Similar to the actual-self, the ideal-self of the seminar-
ian is composed of
(1) Self-ideals: This aspect signifies all those ideals – value and goal
concepts – a person values for himself, i.e., all the ideals he considers
very important and imperative for his life irrespective of his membership
or non-membership to any particular institution. It means all those ideals
the seminarian values for himself irrespective of the fact that he is in the
seminary. The self-ideal stands for what the person would like to be or to
do.
(2) Institutional ideals: This aspect stands for all the ideals of the voca-
tional institution, to which the person belongs or wants to belong, as per-
ceived and understood by he himself. That is, those ideals the seminarian
believes that the seminary institution values and expects the seminarians
to assume or adopt; thus, all the expectations – as perceived by the semi-
narian himself – that the seminary holds for her members. The institu-
tional ideal, therefore, signifies the person’s role concept.

10.3.3.3 The Institutional Ideal and Role Concept

In social psychology role refers generally to any pattern of behaviour in-
volving all the expectations which a given social group wants an indi-
vidual to adopt, and indeed, encouraged to perform in a given social
situation.76 Thus, these expectations not only have implications for the
individual’s behaviour pattern but also for his external appearance and
for his “mental outlook or cast of mind”.77 In a somewhat general tone,
however, T. R. Sarbin offers a definition of role which we find very use-
ful as it differentiates between “role” and “position”. According to him

76 Cf. Reber 650. Also cf. G. F. Müller und M. Müller-Andritzky, Norm, Rolle,
Status, 251.
77 Cf. Müller und Müller-Andritzky 251.

386
role can be defined as “the organized actions of a person in a given posi-
tion [...]”78, whereby position is defined as a cognitive “set of [role] ex-
pectations or acquired anticipatory reactions”79. We shall not concern
ourselves here with the question of how roles are acquired. Suffice it to
say that they are units of culture and are acquired either through inten-
tional instruction or incidental learning or both.80 In relation to vocation-
ers, one can say that actually people choose professions where they think
they can implement or realize their hopes and desires, their self-ideals.
And by assuming the role ascribed them by the profession, they hope to
achieve their goal. Going from this basic assumption, Rulla et al. postu-
late “that an individual enters religious vocation because he wants to re-
alize his self-ideal in the sphere of a particular religious institution. In
this sense it can be said that religious vocation is the implementation of
the self-ideal in a given situation”81. The institutional ideals as perceived
by the individual together with his own self-ideal, i.e., what he wants for
himself, constitute what the authors call the “self-ideal-in-situation”. By
this they mean the personal ideals of the individual as he hopes they can
be realized in a given situation, thus ultimately through the adoption and
internalisation of the role expectations. The self-ideal-in-situation has, in
effect, an integrative orientative function. A person’s perception of his
“role” and “position” in a given social situation gives orientation to his
behaviour and experiencing. His expectations of himself and that of oth-
ers in relation to him are, in a social context, organized around his role.
The actual-self (consisting of needs and attitudes) and the ideal-self
(consisting of values and attitudes) with their respective components,
thus, constitute the structure of the frame of reference of the seminarian.

78 T. R. Sarbin, Role Theory, 225.

79 Ibid.
80 For further reading, one may consult the article of T. R. Sarbin cited above. Cf.
also Rulla et al. 33 and 67: The acquirement of the role concept can be a conse-
quence of group pressure. This is often the case, where a system uses fear
enormously in its administration.
81 Rulla et al. 65.

387
10.4 The Conflict in Three Folds

The relationship between these two structural components is tension- or

conflict-laden. This conflict can be identified on three levels. (1) By the
very nature of the human being as a being characterized by “is and not
yet”, he is bound to be experiencing an inherent tension between what he
is (his actual-self) and what he would like to be or do (his ideal-self). He
is drawn between what he presently is and what he wants to be. His per-
ception of his imperfect present state moves him to strive to realize a
more perfect state, that is, towards his ideal. Actually within this span lie
the great prospects of personal transformation and development: by
striving to achieve a desired state, an ideal, one can be transformed in-
ternally.
On the religious and theological levels, this form of conflict can be
witnessed in the life of the African Christian. The form of Christianity
the African inherited is the European and North American, i.e. Western
interpretations of the Jesuanic Message. In the words of E. Blyden, “[...]
Western Christianity [...] is Christianity as taught at Nazareth, in Jerusa-
lem and on the Mount of Beatitudes, modified to suit the European mind
or idiosyncrasies”82. As a result, there are bound to be fundamental dif-
ferences between the European expression and the African understanding
and translation of the same. For the African, this difference will be a dif-
ference of orthodoxy and orthopraxis, since his only control instance is
the European world and ecclesiological definitions, which he inherited.
As a rule, he dared not subject any of such definitions to critical obser-
vations. In view of this situation, there are bound to be cognitive dis-
crepancies in his experience of the daily ecclesial realities on the back-
ground of his own native African world view: The (cognitive) world
whence he comes and that of the Christian religion to which he now ad-
heres.
In this connection it is pertinent to point out that for the Igbo semi-
narian of today, the situation has certainly changed enormously in many
regards. Many of the seminarians were born into Christian homes. Irre-
spective of this fact, however, a closer observation of the daily life real-
ity among the Igbo show that the basic tenets of the (African) Igbo native

82 Bediako, Christianity in Africa, 11.

388
philosophy, psychology and theology are still very much alive in their
lives. We can say that the seminarian experiences this first type of con-
flict as far as it concerns his present, actual world view, and that of the
seminary/Church institution he fervently strives to acquire.
The tension arising from the conflicts between the actual-self and
the ideal-self can pose some unmanageable difficulties for the seminar-
ian. This can be the case, when the ideals are too high, rigid or too ab-
solute, so that they remain a probing, searching eye, a question-mark on
every action of the person, always ready to “punish”, since it is likely
that no concrete behaviour of his will satisfy them; the behaviour will
always fall short of their standards. The incapability of a constructive
conflict management can also arise from a situation where a psycho-
pathological disorder is involved which results in an erratic fusion or dis-
solution of the boundary between the actual-self and the ideal-self.83
(2) Depth psychology has shown that repressed needs and feelings often
find their way into the subconscious realms of the personality. Like pris-
oners and slaves they constantly keep intruding into the day-to-day ac-
tivities of the person through unprecedented outbreaks. By so doing, they
exert a lot of influence on the person’s actions and behaviours. Besides,
many things we learnt as children through the process of socialization,
but which we are no longer conscious of, do exercise similar influence
on the ways we perceive (cognitive), evaluate (evaluative), and are dis-
posed to react to (affective-conative) objects/people, situations and
events. The words of Rulla et al. throw more light on this point: “It has
been observed that the experiences of early infancy, such as the sociali-
zation process in the family and the school, are correlated with the meth-
ods of personal control and with the capacity to postpone gratifications
and resist temptations”84. Also parental image, values and expectations,
which have been internalised and are no longer objects of our conscious
awareness, exert their own influence.85 This condition can very often
lead to tensions between the conscious and the subconscious or hidden
aspects of the actual-self. Such a tension can be so strong that the person
becomes so occupied with gratifying his repressed needs or living out

83 This is often the case by borderline personality disorder. Cf. J. J. Kreisman and H.
Straus, Ich hasse dich – verlaß’ mich nicht, 247-248, and O. F. Kernberg,
Psychodynamische Therapie bei Borderline-Patienten, 13-16 (especially p. 16).
84 Rulla et al. 105-106.
85 Cf. A. Godin, The Psychology of Religious Vocations, 35-54.

389
such unconscious demands that he is impaired in responding appropri-
ately to his present environment. (3) Very often the ideals projected and
valued by an institution for its members are in many respects different
and often discrepant from those personal ideals and goals of the individ-
ual. This discrepancy can also be the root of some discomfort in the per-
son, of tension between the personal and the institutional aspects of his
ideal-self. Only in such cases where the individual identifies so much
with the institution, that the ideals of the latter become identical with his
own ideals and goals, that the tension can be avoided.

10.5 Inconsistency of Variables with the Five Values

How ever the relationships between the different structures with their re-
spective contents are configured, the point of reference for their consis-
tency with the priestly vocation remains the five central values of Chris-
tian life. Since conflict usually arises depending on the nature and
configuration of the contents and their structural relationships, it is perti-
nent to ask, whether there are some aspects of the content, i.e., some
variables that are less compatible with the central values of the Christian
life – the terminal values of union with God and the imitation of Christ
and the instrumental values of obedience, poverty and chastity – with
their special accent for the vocationer to the priesthood. In their research,
basing on their theoretical framework, Rulla et al. made the following
assumption: if we take “the five values as the ultimate points of refer-
ence for self-transcendence, psychological observation reveals consis-
tencies or inconsistencies between a person’s actual-self and the ideal-
self. These consistencies or inconsistencies exist in spite of the difference
of content or presentation that the vocational institutions or groups adopt
for these five values as norms, or that the individuals take on as their
ideals. For example, aggression and exhibition are not consonant with
the five values”86. Their research findings confirmed this. Besides, the
inherent tension between the actual-self (needs and attitudes) and the
ideal-self (values and attitudes), between “is and not-yet”, makes such

86 Rulla et al. 38-39.

390
psychological constellations possible. Thus Rulla et al. affirm that, as far
as the seminarian is concerned, there are bound to be some values, needs
and attitudes, which are less compatible, while others are neutral or
compatible with the five values.
Taking from Murray’s catalogue of needs, they for instance, con-
sider seven needs/attitudes to be vocationally dissonant and seven others
to be vocationally neutral or less dissonant. The vocationally dissonant
ones are: aggression, sex87, abasement, harm avoidance, exhibition, suc-

87 This need/attitude will remain dissonant for vocationers to the Western or Roman
Catholic priesthood as long as celibacy continues to play a central role in the
church’s life and to be compulsory for the Roman Catholic priests. This categoriza-
tion may some day change, if following the current discussions on the liberalization
of celibacy for priests, the priests become free to live as celibates or to marry. It is
an unfortunate development that the priestly ministry, especially the holy sacra-
ment of the Eucharist, has been made essentially dependent on celibacy. This
sacra-ment, defined by the Vat. Council II as the fons et culmen totius vita
ecclesiae: the source and the apex of the entire life of the church, which is:
spreading the Good News, and hallowing the People of God, and therefore, herself
through the other sacraments (Vat. II, PO Art. 5), is simply too central to be tied
down to “accidentals” like celibacy.
The entire discussion on the problem of celibacy in the Catholic church today is
concentrated mainly in the West. It has been exacerbated by the rapid decrease or
decline of the number of ordained ministers in the church in the north-western
hemisphere. Many countries in the southern hemisphere, especially in Black
Africa, are meanwhile occupied with other more fundamental existential issues:
putting up with unrelenting assaults of political instability, economic misery, social
disintegration as a result of modernisation and technological invasion, cognitive
homelessness, etc., so much so that the church in those countries serves as the most
stable and unifying enclave for the people. The “vocation boom” she currently
enjoys can be attributed, among other factors, to the fascination she, as a result,
radiates, coupled with a certain economic and social security she promises. In view
of this she seems to have no time to look inward or to occupy herself with such
structural issues, like whether the priest should be free to marry or remain celibate.
Besides, she is not yet confronted with the socio-pastoral problems facing the
mother churches in the north.
In the north-western hemisphere the number of those registering for theological
studies is on the increase by a simultaneous continuous decrease in the number of
those eventually taking up the priestly vocation. And celibacy stands high up as
one of the hindrances. The tone of the discussions is in the direction of giving
compulsory celibacy up, leaving the decisions on the most appropriate solution to
that pastoral predicament to be determined by the exigencies and needs of the
particular local church, admitting the so called viri probati – i.e. worthy married

391
corance, defendence. The other seven, which they consider vocationally
neutral or less dissonant are: achievement, affiliation, nurturance, under-
standing, domination, order, counteraction. Their following example
throws some more light on this point:

The need/attitude of ‘achievement’ (to accomplish something difficult, to overcome

obstacles and attain a high standard, to excel, etc.,) or the need/attitude of ‘counter-
action’ (to strive persistently to overcome difficult, frustrating, humiliating or em-
barrassing experiences and failures etc.) seem to be compatible with obedience. On
the other hand, obedience seems less compatible with the need/attitude of aggres-
sion (to overcome opposition forcefully, to revenge and insult, to attack, to slander,

men – to the sacrament of the holy order, etc. We are of the opinion that, the
solution to this problem must not be the same in the whole Christendom, if one is
very serious with the concept of unity in diversity. The renowned professor of
dogmatic theology and liturgy, Kurt Koch, the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of
Basel in Switzerland, shares the same view. For instance, he argued in an
interview: As far as the situation in Europe is concerned “it would be probably an
illusion to look for an ecclesiastically universal solution to this problem. That is
why it will be important, that the various continental Churches look for their
individual solutions. Specifically, for instance, I think of the question of the so
called viri probati (the priestly ordination of qualified married men). The solution
of that question does not accommodate any further postponement, if we do not
want to lose the basic structure of our Church progressively [...]. This is actually no
absolute novelty. Viri probati exist already in our Church: For instance, there has
been since the 60s married reformed Church pastors who got converted into our
Church and became priests, while of course, still remaining in their married state.
Therefore, this idea is not completely new. It is just an extension of the budding
possibilities we already have” (Interview with the Neue Luzerner Zeitung, 23. Mai
1996/Nr. 119, p. 11; transl. is ours.). This struggle of the aging Mother Church in
Europe to salvage her basic structure, namely, the office of ministers to the Word
of God and to the sacraments, from the steadily growing threat of extinction,
should be a lesson for our young growing Church in Africa. There must have to be
a radical reconsideration of the conditions or requirements for admission to the
priesthood and a shift in emphasis from celibacy to chastity. Such a shift would
also create room for addressing the problem and issue of sexism in our Church.
Since chastity, and not celibacy, is one of the instrumental values – open to every
Christian, irrespective of one’s gender and state in life –, the demands of the Good
News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, could be more appropriately met, if this virtue
receives a better attention than has hitherto been the case. To dispense the fruits of
the salvation wrought by our Lord Jesus Christ, in active obedience to his injun-
ction: go into the world win followers and disciples for me and for the Kingdom of
God (cf. Mt 28: 18-20), one does not have to become a eunuch. (Cf. as well: Ac.
15). This injunction is valid for women as well.

392
 to maliciously make fun of and to depreciate etc.), or with the pride expressed in
the need/attitude of ‘avoid censure of failure’ (avoid the situations which could
bring about a sense of inferiority, to conceal or justify a misdeed, failure or hu-
miliation etc.). The same applies to poverty: it seems to be compatible with the
need/attitude of affiliation (to adhere and remain loyal to a friend, to cooperate or
to reciprocate with another) or the need/attitude of nurturance (to give sympathy
and gratify the needs of a helpless object, to help an object in danger, to feed, help,
console etc.). On the other hand, poverty seems less compatible with the need/atti-
tude of succorance (to have one’s needs gratified by the sympathetic aid of an al-
lied object, to be nursed, supported, sustained, indulged, to always have a sup-
porter) or the need/attitude of exhibition, (to make an impression, vanity in dress, to
attract attention, to shock, intrigue, entice others), or again, the need/attitude of
harm avoidance (to take precautionary measures involving expense in order to
avoid pain, physical injury, illness, to escape from a dangerous situation, to look
88
for comfort in order to avoid stressful situations) .

Very often it is not easy to decipher the centrality of such inconsisten-

cies. They are debilitating depending on how dissonant the variables are
in relation to the central values of priestly vocation. They are as well ac-
cessible to the individual depending on whether they are on a more or
less conscious level of his personality. The farther away they are from
consciousness, the less the person can be aware of their root. These in-
consistencies manifest themselves on several areas of the person’s life.
Beside the fact that they disrupt the person’s feeling and sense of inner
peace and equilibrium, they may impinge very much on his capacity to
integrate socially well.

10.6 Intrapersonal Vocational Consistencies and Inconsisten-

cies

Rulla et al. distinguish four types of intrapersonal vocational consisten-

cies and inconsistencies. The consistencies and inconsistencies are based
on the relationships between the three basic elements which make up the
personality of the vocationer: the five vocational values, the attitudes and
the needs. One presupposes that the five vocational values are in one

88 Ibid., 40.

393
way or the other present in the person entering the seminary. Should this
not be the case, then the probability that the inconsistencies will be even
greater is very high. According to K. Schaupp a consideration of these
consistencies and inconsistencies could be done from a vertical or from a
horizontal perspective. The vertical perspective corresponds to the to-
pographical personality model of S. Freud:

(1) Vertical perspective

(i) Inconsistencies on the conscious level: This is the case where there
exists an incongruity between the various needs, attitudes and values,
which the person is aware of, but for one reason or the other does not
want to get rid of at the time being. He can get rid of it, if he wants.
(ii) Inconsistencies on the preconscious level: This type of inconsistency
is given where there is an incongruity between the various needs. The
person is vaguely aware of this but at the same time he cannot exactly
say what it is. Since the person is not fully aware of it, it is much more
difficult to access this kind of inconsistency than the previous conscious
type. (iii) Inconsistencies on the subconscious level: This is the case
where there is an incongruity between various needs or where the con-
flictual aftermath of such an incongruity appears to be very threatening
for the person, so that he feels himself compelled to repress the needs or
to push the conflict aside or to screen it off totally.
From this, one can say that the more an inconsistency lies on the
conscious level, the more accessible and also amenable it is to correction
and to resolution. Such a conflict gives rise to growth. It is termed a
positive creative conflict. On the other hand, the less conscious an incon-
sistency is, the more difficult it is to resolve it. Such retards growth and
is not normally experienced as creative.

(2) Horizontal perspective

(i) Social consistency: Social consistency is given where the person can
live independently and at the same time is socially well adapted, for in-
stance in the seminary community. Both his needs and his attitudes are
consistent with the vocational values. For instance, the need for
achievement is consistent with a generous attitude towards the fulfilment
of charity. This sort of consistency is called “social” because the person
is socially well adapted. (ii) Psychological consistency: This is found in
persons who really live very convincingly but on the other hand have

394
difficulties adapting themselves very well to the community in which
they live. In such persons the needs are consonant with the vocational
values but dissonant with their corresponding attitudes. For instance, the
need for nurturance is consonant with the ideal of charity, but the person
may develop (consciously or subconsciously) a contrary attitude, like
aggressiveness. This is still regarded as consistent, since attitude occu-
pies an intermediary or mediating position between needs and values and
can always be adapted to either sides. The main elements, needs and val-
ues, are consonant with each other. This is said to be “psychological”
because the consistency exists between the main elements of the per-
son’s personality and not necessarily in relation to the social group. (iii)
Psychological inconsistency: This kind of inconsistency exists where the
needs are dissonant with values and attitudes. “For example, when a per-
son completely lacks the subconscious need for nurturance, and yet
shows the values and attitudes typical of charity [...] Or again, [...] when
someone has a subconscious need for affective dependency, for suc-
corance, and this need is incompatible with his attitudes which are rather
directed toward the opposite pole (i.e. to nurture)”89. This individual,
from all external indications, fits into the seminary environment and has
the signs of a ‘good’ seminarian, but psychologically he is inconsistent.
According to Schaupp, such a person is on a constant fragile balance.
Generally he adapts very well but at the same time feels himself very
lonely and isolated; he has often very strong feelings of envy and venge-
ance towards others, even though these feelings are suppressed.90 Rulla
et al. conclude that this type of inconsistency is by its very nature defen-
sive. This kind of defensive pretence is what Jesus in his Sermon on the
Mount decried when he said:

Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their attention; by
doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give
alms, do not have it trumpeted before you, this is what the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they
have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what
your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all
91
that is done in secret will reward you .

89 Rulla et al. 35.

90 Schaupp 210.
91 Mt 6: 1-4.

395
(iv) Social inconsistency: This inconsistency is found in persons by
whom one has the strong feeling that sooner or later they will call it a
quit with the community in which they live. In this case, not only are the
needs dissonant with the values but also the attitudes are too. On account
of this very great inconsistency, the person often tends towards breaking
with his previous values in favour of his needs and looks for new values
which can accommodate his needs. This kind of inconsistency is often
very obvious. The person is not only socially but also psychologically
inconsistent.
This last inconsistency has the most retarding and devastating influ-
ence on vocational adjustment and/or growth. The extent of the handicap
or harm the inconsistencies can cause depends on how central they are.
One can, therefore, say with Schaupp, that the more subconscious an in-
consistency lies and the more it takes the form of social inconsistency,
the more central it is because it gravely affects the growth and adjust-
ment of the person in question. Conversely, the more conscious the in-
consistency is and the more it comes close to social consistency, the
more peripheral it is. It will hardly hamper the vocational growth of the
person and if it does, it will only be very trivial.92

10.7 Summary

In this chapter we occupied ourselves with how intrapersonal conflict

occurs in the context of the priestly formation and with the conditions for
its occurrence within that framework. To this respect, we pointed out
among other things, that the cognitive and epistemological frame of ref-
erence of the seminarian has a structure and a content. The content is or-
ganized within the structure, whereby psycho-dynamically speaking, the
structure is the same in every human being; this is the formal aspect. The
content – the material aspect – is the dimension that varies according to
time, society and culture. Intrapersonal conflict is, thus, located in the
configuration of the content within the seminarian’s personality. That is
to say, the conflict is a function of the specific configuration of the vari-

92 Ibid., 211.

396
ous components of the content among the various (formal) aspects of the
personality in relation to a given object, situation or event. In the discus-
sion we worked out too the more or less Christo-European content in
their relation to the formation of priests and as they serve as the frame of
reference for the life in the seminary and life as a seminarian.

397
This page intentionally left blank
11. EMPIRICAL STUDY

The empirical study we carried out was motivated by a basic assumption

which arose from the theoretical and socio-historical parts of this en-
quiry. The assumption is as follows:

11.1 The Basic Assumption

The epistemic frames of reference of every human society are con-

structed around the ideals the society holds dear and the needs which are
informed by those ideals. The frame of reference of the seminary, how-
ever, differs in many fundamental respects from the cognitive world of
the Igbo society from where the seminarian hails and to which he returns
during and at the end of his training. With regard to the Igbo seminarian,
these differences can lead to tensions in his cognitive worlds depending
on whether he perceives as mere differences, or as incompatibilities. On
the basis of these assumptions we made the following propositions.

11.2 The Propositions

1. The personality of the seminarian is the unifying factor of both the

societal and the institutional ideals. It is as well the fulcrum where
both exert their influences, which are reflected in his behaviour.
Any dissonance between his behaviour (PB) and any of the three
ideals: his personal (PI), the institutional (II) and societal ideals (SI),
will always give rise to some intrapersonal tensions. The candi-
date’s present behaviour, thus can be very informative about how
far all three ideals have reached a certain degree of integration, and

399
 about the person’s attitude toward the given issue. This can be dia-
grammatically shown as follows:

II SI

PI

PB

Figure 6: The PB as sphere of manifestation of the PI, II, SI

2. The cognitive changes, which is the desired goal of the training, are
expected to advance as the seminarian moves higher in his training
and in correspondence to the progress he makes in internalising the
ideals of the institution. The existence and experience of intraper-
sonal inconsistencies is an indication of an abortive and hapless in-
ternalisation process. The more he is aware of them, the more anx-
ious he might become that his behaviour might betray some of the
inadequacies. The higher the discrepancy and the more intensive it
is experienced, the greater the anxiety. We will test this by examin-
ing the relationships between the seminarian’s actual behaviour and
his personal ideals on one hand (PB-PI), and on the other hand,
between his actual behaviour and the institutional (seminary) ideals
(PB-II) as he perceives them.

3. Since each living organism is structurally determined and exhibits

an operational closure in its interaction with the environment, there
is a high probability that the personal ideals of the seminarian will
stand very often in opposition to the ideals of the seminary institu-
tion in which he trains, and also to those of the larger Igbo society
in which he grew up, and in which he lives at those times when he is
not in the seminary. These will be tested by examining the relation-

400
 ships between the seminarian’s personal ideals and those of the
seminary (PI-II), and between his personal ideals and those of the
Igbo society (PI-SI) as he perceives them.

4. Given the fact that during the years of formation the seminarian is
more inside than outside the seminary, the seminarian has the op-
portunity to participate in the ecclesiastical stock of knowledge on a
recurrent basis. This allows him through the process of the commu-
nicative interaction with the others to be more and more structurally
coupled with the seminary institution. It is expected that, in the
course of the training, a progressive cognitive change occurs in the
seminarians in the direction of the institutional ideals and away
from the societal ideals. Therefore, the higher the degree of identifi-
cation with and internalisation of the institutional ideals, the higher
the level of acculturation from the Igbo cultural society. This will be
tested by examining the relationship between the seminary institu-
tional ideals and the ideals of the Igbo cultural society as they are
perceived by the seminarian himself (II-SI).

11.3 The Survey

To test these propositions we conducted a cross-sectional survey of the

Igbo seminarians in two major diocesan seminaries in Igboland: (1) Bi-
gard Memorial Seminary, Enugu (BMS), Enugu State and (2) Seat of
Wisdom of Seminary, Owerri (SWS), Imo State. The purpose was to
find out the relationship between those dimensions of the personality
which we consider relevant to intrapersonal conflict. To this end a ques-
tionnaire was designed which was distributed randomly in November
1995 among 600 Igbo seminarians. The questionnaire consisted of
demographic data and items to be responded to in four different ways.
The questionnaire is reproduced in the Appendix A1.

401
11.4 The Result

The demographic analysis indicated that the majority of the respondents

are between 18 and 25 years of age; 24.7% of them are 20 years old.
58% grew up in rural environment; 54.2% still live on the country side,
30.4% in the township and 10,4% in the city. 5% withheld information.
With the exception of a very few, almost all of them came from Chris-
tian homes. 66.9% went through the minor seminary, 26.8% entered the
seminary directly from the secondary school, while less than 2% entered
directly from other institutions or professions. The majority of the candi-
dates occupied the first three positions in the family; 16.7% were the
eldest among their siblings. Those whose fathers did not have fixed in-
come constituted 40.8%, while 29.3% withheld information on that.1
20% of the fathers were in the teaching profession, 18.6% subsistence
farmers, 17.5% civil servants and 16.6% were traders. The candidates
came from the following Igbo culture areas: Awka-Orlu-Onitsha area
(34.2%), Enugu-Nsukka-Abakiliki area (24%), Owerri-Aba area (20.4%)
and Okigwe-Umuahia area (11,2%); 10.2 % withheld information. On
how often they meet with non-seminarian close friends and peers since
entry into the seminary 46.7% responded with “occasionally”, 17.7%
with rarely, 9.3% with often and 7.5% with very often; 18.8% gave no
answers. In the summary of the two classes: Year 2 and Year 8 in both
institutions, the analysis yielded the following results:
The first scale in the questionnaire was the Present Behaviour (PB)
which can give some clue about the respondent’s attitude and tendencies.
The candidate was requested to answer whether each of the 120 state-
ments (variables) is a true or false description of his present behaviour.
On a second step he was asked to judge whether the statement is consis-
tent or inconsistent with his Personal Ideals (PI), the ideals of the semi-
nary (II) and those of the Igbo society (SI) as he personally perceives

1 Many of them did not give information on that item mostly because they did not
know how much their fathers earned. It is not usual that parents, especially fathers,
disclose the amount they earn to their family, talk less to their children. As a result
the information the others gave should be taken with precaution since a lot was
based on guess work. Only those who know their father’s salary grade level, this is
the case with civil servants, and teachers, can tell with some certitude the
approximate amount their fathers earn monthly.

402
them, or is the variable totally unimportant to these ideals. If the state-
ment is a true description of the seminarian’s present behaviour – i.e. is
true about him – but is inconsistent with the ideals he holds for himself
or the ideals he believes the seminary or the Igbo society holds for peo-
ple like himself, then the likelihood that there will be a discrepancy in
his experience of the situation in question is very high.
This is likely to bring him more into trouble than a discrepancy
between his ideals and those of the seminary or the society. The reason is
obvious: his behaviour is easily observable by other people. His personal
ideals might be opposed to those of the seminary. But one of the aims of
the seminary formation is to inform his ideals to become more and more
congruous with the seminary’s and less and less with those of the larger
Igbo society. This means that the more congruous his ideals get with the
seminary institutional ideals, the less the tension he might experience in
that regard and the more likely will he be to adjust his behaviour ac-
cordingly; the more congruous they are with the ideals operating in the
society outside the seminary, the less they are with those of the semi-
nary, the greater the tension he might experience, even though he might
be able to hide this from others.

11.4.1 School 1

Let us look at the results from school 1: BMS.2

In regard to the items related to the category Respect for eld-
ers/Authority 33 out of the 40 seminarians in Group 1 (=Year 2) and 22
out of 40 in Group 2 (=Year 8) responded. The correlation between their
PB and PI in Group 1 is with .143 significantly low, but interestingly
enough with .595 in Group 2 it is highly significant. The relation be-
tween their PB and the II in Group 1 is not only very low but also nega-
tive with -.071 while in Group 2 it is positive but also low with .122 cor-
relation coefficient. The ideals of the Igbo community in which the
respondents in Group 1 live or grew up seem to be unimportant for the
inducement of their actual behaviour in relation to this scale. Among the
Group 2 candidates the relation between them is just moderately positive
with r=.317.

2 See Appendix A3.

403
 In the judgement of the two groups they see a moderate correlation
of .363 and .307 respectively between their PI and the II. On the other
hand, while Group 1 perceives a low correlation between their PI and the
SI with r=.251, Group 2 sees a significant correlation of .468 between
their PI and SI.
Similar variation is also observed in their perception of the relation-
ship between the II and SI as they relate to Respect for elders/Authority
in the Igbo tradition. While Group 1 showed a moderate correlation coef-
ficient of .333, Group 2 revealed a high significant positive correlation of
.644. Thus for the final year theology students the relationship between
the II and the SI when it came to this value is highly positive. The 2nd
Year philosophy students, on the other hand, think that the relationship is
only moderately positive.
With regard to the category: Family ties, 28 candidates in Group 1
and 21 in Group 2 responded. In both groups their PB-PI showed a sig-
nificantly high positive correlation coefficient of .484 and .637 respec-
tively. The assessment of the candidates in Group 1 of their actual self
(PB) in relation to the societal ideals (SI) revealed a negatively low cor-
relation coefficient of -.051 while that of Group 2 reflected a moderate
positive correlation coefficient of .445. Furthermore, the influence of the
seminary institution ideals seems to be low in both groups.
Assessing the relationship between their PI and II both groups re-
vealed low correlation coefficients of .297 and .143 respectively. Group
1, however, finds their PI inconsistent with the SI with a negative corre-
lation of -.074, while Group 2 finds it positive but with .325 only moder-
ately correlated.
With regard to how they see the relationship between the SI and II
both groups revealed low correlations between them. Group 1 judged it
with .138 while for Group 2 the correlation stands at .059 only. Both
groups observed that the seminary and the Igbo society go divergent
ways with regard to this scale. However, it seems that the family gains
more and more in importance as the seminarian nears the end of his
training.
The personal ideals of the candidates in both groups seem to stand
with r=.501 and r=.507 respectively in a clearly high positive correlation
with their self-perception at the time of the test (PB) in respect of Suc-
cess in Life. What the Igbo society thinks about this category seem not to
be considered really important in effectuating their behaviour. However

404
what the candidates believe that the seminary institution thinks about this
seems not to be greatly consequential but also not completely irrelevant
with regard to their PB. The correlation is with .386 moderately positive
in Group 1 while being low in Group 2 with .238.
With regard to their personal ideals the II correlates in Group 1 with
.363 and in Group 2 with .413 moderately positive, whereas the SI reg-
istered a negative low correlation of -.054 in Group 1 and a very low cor-
relation of .083 in Group 2. For the respondents the SI and II seem to
correlate very poorly as well with .157 and .260 in this regard.
23 candidates in Group 1 and 15 in Group 2 responded to the items
related to the Traditional religious belief. The PB-PI in the two groups
showed a clearly high positive correlation, whereby in Group 1 the cor-
relation is significant with .586. The same is the case with their assess-
ment of their PB in relation to the II. In Group 1 the correlation is with
.435 clearly significant; in Group 2 it is with .522 positively high and
significant too. Their PB, however, correlates negatively low with the
ideals of the Igbo society with the r=-.009 in Group 1 and r=-.208 in
Group 2.
The personal ideals of the candidates seem to tally with the ideals of
the seminary in this regard with high significant correlations of .540 and
.489 respectively. On the contrary, they show a highly negative discrep-
ancy to the societal ideals with the correlation coefficients of -.099 and -
.011 respectively. Group 1 perceives a negatively low correlation of -
.032 between the SI and II while for Group 2 it remained still low but not
negative with .019.
In the assessment of their behaviour (PB) in relation to their per-
sonal ideals (PI) as it concerns Obedience within the context of the
church Hierarchy both Groups revealed a significantly positive correla-
tion of .569 and .573 respectively. The correlation between the PB and
the SI among the second year philosophy students is, on the other hand,
negative, while being simply low with .178 among the final year students
of theology. A great difference is, however, observable between both
classes with regard to the PB-II. Group 1 scored a low correlation while
Group 2 scored with .518 a significantly high correlation.
The PI seems to correlate poorly with the II in Group 1 (.041) while
in Group 2 it does moderately with .318. Its correlation with the SI falls
negatively in Group 1 with -.117 while remaining just low with .262 in

405
Group 2. Between the SI and the II the correlation is with .122 in Group
1 positive but low while just being moderate in Group 2 (.321).
When it comes to Chastity/Celibacy 25 candidates in Group 1 and
15 in Group 2 perceive very high correlation coefficients of .506 and
.773 respectively for their PB-PI. The behaviour of the Group 1 candi-
dates seems to fall short of the ideals of the seminary with .042 while the
correlation in Group 2 is significantly high with .599. The ideals of the
society in this respect with regard to the actual behaviour of the two
groups is relatively very low. The PI correlates with the II in Group 1
seemingly very low with .062 while attaining a clearly high significant
correlation of .541 in Group 2. While being very low in Group 2 with
.098 with regard to the SI, it attained .223 in Group 1. Both classes,
however, see a positive correlation between the SI and the II even though
it is low with .166 (Group 1) and .147 (Group 2).
35 candidates in Group 1 and 26 in Group 2 responded to the items
related to the Mortification. The PB-PI in the two groups showed a
clearly high positive correlation, whereby in Group 1 the correlation is
significant with .586 and highly significant in Group 2 with .670. But as
far as the other variables (PB-II, PB-SI, PI-II, PI-SI, II-SI) are con-
cerned, it does not seem to matter to the respondents what the society or
the seminary institution thinks about mortification in relation to the
seminarians. The correlation coefficients are very low in all the cases in
both groups.
Assessing the relationship between their behaviour and the ideals
they hold for themselves in relation to Piety, Group 1 scored a significant
correlation of .435 while in Group 2 the correlation is at the moderate
score of .311. Their behaviour seems out rightly inconsistent with the
ideals of the Igbo society with negative correlation coefficients of -.277
and -.104. With regard to spirituality both classes seem not to observe
much relationship between their PB and the II. Both scored a very low
positive correlation (.074 and.134).
However, while their PI correlates significantly positive (.431 and
.475 resp.) with the II, it showed a negative correlation of -.054 in Group
1 and a positive but low correlation of .083 in Group 2 with the SI. Gen-
erally both classes see a positive but low correlation between the SI and
the II (.145 and .286) in relation to piety and prayer life.

406
11.4.2 School 2

To complete the picture let us look at the results of the analysis from the
second school: SWS.3
With regard to the items related to the category Respect for elders /
Authority 30 out of the 35 seminarians in Group 1 (=Year 2) and 23 out
of 35 in Group 2 (=Year 8) responded. The correlation between the PB
and the PI of the respondents is with .571 in Group 1 and .531 in Group
2 significantly high. The PB and the II in Group 1 reveals not only a
positively high but also a clearly significant correlation coefficient of
.570 while remaining in Group 2 virtually indifferent to each other with a
r=.074. The ideals of the Igbo community show a moderate correlation
of .303 with the PB of the respondents in Group 1, while they seem to be
totally unimportant (.000) for the inducement of the actual behaviour of
the Group 2 respondents.
In the judgement of the two groups with 31/26 respondents a very
high significant correlation (.654) exists in Group 1 between their PI and
the II, while attaining a moderate score of .380 in Group 2. On the other
hand, while Group 1 perceives a moderate positive correlation of .313
between their PI and the SI, Group 2 sees a positive but low correlation
coefficient of .115 between their PI and the SI.
Similar positive correlation is also observed in their perception of
the relationship between the II and SI. While Group 1 showed a moder-
ate correlation of .366, Group 2 revealed a significant correlation of .479.
With regard to the category: Family ties, 25 candidates in Group 1
and 19 in Group 2 responded. In Group 1 their PB seems to have virtu-
ally no relationship with their PI (r=.008), while Group 2 shows a sig-
nificantly positive correlation coefficient of .498. The assessment of the
two classes of their actual self in relation to the societal ideals reveals
moderately positive correlation coefficients of .357 and .352 respec-
tively. Furthermore, the PB of the candidates in Group 1 correlates sig-
nificantly high with the II as they perceive them (r=.570), while remain-
ing virtually indifferent to it with .074 in Group 2.
Assessing the relationship between their PI and II both groups re-
vealed significant positive correlation of .464 and .573 respectively.
Group 1, however, finds their PI, even though almost indifferent but in-

3 See Appendix A3.

407
consistent with the SI, with a negative correlation of -.098, while Group
2 finds it positive with .470 significant correlation. With regard to how
they see the relationship between the SI and the II Group 1 revealed an
almost indifferent correlation of .065 between them; for Group 2 the cor-
relation stands moderately positive at .408.
The PB of the candidates in both groups seems to stand with .566
and .852 respectively in a clearly high positive and significant correla-
tion with their PI in respect of Success in Life. What the Igbo society
thinks about this category seems not to be really important in effectuat-
ing the behaviour among the candidates in Group 1. In Group 2 it stands
with .332 in a moderate positive relation with their PB. While in Group 1
the PB shows a very low positive correlation of .211 with the II, in
Group 2 it has a very high significant correlation with .524.
With regard to their personal ideals (PI) the II correlates moderately
positive in Group 1 with .365 and in Group 2 with .665 very significantly
positive, whereas the SI registered a positive low correlation of .163 in
Group 1 and a high significant correlation with .522 in Group 2. For the
respondents the SI and II seem to correlate very significantly positive
with .480 and .555 in this regard.
21 candidates in Group 1 and 19 in Group 2 responded to the items
related to the Traditional religious belief. Generally the scales correlate
with each other in a moderately positive manner. The PB and PI corre-
late with .430 and .330 respectively. While the PB exhibits a low corre-
lation of .279 in Group 1 with the SI and a moderate positive correlation
of .402 in Group 2, their assessment of their present behaviour (PB) in
relation to the ideals of the seminary institution (II) as it pertains to this
category reveals a moderate positive correlation with .439 in Group 1
and a low negative correlation of -.110 in Group 2.
The personal ideals of the Group 1 candidates seem to tally with the
ideals of the seminary in this regard with a positive significant correla-
tion of .419, while reaching only a low correlation with .289 in Group 2.
Correlating also very poorly with the SI with .207 in Group 2, they seem
virtually indifferent to SI with the r=.033 in Group 1. Group 1 perceives
a low positive correlation of .151 between the SI and II while for Group
2 both seem with .029 virtually indifferent to each other.
Assessing their behaviour (PB) in relation to their PI as it concerns
Obedience within the context of the church Hierarchy the 28/22 candi-
dates revealed a moderate positive correlation of .314 in Group 1 and a

408
significantly positive correlation of .499 in Group 2. Furthermore, its
correlation with the SI stood in Group 1 at a moderate positive level of
.301 and in Group 2 at the very low level of .137. In relation to the II
both groups registered a low positive correlation of .239 and .218 re-
spectively.
The PI of Group 1 correlated with .311 moderately positive with the
ideals of the seminary institution, while remaining very low with .174 in
Group 2. It seemed somehow indifferent to the SI in Group 1 with .081
while both seemed to entertain a very low positive relation with .160 in
Group 2. The relationship between the SI and II was judged by Group 1
to be negative with -.129 and by Group 2 to be highly positive with a
significant correlation of .453.
When it comes to Chastity/Celibacy 24 candidates in Group 1 and
15 in Group 2 perceived high significant correlation coefficients of .484
and .621 respectively for their PB and PI. A very high significant cor-
relation of .530 was also registered in relation to the SI, while the corre-
lation remained low with .288 in Group 2. With regard to the relation-
ship between the PB and the II there seemed to exist a moderate positive
correlation of .308 in Group 1 and a low correlation of .298 in Group 2.
The PI correlated with the II in Group 1 seemingly very high with a
significant correlation of .637 while attaining a moderate score of .342 in
Group 2. It also reached a high significant correlation with .411 in Group
1, while remaining substantially low with .209 in Group 2 with regard to
the SI. In Group 1 the correlation remained very high with r=.409 and
very low with r=.224 in Group 2 in respect of the relationship between
the SI and the II.
28 candidates in Group 1 and 23 in Group 2 responded to the items
related to Mortification. The PB-PI in the two groups showed only a
moderately positive correlation, whereby in Group 1 it scored .347 and
in Group 2 it reached a moderately high r=.437. But as far as the rela-
tionship between their PB and SI in both groups is concerned the corre-
lation was just indifferent with .084 (Group 1) and .199 (Group 2). The
PB and the II in both groups were even negatively correlated with -.026
and -.046 respectively. While the PI and the SI in Group 2 positively cor-
related with .424, they clearly negatively correlated in Group 1 with
-.178. With regard to their PI-II and the II-SI, the correlation was posi-
tive but very low in both groups.

409
 Assessing the relationship between their behaviour (PB) and the
ideals they hold for themselves (PI) in relation to Piety, Group 1 scored a
low correlation of .300 while in Group 2 they seemed to be virtually in-
different to each other with r=.034. In respect of the SI the PB correlated
only moderately with r=.306 in Group 1 while remaining low with
r=.282 in Group 2. Both groups, however, saw a moderate positive cor-
relation between their PB and the II with the r=.372 and r=.446 respec-
tively.
While the correlation between their PI and II remained moderate
with .363 in Group 1, it was low with .189 in Group 2. In relation to the
SI the PI maintained a moderate correlation coefficient of .303 in Group
1, while it recorded a negative correlation in Group 2 with the r=-.037.
The same trend was maintained with regard to the relationship between
the SI and the II. Group 1 scored the moderate r=.345 while in Group 2
there seemed to be virtually no relationship between them with the
r=.041.

11.5 Discussion1

Usually people choose professions they believe represent ideals which

are in tune with the ideals they either hold for themselves, admire, or de-
sire to attain. In almost all the ten categories we tested there was an ob-
servable relatively high positive correlation between the personal ideals
(PI) of the candidates and those of the seminary as they perceive them
(II) in both schools. The correlation is not total nevertheless. There
seems to be a steady effort towards harmonizing the personal ideals (PI)
with the seminary ideals (II) by internalising the ideals of the latter. It is
still a long way to go before a total assimilation of and identification
with the ideals of the Roman Catholic Church institution – as they are
represented by the two schools – can be achieved such that the behaviour
becomes consistent with the ideals at any given time and place.
The survey indicated that the goal of reaching a congruity between
the seminary ideals and the behaviour of the seminarians proves itself as
a very arduous task. The apparent general low positive correlation be-
tween the present behaviour (PB) of the candidates and the institutional

410
ideals (II) is an indication. This noticeably low harmony between the PB
and the II, especially in the areas of Piety, Mortification, Diligence and
responsibility at studies and work and Observance of seminary rules and
regulations, questions the attitude of the seminarians towards and the ef-
fectivity of their spiritual formation in the seminary. Is this another indi-
cation or confirmation of the endemic discrepancy between ideal and re-
ality, theory and practice? Naturally one would expect this low
correlation to constitute areas of continuous tension for the seminarians.
Going from the results of the survey analysis the seminarians seem
to be in unity with themselves as far as their behaviours (PB) and their
personal ideas (PI) are concerned. The highest scores of clearly high
positive significant correlations occurred here. How ever they interpreted
or understood the scales in relation to their PI to reach such exception-
ally high significant correlation coefficients like r=.639, r=.670, r=.773
and r=.852 is definitely different from their consciousness of the same in
relation to the II.
This high score seems to suggest the prospect that the closer the PI
comes to the II the higher the probability of greater consistence between
the PB and the II. This will consequently reduce the probability of in-
trapersonal conflict the candidates experience in their formation.
Another striking observation arose from the survey analysis: Al-
though the seminarians perceive a generally positive low correlation
between the ideals of the Igbo society at large (SI) and the ideals which
the seminary institution (II) represents, their PB and their PI correlate re-
spectively only very poorly and in several cases even negatively with the
SI. There are more negative cases among the candidates in school 1, es-
pecially among the Year twos, thus inconsistent, while remaining gener-
ally low among the Year 8 students (Appendix A3). This could be ex-
plained by the fact that people normally are attracted to specific
professions because of what they want to become. The personal ideals of
the new vocationers, therefore, tend to drift away from that of the society
from where they have come. But as time goes on a kind of sobriety tends
to set in, repositioning a lot of things in the light of new information and
of the realities of the institution; though the relationship remains posi-
tively low, it, nonetheless, is no longer negative in the final years of the
training.
Interestingly enough the final year theology students, generally, see
highly positive relationships between the SI and the II in relation to Re-

411
spect for elders/Authority, Success in life and Obedience/Hierarchy. If
looked at from the point of view of an aristocratic priesthood and middle
class image, this assessment would not surprise anyone. They themselves
are at the threshold of a new status: they are beginning to inhale in-
tensely the air of becoming authorities and members of the hierarchy. In
addition, the prospects of attaining the new social status, – a further step
up the ladder of success in life – where Respect and Obedience are con-
sidered more rights than privileges, are very likely to arouse a highly
positive evaluation of these scales.
However, one would expect that if they see relatively high positive
correlations between the SI and the II, then the result most likely would
not be more positive than those of PI-SI and PB-SI. The fact that this is
not the case makes us presume an explanation elsewhere. Obviously
transformation of cognition and consciousness is the goal of every intel-
lectual or academic training, of every education. When this is to be car-
ried out in an atmosphere imbued with fear and anxiety, the quality of
such a transformation becomes questionable. Fear has always been a
very bad teacher and guide. Could this inconsistent result lie in the fear
factor in the seminary training in Igboland? The fact that one can be ex-
pelled for one trivial reason or the other and that there is not much room
for constructive and liberating dialogue between the trained and their
trainers make the seminarians behave or pattern their public behaviour
most of the time in manners they believe the seminary and the people
expect them to behave and think, not out of personal conviction but of
fear. And since they have “abandoned the world” they are expected and
reminded every minute to live differently from the rest of the populace4.
With this as their “faithful companion” they are under const-ant tension
and fear of defaulting or being caught doing so. Defaulting, experience
has taught many, can have disastrous repercussions. The comments of
some of the respondents confirm this point. One of them wrote: “Truly, I
had once thought of this issue of living in two worlds, especially with
special reference to [...] when our freedom and constitu-tional right to air
our view is handicapped with threats of expulsion; criticisms [are taken]

4 A. Godin makes allusion to similar phenomenon when he says: “The way social
stereotypes are passed along in the family through training in vocabulary is well
known – ‘This lad will make a fine curate!’ Or again, ‘A future priest does not
hang around all night on street corners!’ Or even, ‘You talk about becoming a
priest, and yet you go to dances!’”, Godin 53.

412
to be insults. The system here is sick”. Another commented: “There is in
our institutions what I may call ‘fear of freedom’ which hinders auto-
formation. The resultant effect is forming pretentious seminarians and
consequently pretentious priests.” Yet another adds: “The issue of
authoritative orders by the superiors has to be addressed. Because of the
nature of the training, one sheepishly follows orders, even the ones he
knows to be false and stupid. This stultifies personal initiative. It sup-
presses the feelings of seminarians, [thus] making them hide in their co-
coons and explode after their ordination. More freedom is needed”5.
This tension is very often exploited by the administration through
the use and promotion of informants among the seminarians themselves.
It is important to mention that many of such informants are self-elected.
The faithful in the parishes likewise exploit this sandwich position of the
seminarians by providing information – whether invited or not – on the
seminarians to the parish priests, the seminary authorities, or even, di-
rectly to their bishops without prior dialogue with the seminarian con-
cerned. This factor, therefore, could also have influenced their assess-
ment of these survey variables.
Since fear does not give room for constructive dialogue and domi-
nation-free (“herrschaftsfreie”) communication6 and offers nutrition to
repression and despotism, the result of the formation in an atmosphere
imbued with fear is conformism instead of liberation, self-reliant respon-
seability and critical thinking. Conformism in terms of uncritical submis-
sion to restrictive social norms and structures, in any case, is very far
from the spirit of Jesus of Nazareth, the paradigm of freedom and liber-
ated humanity. Besides, conformism tends to propagate itself.
The reservations with regard to the above results on the SI, notwith-
standing a general tendency towards acculturation and alienation, is un-
deniable. A further serious limitation of the survey is that we did not
study the difference in conceptual framework between those candidates
who started the formal journey to the priesthood from the junior semi-
nary, those who joined in the junior seminary from secondary school or
any other secular institute and those who joined in the senior seminary

5 For the respondents’ commentaries see Appendix D.

6 Cf. Stenger, Kompetenz und Identität, 54-55. This is the kind of communication
which characterized Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, our Lord. His approach to life
and to people liberates and empowers, turns human beings from objects to subjects
of psychosocial interactions.

413
from other secular institutions or professions. While conceding this
lapse, we feel convinced that this qualifies for a separate study of its
own. This survey result, therefore, suggests – within its own limitations
– that the probability of cultural alienation in the course of seminary for-
mation among the Igbo is relatively high. The commentary of one of the
respondents in this regard is enlightening: “I am one of those who are
still waiting to see the reason why the type of theology we study should
have a foreign and alien face and worse still a western destiny. I do not
believe that civilization or integral maturity should be tailored to be an
unwavering imitation of received education in the western style. I am an
Igbo. I like it and I lose my patience with any system that makes me
think that there is an end already to every theologising just because we
inherited a corpus of Thomistic speculations that presumes every answer
to any problem in faith and morals. Rubbish. The seminary formation as
it is does not help in making people as authentic, mature, integral, inde-
pendent in evaluation as they ought to be. It is a sorry situation. Look,
many things are wrong and we seem to either not know it or are incapa-
citated to face the bitter truth. Our minds and mentality are endemically
infected with western virus; a virus that makes us evaluate in terms of
‘civilization’, ‘Rome’ or the like”. One might ask: Is cultural and spiri-
tual alienation a goal worth striving at? It is difficult to imagine how
pastorally effective culturally alienated and conformist priests-to-be will
be in modern times. The words of Mary Oduyoye still resound: “We
cannot expect those who cannot tell their story, who do not know where
they come from, to hear God’s call to his future”7.
What implications do these deliberations suggest for the pastoral
theological training and for pastoral therapeutical considerations? The
answer to this question will occupy us in the next chapters.

7 Mudimbe 59.

414
12. IMPLICATIONS FOR PASTORAL
THEOLOGY AND THERAPY

One day, however, [...] I felt a sort of nausea [...]. Was it

the lump of sugar which Zira came to give me that suddenly
acquired a bitter taste? The fact is that I blushed at my cow-
ardly resignation [and] I forthwith made up my mind to be-
have like a civilized man [...].. But first of all I should like
to reveal this astounding truth to you: not only am I a ra-
tional creature, not only does a mind paradoxically inhabit
1
this human body, but I come from a distant planet [...] .
Pierre Boulle, Planet of the Apes

A borderline condition is a precarious condition. To be suspended be-

tween two mutually opposed epistemic systems of reference is a very
hazardous state to be in. The seminary is supposed to provide the forum
and the conducive climate where the seminarian can engage in an on-
going process of a sincere and critical dialogue between his indigenous
epistemic frame of reference and the Euro-Christian conceptual frame-
work which overarches the seminary organization and training. We will
now look at some implications of our foregoing deliberations. First of all
the pastoral theological implications and later the pastoral therapeutical
implications.

1 Boulle 102.144-145.

415
12.1 Implications for Pastoral Theology

By “implications for pastoral theology” we mean some important aspects

requiring serious attention in the formation of the seminarians in pastoral
competence.

12.1.1 A Change of Historical and Cultural Awareness

A dictum ascribed to Goethe says that “a person who does not know his
past is condemned to repeat it”. For a long period of time it seemed ex-
pedient among European philosophers, historians, anthropologists and
missionaries to represent Sub-Saharan Africa as “terra nullius”, as a
“part of the world without history” (Hegel, 1830), and her inhabitants as
“biologically and developmentally redundant”, as “bearers of Ham’s
curse”, “a race with absolutely no cultural achievements”, “peoples with
no idea of society and city states”, “with no culture, no history, no relig-
ion”. Even where clear evidences of high culture are observed, very
strenuous efforts were made to ascribe their origins to Europe or the
Near East. Many cultural elements and traits found among Africans were
quickly ascribed to one foreign factor or the other.2 For many others
Black Africa had no history until the arrival of Europeans.3 Herskovits in
his Cultural Relativism, however, made it clear that “there is a historicity
proper to each human group and even each individual. This historicity
can account for the differences between cultures and between individu-
als, but ‘no scientifically valid evidence has ever been produced to show
that these differences, either in general intelligence or particular apti-

2 Among such intellectuals are, Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy, publ.
1830, Eugène Pittard, Les Races et l’Histoire, 1953, 505, P. Gaxotte, La revue de
Paris, October 1957, 12, Endre Sik, Histoire de l’Afrique Noire, Budapest 1965,
vol. 1, 19, S. Trimingham, History of Islam in West Africa, 1962, 19.
3 E. Sik mentioned in the preceding note is very vocal in this regard. According to
him the inhabitants of this part of the universe had no social classes, no states in the
strict sense of the word. As a result one cannot talk of history, in the real scientific
sense, in connection to these peoples before the advent of the European usurpers.
For more details cf. J. Ki-Zerbo, Die Geschichte Schwarz-Afrikas, 24-26; V. Y.
Mudimbe, The Idea of Africa and ibid., The Invention of Africa.

416
tudes, are related to race’”4. It is superfluous to waste any breathe here
arguing whether Africa has history or not.
There seems also to be no more doubts even among theologians as
to whether the idea of God as a Supreme Being, was common among Af-
ricans long before the arrival of the missionaries. But still the church
history books5 in Igboland are filled with eulogies of the missionaries as
those who brought the knowledge of the true God to the African Igbo.
The devastating impact of the missionary era and activities on the in-
digenous culture is interpreted as cleansing and liberating, for the people
who were living in the shadow of darkness and wallowing in sin have
now seen a great light! Of course, it is not easy for colonized minds to
come to the consciousness of their colonized condition; after all, it is an
aim of colonialism to make the colonized forget their past. In effect, the
history of Christian evangelism in Igboland has remained one-sided.
Only the positive aspects of that era are eagerly attended to and with ar-
dour, as if by looking also at their negative effects with the same passion
would compromise their role as the grateful ransomed, and perhaps con-
front them with the reality of their being different and of their otherness.
Evidently, the revelation of the God of the exodus enables us to renounce
the temptation to short-circuit time and history. This short-circuiting, this
one-sidedness led to a very low awareness of their own history and cul-
ture among seminarians and priests. The church history offered in the
academic curriculum is in the main European church history6; as we saw

4 V. Y. Mudimbe, The Idea of Africa, 49.

5 Cf. for instance: A. O. Makozi, and G. A. Ojo (ed.), The History of the Catholic
Church in Nigeria; C. A. Obi (ed.), A Hundred Years of the Catholic Church in
Eastern Nigeria 1885-1985.
6 The problem of one-sided historiography affects also the entire Roman Catholic
Church. It is only recently that the Vatican City opened its archives allowing
historians an access to all the hitherto inaccessible documents on the Inquisition.
The contribution of Christianity to anti-Semitism, especially through its documents
and teachings, has gradually started receiving public attention. The effort of the
Swiss people to re-evaluate their history, especially the period of the Second World
War, also led the Swiss Bishops Conference to apologize for the anti-semitic
tendencies in the New Testament and in the various utterances and writings of the
Church. The Swiss Christians are becoming increasingly very sensitive to
statements in the Bible which seem to convey a generalized opinion about the
Jews.

417
in the previous chapters. African culture and thought as a subject only
receives a peripheral attention.
In reality, selective perception may be cosy and placid but it is not
always helpful, edifying nor liberating. And definitely, it is not intellec-
tually and spiritually exciting and challenging. From the point of view of
the systemic nature of the human mind it might even be downright mis-
leading. One cannot tell half the truth about an issue and require a sound
and balanced judgement on the same. Bateson expresses the same idea
thus:

When you narrow down your epistemology and act on the premise ‘What interests
me is me, or my organization, or my species,’ you chop off consideration of other
loops of the loop structure. You decide that you want to get rid of the by-products
of human life and that Lake Erie will be a good place to put them. You forget that
the eco-mental system called Lake Erie is a part of your wider eco-mental system –
and if Lake Erie is driven insane, its insanity is incorporated in the larger system of
7
your thought and experience .

The wrong handling of the “by-products” can take the form of denial. A
denial of history is a denial of its character as a tension between promise
and fulfilment. If God revealed His name, that is, Himself in history, as
He did in Exodus, then He showed that He is concerned to orient the
human being toward a future constituting the goal of all of the person’s
history. And that future is the plenitude of His revelation which is at the
same time the end of the process of transformation of the human being.
Hence, He is a God of hope. To obliterate a part of history amounts to a
refusal of the invitation from this God to take sides with Him in the fight
against all sorts of oppression and injustice. In the words of J.-M. Ela:
“Any profession of faith is a profession of the God who intervenes in
human history as Creator and Saviour”8 and of a God who incarnated in
human historicity that we might become truly human in order to become,
in the fullness of time, truly God. In effect, the seminary should endeav-
our to acquaint the seminarians with their history. According to J.
Gaarder, “it is the only way to become a human being. It is the only way
to become more than an ape. It is the only way to avoid floating in a

7 Bateson 492.
8 Éla 90.

418
vacuum”9. Historical honesty abhors the manipulation of significants and
signification. To get in touch with one’s history means to confront the
hard realities of one’s past with its glories and follies, grandeur and de-
pravities; it means not to sweep things under the carpet. To do that
amounts to perpetuating what Hinfelaar deplored bitterly about the
Church in Africa: “So often it appears that the Church in Africa does not
learn from previous mistakes or successes because there seems to be lit-
tle sense of history among its clergy and lay people”10.
It is true that not every element of a culture is life reinforcing and
life enhancing. It is an inseparable dimension and undeniable fact of hu-
man nature that almost every fruit of the creative capacity of human be-
ings can be applied for a good, life-enhancing or a bad, life-inhibiting
purpose. The genesis of many cultural elements are almost always good
and positively motivated to meet the exigencies of a given time, and as
answers to specific existential issues. Time and other needs later can lead
to a modification or even to an obliteration of the original intention be-
hind the emergence of those elements. The Igbo traditional culture is no
exception to this rule. In the course of the history of Christianity there
have been series of aberrations in the presentation of the gospel message
of Jesus of Nazareth. For sure, the Gospels and Epistles were addressed
to specific Christian communities and as answers to specific questions of
the time in those communities. Each new generation of Christians reads
them in the light of the spirit of the time. Today, we struggle to actualise
their themes for the present-day Faithful. In our efforts at actualisation,
there are bound to be some negative offshoots from our endeavour for
which the next generation or even our contemporaries will hold us re-
sponsible. Only a little amount of humility is required for the admission
of such negative offshoots. Jesus did not see the need to castigate and
denigrate Judaism or even the religion of the neighbouring Phoenicia in
order to create a good ground for his message. No. He simply set out to
preach his message; and he who had ears to hear, heard it, and a heart to
feel, believed and felt its liberating force. African Traditional Religion
and Culture did not and still do not need to be denigrated to the advan-
tage of Christianity. By their fruits ye shall know them.11 Christians

9 J. Gaarder, Sophie’s World, 127.

10 Hinfelaar 9.
11 Mt 7:16.

419
should be known by their upright lives and not by calumniating other re-
ligions and those who believe differently. European Christianity needed
almost 1500 years to come to this knowledge, which found its peak ex-
pression in the Vatican II Council with the abrogation of the unpopular
“ex ecclesia nulla salus”. Human beings are usually wiser only after-
wards. “He who comes too late has the chance to learn from the mistakes
of others” (Harry Maier) but if he still does not want to learn from oth-
ers’ mistakes, he will “be punished by life” (M. Gorbatschow).12 It looks
really as if stupor has taken control of the church in Igboland so that it
fails to realize that the Church in other parts of the world is steadfastly
courting the auspicious path of dialogue. The strange aspect of it all is
that the president of the Curial Congregation for Dialogue with Non-
Christian Religions is a son of the church in Igboland.
Igbo traditional culture had, no doubt, its own score of life impov-
erishing and life inhibiting elements. Thanks ultimately to Christianity,
the fight against such elements like killing of twins, oath of innocence by
ordeals, human sacrifice, etc. have been staged up and partly won as
well. It is nonetheless not praiseworthy to throw the child away with the
bathe water. Besides, the Igbo have the right and obligation as a people
to learn to appreciate their dignity as human beings through their own
culture and history. In the words of Msgr. F. Silota, “it is not enough to
have the Roman liturgy translated, celebrated in home-made garments
and accompanied with local hymns and drums to consider Jesus incar-
nated; made at home [...]. The whole religious tradition must be taken se-
riously, the whole set of the local culture must be duly considered”13.
Church history in the seminary should not comprise mainly of victo-
rious crusades against the otherness of others in faith and thinking. Ela
insists: “‘We cannot have our future in other people’s past.‘ We must
come to understand that it is the history that we make ourselves – not
that of others – that must be the locus of our questioning upon the faith
and its meaning”14. Justice and honesty in historiography involves a look
at the issue from both sides of the camp. The seminary training in his-

12 The last president of Soviet Union M. Gorbatschow warned his people before he
set the ball in motion that toppled Soviet communism and empire, saying: “Life
punishes whoever comes too late”.
13 F. J. Silota, in Petit Echo, Special Nr. 4, 1992.
14 Éla 133.

420
torical consciousness must aim at a training in the awareness for the
other side of the story and in the art of historical criticism.
It is a scientific pre-decision that historians eschew value judgement
on the object of their investigation. However, considering the funda-
mental reason for evangelisation: God’s invitation to humanity to salva-
tion in Jesus Christ, one must admit that an invitation is an invitation and
not a command. It cannot be forced on any one. If Jesus did not find it
appropriate to conquer his way by force and to push his teachings force-
fully down the throats of his listeners, then this should not be done in his
name by anybody. Evangelization in Igboland, as we observed in the
previous chapters, was more of a Christianisation crusade. Christianity in
the form it was brought to Africa was the religion of the Christendom
which was founded by Emperor Constantine with its headquarters in
Constantinople and later in Rome. Thenceforth, Christian religion was
used to spread the culture of this Christendom. It is not surprising that
European political and cultural expansion was carried out under the pre-
text of evangelisation. In that case, the use of force seemed unavoidable.
Over a century since the arrival of the missionary and the colonial invad-
ers in Igboland, the present generation of Christians cannot afford to
continue the same method of denigration and derision in their relation-
ship with their own traditional culture. Certainly no one can hold them
responsible for the short-sightedness and wrong-doings, and in individ-
ual cases, ignorance, of the missionaries and their native collaborators of
the time; but they will be held responsible for continuing the same nega-
tive attitude towards their own heritage. If it is “understandable to make
mistakes”, as Bishop P. K. Sarpong once said, then “it is unpardonable to
continue them”15. According to W. Quanbeck, “the vesting of Episcopal
Conferences with authority” [by the Second Vatican Council] is, among
others, meant to “encourage more effective encounter with local prob-
lems”16. Do not the constant conflicts between Catholics and adherents
and sympathisers of the Traditional Religion, and the suspension of some
seminarians between sympathy and antipathy with regard to their tradi-
tional cultural heritage not constitute one of the central aspects of such
local problems? Even when the Council recommended the study of non-
Christian religions with the aim of furthering mutual understanding and

15 Unimna 45.
16 Quanbeck 459.

421
ecumenism, a look at the seminary academic curriculum leaves one with
the impression that this excludes a study of the Igbo traditional relig-
ion.17 Besides, the little reluctant academic contact with other religions
often dwells more on those aspects which distinguish them from Ca-
tholicism as if it is oblivious of the words of the Council:

In our times, when every day men are being drawn closer together and the ties be-
tween various peoples are being multiplied, the Church is giving deeper study to
her relationship with the non-Christian religions. In her task of fostering unity and
love among men, and even among nations, she gives primary consideration in this
document to what human beings have in common and to what promotes fellowship
18
among them .

The seminary training should, therefore, aim at a new frame of mind that
is humble enough to admit that there have been mistakes in the past. This
will ease up the impasse created by the century old condemnation of the
people’s traditional and cultural heritage, and open the way for intellec-
tual curiosity, to say the least. It is a fact that the Church, generally, and
in Igboland in particular, is not used to making apologies for the wrong
done by her ministers; the parable of the Pharisee and the publican19
certainly does not pertain to her at all, nor do the Lord’s injunctions on
reconciliation and repentance20 seem to have anything to do with the
Church’s hierarchy.
The violation or destruction of a culture of a people, denigration and
desecration of places and objects they hold sacred are acts of hatred,
even when they are perpetrated in order to prevent converts from lapsing
back to their traditional ways of life. Such actions really question whet-
her their perpetrator actually know God. The Scripture takes this serious

17 This seems to be a reminiscent of the mistake or misjudgement of the Nigerian

elites with regard to their resistance to the inclusion of Igbo cultural elements in the
education curriculum. Cf. Chapter Eight in this work, p. 374.
18 Vat. II, NA, Art. 1. (Emphasis added). Cf. also: Vat. II, OT, Art. 16g. We are afraid
the formulation in this latter article is somehow unfortunate. It sounds very patroni-
zing, mechanical and polemic, when it advises that the seminarians get introduced
to other religions in order that they learn to see the life enhancing aspects of them
but also to “learn how to disprove the errors in them and to share the full light of
truth with those who lack it” (emphasis is ours).
19 Lk 18: 9-14.
20 Lk 12: 58-59; 13: 1-5.

422
when it declares: “He who does not love does not know God”21. Culture
is an existential element of a human society. Is it not the same Creator
that sowed the seed of creative powers in human beings, which gave rise
to what we today call culture?22
This habitual deflection of the Lord’s injunctions above must not go
on forever. The enthronement of a culture as superior and more civilized
is an arrogant disrespect of the relativism which characterizes every hu-
man culture. A relativism which is affirmed even by the incarnation
event, thereby making the events of salvation history, including Jesus
Christ Himself, all of Scripture and all of theology bound up with the
relativities of their time. From the perspective of cultural anthropology
Herskovits reminds us that

the core of cultural relativism is the social discipline that comes of respect for dif-
ferences – of mutual respect. Emphasis on the worth of many ways of life, not one,
is an affirmation of the values in each culture. Such emphasis seeks to understand
and to harmonize goals, not to judge and destroy those that do not dovetail with
our own. Cultural history teaches that, important as it is to discern and study the
parallelisms in human civilizations, it is no less important to discern and study the
23
different ways man has devised to fulfil his needs .

A cognitive shift, in the sense proffered by Herskovits above, will pave

the way for a more realistic and critical reassessment of the traditional
culture and a rehabilitation of several Igbo cultural elements and values
in the seminary training. The integration of a study of Igbo Culture and
Thought in the program of seminary training will require that the stu-
dents and their professors be mindful of the perspective24 from which
they are considering the Igbo culture. In addition, it requires a basic
readiness to reduce the excessive space occupied by caution in the semi-
nary and give room for some bit of experimenting and adventure in
scholarship and dialogue. It entails the readiness to encourage the com-
ing forth, to borrow the expression from Quanbeck, of “Thomases rather
than Thomists”25.

21 1 Jn 4: 8.
22 Cf. Vat. II, NA, Art. 1b and 2a.
23 M. Herskovits, Cultural Relativism, 33. Emphasis added.
24 Cf. Section 5.2.1 in this work.
25 Quanbeck 461.

423
 An admission of the mistakes of the past has a further positive im-
plication. It will be a step towards the recognition of the right of the Igbo
traditional world view to exist and of its equality as a functional frame of
reference. This will ease up the stalemate in the dialogue between Igbo
Christians and their own culture. To date the practice has been that when
Catholics in Igboland talk about dialogue with the traditional customs, it
has always been a more or less unilateral and one-way affair, whereby
they dictate to the non-Catholics how the latter have to operate in order
to be accommodated by them. Of course, that is no dialogue. A dialogue
in the real and strict sense of the word, will underscore the central place
of the incarnation in the communicative interaction between God and
humanity. Again, if becoming a Christian means to welcome Christ into
our home, to make him feel at home, then this home must be genuinely
ours, that is, Igbo. In other words, to show Christ our hospitality must we
not offer him our own simple house and not that of another person, even
if ours is only but a hut with some holes in the roof? A continuous his-
torical dishonesty and cultural negation will also do a disservice to the
inculturation of the Christian faith among the Igbo by promoting and
perpetuating cultural self-contempt among the seminarians. As Hinfelaar
observed, to make Christ feel at home

one of the tasks is to make the Christian communities conscious of their own iden-
tity, their own history, their own weaknesses and their own values. They must not
only come to see but also to affirm their differences from others in order to liberate
themselves from any form of oppression or dependency. The main way is indeed to
return back to the pain of history, to its failures and not to sweep things under the
26
carpet [...] .

A cultural study in search of conditions for the inculturation of the

Christian faith and a peaceful cohabitation of Christianity and the Tradi-
tional Religion – an ecumenical perspective – must take into account all
relevant cultural texts on identity and change.27 Most importantly, such a
quest will greatly reduce the tension the seminarian experiences as a re-
sult of the institutionalised negative attitude towards his cultural heri-
tage. A rehabilitation of Igbo culture cannot be carried out without re-
visiting the problem of language.

26 Hinfelaar 9.
27 Cf. Section 5.2.2 in this work.

424
12.1.2 Appreciation of the Centrality of Language in the Construction of
Reality

As we have seen, it is a mark of African hospitality that one offers one’s

own simple house to the guest and not that of another. This applies a
great deal to the language of the people. If the person’s house – in this
case, the Igbo language – is not good enough for his guest, then his ma-
terial and spiritual “world” it expresses will also not be good enough.
The efforts of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri and the Society for
Promotion of Igbo Language and Culture and the Institute of African
Studies of the University of Nigeria Nsukka have shown that the native
language can grow. Prior to the introduction of English language in Ig-
boland, the Igbo language had adequately expressed and transmitted the
reality of the Igbo world. Language is the strongest carrier and trans-
mitter of a people’s culture and thought. Paraphrasing D. Westermann’s
warning about educational work that ignores the unity between language
and thinking, we say that: any seminary intellectual and spiritual forma-
tion in Igboland that does not take into consideration the internal unity
between Igbo language and Igbo thought pattern is not only based on
false principles but also building a castle on a shaky foundation. A seri-
ous occupation with the Igbo language and thought pattern in the forma-
tion is an indispensable condition for the success of any efforts at incul-
turation. To dig deep into the language of a people means a kind of
undertaking an archaeology of the soul (S. Freud) of the people. This
will encompass the whole areas of proverbs, folklore, fables, songs and
poetry, art and the entire world of symbols and signs. A study of the
Igbo language will open up an in-road into the epistemology of the peo-
ple. It will afford access to a better understanding of the logic behind the
values and the attitudes of the Igbo. In addition, it will contribute im-
mensely to pastoral effectivity and efficiency as it will be able to express
and transmit the values of the Christian faith in a more comprehensible
manner. At the same time, it will strongly question the persistence of the
Church in making the Eucharist which is said to be the fons et culmen of
the entire life of the church remain alien to the Africans. A Church that
makes catholicity one of its essential characteristics cannot afford to
close itself to changes which follow from the presence of Africans,
Asians and South Americans in the Church. According to Ela:

425
 [...] The Eucharist in the life of the church has become the locus of our daily al-
ienation [...]. It is paradoxical that, in celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, the church, in
its current practice, reveals our alienation at the hands of a world that imposes its
products on us not only generally, but in the very liturgy that actualises our re-
demption [...]. Imported bread and wine are not only nutritive elements that enter
into the composition of a European’s menu; they are cultural elements with a
meaning for a people and connections with its history [...]. This is a serious matter
when we consider what it means for a sacrament to belong to the universe of
28
signs .

To refuse to allow the celebration of the Eucharist using bread other than
wheat bread and wine other than grape wine in regions of the world
where neither wheat nor grape is grown is to condemn communities to
celebrate salvation in Jesus Christ in dependency on Mediterranean cul-
ture. Moreover, such a refusal is a violation of the people’s divine and
human right to self-identity. Definitely an honest occupation with Igbo
language will lead to a re-examination of several practices in the present
day Igbo Church. But it will give rise to a Church that takes the joys and
toils, the needs and hopes of the people seriously and to a church that in-
corporates these into the daily expression of its sacramental life. It will
give rise to a Church that takes their cultural identity and divine right to
otherness seriously. It will give rise to a Church where the self same be-
lief in the saving powers of Jesus Christ is expressed in several different
ways, and consequently, to a Church that is ready to see the same face of
Jesus Christ in the different faces of the different peoples inhabiting this
living planet.
In addition, it will not only be a sign of appreciation of the power
and function of human language but also an acknowledgement of the ef-
fectiveness of the Jesuanic pastoral method: Jesus was at home with the
language of his people. He would use the language and images from the
world of the various groups of people and profession when addressing
the respective group. He used images from the world of those living in
the riverine regions when addressing fishermen, images from an agrarian
folk for farmers, images from the commercial world for traders and mer-
chants, etc. And at the end of the day he used that “fruit of the earth and
the work of human hands”, bread and wine – symbols of their spectacu-
lar rescue from bondage – to celebrate God’s love to all. He was able to

28 Éla 4-5.

426
proclaim the Good News of salvation to the different people in the lan-
guage they understood; the addressees appreciated this very much and
were able to engage him in a dialogue. Thus, the Jesuanic linguistic
method implies being at home in one’s own native language. He was so
much at home that his simple but challenging message of love became a
threat for the enthroned Privileged of his time. One of our respondents
gravely regretted this abject neglect of the vernacular in the seminary. He
commented: “I want to draw your attention to the area of language. Here
in the seminary, we do everything in English but at home, to speak Eng-
lish freely is already seen as pride. What shall we do?”. If efforts are
made to translate, broadly speaking, the themes of philosophical and
theological tractates into the Igbo language, it will be much easier for
this respondent and very many other seminarians to feel more at home
among their people, and later as ordained or lay faithful to proclaim the
Word of God to their people in the language they understand. If the sem-
inary takes the incarnation act of the infinite God in the finite humanity
serious, then Igbo language must be rehabilitated in the seminary cur-
riculum, not as an addendum, but as a main pre-diploma course, and in-
directly continued under African Thought, Religion and Culture. The
task of rehabilitating the language and the culture of the people is fright-
ening as well as it is threatening. In the words of Ela, to do this is to

undertake an enormous decoding project, one that will liberate the novelty of the
gospel from the sociocultural dross that marks the historicity of any human work.
Ultimately, this project will necessarily imply a radical re-examination of the type
of ecclesial implantation signalled by works that cost so much. The church will
have to be destroyed as a structure of Christendom in order to rediscover a creativ-
ity adequate to the problems posed by the shock of the gospel in an African cli-
29
mate .

12.1.3 Between Formation and Indoctrination is Only a Hairline

The Igbo seminarian is training to become a Roman Catholic priest. His

entire being as “seminarian” is by its very nature a foreign element from
an alien cultural, and consequently cognitive, world. Many elements in-
tegral to this “seminarianness” and the goal thereof, Roman Catholic

29 Éla 108-109.

427
priesthood, by their very nature cannot be incorporated into his original
cognitive framework without some friction.
Education30 or formation, especially of young adults and adults, has
the aim of inculcating in them the ideas, bodies of knowledge (values in-
clusive) or skills prevalent within a system and approved by that system
or institution in which they find themselves. Those bodies of knowledge
and skills, especially such that are essential for the existential continuity
and coherence of the system, are, or represent, the true teaching or doc-
trine of the institution. Usually such institutions are not very tolerant to-
wards opposing ideas or bodies of knowledge. Just like the autopoietic
unities in their self-referential and self-producing process only permit
those perturbations or activities, which are conducive to their structure
and raison d’être, the institution reacts in a friendly way only to conge-
nial ideas. In other words, only such activities and bodies of knowledge
have a place within the confines of the system, which bring about no
more than changes of state within the institution. These are changes that
the institution experiences or goes through while still maintaining its
identity. For instance, the introduction of African Philosophy only as a
part time lecture in the 1993-1994 curriculum of philosophical studies
and of African Traditional Religion only in the first four semesters of
theological studies in the B. M. S., Enugu, (which is affiliated to the
Pontifical Urban University, Rome) is too trivial a perturbation as to
bring about any major structural changes in the seminary’s declared rai-
son d’être. Any more than that may constitute a danger to the system.
The seminarian is thus “allowed” association with only those institution-
ally approved bodies of knowledge and with such that will not put the
raison d’être of the seminary and of his seminarian identity in question.
Education in this context thus takes the form of forming the minds
of the pupils according to the image, conception or ideals of the institu-
tion. Very commonly the seminary is also described as an institution or

30 This term is used here in the commonly employed sense of inducing or putting new
ideas, knowledge or instructions into a person. Not in the socratic maeutic sense of
assisting someone, like a midwife, to give birth to an intellectual child, which is al-
ready in and growing in this person. The Latin educare – to educate – derived from
a specialized use of the form educere – to assist at the birth of a child – portrays
this original sense. We are, however, of the opinion that not many educators or tea-
chers – if any at all – are conscious of this maeutic sense, which suits more the
systemic nature of the human person.

428
“house of formation”. Often too the metaphor of the potter is used to
depict the function or task of the seminary in relation to the seminarian.
The seminarian is to be formed, moulded and shaped to match the pot-
ter’s imagery, conception or model. In this process, greater attention is
paid primarily to the mental and spiritual formation, and then to some
physical skills. It is, however, expected that the latter will automatically
follow if the former is achieved. This imagery of potter and pottery is
oblivious of the systemic organization of the human nervous system and
as such of the human being; it is a misleading imagery. The seminarian
cannot be “formed”. One can only provide him the appropriate informa-
tion and he reorganizes himself in accord with his own autonomous
epistemic frame. And when similar information constitute the greater
part of the perturbations or structural couplings he experiences on a re-
current basis, then he develops new epistemic components while the ear-
lier ones recede into the background or to some more remote regions of
the memory.
Education aims at the formation or the conversion of the mind, i.e.
at triggering such changes as described above. In this task the separating
layer between education and indoctrination is thin. Indoctrination basi-
cally means “the positive exposition of doctrines held to be true by a po-
litical party, a religious sect, or a school of thought”31. Education also
fulfils this task, irrespective of whether the agent is a political party, or a
religious sect, etc. Education can, to a certain extent, be understood as a
sort of indoctrination. But both are not synonymous. The following defi-
nition brings out the difference between them: Indoctrination is the “the
massive use of psychological means to influence an individual or an en-
tire group of a society with regard to the formation of a particular opin-
ion or attitude”32. Indoctrination aims basically at producing marginali-
ties, the exclusion of one group by another. That is, those objects or
persons who do not fall within the permitting scheme or grid of the
group are removed from that frame of reference: for instance, orthodox,
faithful, Christian. Through the process such objects or persons are ex-
cluded from their original frames of reference and transferred to another
with the opposite evaluative bearings and emotional qualities. As the

31 A. L. Hall-Quest, Indoctrination, 696.

32 DUDEN Deutsches Universal Wörterbuch A-Z. (Translation and emphasis are
ours).

429
Igbo say, give a dog a bad name and you can kill it! This is an instru-
ment very often and easily applied in war situations and similar inimical
circumstances. In a similar way, the Igbo traditional religious beliefs and
practices, which permeated the entire Omenani igbo (Igbo culture), was
removed by Christians from the reference system “holy” and reframed as
“pagan”, “savage” and “evil”. Thus talisman and amulets belong to the
latter while scapulars, medals and the cross belong to the former. This
can explain why the missionaries and their Igbo successors carried out
such an embittered war against the traditional religion.
The kind of changes that took place in those Igbo agents, so that
they were able to act the way they did, can be described as an epistemo-
logical rupture or shift. According to Bateson, “if a man achieves or suf-
fers change in premises which are deeply embedded in his mind, he will
surely find that the results of that change will ramify throughout his
whole universe”33. It will ramify throughout his whole universe because
the change affects his epistemological “optic”. It is, therefore, very es-
sential that the seminary be constantly conscious of the fact that the line
between education and indoctrination is really very thin.

12.1.4 A Re-Evaluation of the Concept of Divinity

When Christianity arrived in Africa, the Africans were confronted with

different historical, linguistic and social patterns. The arrival of the mis-
sionaries challenged the religious model of the people. The relationship
between the missionary and the Igbo was marked by the fact of “other-
ness”. In that context of “otherness” the construction of churches chan-
ged the traditional centrality that local sacred places, where the elders
had met for centuries, had in the African’s history and ritual geography.
Since the missionary era, it has been a tradition among the Christians to
make evaluative differentiations between a Deus Africanus (African
God) or Dei Africanorum (African Gods) and a Deus Christianorum
(Christian God)34, in which case the former is often portrayed as an aber-
ration of the latter. The latter is the true God represented in Christ while
the former is considered as false or pagan. The latter is said to have ar-

33 Bateson 336. Emphasis added.

34 M. I. Aguilar, The Social Experience of Two Gods in Africa, 39-42.

430
rived in Africa through the missionaries. Even where it is conceded that
this “true God” most probably was present in Africa long before the arri-
val of the Europeans, it is still argued that there is the need to bring to the
surface a proper understanding of this God as the Father of Jesus Christ,
who in turn is God’s Son and the Founder of God’s Church, and of him
as a Trinity.
The Christian concept of God as a personal God who can speak di-
rectly to human beings, for instance, in prayer, is very strange to the Igbo
who were used to a “silent” and relatively remote God. For the Igbo,
God makes use of mediums and diviners and His other agents to convey
His will to humans. The problem of opposition of two Gods and the so-
cial contestation of two understandings of God has hitherto been neatly
ignored or circumvented in the theological formation of the seminarians.
The historical experience of God in Africa before and after the mission-
ary has received little or no unbiased attention in the Igbo Church. This
tension is made manifest among the clergy: There is a division between
those who feel that Western practices are part of being members of a
universal Church with its central administration in Rome and a very
small few who try to incorporate those religious experiences of the tradi-
tional African, their symbols and understandings – albeit in an often que-
stionable manner –, in the life of the Church in Africa. Incarnation is the
strongest divine acknowledgement of the dignity of individual human
culture and subjective experience, i.e. of the otherness of the Other.
Dialogue and openness to the otherness of culture and experience pave
the way to enrichment, and to creativity in bridging the chasm between
two rather unrelated ideas of God in the one and the same Christian soul.
An unbiased investigation of an Igbo Christian’s experience of the
Supreme God might confront one with an undeniable fact: It often does
not go beyond the kind of experience attributable to the divinities that
share his traditional universe. We have pointed out in the previous
chapters the epistemological confusion of the Christian priestcraft medi-
ating between the Great God and human beings. The Igbo experience of
the Supreme God being directly accessible by all and thus requiring nei-
ther intermediaries nor altars and the Euro-Christian experience of God
who is a personal God and yet needs intermediaries to offer him sacri-
fices seem to bear witness to two different phenomena. As the latter
would correspond to the Igbo experience of the lower divinities to whom
human intermediaries and altars are usually dedicated, the place, func-

431
tion and identity of the Igbo Catholic priest seem not to be all that obvi-
ous. The effect of this diffusion of significants, of signification and their
context has very often led to such conducts which the clergy readily
dismisses as superstitious. An examination of this point will no doubt af-
fect the problem of Christology in an African context as well as that of
the ancestral cult in a Christian context.
As we saw earlier, the traditional Igbo believe that their world or
life space is co-inhabited by myriads of benevolent and malevolent
spiritual forces. They are used to attributing the cause of a misdeed, mis-
fortune or illness to one malevolent invisible force or the other. Since
these forces are not maleficent in essence, they can be “manipulated” or
influenced. They can be “incited” to double-cross or mar another per-
son’s plans or to cause the person havoc. The Igbo seek the service of
ritual ministers for several reasons: (a) to appease offended deities or
spirits, (b) to ward off or to forestall the interference of malignant spirits
or of indignant deities, or (c) to help them obtain the services of other
forces in their endeavours and in their efforts to protect themselves from
the malevolent spirits. The Christian introduction of the concept of Sa-
tan, devil or demon, which is an enemy of God and Goodness, offered
the Igbo a projection point and a ready causal explanation for all mis-
fortune. One does not need to listen too long among Igbo Christians be-
fore one hears: “It is the work of the devil”, “That is the devil’s hand-
work”, “He/she was misled by the devil”, etc. Every misfortune or
misdeed originates proximately or remotely henceforth from Satan or the
Devil.35
To leave this rather important theological question unexamined
amounts to an affirmation of this form of causal explanation and to a
perpetuation of the tendency of scapegoatism among the people. One
will perhaps never be able to answer, like Jesus at the encounter with the
man born blind: “Neither he nor his parents sinned”36, neither a god nor

35 We recall that the Igbo cosmology does not know of any being that is an
embodiment of negation and malice, talk less of being an enemy of God, Chukwu.
36 Jn 9: 1-12.
Contextually differently positioned but similar in intention is Achebe’s narration of
the encounter between Unoka and the priestess of the Oracle of the Hills and
Caves. Unoka had gone to consult the Oracle to find out why he always had a mise-
rable harvest. Before Unoka had finished recounting his efforts, the priestess shot
in, interrupting him: “‘Hold your peace! [...] You have offended neither the gods

432
your neighbour is responsible for your misfortune or misdeed, as long as
one takes cover under clerical hubris and dismisses this epistemic frame
as superstition or cashes in on it to exploit the people’s gullibility and
craving for the miraculous and magical. Strangely enough, malefactors
are punished often in the guise of or with the explanation that the Devil
is being punished. The sort of critical investigation we are proposing
here will bring about a significant reduction of the myriads of the faithful
who throng the so called “Centres of healing or prayer ministry” in
search of help and miracle (– or magic?). It will help check the increase
in the number of those being fed with religious soporifics by opportunis-
tic religious ministers (including Catholics). A discourse on the concept
of divinity and Christology in the context of Igbo epistemology should
constitute a basic tractate in the formation of the prospective clergy not
only in systematic but also in practical theology.

12.1.5 More Emphasis on the Actualisation of Academic Themes

It has been often mentioned that most of the themes with which the lec-
tures in both philosophy and theology busy themselves have little rele-
vance to the realities of life of the seminarians and the Igbo faithful in
general. It is only later in the parish, away from the protective systems of
the seminary, that the young priest is confronted with the blank fact that
he cannot apply most of the things that have occupied his lectures for
eight years! The actualisation of the academic lectures and their themes
is indispensable in the seminary formation if the philosophy and theol-
ogy are not to busy themselves answering many questions no one asked.
This actualisation must begin with due attention being given in the pro-
gram to the experiences the seminarians made during the “apostolic
work”.
It will also be of great help to invite some lay persons as guest lec-
turers more frequently and to hold symposia in which lay people of dif-
ferent walks of life can participate and air their view or tell of their expe-

nor your fathers. And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his
harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm. You, Unoka, are
known in all the clan for the weakness of your machete and your hoe’”, Achebe,
Things Fall Apart, 28.

433
rience on given themes from the various areas of theology. Such contacts
will further the dialogue between the clergy and the laity and greatly
sharpen the awareness of the prospective ministers of issues of interest to
the rest of the People of God outside the walls of the seminary.

12.1.6 Appreciation of the Centrality of Pastoral Communicative Com-

petence

The Lord’s command to enable the disabled, to preach the Good News to
all, is a charge to an interactional redemptive behaviour. It is impossible
in an interactional situation not to behave, i.e. not to communicate. In
like manner it is impossible in a pastoral interaction not to communicate.
“One cannot not communicate”37. This axiom of Watzlawick’s is as
terse as it is frighteningly plausible; it just leaves no room for escape.
Whether I do something or not, say something or keep silent, I am send-
ing a message across. As long as some other person is there who is aware
of me, this person cannot not respond to my communications, to my
cues, and is thus him-/herself communicating. Once this happens, a rela-
tionship comes into being between me and that person. Whether we like
it or not we are constantly communicating, verbally or non-verbally.38
The pastoral situation is a totally communicative situation. It would be,
therefore, wrong to think that the principles of communication39 apply
only to the context of homiletics. A pastoral worker incapable of com-
municating is in effect a contradiction in terms. Nevertheless, not every
form of communication is pastorally useful, appropriate and ultimately
redemptive. This being the case, redemptive communicative competence
is indispensable for an effective pastoral relationship.
The question is, in what does this communicative competence,
which is necessary in the proclamation of the Good News of salvation,

37 Watzlawick et al., Pragmatics of Human Communication, 49-51. Emphasis added.

38 Non-verbal communication does not just include the signs we make but also every
form of bodily expression in an interactional situation: the way we sit, walk, talk,
the clothes we put on, the twitch in our voice, the perfume we put on, etc.
39 We take it to be self-evident that we are not talking about rhetoric or the gift of
eloquence or the capacity to spellbind an audience.

434
consist, and how does one acquire it. According to H. Stenger there are
at least three types of this communicative competence.40

(1) The ability to communicate in a person-related manner. When Jesus

addresses someone, he would focus his whole attention on that particular
person or group41 in such a way that the person gets the feeling that
he/she is the only thing that mattered to him at that point in time.42 This
is what is meant by “person-related communication”.
This kind of communication is imbued with a certain force which is
experienced by all involved as intensive, liberating and empowering at
the same time. It has no room for power struggle43, which implies open-
ness for the otherness of the Other. The personhood of the other is the
ground level common denominator for the communication. In effect it is
not dictated or coloured by social standing and achievement. It is a
communication which respects and acknowledges the dignity and
uniqueness of the Other, or in the language of M. Buber, of the Thou.
Being personal, i.e. from person to person, it establishes a certain flow of

40 Stenger, Kompetenz und Identität, 54-65.

41 The “group” in this context maintains the same value as an individual and as such
is engaged in the same dyadic relationship with Jesus as an individual person
would be. The individual members of the group, of course, can at the same time be
relating to him on a person to person basis; after all, the essence of the interaction
is to reach each and every member of the group, and hence the group as a whole,
spiritually.
42 The greatest miracles which Jesus wrought happened within such communicative
interactions. This underscores the healing potentiality of person-related communi-
cative interaction. Such spectacular encounters like that with the woman suffering
from chronic haemorrhage (Lk 8: 43-48), with the enfeebled woman bent double
for eighteen years (Lk 13: 10-17), with the wealthy senior tax collector Zaccheus
(Lk 19: 1-10), with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (Jn 4:5-42), with the sick
man at the Pool of Bethsaida (Jn 5: 1-9). In all cases of this kind of encounter the
effect of the communicative link with Jesus is that of unparalleled empowerment,
physiologically, socially and psychologically. Each of the empowered in addition
to regaining physical health was liberated from social and psychological isolation.
They all got their “faces” and dignity restored just through the personal attention
Jesus gave them – an attention which underscores the worth and dignity of the
person’s individuality endangered by the depersonalising force of the collective
anonymous and unjust social structures. Herein lies the quintessence of the miracu-
lous: God’s personal interest in the history of each and every human creature.
43 This is similar to what R. Zerfaß described as “herrschaftsfrei”. Cf. Stenger 54-55.

435
rapport between the communicating partners which is expressed tersely
by G. Marcel with the word: “intersubjectivity44”. As intersubjective, it
creates that redemptive ambience called communion or sharing – “koi-
nonia”45.
The redemptive effect of this sort of communication – the goal of
every pastoral activity – means that the persons involved must be as pre-
sent and open, as authentic and transparent as possible. Openness here
means being open in a very discreet and prudent manner, which mani-
fests respect and sensibility for one’s own sense of shame and that of the
other. These qualities demand a good measure of self-knowledge; K.
Schaupp has alerted us on the serious consequences of unacknowledged
or even suppressed needs among holders of pastoral functions.46 They
demand also a highly minimized need for the use of psychological de-
fence mechanisms (especially: denial, repression, projection and ration-
alization) in coping with inner conflicts. Furthermore, they entail that the
person must be anchored in himself, i.e. the person must be able to be in
touch with, to recognize and acknowledge his own needs, values and at-
titudes. We believe that whoever is able to be wholesomely attentive to
the physical and mental activities going on in (and around) him will be
able to relate to others empathetically. The person will be attentive and
sensitive to the needs, values and attitudes of the others – to the cogni-
tive bearings of the others. This eminently demands a constant and con-
scious training in the art of listening. The art of listening we mean here
is the ability to listen to others, as Stenger would say, without preoccup-
ying oneself with planning a mental coup d’état against the other person
or pre-empting what the other is going to say. It is the ability to be with
the other, to listen without bias. Listening to somebody without bias is
being engaged in an ongoing process in the present. It precludes the ten-
dency to selective listening and/or to a “selective deafness”47. This is the
tendency of being receptive only to information and issues that validate
one’s own point of view, thus making one hypersensitive to criticisms of
any sort. Criticism in itself, Bennis and Nanus remind us, “is a frequent
by-product of significant actions. Receptivity to criticism is as necessary

44 R. Jaquenoud und A. Rauber, Intersubjektivität und Beziehungserfahrung, 8-22.

45 Stenger 55.
46 Schaupp 195-240.
47 Bennis and Nanus 62.

436
as it is loathsome. It tests the foundations of positive self-regard as does
nothing else. And the more valid the criticism, the more difficult it is to
receive”48. Some of the respondents in our survey said that they are
afraid of airing their views before the seminary formators because the
latter very often construe them as criticisms of their person. However it
may be, criticism is one of the many forms of feedbacks human beings
require to crosscheck the appropriateness of a purposive action. One can
see it as a part of the Test-Operate feedback loop (TOTE) we described
in Chapter Four.
Person-related communicative competence has a great positive con-
sequence for the pastoral relationship with people of other cultures, with
non-Christian believers and more so with fellow Christians: an interac-
tive relationship on a mutually open and respectful basis creates the most
appropriate ground for mutually enhancing and constructive dialogue. In
addition, a person who is congruent in himself and in his interactive re-
lationship with others is always perceived by others as genuine, transpar-
ent and sincere. There is no gainsaying how deleterious it is for the
credibility of the Good News when Christians, especially those officially
commissioned to proclaim it, “preach water and drink wine” or behave
destructively aggressively towards others who think or believe differ-
ently. The readiness to enter into dialogue with others is indicative of the
ability to accommodate a certain measure of plurality, and this brings us
to the second type of communicative competence.

(2) The ability to act in a reality-related manner

Action is the actualisation of a communicative competence to the extent
it is reality related. The baby squirrel as soon as it is born instinctively
adapts itself to its natural environment. It is instinctively attuned to palm
nuts, for instance. Animals in general act instinctively in accordance
with the realities around them. Human beings, on the contrary, do not in
a matter-of-fact-way act in such a manner that their actions and percep-
tions synchronize with the realities of life around them. They can deny
them49, forget them or even distort their perception of them. Culture and

48 Ibid., 68.
49 Denial of the existence of certain realities, for example problems, is one of the dif-
ferent ways of “making elephants out of mosquitoes”, i.e. of mishandling difficul-
ties and consequently creating serious impasses for oneself or in interpersonal rela-
tionships. This inappropriate way of confronting some daily transformations of life

437
socialization help to shape one’s perception of one’s physical and psy-
chological environment. However, indoctrination, fanaticism and ideo-
logical brainwashing all lead to a fixation of this reality perception to
one particular mode of its manifestation. This kind of distortion breeds
intolerance. Reality manifests itself as a plurality, i.e. in a diversity of
ways.50 To be intolerant to this essential quality of reality is a serious
limitation of the communicative competence. The history of the Church,
especially from the Middle Ages onwards, is filled with occasions of in-
tolerance on the part of the Christians themselves. The Great Inquisitions
– one of the most inhuman and unchristian chapters in the Church’s life
– is an eloquent expression of intolerance in the Church. On the contrary,
the beginning of the Church is marked with great tolerance, respect and
acknowledgement of the diversified nature of the one reality51 irrespec-
tive of later persecutions it had to go through. Right from the days when
St. Paul, the Apostle, guided by the Holy Spirit, left Damascus and
boldly made his way eastwards towards Arabia, the reality of the Church
changed from a small, homogenous Jewish community in Jerusalem to a
pluralistic community of believers in Jesus of Nazareth. The reaction of
the disciples in Jerusalem to the news of Paul’s successes was that of ac-
knowledgement and thanksgiving to God, the Giver of diverse Cha-
risma52, whose Spirit creates the diversity. The tolerance of diversity we
mean here is the ability to see the work of the Holy Spirit also in the di-
versity. This requires a good and positive sense of self-worth, a strong
ego-feeling, capable of sustaining opposing currents in a democratic set-
ting. According to Stenger, such an ego is able to act as a bridge between

is of such a great importance that Watzlawick et al., devoted a full chapter to it in

their work: Change. Cf. Watzlawick et al., Change, 39-46.
50 The age old problem of unity and diversity which has occupied the minds of
philosophers right from the days of Parmenides of Elea and the Atomists, and the
problem of mono- and polytheism comes easily to mind here.
51 The Lord’s reply: “He who is not against us, is for us” (Mk 9: 38-40; Lk 9: 49-50:
“[...] Who is not against you, is for you”), the Council of Jerusalem in Ac 15 and
St. Paul in Athens in Ac 17: 16-34 are few testimonies to the openness and recogni-
tion of the fact that reality is bigger than we can perceive. They are lucid
attestations of the aspect of the communicative competence we are talking about
here.
52 St. Paul the Apostle did not even meet Peter or any of the Apostles until after three
years of serious, active and successful pastoral work, cf. Gal 1: 10-2: 10.

438
diverse opinion currents.53 In the context of the Church only such people
are actually capable of real and practical koinonia; they are able to ac-
knowledge the various gifts or charisma which the Spirit has given to in-
dividual members within the community. A community of such tolerant
Christians has room even for those prophetic-critical gifts. The inability
to tolerate or accommodate diversity is a sign of a weak and poorly de-
veloped sense of self-worth, of a weak ego-feeling. Intolerance and fa-
naticism pose great limitations to community life. They account for a
great deal of tension in any community, be it political, social or religious.
Various Christian communities in Igboland have encountered great
problems as a result of intolerant actions of some of their members and
of some of the clergy. Instead of serving as the “pontifex oppositorum”54
such intolerant pastoral workers have turned into generators of dissent
and schism.
Seminarians should be helped to develop their sense of tolerance not
just towards non-Christian believers but also towards fellow Christians
within the Catholic folk and in other denominations. A good and well
developed ability for tolerance is a solid and indispensable foundation
for any attempt at inculturation and true ecumenism; it is the bedrock of
any dialogue with non-Christian cultures and religions and with other
Christian denominations.
A Christian who is not ideologically brainwashed, religiously big-
oted and/or ecclesiogenically neurotic, but who is trustingly believing,
will always feel himself linked up with others who believe differently by
the lowest common factor: the common humanity. Such a believer
knows that God’s sympathy for humankind was not abrogated by origi-
nal sin. Over and above all he is always conscious of the fact that there is
not only an original sin but also an “original salvation” and is firmly
convinced that God loves those who do not share the same faith with him
as well.55 To ignore or forget this fact is tantamount to a disregard for the
Creator who is the Originator of diversity, even diversity in the modes of
relating to Him.

53 Stenger 57.
54 Ibid.
55 Ibid., 59.

439
(3) The ability to use symbols in a Gospel-related manner
In our discussion on “Myth and Symbol” in Chapter Eight, we pointed
out that symbols are compressions of subjective meanings shared by a
people or community. As such the meanings, arising from the people’s
experiences of everyday life reality, when “put together” (symbállein),
that is, expressed in symbols, become available to all those who use such
symbols. Symbols, in effect, are not only carriers of meanings but also
establish and express the relatedness between persons. They not only do
this, they have the capacity to function as references to as well as par-
ticipate in the idea or thing they symbolize. We said earlier too that the
referential function of symbol consists much more in its invitation or in-
citement to become conscious of and get involved with the reality it re-
fers to or represents. In this connection, communicative competence in
an ecclesial context demands a sensitivity for the quality of symbols as
well as a feeling for their transparency.56 Every thing ecclesial has a
symbolic function: the spoken and the written word, the music and the
hymns, art and architecture, garments and gestures. Even the bishop’s
house and the parish presbytery, the car of the bishop or of the priest and
the parish priest’s dog are not symbolically irrelevant. As far as the Igbo
is concerned, they are even sacramental. The same applies to individual
persons, groups and institutions. Just as human beings in an interactional
situation cannot not communicate so it is that no ecclesial object is with-
out a symbolic function.
Since every symbol is aesthetically sensuous, semantically and
semiotically meaningful and community generative, it is very important
to be constantly conscious of the specific Christian aspects of these three
dimensions of symbols in an ecclesial context. Pastoral communicative
competence in the use of symbols in a Gospel-related manner manifests
itself when none of these three characteristics of ecclesial symbols is
downplayed and when they contribute to the experience of joy,
empowerment and freedom accruing from a contact with the Good News
of Jesus Christ rather than of drudgery and anxiety.
Ecclesial symbols are not only there to link the Faithful with Jesus
Christ who is at the same time the Message and the Messenger, the sym-

56 Cf. H. Stenger, Verwirklichung des Lebens aus der Kraft des Glaubens, 94-126. In
pages 94-103 Stenger emphasizes also the importance of the sensitivity for the
transparency and quality of ecclesial symbols.

440
bol and the meaning; they should have therapeutical effects as well.
They should, moreover, incite whoever is in contact with them to be-
come receptive to the numinous as well as to the Christian faith “em-
bodied” in them. Where an ecclesial symbol produces the contrary, there
it ceases to be “symbolic” and becomes “diabolic”57. Without this dif-
ferentiation of the specifically Christian the transparency of ecclesial
symbols in relation to the Gospel message is in real danger. The impor-
tance of the sensitivity for both quality and transparency of ecclesial
symbols is underscored and made more urgent by the fact that symbols
have analogous character by which one symbol can be carrier of several
meanings at the same time.
Since the Christian religion did not originate in Igboland but rather
was introduced with all its symbols from without, not every Igbo Chris-
tian – including the clergy and religious – are aware of the original
meaning of many of the symbols they use or are confronted with in the
Church. The actual Christo-ecclesial meaning of the symbols are not
self-evident; their esoteric nature is, hence, obvious. Their meanings are
accessible only to the “initiated”. To make sense of their community
generative function the seminarians and the faithful must be “initiated”
into the christo-ecclesial meanings of the symbols. This pedagogical
task, of course, demands that whoever is commissioned to do this must
(a) have thoroughly understood these meanings, (b) have internalised it,
be it through meditation or contemplation, i.e. grasped the Gospel related
truth (c) be emotionally moderate in his approach. The Gospel remains
the touchstone on which the quality and transparency of any ecclesial
symbol must be measured. What kind of message does a palatial resi-
dence of a bishop want to convey to the environment where the majority
of people dwell in huts and make-shift shelters? Or what message does
the priest convey who makes use of every sort of pressure to compel his
peasant parishioners to purchase him a car for the parish work? What
message does the white cassock or the isolated capacious parish houses
carry? What meaning and message are actually transmitted – as against
the message institutionally intended or aspired – and how far are they in

57 Stenger 106. A symbol as a compression, i.e. objectivation of subjective meanings,

should focus the attention of those who behold or use them on the meaning or the
thing it refers to or symbolizes. Where it fails to do this, it distracts (dia-bállein)
and causes confusion and misdirects the attention to something else – qualities and
activities usually attributed to diabolos.

441
tune with the spirit of the Gospel? With Stenger we ask: How much of
that sweet fragrance of Christ, that “bonus odor Christi” which the
Church is supposed to exude58, can be perceived in these and similar
things or in the behaviour of a priest at mass who interrupts the liturgical
celebration to comment on the meagre amount coming together during
offertory? How much of that “sweet smell” is the priest or seminarian
emitting who ostensibly violates sacred places and objects of non-
Christian traditional believers or incites other Christians to do the same
in order to denigrate them and undermine their credibility? Ecclesial
symbols are and must remain carriers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Everywhere, where pastoral responsibility is coupled with the abil-
ity to communicate in a person-, reality- and Gospel-related manner,
there ensues an atmosphere which can theologically be described as a
“redemptive milieu”59.
No seminarian is born with this communicative competence and no
one is devoid of the capability for that. The ability can be acquired and
developed through conscious efforts and guided learning. It is a sad and
regrettable lack in the curriculum of seminary training that an institution
which trains people for a totally communicative profession does not have
a course as important as interpersonal communication in general, and
pastoral communicative competence in particular. Each candidate is left
to find his own way. Many of the seminarians who realized this lack try
to compensate by acquiring proficiency in the use of Igbo proverbs60 (as
embellishments for their homilies in the parishes) or even in the use of
citations of literary authorities (to buttress their points as well as to im-
press their listeners and appear learned and erudite). This is, any way, in
tune with the Igbo admiration for the orator. However, interactive re-
demptive behaviour has little or nothing to do with the need to impress.
The scope of this work does not permit us to go into details to answer the
question of how communicative competence can be acquired. We rather

58 2 Co 2: 14-16: “Thanks be to God who, wherever he goes, makes us, in Christ,

partners of his triumph, and through us is spreading the knowledge of himself, like
a sweet smell, everywhere. We are Christ’s incense to God [...]”.
59 Stenger, Kompetenz und Identität, 64.
60 Proverbs belong to the essential parts of Igbo discursive language. They are so
vivid and terse, and due to their metaphorical character, add beauty and lucidity to
the discourse such that the Igbo say: ilulu bu mmanu ana eji eri okwu (Literally:
Proverb is the oil with which words – discourse – are eaten).

442
leave it to the experts and suffice ourselves with referring interested
readers to some works which we find very useful in this regard.61

12.1.7 Many are called [...]? – Congested Seminaries

If one takes a look at the congested seminaries in this part of Nigeria,

one cannot avoid getting the impression that number seems to be of a
more paramount importance than the personality development of the stu-
dents. With the huge populations in the seminaries it is almost impossi-
ble for the formators to attend to the students on a personal basis or indi-
vidually. For instance, according to the 1993-1994 Academic Calendar
of the B. M. S. Enugu, there were 20 priests on the staff taking care of
481 students; by 1997/98 the number has risen to 682 students from dio-
ceses of the Igbo cultural area only.62 Under such condition it is impossi-

61 Paul Watzlawick, Janet Beavin Bavelas, Don D. Jackson, Pragmatics of Human

Communication. A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes.
New York 1967; Virginia Satir, The New People Making. California 1988; Frie-
demann Schulz von Thun, Miteinander Reden 1: Störungen und Klärungen. Allge-
meine Psychologie der Kommunikation. Reinbek bei Hamburg 1981; Friedemann
Schulz von Thun, Miteinander Reden 2: Stile, Werte und Persönlichkeitsentwic-
klung. Differentielle Psychologie der Kommunikation. Reinbek bei Hamburg 1989;
Christoph Thomann und Friedemann Schulz von Thun, Klärungshilfe: Hand-buch
für Therapeuten, Gesprächshelfer und Moderatoren in schwierigen Gesprächen.
Theorien, Methoden, Beispiele. Reinbek bei Hamburg 1988. Also: Eric Berne, The
Games People Play. The Psychology of Human Relationships. New York 1964
(especially Part I of the book): Of special interest is this work with regard to the
transactional nature of interpersonal communication. This last work can offer some
insight into the interplay of ego needs in the relationship between the pastoral
worker and the myriads of men and women, boys and girls who volun-tarily devote
themselves in active service of the church in their community or who frequent the
presbytery or parish compound – at the service of the pastoral worker – (we have in
mind such people like those Catechism teachers, Mary League Girls, Altar boys
and girls, etc., etc). We do not intend to downplay the religio-spiritual dimension of
these psychological needs Berne describes in the work when it comes to the service
or transaction in an ecclesial context. The Contributions of Hermann Stenger und
Klemens Schaupp in Hermann Stenger (ed.), Eignung für die Berufe der Kirche.
Klärung–Beratung–Begleitung. Freiburg im Breisgau 1988 are of special relevance
because they are specially tailored to the needs and requirements of those in
pastoral service.
62 See Appendix B3 in this work.

443
ble to obtain an in-depth personal guidance, thus condemning the train-
ing to a more or less chiefly intellectual formation63; one hopes that the
intellect will form the psyche and the soul.
Such numbers are for many of our Church leaders, and for many
Europeans as well, a confirmation of the widespread notion of the Afri-
cans as a “notoriously”64 and “incurably”65 religious people. In the face
of such developments one meets a no less common impression among
Europeans that Africans will soon have to re-evangelise Europe who had
brought them the Christian faith. It is not easy to make out whether this
is a “sincere Christian hope or merely a nervous apprehension”66.
Pope John Paul II seems also to share this notion of the “deeply re-
ligious” African.67 Commenting on the Pope’s impression on his first
pastoral visit to Africa Agu writes: “[...] the Holy Father showed he was
impressed by the ‘great vitality’ of the Church there. He expressed his
gratitude to the Lord for the ‘moving spectacles of faith’ he saw there
and the ‘maturity which those churches (on the continent of Africa) had
already achieved.’ He added: ‘Africa is ultimately nourished by the gos-
pel of our Lord Jesus Christ; it is consecrated to the glory of his name; it
is open to the breath of his Spirit. LAUS DEO!’”68.

63 Even at that, the intellectual formation gives little room for academic adventure. Its
furthermost interest in imparting and permitting only orthodox (– congenial to the
ecclesiastical authorities in Rome) themes and contents leaves little or no room for
the students for individual and/or divergent opinions. Given its exclusiveness and
ultimate intention, the openness of spirit characteristic of intellectual and academic
institutions of university status will, as a matter of consistency, not have much
room within the seminary walls.
64 Mbiti 1.
65 Agu 200.
66 Ibid., 201.
67 In an audience accorded to the Africans resident in Rome on February 2, 1980, he
observed in his allocution that “in an almost spontaneous way, Africans link their
lives with the world of the unseen, they recognize the universal presence of God,
the source of life, and pray to him willingly. They have a sense of human dignity
and respect for human life”, cf. Bollettino, Nr. 37, Sabato, 2 febbraio, 1980, 5.
68 Agu 201.
One would expect that after such a eulogy and the encouragement of his prede-
cessor, Paul VI in Uganda 1969, that the endemic distrust and patronization on the
part of the West, especially the Vatican, for every initiative from Africa towards
the inculturation of the Good News of Jesus of Nazareth should become a thing of
the past. If the Incarnation of God, the theology derived from it and inculturation

444
are anything to go by, then in the expression of the core message of salvation we
must think African, breath African, dance African, sing African, pray African, wor-
ship African, proclaim Jesus and his Spirit African, hear his word African. As a
matter of fact, we have to be Christians with our African “soul, spirit and body”,
with our African personality. The Vatican and our bishops have to endeavour to see
God’s face in the face of every African and feel His heart beating in the heart of
every African. And if God did not find it unworthy of his divinity and majesty to
address the African heart and soul and to await an African response from it, then
the Mother Church cannot pretend to be more selective than her Creator, Redee-
mer, Originator and Legitimation.
The words of Paul VI during his first pastoral visit in Uganda 1969 (AAS,
61(1969), 572-591): “We do not know of any other wish other than just to affirm
and to promote what you are: namely Christians and Africans. We wish that our
presence among you be esteemed as acknowledgement and recognition of your
maturity. You are now your own missionaries” sound ridiculous in the face of the
actual practice of the Church in the Vatican and in many countries of the West with
regard to the Church in Africa. The statement itself, which is held very high by
many African theologians as a “Certificate of Maturity” contains the very const-
raints against its realization. For instance, it places the Christian identity of the
African before his being as African (“namely Christians and Africans”), as if the
“Christianness” of the African precedes his “Africanness”. We thought they say:
Grace perfects nature and does not replace or displace nature. The African is Afric-
an before ever he becomes a Christian. That means, he receives and responds to the
Word of God as an African and on the basis of his response he becomes a Christ-
ian. If there were no basic cultural difference between him (the Pope and his com-
panions) and the Ugandan African audience, the explicit option for the terms “Chri-
stians and Africans” would have been superfluous and irrelevant. On another count,
the patronization and superiority complex are apparent in the sentence: “We wish
that our presence among you be esteemed as acknowledgement and recognition of
your maturity”. Even the formulation in passive form is condescending: “We wish
that [...] be esteemed as [...]”). We Africans should be grateful and indebted to him
that he came all the way from Europe, personally, to discharge us from infancy and
childhood to adulthood, otherwise we would ever remain in our perpetual stage of
immaturity. We need the confirmation from Rome to become and be considered
adult Christians. And today being our expender of the “Certificate of Maturity” she
rations the dosage, determines and regulates what we can contribute to the life of
the Universal Church and the quality of our contribution. This sort of attitude could
not have been more obvious than in the last Roman Synod for Africa. This is why
such lip service is very misleading, untruthful, incongruous and ridiculous and fits
properly into the class of incongruities which Jesus abhorred and relentlessly
criticized about the Pharisees.

445
 If we put these comments and the implicit impressions the large
numbers of those embracing the Christian religion69 and of the vocation-
ers to the priesthood together, one would conclude that the spirit of the
Gospel is on its best way to informing and taking possession of the Igbo
mind and heart. It would seem as if the seed of Christian philosophy and
theology is budding in an explosive manner. Such impressive numbers
are definitely pointers to some changes – peripheral or central – in the
society at large. Christianity must, no doubt, have some strong attrac-
tions and promises which are apparently absent in the traditional society.
Whichever way one decides to explain this phenomenon of “vocation
boom” and overpopulation of the seminaries, one fact remains undeni-
able: a congested and overpopulated seminary is very difficult to direct
on an individual, personal basis. Coupled with that the personality de-
velopment of the individual seminarian suffers grave setbacks and ne-
glect under the overbearing pressure of group mechanisms and dynam-
ics, and of the urgent need for discipline, law and order. In a way this
explains the excessive use of fear by the authorities in the day to day
running of the seminary.
It is obvious that there is a great need for a sufficient number of
pastoral workers for the dense population of Igboland. However, the ir-
resistible urge to meet this need sacrifices quality and balanced person-
ality development of the candidates on the altar of mass production. One
is left with a great concern for the pastoral effectiveness and efficiency
of the products. If only the church in Igboland could learn from the mis-
takes of the Mother Church in Europe!

12.1.8 Introduction of the Concept of and Program on Leadership

We have indicated that leadership as a special course in the entire cur-

riculum of seminary formation is woefully missing. This lack is even
more incomprehensible as leadership is a terminology frequently present
on the lips of church officials. Leadership is a sine qua non for the sur-
vival and success of any group, institution or community. It is also a
common experience to speak of “church leaders”, “religious leaders”,

69 The Igbo cultural area has the greatest population and the strongest concentration
of Christians and Catholics in the whole of Nigeria.

446
“party leaders”, and so on. This fact underscores the central importance
of leadership in human organizations. The commonest experience with
such ostensible leaders is that of poorly trained managers. The authors,
Bennis and Nanus – though addressing the business world – gave a very
important characteristic by which a leader is distinguished from a man-
ager, which we consider very useful. According to them: “Managers are
people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right
thing. The difference may be summarized as activities of vision and
judgement – effectiveness – versus activities of mastering routines – ef-
ficiency”70. We may not be exaggerating if we suspect that the seminary
training in Igboland cares more about mastering routines rather than
about an integrated personality development of the seminarians, who
later can rise beyond just doing things right to the level of doing the right
things. There is no gainsaying that the large population of the seminaries
favour this state of affairs, since it makes a more personal guidance of
the seminarians impossible.
The history of humankind is filled with people who spent their lives
doing the right thing. Moses, Jesus Christ, St. Paul, Hildegard of Bingen,
Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela. The disregard
of this essential issue in the seminary education can be traced back to
dangerously misleading assumptions, namely, that the goals are clear,
alternatives known, method and its consequences certain and perfect in-
formation available. And worse still the human element is either avoided
or short-circuited in the curricula. These gross neglects seem to be sup-
ported by a lot of myths about leadership which must be dispelled before
a meaningful access to leadership can be made. Such myths have been
enumerated by Bennis and Nanus.71
Myth 1: Leadership is a rare skill. It is true that leaders emerge;
they are not born. The emergence, however, presupposes the recognition
that one has the potential to lead. Everyone has leadership potential, just
as everyone has some ability to run, act or paint, even though great lead-
ers may be as rare as great runners, great actors or great painters. There
is no one leadership role but rather millions of leadership roles.
Myth 2: Leaders are born, not made. Everybody is called to holi-
ness but only very few become saints. The potential to sainthood is,

70 Bennis and Nanus 20. Emphasis added.

71 Ibid., 206-211.

447
however, given to all. This means also that no human being is born a
saint. The problem is that biographies of saints and other people who
have lived very remarkable lives are filled with such idealisations that
these people appear as if they entered into the world with an extraordi-
nary genetic endowment that somehow determined their future saintli-
ness. A similar myth shrouds great leaders. It is not true that leaders are
born. Major capacities and competencies of leadership can be learned.
As long as the desire to learn is there and one has no serious learning
disorders, the natural endowments one brings to the role of leadership
can be enhanced. This is where nurture aids grace and nature. In any
case, nurture is more important than nature in determining who at the
end becomes a successful leader.
Myth 3: Leaders are charismatic. Leaders must not be charismatic.
Some are, many others are not. Not all leaders have that “divine aura”,
that capacity to spellbind, which we love to associate with leaders. Many
of them are “all too human” to be special; and yet they have that capacity
to lead. It is not charisma that endows leadership ability. It seems more
likely that charisma is the result of effective leadership. Those who are
good at leading attract or are granted a certain amount of respect and awe
by their followers, which increases the bond of relationship between
them.
Myth 4: Leadership exists only at the top of an organisation. It is
often believed that church or religious leaders exist only at the top rungs
of the hierarchy; in which case, only bishops, cardinals and the pope
constitute the leaders of, for instance, the Catholic Church. In fact, the
larger the institution or organization, the more leadership roles are neces-
sary for its effective operation. What would have become of the Church
in Igboland without, for instance, the leaders of the different devotional
groups in the villages, the catechists, the leaders of the various organiza-
tions (e.g. C.M.O, C.Y.M.O., C.W.O., C.Y.W.O., etc.), the priests and
the superiors of the various religious congregations? The sooner the
Church in Igboland realizes this fact the better for the entire Christian
community, and the greater the pressure it will put on the seminaries to
put more interest and effort in training seminarians for leadership roles
and as future multipliers of leadership in the communities.
Myth 5: The leader controls, directs, prods, manipulates. This is
likely the most dangerous of all the myths. Leadership does not consist
of a show or exercise of power itself. It is first and foremost the

448
empowerment of others in contributing and effecting the realisation of an
envisioned state or goal. Leaders show their prowess when they make
those working with them develop a sense of “commonwealth of meaning
and interest” and of community, experience thrill and enchantment and a
sense of being good in their jobs. Successful leaders “lead by pulling
rather than by pushing; by inspiring rather than by ordering; by creating
achievable, though challenging, expectations and rewarding progress to-
ward them rather than by manipulating; by enabling people to use their
own initiative and experiences rather than by denying or constraining
their experiences and actions”72. They inspire their followers to high lev-
els of achievement by showing them how their work contributes to
worthwhile ends. One can now understand why Jesus said to his disci-
ples: “Go, make disciples of all nations [...] And know that I am with
you always”73; as empowered he sent the disciples to go and empower
others. Guided by his spirit they can now apply their own initiative to-
wards realizing his vision of a new kingdom. Effective leaders help their
followers know pride and satisfaction in their task. In creating a new vi-
sion they take into serious account the related “social architecture”74, i.e.
the prevailing culture or world view of the followers. This is very im-
portant since “we human beings are suspended in webs of significance
that we ourselves have spun”75.
Just as human beings care less about episodes and events but more
about the relationships between them, so do people care less about
structure than about what leaders do to motivate and create a culture of
respect, caring and trust. The authors are well aware of this when they
declared:

When individuals feel that they can make a difference and that they can improve
the society in which they are living through their participation in an organization,
then it is much more likely that they will bring vigour and enthusiasm to their tasks
76
and that the results of their work will be mutually reinforcing .

72 Ibid., 209.
73 Mt 28: 19-20.
74 Bennis and Nanus 103.
75 Ibid., 104.
76 Ibid., 84.

449
Myth 6: The leader’s sole job is to increase shareholder value. This is as
misleading and wrong as it is too short-sighted. It is not the sole job of
the religious leaders to pacify and/or maximize the interests of those
(powers that be) that have something to gain by the presence of or by
cooperation with the Church in an area. It is also very short-sighted to
protect more the personal or political interests of the clergy alone; this
leads to a slight and neglect of others whose lives are affected by the
Church. It does not, in any case, boost the morale of the “ground person-
nel” and definitely works against long-term authenticity, integrity and
success. It might be revealing to ask: who are the shareholders in and of
the Church? “The leader’s primary responsibility is to serve as trustee
and architect of the organization’s future, building the foundations for its
continued success”77. It is true that Jesus himself is the guarantee for the
success of his church on earth. The various church leaders, nonetheless,
contribute to the acceptance or rejection of the church’s presence and
message among a particular people and in a particular epoch. Leading is
a responsibility and the effectiveness of this responsibility is reflected in
the attitudes of the led, which is empowerment.
The ultimate result of leadership is empowerment. Unfortunately
the seminary seems to be preparing the seminarians more for manage-
ment roles, i.e. in the art of “doing things right” according to specific
laws and regulations rather than in the art of leadership. Management has
to do with the acquisition and taking charge of “know-hows”, accom-
plishment of definite jobs within the frames of a specific social archi-
tecture, which is doubtless very important as well. It has to do with ac-
tivities of mastering routines, with problem solving according to specific
methods. According to Bennis and Nanus

The manager [...] operates on the physical resources of the organization, on its
capital, human skills, raw materials and technology. Any competent manager can
make it possible for people in the organization to earn a living. An excellent man-
ager can see to it that work is done productively and efficiently, on schedule, and
78
with a high level of quality .

In some parishes in Igboland the parish priests are sometimes referred to

as “parish managers”. This designation is at least honest and portrays the

77 Ibid., 211.
78 Ibid., 85.

450
parish reality more accurately than the designation “leaders”. In the
seminary one learns how to celebrate or assist at the liturgy “rightly”, to
apply the canon law correctly, to quote the scripture verses correctly,
how to be a good ambassador of the Roman Catholic Church before
Non-Catholics, etc., for short, how to do things right. This is very im-
portant. However, a little space for thinking and posing questions in or-
der to get at the spirit and logic behind the things one does or has to do
would go a long way toward turning managers into leaders. Since leader-
ship has to do with envisioning and empowerment, and envisioning has
to do more eminently with “thinking and knowing-whys”, it is unsettling
and risky for an established order or a rigid hierarchical institution.79
Management typically consists of a set of contractual exchanges, “you
do this job for this reward”. What gets exchanged is not trivial: jobs, se-
curity, money. The result, at best, is compliance; at worst, you get a
spiteful obedience. In contrast leadership results ultimately in empower-
ment. Transformative leadership “commits people to action, converts
followers into leaders, and may convert leaders into agents of change”80.
In spite of the danger transformative leadership poses for the estab-
lished order, it still remains the most powerful element for the survival
and the success of any organization. An institution will survive and
thrive or disintegrate and fold up to the extent it succeeds in having envi-
sioned leadership at the helm of affairs in its different sectors. The semi-
nary training must take seriously the issue of leadership programs for
seminarians if it really wants leaders and not merely managers, adminis-
trators and executors of episcopal instructions.

12.1.9 Need for a Paradigm Shift in Priestly Formation

The vocation to the priesthood is a call to a special service in the Church.

As a result of the social position arising from that call to service it is as
well a call to a special life in that Mystical Body of Christ, the Church; a

79 Jesus of Nazareth was a typical example. With his incessant urge to reach beyond
the face value of events and rules, beyond the letters of the law right into the spirit
or the rational behind its establishment in the first place, he dangerously upset the
apparent orderliness of his Jewish society. He not only did it himself but
empowered others to do likewise; and for that he had to die!
80 Bennis and Nanus 3.

451
life modelled after our Lord Jesus Christ, “who was Teacher, Priest, and
Shepherd”81. The period of seminary training should be a period of
growth in and familiarization with the implications of that call. In accor-
dance with the Vat. II document on priestly formation, we said in Chap-
ter Ten that the seminarian should prepare himself for (1) the ministry of
“the word”, so that he will become credible and congruous in his conduct
and utterances in the exercise of this ministry; (2) the ministry of “wor-
ship and sanctification”, so that he will become able to partake in and
dispense God’s saving grace to all in prayer and in the sacraments; and
(3) the ministry of “a shepherd”, so that he becomes able to lead his
flock to green pastures and to safety through the vicissitudes of this
life.82
The act of teaching is a maieutic process, assisting the pupil,
through the “input” of the correct information, to enable him to effect
the desired cognitive, affective and conative adjustments. Yelling at the
congregation and spouting out injuries and maledictions may well induce
the listeners to effect some changes in their lives; it is, nevertheless,
doubtful if such changes will be in any way close to the kind of trans-
formation one experiences as liberating and healing – the kind many of
Jesus’ listeners experienced. It is equally doubtful how positively effec-
tive the “teaching” is, where the “teacher” looks down with arrogance on
his listeners or considers them a pack of dimwits.
Worship is a communication with the Supreme Source of life and
holiness. It is a lifting up, a transcendental act which gives solace,
strength and peace. It leaves one to wonder what kind of uplifting there
is in an assembly of a praying community where the priest halts his
prayer to scowl at people or at a mother with a restless baby, or when a
priest is not deterred by the Blessed Sacrament he is dispensing from a
physical assault on a fellow believer just about to receive the same
Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Communion.
To shepherd is to become sensitive to the needs of the flock. Shep-
herds who have turned into predators lose the right to that name.83 The

81 Vat. II, OT, Art. 4.

82 Cf. Ibid.
83 Cf. Ez 34: 1-10: “[...] The Lord Yahweh says this: Trouble for the shepherds of
Israel who feed themselves! Shepherds ought to feed their flock, yet you have fed
on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep,
but failed to feed the flock. You have failed to make weak sheep strong, or to care

452
life of a shepherd is everything but a life of comfort. It is a life of inti-
macy with the flock, such that both the shepherd and his flock become so
attuned to each other that they recognize each other’s voice. The needs
and the well-being of the flock are the centre-point of the activities of the
shepherd: caring for the weak, carrying the exhausted and sick on his
shoulders, going after stray ones, adjusting his pace to that of his flock.
He leads his flock to fresh and green pastures and the flock provides him
company and warmth with its wool. Both are dependent on each other.
However, since the Constantine era this image of the disciple as a shep-
herd or pastor has gradually given way to that of a king or feudal lord.
Even the bishops who have laid exclusive claim to the designation live
more like kings than shepherds. Well protected within the safe walls of
their palaces and a network of perquisites, they seem very often far re-
moved from the hard realities of life their flock is facing. Since Bishops
are said to have the fullness of the priesthood and priests only participate
in the priesthood of the bishops84, it is, therefore, not surprising that
priests also understand themselves more as lords than as shepherds. The
observation of the Cameroonian Jesuit priest and philosopher, Eboussi
Boulaga, fits well into this picture:

Torpor reigns in the churches of the southern hemisphere. Priests and bishops sit
dozing over the scholastic catechism of their adolescence, stroked by canonical re-
assurances. They stir to life only when pricked by the needles of mammon, luxury,
and perquisites. When they are unwilling to ‘play up to important people,’ as this
would be ‘vain’ and ‘self-seeking,’ they lose themselves in the institutional casu-
istry of attempts to ‘apply the council.’ Their docile application of the Council
gives birth to nothing but wind or stillbirths, because ultimately it merely mimics
the life that is perhaps unfolding elsewhere. Structures, even post-conciliar ones,
will never be able to replace message, will never be able to replace the soul that in-
85
vents its own body .

for the sick ones, or bandage the wounded ones. You have failed to bring back
strays or look for the lost. On the contrary, you have ruled them cruelly and violen-
tly. For lack of a shepherd they have scattered, to become the prey of any wild
animal; they have scattered far [...]” (34: 2b-5). Compare this with Ez 34: 11-31; Jn
10: 1-16.
84 Cf. Vat. II, CD, Art. 15; PO, Art. 7.
85 Éla 106-107.

453
And the message is: “I have seen the miserable state of my people [...]. I
have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I am well
aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of their
oppressors”86, therefore, tell the oppressors: “Let my people go” [into the
freedom of the children of God]. Lead my people on the journey of self-
rediscovery where they will reach into their soul and discover the God
who loves them, so that they can worship me in peace, love and free-
dom.87 For they will be my people and I will be their God.88
In a society where achievement is obsessively measured on material
strength and social status an aristocratic priesthood is a very welcome
innovation. Lolling in a tapestry of privileges and concessions many
priests ply their wretched congregation with theological narcotics that
prevent them (the congregation) from becoming aware of the growing
exploitation and injustices around and against them. They seem impervi-
ous to the sight of fellow human beings “floundering in cesspools of
wretchedness and despair”89, caught in a web of poverty and misery, dis-
ease and ignorance, which holds them prostrate in the dust. Jesus would
bring them into the centre of the community and command them to stand
upright.90 The fear of helping them stand upright might be the fear of
confronting their accusing gaze. It is, therefore, hard to believe that such
a priesthood is modelled on The Man of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, for
this would entail a radical turn-around: a radical option for the living
human being, whom Iraeneus of Lyon said is the glory of God.91
This false image of the priesthood must be corrected if the mission
of our Lord is not to remain endangered. Unfortunately the already or-
dained priests are not much help, since their lifestyle is a living example
of this aristocracy. The Holy Scripture must be reinstated as the basic
source of inspiration in the transmission of the image of the New Testa-
ment priesthood in the seminary. It is during the seminary formation that

86 Ex 3: 7-8.
87 Cf. Ex 5: 1-3. The rest of the Book of Exodus tells of this search for self and
nationhood, of the indescribable communicative interaction between God and hum-
ans, and of the divine affirmation of the human condition. As a matter of fact, the
entire Bible is one whole story of divine pedagogy.
88 Ex 6: 7.
89 Éla 98.
90 Cf. Lk 13: 10-17.
91 G. Bachl, Ehre Gottes, in: LTK Bd. 3, 508.

454
the seminarian learns to approach the Bible from the proper perspective.
An honest use of the Bible will lead the seminarian and the priest to de-
velop a critical questioning of their own lifestyle.
The period of the seminary training should be a period of growth in
and familiarization with the implications of that call. One of such impli-
cations is the law of celibacy for all who wish to be admitted to the min-
isterial priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.92 Given the fact that

92 James A. Coriden et al. (eds.), The Code of Canon Law, cc. 277; 291-292.
A very dispassionate, non-polemic and non-apologetic discussion on this issue is
the publication of A. W. Richard Sipe, A Secret World. Sexuality and the Search
for Celibacy. New York 1990.
In the discussions on the appropriateness of obligatory celibacy for diocesan priests
of the Roman Catholic Church Mt 19: 2-12 is often cited as an argument. To do
this is a distraction from the issue. Jesus’ words on the incapacity to marriage was
an answer to the question on divorce; it is, therefore, not an injunction to celibacy.
Else he would have required it of his apostles. But interesting enough the four
Evangelists stopped short of indicating any express demand on his part of celibacy
for his followers. He only indicated that there are some people who, overwhelmed
by the discovery of the priceless jewel: the Kingdom of God, see themselves
incapable of entering any other commitments. It is a totally free choice. Such an
experience is doubtless a gift of God. But do we need to help God a little to make
this gift available to every one who senses the call to the priesthood by some legal
means?
The obsessive aversion to women and sexuality in the Church is an unfortunate
legacy of the middle ages originating from Aristotle. According to him, women are
incomplete in some way; a woman is an “unfinished man”. According to Jostein
Gaarder, “Aristotle’s erroneous view of the sexes was doubly harmful because it
was his – rather than Plato’s – view that held sway throughout the Middle Ages.
The church thus inherited a view of women that is entirely without foundation in
the Bible [the New Testament]. Jesus was certainly no woman hater!”, J. Gaarder,
Sophie’s World, 91. In this process such great Church fathers like St. Augustine of
Hippo and St. Thomas of Aquino – both devotees of Plato and Aristotle respec-
tively – coupled with their knowledge of the Genesis account of the so called Fall
of Man, contributed immensely to this negative legacy. Cf. Gaarder 145.
As a matter of fact, even the most quoted passage Lk 18: 28-30 is situated in a dif-
ferent context, namely, in a discussion on solidarity with the needy, on poverty for
Jesus’ sake. And poverty in this context goes beyond the lack of material welfare.
It includes as much a mental and emotional independence from material and social
securities and a total dependence on the powers inherent in Jesus’ word: “I send
you”. Definitely celibacy is a form of poverty with a great import for the commu-
nity. Freely chosen, it is undoubtedly a very important virtue as well as a form of
life in the church. But the words of Jesus: “I tell you solemnly, there is no one who

455
most of the candidates entered the seminary at an impressionable and
tender age of eleven or twelve, that they are shielded from contacts with
persons of the opposite sex, that the threats and watchful eyes of their
formators and of the faithful in this respect act more as the motivation to
keep clear of relationships with women than the “sake of the kingdom of
heaven”, and that any breach of this is treated as a “capital offence”, and
given the fact that the relationship of many priests with women and a
web of secrecy woven around it almost render the entire proscription
questionable and sham, it is hard to see how the seminarian can get fa-
miliarized with this demand of the Church during his seminary days. In
addition, the theme of celibacy as such is hardly openly and extensively
discussed during the formation years; there are also no direct personal
account or narratives of priests about their experiences with this “public-
intimate” subject matter. In the absence of any experience of a personal
witness of a lived priestly celibacy, of the positive sides and of the hap-
piness or serenity accruing from celibacy, one gets the impression that
celibacy is nothing but a trap on one’s way in the priesthood. The mis-
leading aspect of it is the brazen manner with which many priests in-
volve themselves intimately in the lives of women, thus leaving the
seminarians with the impression that celibacy is not to be taken serious
and/or that it only means “not marrying”, and as such is combinable with
an active sexual life. But at the same time they know that it is that legen-
dary “forbidden fruit”. The commentary of one of our respondents indi-
cates the gravity of this issue: “I am [involuntarily confronted] with the
problem of my sexuality that I tried to question whether celibacy is true.
Secondly, the attitude of 99.99% [of ] seminarians and more especially
priests at violating this is [regrettably] alarming. It may be true that [al-
most] every priest and seminarian violates it (often) [...]”.
The fact that the church keeps silent about such clerical violations
while “silencing” the women involved, and that the parishioners too

has left house, wife, brothers, parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of
God who will not be given repayment many times over [...]” indicates that to leave
everything for the sake of the kingdom is a completely free decision of the person
concerned. Jesus assures the person that he or she will be rewarded rightly. The
contributions of Kellner Wendelin, Breitenstein Konrad, Beil Alfons, Spaemann
Heinrich and Schillebeeckx Edward, in: Franz Böckle (Hg), Der Zölibat, are very
interesting in this regard.

456
seem to close their eyes to it, as long as it arouses no public scandal93,
makes the matter more disquieting. Again, the seminarian’s experience
of celibacy is often from the negative side, that is, when he or a fellow
seminarian gets expelled from the seminary on account of its violation.
All these mar the essence of celibacy as a charisma and obscure its posi-
tive character and radiance. They impair the seminarian’s access to the
meaning of celibacy “for the sake of the kingdom”. Moreover, they im-
pair his access to the true implications of such a life as desired by the
Church. The apparently high positive significant correlations registered
in our survey, especially among the final year theology students, serve as
a confirmation of the high premium placed on this theme. No one wants
to be found wanting in this regard, and definitely not in the last laps of
the long years of formation.
It is, therefore, necessary for those entrusted with the formation of
future priests particularly and for the priests in general to be transparent
in their approaches to the obligation of celibacy. Personal witness of
priests who have attained a successful stage in the process94 of celibacy
coupled with an open discussion on the issue will be more useful for
seminarians in their search for celibacy than the most heart-rending ad-
monitions during retreats or on recollection days. It is not sufficient to
try to reconcile such admonitions, the ecclesiastical pronouncements on
this matter and on sexuality in general and one’s personal conscience
with an act of faith. According to K. Rahner, “the act of faith is not un-
reasonable, because it presupposes the signs of credibility and their ra-
tional comprehension”95. However, R. Sipe notes, the fact that the signs
of credibility are violated makes it very difficult to apply the act of faith
in this regard.96
Another point in this connection is to ask whether it is necessary to
legally impose celibacy on diocesan priests. The necessity of such a

93 Such a relationship becomes a public scandal especially when it results to

pregnancy and its source becomes known to the public. But as long as this remains
a secret between the priest and the woman or between the two and the local ordin-
ary or superior of the priest, it does not yet constitute a public scandal.
94 Cf. Part III in Sipe 235-295, especially pages 255-277. We recommend this book to
anybody genuinely and seriously interested in this admirable form of life and who
is concerned about its future in the Church.
95 K. Rahner (ed.), The Encyclopaedia of Theology, 512.
96 Cf. Sipe 290.

457
regulation might have been founded in the fourth century A.D. and the
following Dark Ages97 in the history of Europe, but does that make it
necessary to hold on to it in the outgoing 20th century? The arguments
pro and contra have changed since then. However, if we look at Jesus’
approach to human social structures, we wonder if the church in her pre-
sent practice does not overlook the human being in favour of legal
structure and political interests.
To model one’s life on Jesus is to make the manner of his approach
to life and his mission one’s point of reference and to put him in the fore-
front of one’s deliberations and actions.98 Since he is the Good News par
excellence, it means making this Good News and its spread the priority.
Going from this point of view, a couple of issues must be re-
considered. If this injunction to bring this Good News to all humankind
has priority then the subordination of the most important sacrament in
the life of the Church, the Holy Eucharist, – which only the ordained can
preside over – to the law of celibacy must be a gross misplacement of
emphasis. The grace to proclaim the Good News to all is irrespective of
gender and marital status of the person called. As E. Schillebeeckx
rightly noted, the call to the priesthood is one thing and the call to celi-
bacy another.99 If Jesus sent out the Twelve100 and seventy-two other dis-
ciples101 with the same instructions: take nothing on the journey, no se-
curities, no ego boosters, enable the disabled in all the places he himself

97 The Dark Ages is the period in European history from the end of the Roman
Empire in 476 A.D. to about A.D. 1000. This period is also called the Middle Ages,
the period between the Antiquity and the Renaissance. This is the period of the
growth of the powers of the church and at the same time of energetic germination
of science and education. The world and the human being came to acquire a nega-
tive connotation in the dazzling light of medieval theology. It was also the period
of great moral decadence among the church’s hierarchy and also of the greatest
internal renewal of the church which gave rise to the monasteries. It is, therefore,
not surprising that the attempt at a legal regulation of the relationship of priests to
women attained its highest attention in this period. Cf. also G. Denzler, Die
Geschichte des Zölibats, 24-35.
It became ecclesiastically unlawful for priests of the Roman or Latin Rite to marry
in accordance with Can. 6 of the Second Lateran Council of 1139. Cf. Denzler 35-
38.
98 Cf. Col 1: 18.
99 Schillebeeckx, Zölibat und kirchliches Amt, 119.
100 Lk 9: 1-6.
101 Lk 10: 1-11.17-20.

458
was going to come, so that when they say to them: “The kingdom of God
is very near to you”, the people will understand102, he wants them to
learn to trust his word, which should be their sole security. They should
not waste any time because the mission is an urgent one. This kingdom
of God in coming is embodied in Jesus himself. Moreover, if the people
listen to them, then the disciples should not make the mistake of attrib-
uting the success to their office or strength of will or character; it is a
harvest already prepared by the Lord himself. He is the Lord of the har-
vest, not of the work or planting. The success of our endeavour to pro-
claim him to all “he is going to visit” is, in effect, independent of our
civil status. It is he himself who prepares the ground: Only he/she can
listen to our words to whom the Lord gives the grace to believe. It is
solely dependent on the Lord of the harvest. It is not surprising, then,
that he counselled his disciples on their return not to rejoice that the
spirits submitted to them. They should rather rejoice that they have been
considered worthy to partake in the harvest.103 What can be stranger than
that the Church prays to the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his
harvest and at the same time bars the way for potential “labourers”104,
and compels several active “labourers” among the diocesan clergy to
lead incongruous lives with the law of celibacy.

102 The order of the instruction: heal the sick there and then say to the people, “the
kingdom of heaven is close to you”, indicates that healing is not for its own sake
but at the service of the Message to be proclaimed. Most of the miracles Jesus per-
formed had the same purpose: to send home a message. However, both of them,
healing and proclamation of the salvation message belong inseparably together. J.
Hänle examined the relationship between the two in a very brilliant manner in the
first chapter of his work: Heilende Verkündigung, 27-58, especially pp. 46-56.
103 Cf. Lk 10: 20.
104 Especially in countries, where science and a continuous globalisation of informa-
tion and communication resulting in a breakdown of traditional values and world
views, including the church’s law of celibacy, have led to a paucity of priests. In
countries of the northern hemisphere the number of young theology students ready
to embrace the life of celibacy has been relentlessly on the downward trend, while
the number of priests leaving the ministerial priesthood to marry and those being
indicted on criminal charges of paedophilia and other sexually related abuses are
on the increase. Thus many Christians have to learn to live without the assistance
of a priest. Many lay Catholics too, tired of waiting for priests to be sent to them,
have started organizing their Christian community lives themselves. And as soon as
this trend expands, with time there will be no need for the office of a priest any
more.

459
 The imposition of celibacy on all Catholic priests seems to point to
the fact that the Church is at a loss as to how best to make this noble
wish appealing and acceptable to all priestly aspirants. The formators are
as much at a loss as the seminarians themselves are regarding to how
best to impart or learn to live celibate lives. The problems mentioned
above confirm this apparent helplessness. One gets the impression that
the overprotective atmosphere of the seminary as well as the watchful
eyes of the faithful in the parishes are intended towards maintaining the
seminarian in his pre-pubertal developmental level and towards suppres-
sing any undesirable feelings and behaviours that might assail him. The
preoccupation and overprotection in matters concerning sexuality lead to
psycho-sexual inhibitions and ineptitudes. A. Godin comments: “One
can add that an anxious preoccupation with avoiding behaviours, which
entail some risks in matters of chastity, is fostered by certain kinds of
formational practices in minor and major seminaries. Rulla does not
hesitate to write: ‘No doubt, the methods of the past were frequently
more of maintaining the prepubertal level of development rather than
fostering psycho-sexual maturity’”105. Of course, any practice of freedom
in this respect will go against ecclesiastical law. It is, however, question-
able how free the decision in matters of celibacy can be under such an
atmosphere, whereby a relatively true decision can only be taken when it
is already too late to do so, i.e. after the ordination: Before ordination
one is tightly shielded from contacts with the opposite sex, hence lacks
the experience there from, and after ordination, free of the threats of ex-
pulsion from the seminary and the shielding fortresses of the seminary
days, one begins to experience what celibacy really implies. Celibacy is
defined as “a freely chosen dynamic state, usually vowed, that involves
an honest and sustained attempt to live without direct sexual gratifica-
tion in order to serve others productively for a spiritual motive”106.
It is generally accepted that there is no essential or internal link, no
hypostatic union, between celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of
Heaven and the priesthood of the New Testament; i.e. that celibacy is not
a necessary component of the priesthood and cannot be made one. It is a
charisma, a gratuitous gift of God to some, and as such can neither be
imposed nor earned. St. Paul was aware of this when he ruled in his

105 Godin 84.

106 Sipe 58-65. The quotation is from p. 58.

460
pastoral letters that all men who hold offices of responsibility in the
Christian community must be men of integrity, good husbands and
proven responsible fathers of their families; bishops must not be married
more than once.107 The law of celibacy seems to have overlooked these
Pauline admonitions. Paul even asked those who wanted to take advan-
tage of his and Barnabas’ celibate life: “Have we not every right to eat
and drink? And the right to take a Christian woman round with us, like
all the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”108. One
can be called to a life of celibacy but not to the priesthood as much as
one can be called to the priesthood but not to celibacy. One can also be
called to both.
To make celibacy a prerequisite for the admission to the Sacrament
of Order – even when the candidate admits in writing the readiness to
observe it – amounts to an imposition of what actually is not up to hu-
mans to impose: perpetual sexual continence for the sake of the King-
dom, as if sexuality in itself is sinful and would make the priest impure.
Religious celibacy is a gratuitous gift God gives to some and not to all.
It is indisputable that a celibate priest will be more available in the
ministry but that does not make a married state incompatible with the
ministry either. The practice of the Holy See in admitting Protestant mar-
ried clergy into the Catholic priesthood109 attests to this. In the light of
this, the harsh treatment given to priests110 who love their priestly minis-

107 1 Tm 3: 1-13; 2 Tm 2: 24; Tt 1: 5-9.

108 1 Co 9: 4-5.
109 In the 1950s a group of former Lutheran married pastors in Germany were
permitted by Pope Pius XII to be ordained to the Catholic priesthood. In 1967 Pope
Paul VI granted similar permission to several married Anglican clergymen in Aus-
tralia. In 1982 64 Episcopal priests in U.S.A. applied for admission and ordination
to Catholic priesthood. Already on June 29 of the same year one of them was ord-
ained. Cf. Coriden et al. (eds.) 210. And in more recent years in England, several
Anglican married clergymen, who left the Anglican communion out of protest
against the ordination of women in the Anglican church, have, on petition, been
admitted to the Catholic priesthood.
110 Cf. Commentaries to cc. 290-293 in: Coriden et al. (eds.) 229-238. See also the two
Letters of Bishop Reinhold Stecher of the Catholic diocese of Innsbruck. In the
letters (the first one was initially written to a very small circle of colleagues in
office but later became public on the 12th December 1997 and the second was a
reply to the reactions to the first one) published in the Tiroler Tageszeitung, 24th
January 1998, the retiring bishop bitterly lamented, among other things, the cruelty
with which the present papacy treats priests who are leaving the ministerial priest-

461
try but regrettably have to admit their inability to keep the obligation of
celibacy is not only schizophrenic but also bizarre and unchristian. Did
not our Lord Jesus Christ say: “Go and learn the meaning of the words:
What I want is mercy, not sacrifice”111. Does the imposition not indicate
a distrust in God’s power of judgement and ultimately in His word? Is
not the church’s over-occupation with and emphasis on self-protection
and structural securities an indication of the loss of faith in this word of
our Lord: “There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased
your Father to give you the Kingdom”112? Which place has the Church
for Jesus Christ and for the Holy Spirit in all that endeavour? To impose
celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven is to say: God is all-
powerful and all-knowing but He is too weak and ignorant when it
comes to determining who is eligible to serve Him.
The celibate life freely chosen is a challenge in itself; its imposition
makes the challenge doubly complex. In several cases, this element of
“forced” acceptance deteriorates into psychological stress and perhaps
ultimately into an ecclesiogenic neurosis.113 One is so rigidly on one’s
guard against a sudden upsurge of sexual impulses, thus uptight and in-
secure, or one gives in to a secret sexual life and becomes consequently

hood because of the law of celibacy. According to the bishop “the tendency to hold
human imperatives higher in esteem than divine commission is the really shocking
aspect of some decisions in our Church at the end of this millennium.” Moreover,
much more agonizing is the realization that the Church’s leadership seems to have
lost every sense of compassion and forgiveness with regard to those priests. Then,
he asks: “Isn’t it theologically evident that the denial of forgiveness and reconci-
liation is the greater sin than the violation of celibacy? The second concerns a
human commandment and is a sin of weakness, the first is a divine one and is a sin
of cruelty. Or does one think that juridical implementations are not subject to the
commandments of Jesus?” That the Church’s leadership is ready to compromise
the very indispensable sacraments of reconciliation, anointing of the sick and
Eucharist, which are not only spiritually but also mentally essential, for the sake of
celibacy is the height of insensitivity and loss of sight for the really essentials of
life – the divine command, the bishop said.
111 Mt 9: 13a. Jm 2: 12-13 admonishes: “Talk and behave like people who are going to
be judged by the law of freedom, because there will be judgement without mercy
for those who have not been merciful themselves; but the merciful need have no
fear of judgement.”
112 Lk 12: 32.
113 Cf. H. Hark, Religiöse Neurose. Ursachen und Heilung. Kreuz Verlag. Stuttgart
1990.

462
mendacious and hypocritical. In both cases sublimation has not been
successful; and sublimation is very necessary for the attainment of that
celibate state for the sake of the kingdom. Both failed forms of coping
lead to cognitive-emotive dissonance and guilt feelings; in the end they
affect the credibility of celibacy very negatively. With Christian Duquoc
we find it curious that the “Church will have the faithful read St. Paul’s
Letter to the Romans on liberation and the Law and not apply Jesus’
words to itself: ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sab-
bath’”114. A free “charismatic” sexual continence as well as marriage and
all forms of genuine love relationships are reactions or answers to God’s
infinite love: full of resplendence and unmediated credibility.
It would be very assuming and misleading to believe that married
priesthood in itself is a solution to the problems inherent in either celi-
bacy or the ministry. The fact that “there is no credible theology of sex
extant in the Christian tradition”115 which takes a positive account of the
changing human condition, is the primary reason for those problems. As
long as there does not occur a shift in paradigm, a credible theology of
human sexuality, a married clergy and Christian laity will remain as
hampered by this deficit as are celibates. Both marriage and celibacy are
affected by two realities – (1) the Gospel tradition and (2) moral leader-
ship and credibility in matters affecting human sexuality. The Gospel
tradition knows both celibacy and marriage for the followers of Christ –
both ministers and the faithful at large. The Church’s moral leadership
and credibility in this regard have not been able, from time immemorial,
to hold up to her claim. The problems affecting celibacy as well as mar-
riage will ever remain as long as the Church does not honestly address
both realities mentioned above. Mohammed and Islam doggedly adhered
to God’s proscription of graven images: the temptation of making im-
ages larger than life is often irresistible; when images become larger than
life, when they are bloated out of proportion, they can effectively distort
and obscure the reality they are meant to represent or refer to. In that
case the image ceases to be an image and assumes the place of the real
thing. It becomes dia-bolical.116 Giving celibacy such a central place in

114 Éla 6.
115 Sipe 286.
116 See section 1.7 (3) above.

463
the church obscures the centrality and urgency of the Good News to be
proclaimed and spread.
Since the priesthood of the New Testament is not essentially linked
to the call to a celibate life117 and less still the priesthood of the Old
Testament, the Good News will suffer no loss if celibacy is uncoupled
from the priesthood and set free to be chosen by him or her who is called
to it.

12.1.9.1 Priesthood and a secular profession – Is a combination possi-

ble?
The Igbo and the Bible are acquainted with the priestly traditions of mar-
ried priests, of temporary sexual continence and of the priestly office
being exercised alongside other occupations. The Apostles all kept their
jobs while at the same time devoting time for the Gospel. On several oc-
casions St. Paul reminded his Christian communities that he was never a
burden to anyone, that he earned whatever he ate with his own hands and
sweat: “Let me remind you, brothers, how hard we used to work, slaving
night and day so as not to be a burden on any one of you while we were
proclaiming God’s Good News to you”118.
St. Paul’s experience of working preachers and married Apostles is
similar to the Igbo experience of priesthood in the traditional dispensa-
tion. As we stated in the concluding remarks to subsection 2.5.3 in
Chapter Seven, ritual leadership is no “full time job” and the ritual leader
is a full and integrated member of his community. There are, of course,
some secondary ritual leaders, like “native doctors”, who regard the care
of their patients as their “full time occupation”. These depend solely for
their “daily bread” on the proceeds from their job. The ritual leader is,
nevertheless, always available whenever he or she is needed. An or-
dained minister, as a member of a believing and living Christian com-
munity should be able to hold another profession or job in order to be
able to supplement whatever remunerations he gets from his community
for his services or even to be able to live independently of such remu-
nerations. Thus it will be evident that he is in this vocation not on ac-
count of its material security.

117 This point is further strengthened by the fact that the obligation of celibacy is not
automatically lifted with a loss of the clerical state, as can. 291 indicates.
118 1 Th 2: 9. Other references are: Ac 18: 1-4; 20: 33-35; 1 Co 4: 12a; 9: 4-18.

464
 In addition, the New Testament priesthood was not intended to con-
fer any kind of social status. It is just one out of several functions or
ministries in the Christian community. It is characterised more by a
humble service and a total confidence in the efficacy of the Lord’s word
than an aristocratic lifestyle. The priest is not more important than the
Good News he is commissioned to proclaim in word and deed. Neither
are his needs for personal security and prestige. The Lord’s words:
“Take nothing along the way with you” is still valid.119 Therefore, the
“grotesquely bloated iconographic image”120 of the priest must be given
up in order to give the Message its central place. A part of that corrective
process is the shedding off of all those cumbersome accessories that have
been assumed as essential part of the priestly ministry; things that make
the priest appear more important than the message of Jesus Christ, who
is coming soon.

12.1.9.2 Parishioners and active participation in the parish administra-

tion
Most priests, especially those in the parishes, exercise functions and
tasks not necessarily pastoral in nature. Most of them expend themselves
in activities for which in the first place an ordination is absolutely not
necessary. Experience with Catechists in the Church in Igboland and
with Parish Councils and non-pastoral structures in the Western
Churches has shown that administrative and secretarial functions can be
more effectively carried out by the laity than by ordained ministers. A
disengagement of the priest from all such jobs will leave him more time
and energy for the pastoral needs of the parish.
The parishioners should be given back the responsibility for the sur-
vival and thriving of the local church which it constitutes. This includes
the responsibility for the sustenance of their common faith and their par-
ish with its structures, and in union with other parishes in the diocese the
responsibility for the sustenance of the bishop and the diocesan struc-
tures.
How can they attain the competence and the legitimation to accom-
plish that? In the first place, priests came to be burdened with such jobs
out of a certain mistrust on the part of the Church’s hierarchy for the la-

119 Cf. Lk 9: 1-6; 10: 1-11.17-20.

120 Nwatu 104.

465
ity. The laity was kept at a safe distance from the mysteries of their faith
and salvation. They were kept at bay from relevant information and en-
lightenment that might tempt them to start asking questions about their
faith and the prescribed and established forms of its expression. As long
as the faithful remained ignorant of such information and as long as the
hierarchy holds the lid over its source, the laity will go on believing that
the clergy is the fullness of the church and her sole administrator and that
whatever contributions they are permitted to make in the church is a
privilege and out of the generosity of the clergy. This is wrong, of
course. The priest, if he is a member of his community and not a feudal
lord communicating with his serfs, exercises his ministry as one of the
several ministries in a Christian community. As long as the laity is not
allowed access to informative communication about their faith, one
should not be surprised that a great percentage of the laity will never
come to know that the church is neither the church building nor the
clergy but the entire Christian people as a community.121 It is obvious
that those who benefit from a professionalised and aristocratic priesthood
will not be interested in letting the laity have access to information that
might jeopardize their well established network of perquisites. You are
the salt of the earth and the light of the world.122 Without the laity the
clergy alone cannot accomplish this task. To be able to fulfil this task of
being the salt of the earth and the light of the world in a more enlight-
ened and spiritually integrated way, the laity needs to be educated. They
must gain access to some considerable education in order to be meaning-
fully involved in the church’s mission. “After all”, Nwatu argues,

the task of being the salt of the earth and the light of the world, by which the com-
munity of faith is defined, belongs more to the laity than to the clergy since it is the
former who come in close and daily contact with anti- or non-Christian forces on a
more sustained and intimate basis [...]. The training of prospective clergy needs to

121 The Second Vatican Council is very clear about this in its Decree: Lumen Gentium.
Even though it needed two thousand years for the Church to come to this new and
more appropriate self-definition, we appreciate the vision and courage of the Coun-
cil Fathers in this regard. The Decree on the Church, Lumen Gentium, is the core of
the entire Documents of the Council. Every other decree in the Vat. II Documents
is, in a sense, an explication of this central document and is based on it.
122 Mt 5: 13-16.

466
 keep pace with the ecclesiastic training and conscientization of the Christian com-
123
munity at large .

Christians should have access to the study of the divinities at any level
and at all such institutions where relevant Christian education is avail-
able, irrespective of whether they are for ministerial priesthood or not.
Church funding for such studies should not be restricted to only the pro-
spective priests. The more they have access to such education the less it
would be necessary to use priests for functions not requiring an ordina-
tion.

12.1.9.3 Need for a renaissance of ‘Community Priests’

Every Christian community has a right to all the ministries which char-
acterize a Christian community: ministry of deaconate or charity, the
ministry of worship or liturgy and the ministry of teaching or witnessing.
It is not correct to assume that all these ministries are exhausted in one
person. Strictly speaking, the area of operation of the priest is the minis-
tries of worship and teaching. And every community has a right to a
priestly ministry. It is not necessary to fly in someone from outside to as-
sume this office when the community itself can be allowed to employ the
services of its own members. The present day idea and practice in the
Church in Igboland of “posting” priests creates the picture of a large
corporation or institution that is highly centralized and bureaucratised.
As the modernity’s bureaucratic disease eats its way deeper and deeper
into the fabrics of the Church the thinner the community’s right and re-
sponsibility get, and as the community gets thinner so the Church; the
community is the concrete and visible Mystical Body of Christ and is the
locus for witnessing to this Christ. The idea of each community produc-
ing its own priest will, to a great extent, eliminate the problem of “pro-
fessional priests” who are strangers to the needs and epistemology of the
community and who are, justifiably, concerned about their own personal
welfare. If every community has a right to the priestly ministry, then the
length of time and the cost of the training of priests must be reconsid-
ered. As Nwatu rightly states, “no minister needs any more than the
training necessary for his specific ministry”124. A St. Jean-Marie Vian-

123 Nwatu 113-114.

124 Ibid., 106.

467
ney, the parish priest of Ars was no academician and yet he was able to
touch the lives of his parishioners in a manner that they felt themselves
close to God. The ministry of a “community priest” does not require
such a long and expensive period of academic training where at the end
most of the things learned or studied are of no practical usefulness in the
ministry. The community should be allowed to select suitable candidates
whose lives are transparently Christian, not perfect, to go for a training.
With one from their ranks ministering to them, the problem of whether
the priest is a part of the community or not can be overcome.
The often misleading distinction between the clergy and the laity
has led many to associate the Church with the clergy and to consider the
clergy as standing above or outside the parish community (the laity). Be-
sides, it resulted in the priest and seminarians often not investing them-
selves honestly in the building of a self-reliant parish but rather in their
own personal welfare and that of their dependants. These problems will
be minimized, if not solved, by the emergence of community priests.
Such ministers will be better placed to appreciate the problems and pros-
pects, the strength and weakness, and the socio-cultural and economic
conditions of their own communities. They can also work better in coop-
eration and solidarity with the other ministers and members of their
communities.
Most importantly, the rehabilitation of the competence and legiti-
mating powers of the community, which has the Lord as its central pillar,
will provide the celebration of the sacraments with a locus of effective-
ness and efficacy. The sacraments will receive a more direct involvement
in the concrete life of the community and its individual members. The
danger of a privatisation of the sacraments, especially the endangered
sacrament of reconciliation, can be effectively warded off. It will be
easier to find a reasonable focus in the training of prospective priests and
other ministers.
The experience of the traditional priests has shown that the fact of
the priest being a member of the community does not extenuate his re-
spect and honour in the community. Being a member of that group of
human beings that can cross borders between the spiritual and the human
is sufficient to earn him the necessary respect and distance he needs to
attend to his office.
Parallel to the parish community priest there should also be those
priests who choose to devote themselves to academics and research. Like

468
their parish counterparts, they should be ordained in view of a particular
institution, “community” or academic task. These would require long
years of academic training. They should be in a constant and unmediated
contact with their counterparts on “the field”, in the parishes. This will
ensure that their academic and research endeavours have relevance and
usefulness for the existential realities in the communities. Both sectors
will complement each other not only in finding solutions and answers to
problems and questions from the communities but also in the training of
prospective ministers.

12.1.9.4 Need for a shift from hierarchy to networking

A paradigm shift in the formation of seminarians involves also a shift
from hierarchy to networking. The traditional Igbo society has left us a
useful legacy in this regard: its democratic “obsession”. In a society
where each person feels an inalienable right to air his view on matters of
collective concern and to contribute to his individual welfare or the wel-
fare of the community as much as the gods, nothing can be closer than a
systemic pattern or networking. In a network every point in it is inter-
connected like the parts of the body125; the body is not to be identified
with any one part of it. A shift from hierarchical to systemic organization
will make room for collegiality also in decision-making, teamwork and
decentralized responsibility. In addition, it will facilitate the flow of in-
formation among the members of Christian community as well as com-
munication with non-Catholics. Most of all, it will provide a more suit-
able environment for that kind of leadership we proposed above and in
Chapter Ten, where there are not just a few leaders at the top but rather
leaders at every level of the community. In such a systemic organization
of the local church community structures and individuals will cease to
occupy the central concern of the members but much more the quality of
the relationship between the different members of that Mystical Body of
Christ: are they empowering one another? It is the point of reference for
judging their affiliation to our Lord Jesus Christ.126 This will not only
help to curb the arrogance of some priests and seminarians in relation to
the laity but also to correct the wrong image of the clergy as the quintes-

125 Cf. 1 Co 12: 12-30.

126 Cf. Jn 13: 34-35.

469
sence of the Church. The Roman Catholic Church is referred to in Igbo
as “uka fada”127 .

12.1.9.5 Priesthood – the exclusive reserve of men?

Another issue in the re-examination of the priestly image is the question
of the exclusivity of the priestly office to men. Priests belong to that class
of human beings who act as “go-between”, as intermediaries. Truly
speaking the task of intermediation does not discriminate between sexes.
The salvation history of Christianity is replete with indisputable exam-
ples. The most outstanding one is the young woman of Nazareth, Mary,
who later became one of the most formidable Christian intermediaries.
By accepting to and becoming the mother of Jesus Christ she made it
possible for God to reach us in this most spectacular manner of incarna-
tion. She became God’s collaborator. God seemed to have preferred the
shelter of a woman’s womb to assume the appropriate form before mak-
ing His appearance in a world “dominated” by men. Jesus Himself un-
derscored this fact by revealing Himself first to women after His resur-
rection, the peak of His revolution against all forms of religious, socio-
political and psychological segregation, domination and oppression, and
sending them to bring this Good News to his brothers, the eleven. If
Christ should take precedence in everything128, then it does not matter
whether He is made available to humankind by a man or a woman. If the
injunction to bear witness to the Lord is addressed to all Jesus’ followers,
then it is questionable that the task of spreading the Good News (of lib-
eration in Jesus Christ) as “teacher”, “priest” and “shepherd” should be
reserved only to men. If God was not ashamed to become human in (the
womb of) a woman and to enter into our human world through a woman,
if he was not ashamed to show himself first to a woman after his resur-
rection, then we do not believe that he will start discriminating should a
woman prayerfully implore him to become present in Bread and Wine in
the celebration of the Holy Eucharist or preside over a community as-
sembled in His name and dispense God’s grace of forgiveness and rec-

127 Literally: Father’s monologue. Among the Owerri Igbo “ika or ikwu uka” means to
talk. Since the Reverend Father, as Catholic priests are called, does most of the
talking in the church the people came to refer to the Catholics as “ndi uka fada” –
attendants of the priest’s sermon or monologue.
128 Col 1:18b.

470
onciliation among fellow believers. Was it not a woman who, through
the birth of Jesus Christ, reconciled humanity with God, and united
“Jews and Non-Jews” in the one union with Jesus? If God did not ex-
clude women from active participation in salvation history and plan, then
their exclusion is not divine in origin but cultural and attributable to male
chauvinism.129 If God Himself did not discriminate130 against women,
why then should the Church men invest so much energy through several
centuries in inventing misleading reasons for the inadequacy of
women131 for the ministerial priesthood?

129 In all these divine events and/or interventions – direct involvement in the life of
Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus, and of Mary of Magdala, and in several
other women in the Bible (cf. Gn 38; Rt 4; Jos 2) –, the Divine Creator questioned
and invalidated every claim on the part of men as the perfect and preferred gender
of the human species. What right have human creatures to discriminate His crea-
tion?
130 Jesus’ appointment or choice of twelve men as apostles is a cultural and historical
pre-decision. Since the people of Israel, to whom he understood himself primarily
sent, basically see themselves as sons and daughters of the twelve sons of Jacob
(Israel) who constituted the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles were symbo-
lically to represent these twelve tribes of Israel. Jesus choice of twelve men, there-
fore, indicates his claim over the entire people of Israel. As the twelve patriarchs
formed the foundation of the “old Israel”, so are the new twelve – the apostles – to
form the foundation of the “new Israel”. Cf. Gerhard Lohfink, Wie hat Jesus Ge-
meinde gewollt? Freiburg i. B. 1982.
Therefore, this should not be taken to mean that Jesus ordained that only men
should be entrusted with the office of presiding at worship and celebration of the
commemoration of His death and resurrection.
131 St. Thomas of Aquino was one of the greatest theologians of the Church. His
theological doctrines influenced the subsequent doctrines of the Church right into
our days. Standing strongly in the Aristotelian tradition he taught and affirmed that
women are inferior to men as far as mortal life is concerned. Woman’s soul, how-
ever, is equal to man’s soul; in Heaven there is total equality of sexes because all
physical gender differences cease to exist there. In any case, that men like Aristotle
and Aquinas, with all their brilliance and wisdom could fall prey to such erroneous
views on sexes, can be excused on the fact that they were ignorant of female biolo-
gical make-up. It was as late as 1827 that the eggs of mammals as a major element
of reproduction were discovered. Until that date it was believed that the man was
the creative and life-giving force in human reproduction and that the woman was
only a passive receptacle. But to still hold on to the biological inferio-rity of
women almost two hundred years later is at best a gross culpable preclusion of
better knowledge and/or a wilful act of injustice.

471
12.2 Implications for a Pastoral Therapy

By “implications for pastoral therapy” we mean the implications for the

approaches towards helping the seminarian cope with the psychological
problems he experiences as a result of changing epistemological frame-
works. While making our suggestions for pastoral therapeutical assis-
tance we are going to draw as well from some approaches in humanistic
psychology, such as the Gestalt Therapy and the Systemic Family Ther-
apy.

12.2.1 An Appreciation of the Ongoing Epistemic Transformation and its

Effects on Consciousness

In Chapters Three and Four we pointed out that the human being is a
living organism with all the complexities of a system; a characteristic
which is essentially relational. This implies that the human being as a
microcosm embodies and manifests in itself the relationality – the inter-
connectedness – characteristic of the macrocosmic biosphere. Human
beings, we heard from G. Bateson, are interested not so much in episodes
but rather in their constellation, the how, the patterns of their relation-
ships.132 Similarly F. Vester, one of the most renowned proponents of
systemic thinking, writes

that apparently there are not only natural laws, which affect things [...] but there
must also be laws, so to speak systemic laws, which have hitherto always eluded
every scientific observation because they concern the constellations, the complex
events between the things [...]. Yes, the happenings within systems seem even to be
rather independent of the type of things themselves, while being all the more de-
pendent upon their interaction, upon the pattern, how they are organised among
133
themselves, the kind of structure they form .

132 Bateson, Steps, 478.

133 Vester 37-38. (Translation is ours). The German original reads: “[...] daß es
offenbar nicht nur Naturgesetze gibt, die die Dinge selbst betreffen [...], sondern es
auch Gesetzmäßigkeiten geben muß, sozusagen Systemgesetze, die sich bisher
immer wieder der wissenschaftlichen Betrachtung entzogen haben, weil sie Kon-
stellationen, also das komplexe Geschehen zwischen den Dingen betreffen [...]. Ja,
das Geschehen in Systemen scheint sogar ziemlich unabhängig von der Art der

472
These laws have been peeled out by Bateson as follows:

(1) The system shall operate with and upon differences.

(2) The system shall consist of closed loops or networks of pathways along which
differences and transforms of differences shall be transmitted. (What is transmitted
on a neuron is not an impulse, it is news of a difference).
(3) Many events within the system shall be energized by the respondent part rather
than by impact from the triggering part.
(4) The system shall show self-correctiveness in the direction of homeostasis
134
and/or in the direction of runaway. Self-correctiveness implies trial and error .

As far as the human being is concerned, this self-corrective process takes

place within the limits of the epistemological frames of reference or net-
work of pathways. Since these pathways are ontogenically “laid”, they
are equally cultural because the human being develops in a particular so-
ciocultural milieu.
On account of the systemic nature of the human mind, any new in-
formation brings about some kind of internal changes or reorganisation
in the human person; this in turn gives rise to a change in consciousness.
The reorganisation, however, follows strictly the patterns already laid
down in the person’s frames of reference. As regards the Igbo, we have
tried in Chapter Six to enunciate some of those elements governing these
patterns. Depending on how central the point of the affected epistemo-
logical network is, the awareness of such a change can be a source of
very painful experience. Besides, the efforts to regain one’s internal har-
mony – the “circuiting”135 – can constitute a very gruelling and intense
task. There is also the tendency to by-pass, to “short-cut” the problem by
sort of closing one’s eyes, as if by doing so the problem will vanish.
This, of course, makes the chances of psychological neurosis loom large.
If the seminary formation aims at a balanced personality develop-
ment of the seminarians, then it must take into consideration these natu-
ral psychological processes in its assessment and guidance of the semi-
narians. To be able to offer effective guidance, the authorities themselves
must be constantly conscious of their own individual as well as collec-

Dinge selbst zu sein, dafür um so abhängiger von ihren Wechselwirkungen, von

der Art, wie sie zueinander organisiert sind, welche Struktur sie bilden.” Emphasis
added.
134 Bateson 490.
135 Cf. Sections 4.1.2.2, 4.1.2.3 and 4.1.3 in this work.

473
tive epistemological frames of reference and their own epistemic trans-
formations. This will enable them to develop a feeling, an awareness for
the conflicts resulting from epistemic transformations which some of
their protégés undergo. In addition, it will sharpen their awareness for
the fact that the accruing psychological pains tend to ramify through the
whole personality. Such a trained awareness, which, by way of direct
personal approach to the seminarians, will inevitably spill over to the
latter. Themselves sensitised, they will be better enabled to appreciate
the whole realm of epistemic transformations and the attendant pains
which the rest of the Faithful in an almost greater basis undergo. The end
result will be their pastoral effectivity now as seminarians and later as
ministers or as worthy witnesses in other sectors of the Lord’s vineyard.

12.2.2 Hide one’s Head in the Sand

Many ways abound by which difficulties turn into problems and prob-
lems get compounded. One such way is to deny the existence of the
problem: sometimes by playing the ostrich: hiding one’s head in the
sand, and other times by keeping such problems from coming to the sur-
face of awareness. Psychoanalysis called this second method repression,
and has unequivocally and untiringly pointed to it as one of the basic
causes of psychopathology. Repression is a very stressful enterprise. It
requires constant investment of emotional and psychic energy such that
other aspects of the person’s life suffer neglect. Furthermore, it leads to
stiffness, inflexibility and uptightness especially with regard to every-
thing related to the issue at stake. Both repression and denial (“Ostrich-
Game”) are forms of self-deception.
It is a fact that a large part of the process of socialization in any so-
ciety or institution consists in teaching the “young”, the neophytes, that
which they must not see, not hear, not think, feel, or say. This is neces-
sary for the sake of order136 and peaceful coexistence. But as always
there are limits and there is an opposite extreme which is reached when
the reality distortion inherent in avoidance or denial begins to outweigh
its advantages. To adopt and implement European seminary rules and

136 “Order” in this context includes all organized efforts towards the attainment of the
goals of the society or institution.

474
regulations for the indigenous seminarians might have been very neces-
sary and appropriate some seventy-four years ago but to “refuse” to see
and acknowledge the alien character of that corpus of rules and regula-
tions on the background of Igbo cultural and religious experience under
the pretext that they are universal rules is to reject courage and critical
reflection in favour of denial and complacency. The acknowledgement of
the fact that the inherited corpus of rules and regulations for the forma-
tion of priests developed out of European cultural experience and world-
view does not mean compromising the Good News and the Jesuanic in-
junction to proclaim that Good News to all. One gets the impression that
the culturally determined condition of the rules of seminary training does
not seem to bother any one just as the aristocratic image of the priest in
the Church in Igboland does not seem to distract the awareness of the
People of God. Protests only trickle in with regard to particular aspects
of the system, like single inappropriate behaviour of some priests or
seminarians, or disobedience to an ecclesiastical authority. On the whole
it appears that no one bothers much about the relationships between
these aspects of the priestly institution. The aspects are, for example, the
seminary training, the rules governing it, the concept of the priest im-
parted, the priest-products and their self-conception, the conduct of the
latter, the nature of the priestly image among the rest of the People of
God, etc. The “relationship” among them is determined by the pattern,
i.e. the overarching conceptual framework, which has its root in Euro-
pean culture and history. This, of course, does not make the rules or the
framework good or bad, right or wrong. The point is that this inattention
to the specificity of its origin is a disrespect and an injustice to its “Euro-
peanness” as well as psychological rape of the Otherness of the cultural
background and conceptual framework of the seminarians, and conse-
quently, of the People of God in Igboland. We consider the inattention a
denial (repression) or avoidance (Ostrich-game) because the seminary
authority in contrast with the rest of the faithful have an idea about the
roots of the rules and about the framework that grounds and legitimates
them. It seems, however, that it tends to “deny” its existence by prefer-
ring to avoid paying real attention to that fact, and makes sure that no
one137 reminds it of that fact. This state of affairs confirms the remarks
made by Watzlawick et al. in relation to family secrets:

137 One of the renowned African theologians, once a lecturer in one of the seminaries

475
 Understandably, [such a situation] [...] may become much more insidious and
pathogenic when not only the existence of a problem is denied, but also the denial
itself. These are then the more flamboyant cases of systems pathology, in which
even the attempt at pointing at the denial, let alone at the problem itself, is quickly
defined as badness or madness, with badness or madness then actually resulting
from this type of terrible simplification – unless a person has learned the crucial
skill to see, but to be judicious in what he says. For he who sees behind the facade
is damned if he sees and says that he sees, or crazy if he sees but does not even
138
admit it to himself .

As the above quotation indicates, the denial can go a step further from
denial of the existence of the problem to denying that one denies, and
with time the original object of denial disappears completely from con-
sciousness. When this happens, the denial will no longer be perceived as
such but rather as the “normal” or “the most reasonable” way to handle
the situation. In this case one sits perfectly in that destructive human
condition A. Gruen so lucidly describes in his two books: Der Wahnsinn
der Normalität and Der Verrat am Selbst.139
The method of trying to settle distressing matters by repression or
avoidance is also much used by the seminarians themselves in attending
to their own personal problems.
The first step towards reconciliation and healing is to give up all the
efforts at setting up bulwarks against clear vision and the challenging re-
ality of truth. Relinquishing denial and avoidance leaves room to become

in the cultural area under study in this work, made incursions into this issue in the
area of the sacraments of reconciliation and liturgy and was booted out of the
seminary teaching staff. Now he is one of the acclaimed visiting professors in the
most progressive African theology school in Kinshasa.
138 Watzlawick et al., Change, 43.
139 A. Gruen, Der Verrat am Selbst. In this 1986 edition that reached the sixth reprint
in 1990, Gruen captures a basic dimension of human existence which he expresses
with the concept: autonomy. He understands with “autonomy” the full congruity in
the relationship between a person and his own feelings and needs. According to the
author, dependency and assertion of supremacy arise where this congruity is
lacking. The second book is: Der Wahnsinn der Normalität. In this 1989 edition
Gruen lays bare the roots of human destructiveness which are hidden behind
putative benevolence or rational behaviour. Through several examples and eviden-
ces Gruen reaches the conviction that wherever there is a conflict between what
one feels, thinks and knows and what one presents to others, between the inner and
the outer sides of oneself, responsibility and genuine humanity will be dangerously
missing.

476
open to the reality of the otherness of both the indigenous and the Chris-
tian Roman Catholic epistemic systems, and open to the challenges they
pose on the individual as well as on the collective levels.
Another possible positive effect is that one becomes receptive to the
needs and difficulties of the seminarians, and empathic in dealing with
those having difficulties in their vocation. The feeling of being under-
stood and the experience of empathy go a long way to helping the semi-
narian to address and to cope with his pains and difficulties in a more
honest and sincere manner. It might even help him to overcome them.
Kindness breeds kindness. If the seminarian feels himself understood
and empathetically guided during his days in the seminary, he is likely to
relate to others in the same manner later as a priest or as a lay man.

12.2.3 “Bellac Ploy”

This is the name given by P. Watzlawick et al. to a specific form of in-

tervention designed to bring about a “second-order change” in human
behaviour and cognition. It is adapted from Jean Giraudoux’s play
L’Apollon de Bellac:

Agnes, a timid girl, is nervously waiting to be called into a president’s office for a
job interview. Also in the waiting room is a young man who, on learning about her
fears, tells her that the simplest way of dealing with people is to tell them that they
are handsome. Although at first she is shocked by the apparent dishonesty of his
suggestion, he manages to convince her that telling somebody that he is handsome
makes him so, and thus there is no dishonesty involved. She follows his advice and
is immediately successful with the grouchy clerk, then with the haughty vice-
president, and with the directors. Eventually the president comes storming out of
his office:
‘Miss Agnes, for fifteen years this organization has been steeped in melancholy,
jealousy and suspicion. And now, suddenly this morning, everything is changed.
My reception clerk, ordinarily a species of hyena – [the clerk smiles affably] has
become so affable he even bows to his own shadow on the wall – [Clerk contem-
plates his silhouette in the sunshine with a nod of approval. It nods back.] The First
Vice-President, whose reputation for stuffiness and formality has never been seri-
ously challenged, insists on sitting at the Directors’ meeting in his shirt sleeves,
God knows why [...]’.
The president, too, becomes a changed man as soon as Agnes tells him that he is
handsome. A little later, in the presence of his quarrelsome wife Thérèse, he arrives
at the most significant conclusion, namely that saying to others that they are hand-

477
 some makes oneself beautiful [...]. What Giraudoux thus sketches is the opposite of
those self-perpetuating interpersonal tangles where ugliness engenders ugliness in
140
the other and then feeds back on itself .

This type of intervention can be applied to the attitude of the Christians

towards the African traditional cultures and religion, which is marked by
fear of contamination, suspicion and condescending aggression. It is true
that no object is good or bad; only thinking, the meaning we attribute to
it, makes it so. The same insight was expressed in the first century A.D.
by the philosopher Epictetus thus: “It is not the things themselves which
trouble us, but the opinions that we have about these things.” Since we
human beings create the reality141 around us by attaching meaning to it,
these meanings are susceptible to change while the objects concerned
can even remain unchanged. The Bellac ploy has the prospects of bring-
ing about a more positive vision of the traditional culture and thought,
such that by thinking that they possess positive and life enhancing val-
ues, these values will start revealing themselves to us and we will also
become able to perceive them too. This will undoubtedly have a positive
effect on the relationship between Christians and the non-Christian Igbo;
it can help to diffuse the stalemate and growing mutual suspicion in their
relationships to one another.
With regard to the relationship between the seminary formators and
the seminarians this ploy can also be very useful. As we pointed out on
several occasions in this work, the relationship between the seminary
authorities and the seminarians in the cultural areas under consideration
in this work is marked by fear and suspicion. Ideally their relationship
should be built on a good measure of trust, since the formator is sup-
posed to be a helper and a guide for the seminarian. To fulfil this func-
tion of guidance and help, the formator needs to know what the semi-
narian is doing and feeling. But they both know too well that the
formator also represents the seminary administration and, by extension,
the seminarian’s diocesan ordinary, and thus is obliged to report any

140 Ibid., 132-133.

141 Reality here comprises all the things relevant to us at every moment of our day to
day life. It includes the physical objects around us, the spiritual objects (all the
concepts and meanings that make up our spiritual world), the psychological objects
(ideas, feelings, sensations, important persons, relationships, etc.) as well as the
social roles and positions available within our life space.

478
violation on the seminarian’s part of the rules of his formation. In reality,
however, the seminarian sees the formator very often more as “a spy” or
as an uncomfortable control instance than as a helper or guide. In the
eyes of the formator on the other hand, again in reality, the seminarian is
crafty, always hiding something, and when he is in trouble or has one
problem or the other, his statements must be taken cum grano salis and
never at face value. A step out of this vicious circle of self-perpetuating
interpersonal tangles where suspicion engenders suspicion in the other,
can begin with the seminarian – to borrow Giraudoux’ language – “tell-
ing” the formator that he is “handsome”.

12.2.4 Searching on the Upper Ceiling for Something on the Lower

Ceiling

An Igbo adage has it that mmadu adighi acho ihe di na uko-enu na uko-
ani (No one searches on the lower ceiling for something lying on the up-
per ceiling). That one should not do this or should not put new wine into
old wine skin seems to be common sense, but for one reason or the other
people still do it, and very often too. The following anecdote will illus-
trate this: ‘One evening a man was observed searching frantically for
something on a street corner illuminated by a street lamp. A curious pas-
ser-by asked him what he was doing. The man replied that he was look-
ing for a ring he had lost. The passer-by, wondering why the man should
be sure that the ring was to be found at that spot, asked the man why he
was looking for it exactly at that point. The man replied: because that is
where there is light’. The man seems not accustomed to searching in
dark places; it does also not seem to occur to him that he can illuminate
those places himself. Habit and familiarity often bring people into con-
ditions where they cognitively freewheel, not making any headway. It
does not matter how long this man searches and in what sequences he
carries out his search, as long as he maintains his premise that the search
must be carried out at that point where there is light, he might never find
his ring. We have explored this phenomenon at length in Chapter Four.
Applied to the situation of the seminarians the formators should act
like the passer-by above, who noticed that the man was operating on a
premise that excludes the solution. The former focussed his attention on
the pattern of the man’s reasoning and saw that it would not allow him

479
to see beyond its borders. The formator should assist the seminarian to
learn to clearly differentiate between logical levels, between member and
class. Both seminarian and formator have to continuously sharpen their
individual awareness for the patterns142 in the Igbo conceptual frame-
work as well as in the Euro-Christian conceptual framework. The latter
should act for the former as a facilitator in achieving second-order
changes when efforts seem to be exhausted in constantly arriving at first-
order changes.

12.2.5 A Pastoral Minister as a Facilitator

The pastoral ministry demands that the minister be constantly in com-

munication with people. It requires him to give them the feeling that he
is available to them as a competent assistant not only in the day-to-day
life affairs but also and especially in crisis situations. As a result he has
to be emotionally flexible and stable, since he is confronted very often
with joyful as well as sorrowful borderline situations of human life, and
not infrequently in quick succession. His task is, therefore, to assist the
person seeking advice or assistance in the process of re-establishing the
flow of life through a focussed observation. It is obvious that such a
stance does not permit the pastoral worker to dwell long on why the per-
son is coping with the situation in the manner he is doing, but nudges
and prods him to pay attention to what the person does and what can be
done to help. Moreover, the quest for the why of an action or of an expe-
rienced psychological impasse in the sense we have been describing, in
order to gain insight, requires special training and sensitivity for the psy-
chodynamics of human action and cognition; and not many pastoral
ministers possess this competence. Over and above all, the occupation
with the what of an observed event reduces the dangers of misinterpreta-
tion and misunderstanding. The option for the “what” requires, in a very
eminent way, being attentive to what one is experiencing as well as to
what the other person is experiencing in the here-and-now. In the effort

142 Cf. also Bateson, Geist und Natur, 9-85, 113-162.

480
to attend to the what-factor some techniques of the Gestalt Therapy and
the Systemic Approach can be of help.143

12.2.5.1 Gestalt Therapeutic Approach

Let us briefly look at some of the principles of Gestalt therapy which can
be useful to the pastoral minister.

(1) Figure and Ground: The relationship between figure and ground can
be illustrated by the impossibility of achieving a clear visual perception
of two objects or details at the same time; either one is visually sharp in
focus and the other a little blurred, serving as the background on which
the sharp one is visualized, or they alternate in clarity and blurriness de-
pending on which one of the two dominates one’s visual attention. Figu-
res 7 and 8 show two images which will help us appreciate this Gestalt
phenomenon of figure and ground144:

Figure 7 below presents an ambiguous picture with several details. It would be in-
teresting to know what image the reader has seen in the above picture. At first
glance, one will probably see at once a part of a picture of a young woman in three-
quarter view to the left or that of an old lady facing to the left and forward. If one
succeeds in discovering the two images on this two-dimensional picture, one soon
realizes that one image disappears as soon as one focuses on the other and vice
versa. The interesting thing here is, unless you had been told that there is a second
picture, you certainly would not have guessed it or looked for one. And if you had
not discovered the two by yourself, you might regard someone who claims to see
something that you do not as mistaken or “crazy”, and perhaps pass on. If you are a
compliant type and see a young woman where we say there is an old woman, you
might decide to succumb to our own perception and repeat what we say without
making efforts to “see” it by yourself. Peculiar to this picture is that some of its
details have dual character. The cheek and jaw line of the young woman is the old
woman’s nose; the left ear of the former is the left eye of the latter, a bit of her nose
is the right eye of the old woman, her necklace or choker the old woman’s mouth
or lips. With these details it is now easy to discover the two pictures.

143 Interested readers on the application of some methods of humanistic psychology in

pastoral ministry may consult: J. Hänle, Heilende Verkündigung. Kerygmatische
Herausforderungen im Dialog mit Ansätzen der Humanistischen Psychologie.
Ostfildern 1997.
144 F. Perls, R. F. Hefferline and P. Goodman, Gestalt Therapy, 3-29. Other more
subtle examples or images can be found in the Chapter on Orienting the Self in the
same book.

481
 Figure 7: Two-dimensional image

Figure 8 below is another example of how this figure-ground phenome-

non operates.

Figure 8: Three-dimensional image

This picture has a three-dimensional quality. The figure may be seen as a white
chalice on a black ground; or if the white area is taken as ground, the figure be-
comes two heads in profile silhouette. On a continued inspection of the picture, one
might develop the expertise at shifting between figure and ground depending upon
the area of focus or how one organizes one’s perception in respect to it. But one
can never gain a focussed view of both at the same time. When one aspect is in

482
 clear view the other recedes to the background and provides the platform for the
emergence of the other. The three-dimensional quality of this image lies in the fact
that when one sees the white figure, the black ground is behind it. Likewise, a
similar effect occurs when the two heads are seen as if they are outside a lighted
window.

Whatever changes we observe in these two pictures are psychogenic in

origin; the changes occur in our mind and not in the objects of our per-
ception. The other principles such as, gestalt formation and completion,
emergent needs, clarity of gestalten, awareness and attention, closure
and holism all build on this first principle of figure and ground.

(2) Gestalt Formation and Completion: The human person, as we

pointed out on several occasions, especially in Chapter Three, is in a
constant interaction with himself and his environment, whereby a per-
son’s (psychological) “environment” is determined by that which he is
aware of.145 This awareness of the relationships involved in a particular
situation constitutes a gestalt, a meaningful pattern or configuration.
Being aware of a particular stream of experience means “being with it”,
paying attention to it until it is resolved and no longer occupies the cen-
tre of attention. Completed experiences, those successfully resolved or
attended to, smoothly and quietly fade into the background of the per-
son’s experience as something else comes to the foreground to be dealt
with. In order for gestalt formation and completion to occur smoothly
and naturally, one must be able to function in the present, in the here-
and-now. “Any experience or reactive pattern of behaviour that is held
from the past, or anything that is being anticipated about the future, di-
minishes the amount of attention and energy”146 one can give to what
one is experiencing in the present. Since one’s energy is not unlimited, it
also reduces his capacity to cope with something here and now.
(3) Emergent needs: The constant interaction with the environment is an
expression of that dialectical nature of human experience as well as of
that self-regulative and self-recursive nature of the human organism. It is
a manifestation of that continuous search, of the process of responding to
the need for homeostasis. And as this dance between continuity, stability

145 Cf. Dell 27. A person’s psychological environment encompasses the natural and
the spiritual realms of life.
146 M. P. Korb, J. Gorell and V. Van De Riet, Gestalt Therapy , 5.

483
and change in human daily living progresses, needs arise, come to the
foreground, and recede progressively as they are attended to and satis-
fied.
(4) Clarity of Gestalten: In the natural gestalt formation process, needs,
desires, or interests arrange themselves according to clarity, intensity and
prominence; the most pressing need determines the clearest figure.
(5) Awareness and Attention: Awareness and attention are two various
but complementary manners of attending to emerging reality as it moves
from figure to ground. Awareness is not a conscious, wilful act; it is
more or less spontaneous. Attention, on the other hand, is consciously ef-
fortful; sometimes it can also be spontaneous, especially when unusual,
unexpected sensations occur in the environment. Paying attention to
something implies purposefully directing one’s perception toward a par-
ticular target. Attention can be forcibly directed, in which case it loses
that qualitatively different awareness which always signals gestalt for-
mation. Both awareness and attention are only possible in the present, in
the Here-and-Now. It is important to note that even here our “mind set”,
our conceptual framework influences the subtle, unconscious choices we
make as to what should be figure and what should be ground. Our epis-
temic penchant with regard to certain environmental cues organizes our
perceptions and our contact with that aspect of our world.
(6) Closure is a central principle in Gestalt Learning Theory. According
to this principle, human beings tend to “view incomplete, visually pre-
sented information as being complete and meaningful”147. For instance,
when we see the dead remains of a car, we still recognize it as a car even
though the tires, windscreen and seats may be missing. In Gestalt therapy
it is recognized that the same thing happens with human experience:
people strive for closure in their personal relationships. This natural de-
sire for closure leads to the efforts made by individuals to dwell upon in-
complete experiences, to return to and relive them, or even to carry
around unresolved emotions regarding them until the closure is achieved
– even though this is not always easy to achieve. We feel a great sense of
relief or fulfilment when something is completed. Incomplete Gestalten
often lead to various forms of psychopathology.
(7) Holism: The holistic principle points to the option of Gestalt therapy
to focus on the whole person. This means recognizing not only the

147 Ibid., 8.

484
unique nature of a person’s organizing and experiencing of events but
also the fact that experiencing always involves the whole personality. By
definition a “Gestalt” means a “whole”. In accordance with this principle
special attention is paid to body sensations and body “language” in the
therapy. The awareness of one’s own body is as important as the aware-
ness of one’s being as man or woman. The body is the fulcrum of all
human experiencing and cognition. It is also the condition of the possi-
bility for contact with or withdrawal from the environment in that ongo-
ing process of creative interaction with it.148 That is why the expression:
“he/she is somebody” carries the most concentrated and pregnant form of
affirmation of the value of the other person. According to G. Marcel, I
am my body.149 Whatever I do, do not do, experience and think, I do as
my body. My perception of my body, acceptance or rejection, has a great
influence upon my perception of the world around me. According to J.
Hänle, “the ability to self-awareness enables [the pastoral minister] also
to be sensitive to the body reactions of his interlocutor and to react [ap-
propriately] to them”150. It is, therefore, not surprising that this aspect of
corporealness is the first of the five pillars of personal identity in the In-
tegrative Therapy.151 Physical health and spiritual health cannot be sepa-
rated from each other; they are mutually interrelated.
The concrete application of these principles follows the hermeneuti-
cal and therapeutical circle of Seeing – Assessment – Action.152 These

148 Cf. K. H. Ladenhauf, Integrative Therapie und Gestalt Therapie in der Seelsorge,
94.
149 Cf. Ibid., 111-112.
150 Hänle 286.
151 Ibid.
Integrative Therapy was founded by Hilarion Petzold as a European response to
traditional Gestalt Therapy and as a critical synthesis of Gestalt therapy,
Psychodrama and active Psychoanalysis.
152 In the Integrative and Gestalt therapies this circle is extended to incorporate, on the
hermeneutical level, Awareness (a full perception of the client as he is with all that
he is at this moment in time) – Knowledge (an empathic reaching out to get a full
picture of the client) – Understanding (a cognitive processing of the acquired infor-
mation about the client as well as a sharing, participation in his biography) – Clari-
fication (assisting the client to gain insight into his problem on the basis of the
information gathered in the previous steps). These steps have their correspondence
on the therapeutical level, namely, Exploration/Remembering (in order that aware-
ness not be unconsciously disturbed by previous experiences, the client is helped to
explore and remember relevant aspects of the problem. This helps to obtain a clear

485
three steps mark the therapeutic approach of Jesus of Nazareth. The
Scripture is consistent in its narrative style, especially in this regard. The
actual healing acts are always preceded by Jesus seeing (i.e. becoming
aware of a condition that needs to be changed: the suffering and sorrow
that need immediate alleviation or a condition of socio-religious and
psychological bondage that must be terminated), and then assessing the
situation by entering into a brief dialogue with the person(s) needing
healing and sometimes with the latter’s environment.
It is a common experience in the Church in Igboland that many
pastoral ministers do not even care to “see” what the faithful need at the
given point in time, where the latter stand in their struggle with life and
spirituality. Their welfare is not the centre of awareness and attention but
often the pastors’ program, which is usually drafted from what he him-
self thinks must be good for the people. In the seminary, the seminarian
as a unique person does not stand out as figure but very often as the
ground; the interests of the seminary institution often assume the fore-
ground. The clarification of the figure-ground-relationship can serve as a
reminder for the pastoral minister as well as for the seminarian that the
object of awareness and attention at any given time differ from person to
person and is subject to the same law of movement from figure to ground
as needs rise and recede to the background as they are gratified or at-
tended to. It is, therefore, of utmost importance always to ascertain what
is the person’s present object of awareness and attention. One can intuit,
like Jesus, exactly what it is. However, sometimes it can be helpful,

vision of where the client “stands” at this point in time) – Repetition/Acting (to be
able to reach out empathically to the client, he might need to re-live the uncomfor-
table experiences, which have now been called to mind again. This also helps to
explore the resources the client has to move through to the next stage) – Working
out/Integration (understanding is helped through a thorough working out, going
through the problem in a more detailed manner with the client in order to find out
in which direction he wants to reorganize his life. This process will also accord the
client the feeling of being understood) – Change/Re-orientation (with the help of
the insight the client has gained through the explication of the problem and its pat-
terns, he can now be helped to effect concrete changes towards a new orientation of
his life and coping patterns). For more information on this, the reader may consult
the work of K. H. Ladenhauf cited above, pp. 102-105.

486
again like Jesus, to ask: “What do you want me to do for you?”153 – And
who knows, the reply might be the unexpected: Domine ut videam!154
The usefulness and relevance of these principles for the pastoral
therapy and ministry have been best exemplified by Jesus’ therapeutic
methods. His healing and empowering encounters always took place in
the Here-and-Now. Without pushing to know the history of the Samari-
tan woman, or why the sick man at the Pool of Bethsaida has been lying
there sick for thirty-eight years155, Jesus was able to apprehend the true
nature, the enormity and implications of each individual condition of

153 Lk 18: 41. This encounter of Jesus with the blind man (men) and the people was
recorded by all three Evangelists Mk 10: 46-52; Mt 20: 29-34 and Lk 18: 35-43.
154 Contrary to the expectation of a crowd already grown impervious to the misery of
their “fellow” human beings, Bartimaeus did not ask for alms but rather to be given
the opportunity to belong again to the human community, to behold God’s creative
light, to be liberated from the “blindness” that brought down darkness all around
him, that made him impervious to the variety of colours made possible by light and
at home in God’s universe.
155 Cf. Jn 4: 1-42; 5: 1-9. Other interesting incidents have been narrated by the Doctor
and Evangelist Luke, for example: Lk 5: 12-14; 6:6-11; 8: 43-48; 13: 10-17; 17:
11-19; 19: 1-10. In all these cases, the steps are always the same. Jesus consciously
establishes what should be the figure, what should be the object of awareness and
attention, which is the welfare of this concrete fellow human being in need (“this
son of Abraham”, “this daughter of Abraham”); every other social, religious or
legal consideration must occupy the ground. To accentuate this He would call the
person to the middle of the room, to the centre of attention, even the woman with
haemorrhage had to come out of her imposed anonymity into the limelight of
attention; Zaccheus had to come out of his tree-top isolation into the centre of
attention. In each of these biographies He always had the whole person in view.
Since illness was a social stigma with deep psychological consequences, the person
can only be wholly healed when he/she is rehabilitated in his/her community, when
his/her “face”, dignity, is restored. To guarantee this, Jesus would either engage
the person in a dialogue in such a way that all present became witnesses to the on-
going change of status, or He would touch the person or ask him to “go and show
yourself to the priest” in order for the ban of isolation and excommunication to be
lifted. To ensure a successful closure or completion of Gestalt He would tell the
person, for example: “Be well!”, “Go, your sins are forgiven you”, “Your faith has
restored you to health; go in peace”, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved
you”, “I, too, have not condemned you. Go and sin no more”, etc. etc. Lk 7: 11-16
brings out the three movement clearly: Step 1: Seeing: “When the Lord saw her
[the widow of Nain] [...]”, Step 2: Assessment: “He felt sorry for her”. Step 3:
Action: “Do not cry, he said. Then he went up and put his hand on the bier [...] and
he said, ‘Young man, I tell you to get up’”.

487
every sick and needy person he saw. Each time the Scripture says “he
saw”, Jesus saw not just the physical incapacitation but also the social
disenfranchisement and isolation as well as the psychological state of
worthlessness; he also saw the dehumanising social and religious struc-
tures and bias that prevent each and every one of the people he healed
from getting a glimpse of that divine sparkle in their being as God’s im-
ages and creation. Each time he healed, he restored the flow of life in
them, and the response was always overwhelming: astonishment, grati-
tude, God’s praise, incredulity both from the healed and the bystanders.
This approach of apprehending each human biography as being en-
meshed in a web of relations brings us to the systemic approach.

12.2.5.2 The Systemic Approach

The theoretical background and guideline in this work has been the sys-
temic approach to reality, especially to human reality. This approach in-
vites us to make an option for circularity and for many other implica-
tions arising from the interconnected nature of the human reality and its
autopoietic organisation.

From linearity to circularity

The systemic approach is an invitation to quit the linear thinking pattern
and embrace the systemic, circular pattern which is more in rhythm with
the biosocial nature of the human organism and its ecology. The linear
mode of thinking, granted, characterizes the biblical arrangement
whereby salvation history runs from Genesis to the Apocalypse with its
vision of a new Jerusalem, but what is common to each of the various
stages of that history is the pattern of interconnectedness which charac-
terizes the various events of each stage as well as the entire history. Our
first parents – Adam and Eve – sinned, and for reasons not quite com-
prehensible to many minds, we in this outgoing 20th century are affected
by their action – at least so do we Christians believe. On a narrower
context, the perception of an individual biography as a complex of inter-
related factors, which are ontogenically generated, invites us to be more
cautious and patient in dealing with our fellow human beings.
On the epistemological level, it is a similar ‘web of meanings’ that
constitutes our conceptual framework and gives rise to cultures. All the
various sectors of human life and existence are so engulfed in a recipro-

488
cal communicative interaction that they all together constitute the great
human ecosystem. In effect, any variations in one sector inevitably affect
the other interconnected sectors making up the system. If this is the case,
in a pastoral context, then there can be no sole guilty party in a commu-
nity of human beings. If a member does something wrong, then, because
of the interconnectedness of all the members, somewhere in the network
lies the root of his wrong doing. Besides, he can only come that far be-
cause the others in one way or the other ‘supported’ him. In his usual
wise manner K. Gibran portrayed this circularity thus:

Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were
not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world. But I say
that even the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each
one of you, so the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is
in you also. As a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the
whole tree, so the wrongdoer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all
[...]. And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution
against the stumbling stone. Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who, though
faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone [...].
And if any of you would punish in the name of righteousness and lay the axe unto
the evil tree, let him see to its roots; and verily he will find the roots of the good
and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of
the earth [...].
And you who would understand justice, how shall you unless you look upon all
deeds in the fullness of light? Only then shall you know that the erect and the fallen
are but one man standing in the twilight between the night of his pigmy-self and the
day of his god-self, and that the cornerstone of the temple is not higher than the
156
lowest stone in its foundation .

The principle of circularity challenges to shift attention to the quality of

the relationship between the members of the community rather than con-
centrating on the individuals themselves. That means, a sensitisation for
the perception of the patterns that govern one’s own mode of thinking
and behaving on one hand, and that of the other person(s) involved on
the other hand. This demands a great measure of respect and caution for
the dignity of the other person and an empathic reaching-out to him in
cognisance of the enormous pain he might be going through as a result of
the changes – first- or second-order – taking place in his consciousness.

156 Gibran 52.55.57.58-59.

489
 Moreover, in view of finding a way out of many distressing cogni-
tive and interpersonal tangles, the shifting of attention from particular,
apparently isolated, events to the patterns of relationships between them
often brings one to new cognitive terrains. Moving the attention from the
members of a group to the class or group itself leads to the “premise”,
which in a way constitutes, i.e. legitimates, the class in the first place.
Once the premise becomes the object of attention and reflection the
chances are good that it will be questioned and finally abandoned, thus
bringing about diffusion of the impasse.157 The person can also choose
not to abandon the premise but it will no longer be as it was before; he
might continue behaving like before but he will not be doing it like when
he never discovered why, and the emotional experience of it will proba-
bly not remain the same.
Another effect of systemic thinking pattern is that events cease to be
isolated incidents along the pathway of a person’s life. Consequently,
one cannot treat the case of a seminarian breaking one or more of the
rules of the seminary as an isolated event. Going by the systemic ap-
proach, it might become necessary to consider other factors like time,
place, circumstance, the seminarian’s subjective understanding and inter-
pretation of the rule in question (i.e. what meaning does the latter attach
to it?), what the seminarian wanted to achieve through contravening the
rule, what is the function of the said rule (i.e. what meaning does the
seminary attach to it?), is the rule correctly understood, is its plausibility
self-evident, does the atmosphere and the behaviour of other seminarians
and formators distort or contribute to its credibility, what possible effect
does the contravention have on the other students, etc. etc. And over and
above all, in what way does the rule contribute to the well-being of the
seminarian in question. By the time one finishes going through all likely
interconnected areas, it might dawn on the formator that the seminarian
did not breach the rule out of ill-will or in order to undermine the
authority of the former, but rather as an attempt to re-adjust to a changed
or changing situation.

From sole responsibility to co-responsibility

Systemic approach to events of life and to human affairs seems to accord
with the Igbo unitary vision of life as a reciprocal interplay of all forces

157 Cf. the solution to the nine-dot problem in Chapter Three.

490
in the universe. In line with the need for a paradigm shift from hierarchy
to networking or partnership in dealing with human affairs and human
needs, the seminarian should be seen not as “objects” to be formed, as
mere receivers of orders from above but rather as subjects, actively in-
volved in their own training. Their involvement as subjects, of course,
entails a sharing of responsibilities. Most importantly, it strengthens their
sense of self-worth. This in turn will help reduce their need to compen-
sate, sooner or later, through self-glorification and self-righteousness. A
strengthened positive sense of self-worth normally casts its benign and
empowering shadow on one’s relationship to others; it often spills over.
Kindness and appreciation breed kindness and self-confidence. Other
implications are158:

No one has the full possession of the truth

As part of a network no one person can presume to possess the full truth
about any given issue. Being structurally determined, each person per-
ceives whatever is at stake from his own perspective, endowing it with
meaning on the background of his own personal ontogeny or history.
Therefore, every attempt to claim absolute possession of the truth about
a given issue must be seen as the exercise of dictatorship. This brings us
to the next point:

Each person has only his own opinion

If human epistemology is biological and psychologically subjective –
each person is endowed with a nervous system which functions in a
similar way in every person but lays its epistemic paths ontogenically –
then there is basically no objective truth. All one can say about a thing or
event is only one’s and only one’s own opinion. Certainly the seminary
authority has more relevant information pertaining to the seminary for-
mation than the seminarian himself. As such the opinion of the former
weighs more. But still each formator apprehends, interprets, and exe-
cutes the training instructions solely in accordance with his own individ-
ual perception of them. Therefore, no one should use the reference to a
questionable objectivity of truth to silence other and divergent opinions.
The third point follows as well from the biological structure of human
beings.

158 Cf. Hammers 241-244.

491
No one can change another person
Human beings are structurally determined. This means that the human
central nervous system, specifically the human brain, functions accord-
ing to its own pattern. All information coming from outside is processed
according to its own rules. It is the keyhole that determines which key
fits into it. In effect, every effort to change another person is going to be
rewarded with a frustration as long as the person does not cooperate
willingly.
As we mentioned earlier, at the start of the ontogeny of each indi-
vidual human being, the system is open. That is the case in the symbiotic
phase of each person’s (childhood) development. It is only gradually that
its operational closure becomes effective. The paths have been laid dur-
ing the period of childhood socialization which now become part of the
structure. These include the basic needs of warmth and affection, etc.
When these needs are activated, which naturally require another human
being for their gratification, one can only achieve their gratification by
one of three ways: (1) through an unrelenting torture or tyranny until the
person decides not to take it any longer and capitulates, or (2) through
collaboration and seduction, or (3) through a respectful approach and
friendship which is accompanied by mutual understanding, so that the
person wholeheartedly lets one into his “house” through the “front door”.
This third step goes with mutual respect and reverence. It is also the do-
main of reciprocal structural coupling.159 There is no gainsaying that
only the third modality is suitable especially in a pastoral context. If then
each individual is structurally determined, then it follows that

Each person is fully responsible for himself – and only himself

Since each person’s brain processes all incoming information (impulses)
according to its own pattern, then each person is solely responsible for
the outcome of his own mental activities. This means that in an interper-
sonal relationship, for instance in an educational context, the responsi-
bility of the educator lies solely in providing the pupil the necessary
conditions and the atmosphere (which include the required information)
under which the person can constructively develop himself. How and
whether the pupil does this and what he makes out of it lie outside the

159 These three possibilities correspond to the three modalities of contact between
African and European cultures.

492
sphere and control of the educator and solely within the responsibility of
the pupil. The realization of this fact makes one a little humble and can
elicit the feeling of reverence for the uniqueness of each human being. If
each person is really unique, then

Security and compliance can only be guaranteed through dialogue and

consensus.
The idea that one can only feel safe and secure if one is good, achieves a
lot and amasses much “wealth” (in a broad sense) so as to feel better and
greater than others and able to control them as well, is based on an epis-
temological error. One can succeed in incarcerating another person for
some time or controlling the person by exploiting the person’s indigence,
but it is at the cost of a steady suspense; the security one experiences has
only a very precarious existence. So what one has at the end is more or
less a spiteful obedience. As soon as the person gets the chance, he is
likely to assert his freedom. Consequently, the only reasonable way to
achieve safety and cooperation is through dialogue and consensus. Since
each individual constructs his own world, it is only natural that he has
something to say on matters involving him and his environment. Moreo-
ver, the achievement of a common goal is only possible – in the long run
– on the background of a general consensus of all the parties concerned.
In this respect, the Igbo principle of equalitarianism and communal de-
mocracy can offer some good impulses.
These facts give more weight to the urgency of releasing the semi-
narian from the role of consumer, of clay in the hands of the potter, of
receiver of orders and instructions and acknowledging his right to be co-
responsible for his formation. While the formators remain responsible
for the provision of the necessary conditions for a good spiritual, moral
and psychological development, they are relieved of the burden of as-
suming total responsibility for the outcome as well.

493
12.3 Summary

It is the goal of the seminary to produce pastorally effective and efficient

ministers who in the course of attending to the faithful will draw from
the spiritual wellspring of the Good News of Salvation and the Scrip-
tures. The pastoral effectiveness and efficiency are measured on the ex-
tent to which the minister is able to be so in touch with his own self – his
own cultural and historical background – that he can communicate in a
person- and reality-related manner and employ symbols in a Gospel-
related way, so that the faithful can scent that bonum odor Christi, which
empowers and gives one the feeling that ‘it is good to be here’, the feel-
ing of being loved by God. We have seen that inner conflicts, often cul-
turally generated, can stymie the development of these competences and
also cause the seminarian a lot of pains. In the light of this we have
looked at some pastoral theological issues which we consider essential
for the pastoral training of the seminarians.
In a second step, we have offered some pastoral psychological ap-
proaches which might be very helpful not only in assisting the seminari-
ans themselves to work out some personal psychological problems but
also for a critical assessment of one’s own cognitive framework.

494
GENERAL CONCLUSION

We set out to inquire into the grounds for the discrepancies we observed
among seminarians and priests in Igboland. In the course of this quest we
found out that the dissonant behaviours are manifestations of some psy-
chological processes. Not wanting to reduce the person of the seminarian
to a bundle of responses to certain environmental stimuli or to a living
being at the mercy of motives and drives, we opted to look at him as a
whole, undivided, personality with a personal and unique ontogeny em-
bedded in an on-going process of communicative interaction with his
environment. On the background of this pre-decision, on which we then
based our theoretical perspective, we focussed our attention and curiosity
on the nature of those inner psychological processes which are com-
monly described as intrapersonal conflict. In doing this we came to un-
derstand that intrapersonal conflict stands in a very close relationship
with a person’s conceptual system of reference and that this in turn is
culturally conditioned. It soon became clear to us also that culture ac-
counts for the differences in the manner of responding to or interacting
with one’s environment, of processing and interpreting cues from it and
of managing various basic human needs. Cultures differ as there are
peoples on earth. The Euro-Christian culture which has a formative in-
fluence on the Catholic priesthood differs from the culture of the Afri-
cans. As a result we considered it pertinent to discuss the Christian sys-
tem of reference in relation to the priesthood and the culture which
informs the conceptual framework of the Igbo seminarians. By doing this
we hoped to make explicit the fact that the convergence of both in the
seminary training in Igboland is one of the major causes of intrapersonal
conflict in the seminarians and that consciously and openly addressing
this fact in the seminary will go a long way to alleviating the pains the
seminarians go through and help them cope with it in a healthy way.
Cognitive changes are the desired goal of any intellectual formation.
This fact is usually taken for granted. On the other hand, the nature or
configuration of such changes vary from individual to individual. In
other words, the actual form or nature of the change the individual expe-

495
riences is configured on the background of his ontogeny. The same can
be said about a people. The actual nature of the change the Igbo experi-
ence as a society depends on the nature of the epistemic system or sys-
tems they have developed or mapped out for themselves in the course of
their ontogeny as a cultural group.
Taken for granted or rather anticipated equally are the pains associ-
ated with giving up established, accustomed and validated beliefs and
world conceptions – cognitive and emotive guidelines and orientations in
the myriads of daily experiences. Much of such pains is often not felt
dramatically because the effect of change sometimes do not exceed the
level which, for the organism, constitutes the point of awareness or the
level of pain. They, therefore, take place very subtly. Only those that ex-
ceed such levels are felt strongly.1 Often this happens sporadically. The
sporadic manifestations of these pains are frequently interpreted and
treated not only wrongly, but also on different planes, to which they ac-
tually do not belong – like fighting a symptom instead of its cause. The
fact that the very nature of the change can at best be projected but cannot
exactly be predicted in every individual human being – not even within
the same cultural background – favours this inappropriate handling.
When this happens, the problem gets usually complicated. We, therefore,
hope that the presence or experience of intrapersonal conflict among the
seminarians be seen more as the effect of the process which in the Ger-
man language is described as “die Auseinandersetzung mit” – the inter-
nal discussion or dialogue between – the two opposing epistemologies.
This knowledge should invite and almost prescribe a greater level of tol-
erance and guidance in the formative relationship with the candidates
and in their assessment for suitability.
By bringing intrapersonal conflict among Igbo seminarians in rela-
tion with conflicting epistemic frames of reference we hope also (1) to
contribute to the training of culturally integrated multipliers of the
transcultural Christian message of salvation and (2) in a longer term, to
help put to rest the fanatical aggression of many pastoral workers against
the Igbo traditional religion and cultural belief system by furthering
genuine dialogue. People resort to fanaticism only when the goals they
are striving at or around which they have built their ratio-emotive and
spiritual edifice appear to be in doubt or threatened. There is truth in the

1 Cf. Bateson 40.

496
words of R. Pirsig when he says that “you are never [fanatically] dedi-
cated to something you have complete confidence in. When people are
fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other kinds of
dogmas or goals, it’s always because these dogmas or goals are in
doubt”2.
If this work helps in directing the attention of those entrusted with
the training of the seminarians to a further important perspective of the
seminarian’s life, if it contributes to a sensitisation of the seminarians
and the seminary authority for the pains the seminarians undergo as a re-
sult of the ongoing epistemological changes, if it contributes to a better
understanding of some psychopathological experiences of the students,
and finally, if it helps in awakening the sense of history in the future
pastoral workers and their trainers, for in the words of J.-M. Éla, “it is
the history that we make ourselves [...] that must be the locus of our
questioning upon the faith and its meaning”3, then it will have achieved
its goal.
We also hope that it can trigger off other similar studies and re-
search on the seminarian condition as well as on other groups of pastoral
ministers. We certainly do not presume to have said the only or the last
word on this subject.
Our quest has been guided by our undaunted belief in the fact that
the Good News of Salvation is meant for all human beings irrespective
of race and culture, by the high esteem we have for a genuine Christian
culture and by the great love we have for our own Igbo cultural heritage.
It has also been guided by our strong conviction that our Lord Jesus

2 Pirsig 146. Cf. also Donna W. Cross, Die Päpstin. Aufbau Taschenbuch Verlag,
Berlin 1996, 46: Donna Cross lets the learned teacher Aesculapius stun the dread-
fully powerful ‘parish’ priest of Ingelheim in an argument over the relationship
between faith and reason. The priest considers reason and logic great dangers to
faith, which must be avoided by all means. Aesculapius: “Why do you really fear
to contemplate faith in the light of reason? And what is logic other than thinking
strictly guided by reason? God himself has given reason to us [...]. Is it not even so
that the absence of faith makes human beings to fear examining facts through a
logical reflection? And if the goal is doubtful, then the road to it must be full of
fear. A strong faith has no need for fear; for if there is god, the reason can lead us
to him. Cogito, ergo Deus est: I think, therefore, there is God, said St. Augustine.”
Following the same tradition St. Anselm, one of the great fathers of the church,
declared, fides querens intellectum, faith seeks understanding.
3 Éla 133.

497
Christ can incarnate in any culture in this world and that the prerequisite
for that is the unconditional obedience and/or compliance to the divine
injunction: “‘What God has made clean, you have no right to call un-
clean or profane’”4, not to talk of to treat as unclean. We, therefore, hope
that this work helps to awaken love and respect in all fellow Igbo pas-
toral ministers and ministers in spe for our native culture.

4 Ac 10: 9-28.

498
APPENDIX
This page intentionally left blank
Glossary Of Terms

AV Apostolic Vicariate
BMS Bigard Memorial Seminary
SWS Seat of Wisdom Seminary
r Correlation Coefficient
Sig. Significance
N Number of respondents
AAS Acta Apostolice Sedis
GS Vat. II, Gaudium et Spes
OP Vat. II, Optatam Totius
CD Vat. II, Christus Dominus
LG Vat. II, Lumen Gentium
NA Vat. II, Nostra Aetate
PO Vat. II, Presbyterorum Ordinis
AFER African Ecclesial Review
Jn St. John’s Gospel
Mk St. Mark’s Gospel
Lk St. Luke’s Gospel
Mt St. Matthew’s Gospel
ac Acts of Apostles
Ez The Book of Ezekiel
Ex The Book of Exodus

501
This page intentionally left blank
 APPENDIX A1
LIVING BETWEEN TWO WORLDS: A STUDY OF INTRAPERSONAL
CONFLICT AMONG IGBO SEMINARIANS:
DIMENSIONS OF CONFLICT

QUESTIONNAIRE

In this questionnaire you will find a number of brief statements describing many different kinds of
activities. These statements are not necessarily related to each other. You are requested to address
yourself to each statement in four different ways. Please read each statement carefully and answer it
in each of the four different ways before moving on to the next statement, following this procedure
until you have finished all of them. There is no time limit, but do not dwell too long on any
particular item.
The first way in which you should address yourself to a statement is to determine whether it is
true or false as a description of your present behaviour (attitude, tendencies) and activities, that is,
of you as you actually are at this point in your life.
The second way in which you should address yourself to a statement is to determine whether
it is consistent with, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to the ideals you hold for yourself.
The third way in which you should address yourself to a statement is to determine whether it
is consistent with, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to the ideals of the Igbo society in which you live
or where you come from.
The fourth way in which you should address yourself to a statement is to determine whether it
is consistent with, inconsistent with, or irrelevant to the ideals of the seminary institution in which
you are now.
Please bear in mind that in the first way you are not to consider what you would like to be, or
what you ought to be if you take the society’s or institution’s point of view, but rather what you are
at this point in your life. In other words, whether the statement is true or false about you now. In the
second way, do not consider what you currently are, or what the society or institution would like you
to be, but rather what the ideals are that you hold for yourself. In the third and fourth ways, do not
consider what you are, or what you would like to be, but rather what the ideals of the Igbo society
and seminary institution respectively are for people like you.
In making the second, third and fourth considerations, if you do not have a definite impression that a
statement is positively expressive of or contrary to either your society’s, an institutional or a
personal ideal, then mark irrelevant.
Now this is the way you go about it: Just enter in the column for Behaviour/activities: 1 for
true or 2 for false. In the rest of the columns enter respectively 1 for consistency or 2 for
inconsistency or 3 for irrelevance
Please look at the example below:
Present Personal Societal Instituti
Behaviour ideal ideal onal
ideal
1. Helping the sick always. 1 1 1 1

503
 APPENDIX A1
NOW YOU CAN START. Answer all items. Remember: Answer each item in each of the four
different ways before moving on to the next statement.

Present Personal Societal Institutio

Behaviour ideal ideal nal ideal
1. Limiting my pleasure so I can spend all of my
time usefully.
2. Applying myself conscientiously to studies.
3. Admitting when I am wrong.
4. Setting difficult goals for myself.
5. Finishing something I’ve begun, even if it is no
longer enjoyable.
6. Striving to become somebody in the society.
7. Studying hard in order to gain self-fulfilment.
8. Living comfortable.
9. Feeling comfortable at village traditional
festivities.
10. Setting higher standards for myself than anyone
else would and working hard to achieve them.
11. Acquiescing to someone ahead of me in the
seminary as a sign that I can obey my superior/
bishop later.
12. Avoiding close relationships with persons of the
opposite sex.
13. Paying no attention to omens, e.g.,. a vulture
perching on one’s housetop, or the song of a
screech owl believed to announce an
impending death incidence, or the cry of an owl
in the night.
14. Giving exact time to spiritual duties.
15. Being in the seminary as it helps to become
somebody in the society.
16. Following directions.
17. Going along with a decision made by an
authority or a leader rather than starting an
argument.
18. Reading books that have little to do with prayer
and meditation.
19. Doing the best I can to make life better for
myself and those dear to me.
20. Having good relations with other people.
21. Doing something very serious with my leisure
time, like on walk days, instead of going out to
meet other people.
22. Thinking of how better your society could be if
everybody were to become Christians.
23. Having a nice room.
24. Enduring present discomforts or ill-treatments
by thinking of tomorrow. For instance, that
„soon my ordination will come around and all
that will be over“.

504
 APPENDIX A1
25. Thinking often of finding means to help my
people.
26. Feeling more accomplished when in the semi-
nary.
27. Avoiding things that might bring bad luck.
28. Listening to songs about love and friendship.
29. Being fashionably and correctly dressed.
30. Carrying out an instruction from someone
„higher in dignity“ without questioning.
31. Competing with others for a prize or a goal.
32. Considering the eradication of pagan signs and
symbols, like idols, charms, shrines, as a very
important pastoral goal.
33. Striving to persevere in the seminary, even if
being there seems no longer convincing.
34. Practising self-sacrifice for the sake of a better
life.
35. Envying friends who get married.
36. Feeling bad after participating in a traditional
village festival
37. Planning one’s individual program on free-days.
38. Having the feeling that being in the seminary
enhances the social status of my relatives.
39. Imagining that by not wanting to get married,
one is exempted from the responsibilities and
obligations towards the extended family.
40. Enjoying being with people.
41. Being opposed to traditional masquerading for
Christians.
42. Having relationships to some important persons
because it always pays.
43. Doing small self-imposed penances.
44. Questioning the decisions of people who are
supposed to be authorities.
45. Disliking the exclusive company of friends.
46. Seeing love stories in films.
47. Keeping a commonly used appliance for your
personal use.
48. Liking to spend time in private prayer.
49. Believing that some people possess the powers
to inflict others with some ailment in order to
make it impossible for the afflicted to achieve a
set goal.
50. Feeling convinced that the larger the network of
relationships is, the more better off one is in
life.
51. Admitting that the system of classification in
„dignities“ (like „first“ or „second“, „third“
in dignity) among seminarians enables to
guarantee respect for those ahead of oneself
irrespective of age.
52. Imagining that if I really wanted to get married
my parents would have been very happy.

505
 APPENDIX A1
53. Developing my mind so that I am
knowledgeable and effective in intellectual
endeavour.
54. Believing that nothing evil happens without
either a supernatural being or somebody being
behind it
55. Enjoying the company of fellow seminarians
most.
56. Having the strong feeling that it is important for
me to succeed in becoming a priest, because
not only will I be proud of myself but also my
whole town will be proud of me.
57. Believing in the power of objects like scapular,
medals and the like to protect oneself from evil
forces or from accidents.
58. Taking someone to a native doctor rather than
leaving him/-her to suffer.
59. Not occupying myself much with the issue of
celibacy.
60. Holding the opinion that persons older but less
educated than oneself should be more on the
listening side.
61. Helping to see that fellow seminarians abide by
the rules and regulations, even if this means
assisting the superiors to ensure that they are
kept.
62. Judging the time spent in the seminary to be
qualitatively better.
63. Doing something very difficult in order to prove
I can do it.
64. Getting what I believe is my due even if I have
to fight for it.
65. Keeping the rules and regulations of the
institution I am in, since that is the best road to
reaching my set goal.
66. Making sure to air my view on matters affecting
my well-being.
67. Having the wish to survive continually in one’s
own offspring.
68. Feeling uncomfortable at parties or festivities
organized and conducted by lay people, like
students, peers, age-grade members.
69. Handling problems of life as they arise.
70. Wishing to possess such things like a car, a
comfortable and well furnished home.
71. Avoiding particular friendships.
72. Developing my mind so that I am
knowledgeable and intellectually fortified to
compete with other people elsewhere.
73. Not following too closely the schedule for my
personal activities.

506
 APPENDIX A1
74. Finding nothing wrong in going to a fortune
teller or a dibia for advice on something
important.
75. Remembering that at home we have a hard time
meeting all our economic needs.
76. Finding being with non-seminary students
enriching and gratifying.
77. Being casual in taking points for meditation.
78. Being impressed by the physical attractiveness
of people.
79. Being strongly convinced that as a Christian,
your yes should yes and your no be no;
anything in-between comes from the devil.
80. Having influence over people and things.
81. Loosely following the schedule for common
activities.
82. Making visits to friends and relations.
83. Liking meetings, discussions, or readings about
the apostleship of prayer.
84. Attending initiation ceremonies into the
masquerade cult.
85. Being on your guard when you see a charm.
86. Reading stories about love.
87. Being concerned with making a place for
myself, getting ahead.
88. Going to where I feel like on free-days.
89. Studying hard in order to gain recognition.
90. Planning to ensure a relatively comfortable
living later.
91. Believing that it is the will of God at creation
that man be not alone.
92. Carrying a good luck charm.
93. Serving the community of which I am a part.
94. Being committed to studying something that
may never be put to practical use.
95. Working towards achieving immortality.
96. Wanting to be alone with my visitor.
97. Helping actively to eradicate or fight against
Igbo traditional religious beliefs.
98. Defending myself against criticism or blame.
99. Making efforts to overcome my irrational and
sensuous desires.
100. .Pointing out someone else’s mistakes when
they point out mine.
101. Not feeling very free at a marriage ceremony
of a relative or a friend.
102. Feeling not quite at ease when being ordered
around by someone younger than me but
ahead of you in the seminary.
103. Enjoying western ideas most.
104. Checking my words properly before uttering
them.
105. Feeling lonely especially during holidays.

507
 APPENDIX A1
106. Disregarding an authority’s directions when
they seem foolish.
107. Being concerned with doing God’s will.
108. Desiring to embrace a friend.
109. Proving that an instructor or superior is wrong.
110. Having persistent thoughts about someone and
feeling uncomfortable when the person is not
there.
111. Having a close friend who ignores or makes
fun of superstitious beliefs.
112. Doing something that might provoke criticism.
113. Preferring the company of men and boys.
114. Concealing my mistakes from others when-
ever possible.
115. Showing more interest in traditional cultural
heritage.
116. Talking when you feel like it.
117. Feeling set apart by God for a special mission.
118. Engaging in healing ministry
119. Feeling good having others attend to my needs
120. Wearing the cassock sometimes in order to
attract respect or some privilege

Please we need some information about yourself for the purposes of analysis and interpretation
of the findings.
The information given here will be treated very confidentially.

1. Your age………Years 2. Age at entering the seminary……..Years 3. Entered the

seminary direct from a. minor seminary b. secondary school c . high school
(T.T.C., College of education etc.) d. university e. others (Please indicate which
other(s)) ………………………………………………………………………….……………..
Please mark x in the box where applicable.
4. Your educational and/or professional qualification at entry into the institution ……………….
5. Your educational and/or professional qualification at present …………………………………
6. Your stage/year in the formation …………………………………………….…………………
7. Your present function in the seminary ………………………………………………………….
8. What position do you occupy in your family …………………………………..……………….
9. How many brothers/sisters before you and after you
a. Before: Brothers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10. Sisters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
b. After: Brothers: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Sisters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Please circle the number applicable
11. Your place of residence at the time of entry into the seminary
a. Village b. Township c. City
13. Your present place of residence a. Village b. Township c. City
14. In what kind of area did you grow up? a. urban b. rural

508
 APPENDIX A1
Please mark „x“ in the box where applicable.
15. Father’s occupation: 15. Mother’s occupation:
a. Type of work………………… (e.g., trader). a. Type of work……………………………..
b. Rank or title……………………. b. Rank or Title……………………………..
16. Father’s education: 17. Mother’s education:
a. Illiterate a. Illiterate
b. Primary school b. Primary school
c. Middle school (e.g. Commercial school) c. Middle school
d. Secondary school d. Secondary school
e. High school (Diploma) e. High school (Diploma)
f. Graduate or Professional f. Graduate or Professional
Please circle the letter applicable.
18. Father’s income per month 19. Mother’s income per month
a. below x 1000 a. below x 1000
b. above x 1000 b. above x 1000
c. above x 2000 c. above x 2000
d. above x 3000 d. above x 3000
e. above x 4000 e. above x 4000
f. above x 5500 f. above x 5500
g. no fixed income g. no fixed income
Please circle the letter applicable.
20. Father’s religion……………………………… 21. Mother’s religion……...…………..……
22. Is father a functionary in the church? 23. Is mother a functionary in the church?
……………………………………………… ……………………………………………...
(if Yes, indicate which)
24. Did father become a Christian as 25. Did mother become a Christian as
a. an adult b. a child a. an adult b. a child
Please circle the letter applicable.
26. Is father still alive? (if no, how long 27. Is mother still alive? (if no, how long
ago did he die)…………………………. ago did she die).…….……….……………...
28. Are there others in your family (extended family inclusive) who have chosen the
religious/priestly vocation? (If so, please specify the relationship to you) ………………...…
29. Which member of your family is most interested in your being in the seminary/house of
formation?……………………………………………………………………………………..
30. Which person/persons was/were influential in your decision to enter the seminary/house of
formation
a. Father……. b. Mother.…. .(enter „x“ if applicable) c. Others………………………...
(e.g. friend, brother, nobody, etc.)
31. How many really close friends did you have before entering the seminary/house of formation?
……………………….…………………………………………….. (enter simply the number)
32. How often have you been seeing them since you entered the seminary/house of formation?
a. very often b. often c. occasionally d. rarely
Please mark „x“ in the box where applicable
33. Did you find your relationship with people of your own age satisfactory?……………………..
34. You are a native of..……………………………………………………………………………..

509
 APPENDIX A1
35. If you would like to give me your name or initials so that I can contact you later if necessary
for more details, please do it here: …………..………………………………………………….
36. Any comment you wish to make will be very much appreciated. Please make use of the
attached blank sheet of paper.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.

510
 APPENDIX A2

FREQUENCY TABLE
Va Present behaviour Personal ideal Societal ideal Institutional ideal
Sc- - Frequ- Valid Frequ- Valid Frequ- Valid Frequ- Valid
ale Nr. Item lue ency % % ency % % ency % % ency % %
Limiting my pleasure so I can spend all of 0 53 12 12.1 37 8.4 8.4 163 37 37.2 48 10.9 11
4 1 my time usefully. 1 386 87.5 87.9 402 91.2 91.6 275 62.4 62.8 389 88.2 89
0 59 13.4 13.5 31 7 7 188 42.6 42.9 29 6.6 6.6
4 2 Applying myself conscientiously to studies. 1 379 85.9 86.5 409 92.7 93 250 56.7 57.1 409 92.7 93.4
0 257 58.3 61.2 184 41.7 46.9 316 71.7 73.5 222 50.3 52
3 4 Setting difficult goals for myself. 1 163 37 38.8 208 47.2 53.1 114 25.9 26.5 205 46.5 48
0 23 5.2 5.3 31 7 7.1 64 14.5 14.6 50 11.3 11.5
3 6 Striving to become somebody in the society. 1 412 93.4 94.7 407 92.3 92.9 373 84.6 85.4 386 87.5 88.5
0 175 39.7 40.6 99 22.4 22.8 145 32.9 33.3 170 38.5 39.2
9 8 Living comfortable. 1 256 58 59.4 335 76 77.2 290 65.8 66.7 264 59.9 60.8
0 197 44.7 47.6 208 47.2 47.6 118 26.8 27 293 66.4 67.8
Feeling comfortable at village traditional
5 9 festivities. 1 217 49.2 52.4 229 51.9 52.4 319 72.3 73 139 31.5 32.2
Setting higher standards for myself than 0 176 39.9 41.3 138 31.3 31.5 246 55.8 56.3 142 32.2 32.8
anyone else would and working hard to
3 10 achieve them. 1 250 56.7 58.7 300 68 68.5 191 43.3 43.7 291 66 67.2
Acquiescing to someone ahead of me in the 0 75 17 17.6 88 20 20.3 176 39.9 40.6 66 15 15.3
seminary as a sign that I can obey my
7 11 superior/ bishop later. 1 350 79.4 82.4 345 78.2 79.7 257 58.3 59.4 366 83 84.7
Avoiding close relationships with persons of 0 176 39.9 41.5 192 43.5 43.9 281 63.7 64.4 151 34.2 34.6
8 12 the opposite sex. 1 248 56.2 58.5 245 55.6 56.1 155 35.1 35.6 286 64.9 65.4
Paying no attention to omens, e.g,. a vulture
perching on one’s housetop, or the song of a
screech owl believed to announce an 0 137 31.1 34.2 203 46 46.3 279 63.3 64.6 253 57.4 58
impending death incidence, or the cry of an
5 13 owl in the night. 1 264 59.9 65.8 235 53.3 53.7 153 34.7 35.4 183 41.5 42
0 124 28.1 28.4 52 11.8 11.8 249 56.5 56.7 41 9.3 9.4
511

10 14 Giving exact time to spiritual duties. 1 313 71 71.6 387 87.8 88.2 190 43.1 43.3 397 90 90.6
 APPENDIX A2

512 Being in the seminary as it helps to become 0 189 42.9 45.1 203 46 46.6 208 47.2 48.3 192 43.5 44.4
15 somebody in the society. 1 230 52.2 54.9 233 52.8 53.4 223 50.6 51.7 240 54.4 55.6
0 24 5.4 5.5 43 9.8 9.8 138 31.3 31.7 33 7.5 7.6
7 16 Following directions. 1 411 93.2 94.5 394 89.3 90.2 297 67.3 68.3 403 91.4 92.4
Going along with a decision made by an 0 99 22.4 22.7 148 33.6 33.6 241 54.6 54.9 67 15.2 15.3
authority or a leader rather than starting an
7 17 argument. 1 338 76.6 77.3 292 66.2 66.4 198 44.9 45.1 371 84.1 84.7
Reading books that have little to do with 0 220 49.9 52.4 288 65.3 65.8 333 75.5 76.2 304 68.9 69.6
10 18 prayer and meditation. 1 200 45.4 47.6 150 34 34.2 104 23.6 23.8 133 30.2 30.4
Doing the best I can to make life better for 0 34 7.7 7.8 38 8.6 8.7 121 27.4 27.6 101 22.9 23.1
3 19 myself and those dear to me. 1 402 91.2 92.2 401 90.9 91.3 317 71.9 72.4 337 76.4 76.9
0 25 5.7 5.7 12 2.7 2.8 90 20.4 20.6 37 8.4 8.5
2 20 Having good relations with other people. 1 411 93.2 94.3 424 96.1 97.2 346 78.5 79.4 399 90.5 91.5
Doing something very serious with my
leisure time, like on walk days, instead of 0 190 43.1 44.1 183 41.5 41.8 340 77.1 77.8 225 51 51.5
2 21 going out to meet other people. 1 241 54.6 55.9 255 57.8 58.2 97 22 22.2 212 48.1 48.5
Thinking of how better your society could be 0 95 21.5 22.8 100 22.7 22.8 286 64.9 65.6 103 23.4 23.5
5 22 if everybody were to become Christians. 1 321 72.8 77.2 339 76.9 77.2 150 34 34.4 335 76 76.5
0 123 27.9 29.3 98 22.2 22.5 156 35.4 35.9 181 41 41.6
6 23 Having a nice room. 1 297 67.3 70.7 337 76.4 77.5 278 63 64.1 254 57.6 58.4
0 125 28.3 29.8 136 30.8 31.2 148 33.6 33.9 254 57.6 58.4
Thinking often of finding means to help my
2 25 people. 1 294 66.7 70.2 300 68 68.8 288 65.3 66.1 181 41 41.6
0 122 27.7 28.4 132 29.9 30.3 274 62.1 63.3 103 23.4 23.6
Feeling more accomplished when in the
2 26 seminary. 1 307 69.6 71.6 304 68.9 69.7 159 36.1 36.7 334 75.7 76.4
0 48 10.9 11.1 61 13.8 14.1 87 19.7 20.2 112 25.4 26
Avoiding things that might bring bad luck.
5 27 1 383 86.8 88.9 373 84.6 85.9 344 78 79.8 319 72.3 74
0 207 46.9 52.5 301 68.3 69.8 266 60.3 61.9 362 82.1 84
8 28 Listening to songs about love and friendship. 1 187 42.4 47.5 130 29.5 30.2 164 37.2 38.1 69 15.6 16
0 147 33.3 35.9 162 36.7 37.5 141 32 32.7 230 52.2 53.5
8 29 Being fashionably and correctly dressed. 1 262 59.4 64.1 270 61.2 62.5 290 65.8 67.3 200 45.4 46.5
 APPENDIX A2

Carrying out an instruction from someone

„higher in dignity“ without questioning. 0 136 30.8 31.6 208 47.2 47.7 243 55.1 56 104 23.6 24
7 30 1 295 66.9 68.4 228 51.7 52.3 191 43.3 44 329 74.6 76
0 111 25.2 26.1 126 28.6 28.9 99 22.4 22.9 91 20.6 21.1
3 31 Competing with others for a prize or a goal. 1 315 71.4 73.9 310 70.3 71.1 334 75.7 77.1 341 77.3 78.9
Considering the eradication of pagan signs
and symbols, like idols, charms, shrines, as a 0 121 27.4 29.3 146 33.1 33.8 309 70.1 71.7 136 30.8 31.6
5 32 very important pastoral goal. 1 292 66.2 70.7 286 64.9 66.2 122 27.7 28.3 295 66.9 68.4
0 382 86.6 96.2 418 94.8 95.2 359 81.4 82 420 95.2 95.7
8 35 Envying friends who get married. 1 15 3.4 3.8 21 4.8 4.8 79 17.9 18 19 4.3 4.3
Feeling bad after participating in a traditional 0 284 64.4 73.6 329 74.6 77 352 79.8 82.6 351 79.6 82
5 36 village festival 1 102 23.1 26.4 98 22.2 23 74 16.8 17.4 77 17.5 18
Having the feeling that being in the seminary
enhances the social status of my relatives. 0 281 63.7 67.9 324 73.5 74 193 43.8 44.4 333 75.5 76.2
2 38 1 133 30.2 32.1 114 25.9 26 242 54.9 55.6 104 23.6 23.8
Imagining that by not wanting to get married,
one is exempted from the responsibilities and 0 366 83 90.8 382 86.6 87.8 320 72.6 73.6 373 84.6 85.7
2 39 obligations towards the extended family. 1 37 8.4 9.2 53 12 12.2 115 26.1 26.4 62 14.1 14.3
Being opposed to traditional masquerading 0 242 54.9 59.2 255 57.8 59 339 76.9 78.5 264 59.9 61.4
5 41 for Christians . 1 167 37.9 40.8 177 40.1 41 93 21.1 21.5 166 37.6 38.6
0 73 16.6 17 70 15.9 16.1 263 59.6 61 92 20.9 21.2
9 43 Doing small self-imposed penances. 1 357 81 83 364 82.5 83.9 168 38.1 39 341 77.3 78.8
Questioning the decisions of people who are 0 278 63 67 294 66.7 67.9 285 64.6 66.3 326 73.9 75.3
7 44 supposed to be authorities. 1 137 31.1 33 139 31.5 32.1 145 32.9 33.7 107 24.3 24.7
0 234 53.1 59.2 257 58.3 62.5 302 68.5 73.8 246 55.8 60
Disliking the exclusive company of friends.
8 45 1 161 36.5 40.8 154 34.9 37.5 107 24.3 26.2 164 37.2 40
0 251 56.9 62.9 344 78 79.4 274 62.1 63 390 88.4 89.7
8 46 Seeing love stories in films. 1 148 33.6 37.1 89 20.2 20.6 161 36.5 37 45 10.2 10.3
0 91 20.6 20.9 66 15 15.1 262 59.4 60.1 57 12.9 13
Liking to spend time in private prayer.
10 48 1 344 78 79.1 372 84.4 84.9 174 39.5 39.9 380 86.2 87
513
 APPENDIX A2

514 Believing that some people possess the

powers to inflict others with some ailment in 0 205 46.5 49.8 290 65.8 66.8 143 32.4 33 349 79.1 80.6
order to make it impossible for the afflicted
5 49 to achieve a set goal. 1 207 46.9 50.2 144 32.7 33.2 290 65.8 67 84 19 19.4
Imagining that if I really wanted to get 0 336 76.2 85.7 384 87.1 88.3 274 62.1 63.1 407 92.3 93.8
married my parents would have been very
2 52 happy. 1 56 12.7 14.3 51 11.6 11.7 160 36.3 36.9 27 6.1 6.2
Believing that nothing evil happens without 0 268 60.8 64.6 309 70.1 71.4 117 26.5 27 331 75.1 76.6
either a supernatural being or somebody
5 54 being behind it 1 147 33.3 35.4 124 28.1 28.6 316 71.7 73 101 22.9 23.4
Enjoying the company of fellow seminarians 0 59 13.4 13.6 83 18.8 18.9 248 56.2 56.8 91 20.6 20.7
2 55 most. 1 375 85 86.4 356 80.7 81.1 189 42.9 43.2 348 78.9 79.3
Believing in the power of objects like
scapular, medals and the like to protect 0 103 23.4 24.6 147 33.3 33.9 175 39.7 40.4 168 38.1 38.8
5 57 oneself from evil forces or from accidents. 1 315 71.4 75.4 286 64.9 66.1 258 58.5 59.6 265 60.1 61.2
Taking someone to a native doctor rather 0 311 70.5 78.7 342 77.6 80.3 167 37.9 39.2 368 83.4 86.8
5 58 than leaving him/her to suffer. 1 84 19 21.3 84 19 19.7 259 58.7 60.8 56 12.7 13.2
Not occupying myself much with the issue of 0 281 63.7 66.6 141 32 33.4 307 69.6 70.9 268 60.8 61.9
8 59 celibacy. 1 141 32 33.4 162 36.7 37.4 126 28.6 29.1 165 37.4 38.1
Holding the opinion that persons older but 0 320 72.6 77.5 348 78.9 80.6 324 73.5 75 326 73.9 75.6
less educated than oneself should be more on
1 60 the listening side. 1 93 21.1 22.5 84 19 19.4 108 24.5 25 105 23.8 24.4
Helping to see that fellow seminarians abide
by the rules and regulations, even if this 0 175 39.7 41.7 148 33.6 34 252 57.1 57.9 60 13.6 13.8
means assisting the superiors to ensure that
6 61 they are kept. 1 245 55.6 58.3 287 65.1 66 183 41.5 42.1 376 85.3 86.2
Judging the time spent in the seminary to be 0 72 16.3 16.7 89 20.2 20.4 207 46.9 47.6 59 13.4 13.6
2 62 qualitatively better. 1 358 81.2 83.3 347 78.7 79.6 228 51.7 52.4 376 85.3 86.4
Doing something very difficult in order to 0 266 60.3 64.6 286 64.9 65.3 258 58.5 59.3 302 68.5 69.4
3 63 prove I can do it. 1 146 33.1 35.4 152 34.5 34.7 177 40.1 40.7 133 30.2 30.6
Making sure to air my view on matters 0 112 25.4 25.9 76 17.2 17.4 114 25.9 26.1 142 32.2 32.5
7 66 affecting my well-being. 1 320 72.6 74.1 361 81.9 82.6 322 73 73.9 295 66.9 67.5
Having the wish to survive continually in 0 251 56.9 70.3 296 67.1 73.8 154 34.9 38.3 316 71.7 79.2
8 67 one’s own offspring. 1 106 24 29.7 105 23.8 26.2 248 56.2 61.7 83 18.8 20.8
 APPENDIX A2

Feeling uncomfortable at parties or festivities

organized and conducted by lay people, like 0 248 56.2 59 297 67.3 69.1 324 73.5 75.3 308 69.8 73
2 68 students, peers, age-grade members. 1 172 39 41 133 30.2 30.9 106 24 24.7 114 25.9 27
Handling problems of life as they arise 0 22 5 5.1 19 4.3 4.4 73 16.6 16.8 44 10 10.1
4 69 1 413 93.7 94.9 417 94.6 95.6 361 81.9 83.2 390 88.4 89.9
Wishing to possess such things like a car, a
comfortable and well furnished home. 0 146 33.1 35.8 191 43.3 44.3 97 22 22.5 281 63.7 64.9
3 70 1 262 59.4 64.2 240 54.4 55.7 335 76 77.5 152 34.5 35.1
0 160 36.3 37.7 170 38.5 39.2 267 60.5 61.8 114 25.9 26.3
8 71 Avoiding particular friendships. 1 264 59.9 62.3 264 59.9 60.8 165 37.4 38.2 319 72.3 73.7
Developing my mind so that I am
knowledgeable and intellectually fortified to
compete with other people elsewhere. 0 37 8.4 8.6 41 9.3 9.4 105 23.8 24.1 42 9.5 9.7
3 72 1 395 89.6 91.4 395 89.6 90.6 331 75.1 75.9 393 89.1 90.3
Not following too closely the schedule for 0 209 47.4 48.8 309 70.1 70.7 344 78 79.1 317 71.9 73.7
6 73 my personal activities. 1 219 49.7 51.2 128 29 29.3 91 20.6 20.9 113 25.6 26.3
Finding nothing wrong in going to a fortune 0 389 88.2 96 410 93 93.6 258 58.5 59 408 92.5 93.6
teller or a dibia for advice on something
5 74 important. 1 16 3.6 4 28 6.3 3.6 179 40.6 41 28 6.3 6.4
Remembering that at home we have a hard 0 94 21.3 22.8 180 40.8 41.7 183 41.5 42.6 231 52.4 53.8
2 75 time meeting all our economic needs. 1 318 72.1 77.2 252 57.1 58.3 247 56 57.4 198 44.9 46.2
Finding being with non-seminary students 0 234 53.1 58.2 286 64.9 66.1 304 68.9 70.5 330 74.8 76.6
2 76 enriching and gratifying. 1 168 38.1 41.8 147 33.3 33.9 127 28.8 29.5 101 22.9 23.4
0 213 48.3 52.7 294 66.7 69.2 342 77.6 80.9 308 69.8 73
10 77 Being casual in taking points for meditation. 1 191 43.3 47.3 131 29.7 30.8 81 18.4 19.1 114 25.9 27
8 Being impressed by the physical 0 124 28.1 30 237 53.7 55.2 172 39 40.3 316 71.7 74.2
78 attractiveness of people. 1 289 65.5 70 192 43.5 44.8 255 57.8 59.7 110 24.9 25.8
Being strongly convinced that as a Christian,
your yes should yes and your no be no; 0 67 15.2 15.5 47 10.7 10.9 189 42.9 43.6 45 10.2 10.4
5 79 anything in-between comes from the devil. 1 364 82.5 84.5 386 87.5 89.1 244 55.3 56.4 388 88 89.6
Loosely following the schedule for common 0 349 79.1 81.5 369 83.7 84.6 340 77.1 78 363 82.3 83.3
activities.
515

6 81 1 79 17.9 18.5 67 15.2 15.4 96 21.8 22 73 16.6 16.7

 APPENDIX A2

516 0 55 12.5 12.9 81 18.4 18.5 68 15.4 15.6 151 34.2 34.6
2 82 Making visits to friends and relations. 1 372 84.4 87.1 357 81 81.5 369 83.7 84.4 285 64.6 65.4
Liking meetings, discussions, or readings 0 87 19.7 20.4 63 14.3 14.5 263 59.6 61.2 43 9.8 10
10 83 about the apostleship of prayer. 1 339 76.9 79.6 372 84.4 85.5 167 37.9 38.8 388 88 90
Attending initiation ceremonies into the 0 376 85.3 96.2 409 92.7 93.8 247 56 56.9 418 94.8 95.9
5 84 masquerade cult. 1 15 3.4 3.8 27 6.1 6.2 187 42.4 43.1 18 4.1 4.1
0 111 25.2 28.5 179 40.6 42.1 103 23.4 24.2 229 51.9 54.1
5 85 Being on your guard when you see a charm. 1 278 63 71.5 246 55.8 57.9 322 73 75.8 194 44 45.9
0 198 44.9 50.4 276 62.6 65.4 255 57.8 60.4 350 79.4 83.1
8 86 Reading stories about love. 1 195 44.2 49.6 146 33.1 34.6 167 37.9 39.6 71 16.1 16.9
Being concerned with making a place for 0 130 29.5 32.7 173 39.2 41.4 139 31.5 33.3 212 48.1 50.8
3 87 myself, getting ahead. 1 267 60.5 67.3 245 55.6 58.6 279 63.3 66.7 205 46.5 49.2
0 146 33.1 34.6 175 39.7 40.4 221 50.1 51.3 247 56 57.3
6 88 Going to where I feel like on free-days. 1 276 62.6 65.4 258 58.5 59.6 210 47.6 48.7 184 41.7 42.7
0 233 52.8 56.6 258 58.5 59.9 170 38.5 39.4 233 52.8 54.3
4 89 Studying hard in order to gain recognition. 1 179 40.6 43.4 173 39.2 40.1 261 59.2 60.6 196 44.4 45.7
Planning to ensure a relatively comfortable 0 107 24.3 25.5 121 27.4 27.9 84 19 19.4 174 39.5 40.3
9 90 living later. 1 312 70.7 74.5 312 70.7 72.1 349 79.1 80.6 258 58.5 59.7
0 375 85 95.2 412 93.4 95.2 289 65.5 66.9 408 92.5 94.7
5 92 Carrying a good luck charm. 1 19 4.3 4.8 21 4.8 4.8 143 32.4 33.1 23 5.2 5.3
Being committed to studying something that
0 300 68 74.8 354 80.3 81.8 388 88 89.8 331 75.1 76.8
may never be put to practical use.
4 94 1 101 22.9 25.2 79 17.9 18.2 44 10 10.2 100 22.7 23.2
Wanting to be alone with my visitor. 0 270 61.2 67.3 328 74.4 76.3 308 69.8 72.1 376 85.3 87.6
6 96 1 131 29.7 32.7 102 23.1 23.7 119 27 27.9 53 12 12.4
Helping actively to eradicate or fight against
0 288 65.3 71.1 314 71.2 73.2 360 81.6 84.1 290 65.8 67.8
Igbo traditional religious beliefs.
5 97 1 117 26.5 28.9 115 26.1 26.8 68 15.4 15.9 138 31.3 32.2
0 119 27 28.5 189 42.9 44 156 35.4 36.4 212 48.1 49.8
1 98 Defending myself against criticism or blame. 1 298 67.6 71.5 241 54.6 56 272 61.7 63.6 214 48.5 50.2
Making efforts to overcome my irrational 0 15 3.4 3.5 15 3.4 3.4 169 38.3 39.1 50 11.3 11.5
9 99 and sensuous desires. 1 418 94.8 96.5 421 95.5 96.6 263 59.6 60.9 386 87.5 88.5
Pointing out someone else’s mistakes when 0 276 62.6 67.5 347 78.7 81.3 242 54.9 56.7 345 78.2 81
1 100 they point out mine. 1 133 30.2 32.5 80 18.1 18.7 185 42 43.3 81 18.4 19
 APPENDIX A2

Not feeling very free at a marriage ceremony 0 317 71.9 81.3 359 81.4 84.9 371 84.1 87.7 377 85.5 89.1
8 101 of a relative or a friend. 1 73 16.6 18.7 64 14.5 15.1 52 11.8 12.3 46 10.4 10.9
0 308 69.8 75.5 349 79.1 81 306 69.4 71.2 330 74.8 76.7
3 103 Enjoying western ideas most. 1 100 22.7 24.5 82 18.6 19 124 28.1 28.8 100 22.7 23.3
0 66 15 15.2 35 7.9 8 151 34.2 34.7 45 10.2 10.3
Checking my words properly before uttering
104 them. 1 367 83.2 84.8 400 90.7 92 284 64.4 65.3 390 88.4 89.7
0 315 71.4 75.7 360 81.6 82.6 381 86.4 88 375 85 86.4
2 105 Feeling lonely especially during holidays. 1 101 22.9 24.3 76 17.2 17.4 52 11.8 12 59 13.4 13.6
Disregarding an authority’s directions when 0 251 56.9 61.2 259 58.7 60.2 265 60.1 61.6 338 76.6 78.6
7 106 they seem foolish. 1 159 36.1 38.8 171 38.8 39.8 165 37.4 38.4 92 20.9 21.4
0 24 5.4 5.6 13 2.9 3 135 30.6 31.4 25 5.7 5.8
10 107 Being concerned with doing God’s will. 1 408 92.5 94.4 418 94.8 97 295 66.9 68.6 407 92.3 94.2
0 236 53.5 59.6 300 68 70.1 234 53.1 54.9 363 82.3 85.2
8 108 Desiring to embrace a friend. 1 160 36.3 40.4 128 29 29.9 192 43.5 45.1 63 14.3 14.8
0 332 75.3 80.8 382 86.6 87.8 334 75.7 76.8 393 89.1 90.8
Proving that an instructor or superior is
7 109 wrong. 1 79 17.9 19.2 53 12 12.2 101 22.9 23.2 40 9.1 9.2
Having persistent thoughts about someone 0 304 68.9 76 373 84.6 85.9 328 74.4 76.1 399 90.5 92.4
and feeling uncomfortable when the person
8 110 is not there. 1 96 21.8 24 61 13.8 14.1 103 23.4 23.9 33 7.5 29.6
Having a close friend who ignores or makes 0 209 47.4 52.5 260 59 61 346 78.5 81.2 300 68 70.4
5 111 fun of superstitious beliefs. 1 189 42.9 47.5 166 37.6 39 80 18.1 18.8 126 28.6 29.6
Preferring the company of men and boys. 0 161 36.5 40.3 242 54.9 56.8 301 68.3 70.5 238 54 55.9
8 113 1 239 54.2 59.8 184 41.7 43.2 126 28.6 29.5 188 42.6 44.1
Concealing my mistakes from others 0 153 34.7 36.7 247 56 57.6 234 53.1 54.7 284 64.4 66.7
1 114 whenever possible. 1 264 59.9 63.3 182 41.3 42.4 194 44 45.3 142 32.2 33.3
0 241 54.6 59.7 261 59.2 60.7 148 33.6 34.6 298 67.6 69.5
Showing more interest in traditional cultural
5 115 heritage. 1 163 37 40.3 169 38.3 39.3 280 63.5 65.4 131 29.7 30.5
0 277 62.8 67.4 323 73.2 74.4 244 55.3 56.4 373 84.6 86.1
Talking when you feel like it.
6 116 1 134 30.4 32.6 111 25.2 25.6 189 42.9 43.6 60 13.6 13.9
517
 APPENDIX A2

518 0 52 11.8 12.2 50 11.3 11.5 196 44.4 45.3 83 18.8 19.1
Feeling set apart by God for a special
2 117 mission. 1 373 84.6 87.8 384 87.1 88.5 237 53.7 54.7 351 79.6 80.9
0 331 75.1 84.7 367 83.2 85 236 53.5 54.8 395 89.6 91.6
10 118 Engaging in healing ministry 1 60 13.6 15.3 65 14.7 15 195 44.2 45.2 36 8.2 8.4
Value 1“ corresponds to „true“ for PB and corresponds to „consistent“ for PI, II and SI. Value „0“ corresponds to „false“ for PB and
Corresponds to „inconsistent“ for PI, II and SI. The missing items were eliminated because they could not meet the analysis
requirements.
 APPENDIX A3
KENDALL’S TAU-B CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS
Comparison of the 2nd Year with the 8th Year Students of BMS, Enugu: A
Cross-Sectional Analysis
The PB-PI, PB-SI and PB-II of both classes: Year 2 and Year 8
Group 1 = Year 2: Group 2 = Year 8:
BMS BMS
Scale Categories Symbol N r Sig. N r Sig.
PB-PI 33 0.143 0.342 22 .595** 0
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority PB-SI 33 0 1 22 0.317 0.076
PB-II 33 -0.07 0.634 20 0.122 0.52
PB-PI 28 .484** 0 21 .637** 0
Sc 2 Family ties PB-SI 28 -0.05 0.73 21 .445* 0.01
PB-II 28 0.206 0.161 21 0.296 0.095
PB-PI 27 .501** 0 22 .507** 0
Sc 3 Success in Life PB-SI 29 0.014 0.923 21 0.022 0.899
PB-II 29 .386* 0.011 21 0.238 0.186
PB-PI 33 .432** 0.01 25 .392* 0.029
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility at PB-SI 33 -0.05 0.752 25 -0.04 0.836
studies/work PB-II 33 0.133 0.4 25 0.262 0.145
PB-PI 23 .586** 0 15 .445* 0.037
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief PB-SI 23 0 0.956 15 -0.208 0.324
PB-II 23 .435** 0.01 15 .522* 0.013
PB-PI 30 .389** 0.01 23 0.277 0.122
Sc 6 Observance of seminary rules and PB-SI 30 0.098 0.508 23 0.061 0.731
regulations PB-II 30 0.291 0.058 23 0.295 0.099
PB-PI 32 .569** 0 23 .573** 0
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy PB-SI 32 -0.126 0.369 23 0.178 0.292
PB-II 32 0.156 0.284 22 .518** 0
PB-PI 25 .506** 0 15 .773** 0
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy PB-SI 25 0.069 0.65 15 0.112 0.578
PB-II 25 0.042 0.789 14 .599** 0.01
PB-PI 35 .426** 0.01 26 .670** 0
Sc 9 Mortification PB-SI 35 0.122 0.411 26 0.183 0.296
PB-II 35 0.146 0.337 26 0.155 0.39
PB-PI 29 .435** 0.01 22 0.311 0.098
Sc 10 Piety PB-SI 28 -0.277 0.067 22 -0.104 0.559
PB-II 28 0.074 0.649 23 0.134 0.466
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed).

The PI-II and PI-SI of both classes: Year 2 and Year 8

Group 1 = Year 2: BMS Group 2 = Year 8:
Scale Categories Symbol BMS
N r Sig. N r Sig.
PI-II 37 .363* 0.01 24 0.307 0.075
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority PI-SI 37 0.251 0.072 26 .468** 0
PI-II 37 .297* 0.023 27 0.143 0.363
Sc 2 Family ties PI-SI 37 -0.07 0.567 27 .325* 0.034

519
 APPENDIX A3
PI-II 31 .363* 0.012 25 .413* 0.012
Sc 3 Success in Life PI-SI 31 -0.05 0.699 25 0.083 0.606
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility at PI-II 37 0.21 0.166 26 0.258 0.146
studies/work PI-SI 37 0.017 0.91 26 -0.02 0.892
PI-II 34 .540** 0 25 .489** 0
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief PI-SI 34 -0.1 0.449 25 -0.01 0.942
Sc 6 Observance of seminary rules PI-II 37 .459** 0 28 .514** 0
and regulations PI-SI 37 0.167 0.212 28 0.272 0.09
PI-II 36 0.041 0.768 27 .318* 0.049
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy PI-SI 36 -0.117 0.378 28 0.262 0.089
PI-II 32 0.062 0.651 20 .541** 0
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy PI-SI 32 0.223 0.096 21 0.098 0.558
PI-II 36 .334* 0.032 27 0.346 0.052
Sc 9 Mortification PI-SI 37 0.2 0.182 27 0.219 0.207
PI-II 36 .431** 0 28 .475** 0.01
Sc 10 Piety PI-SI 36 -0.05 0.697 28 0.083 0.603
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed).

The SI-II of both classes: Year 2 and Year 8

Symbol Group 1 = Year 2: BMS Group 2 = Year 8: BMS
Scale Categories N r Sig. N r Sig.
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority SI-II 37 .333* 0.016 24 .644** 0
Sc 2 Family ties SI-II 37 0.138 0.285 27 0.059 0.697
Sc 3 Success in Life SI-II 34 0.157 0.253 26 0.26 0.099
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility
at studies/work SI-II 37 .339* 0.027 26 .561** 0
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief SI-II 33 -0.032 0.812 25 0.019 0.902
Sc 6 Observance of seminary
rules and regulations SI-II 37 0.225 0.106 28 0.251 0.117
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy SI-II 36 0.122 0.373 27 .321* 0.045
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy SI-II 32 0.166 0.224 20 0.147 0.403
Sc 9 Mortification SI-II 36 0.241 0.105 27 0.329 0.056
Sc 10 Piety SI-II 36 0.145 0.303 28 0.286 0.08
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed).

520
 APPENDIX A3
Comparison of the 2nd Year with the 8th Year Students of SWS, Owerri: A Cross-
Sectional Analysis
The PB-PI, PB-SI and PB-II of both classes: Year 2 and Year 8
Group 1 = Year 2: SWS Group 2 = Year 8: SWS
Scale Categories Symbol N r Sig. N r Sig.
PB-PI 30 .571** 0 23 .531** 0
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority PB-SI 30 .303* 0.049 23 0 1
PB-II 30 .570** 0 23 0.074 0.673
PB-PI 25 0.01 0.961 19 .498** 0.01
Sc 2 Family ties PB-SI 25 .357* 0.028 19 0.352 0.059
PB-II 24 0.172 0.29 19 .427* 0.025
PB-PI 23 .566** 0 19 .852** 0
Sc 3 Success in Life PB-SI 24 0.052 0.755 20 0.332 0.06
PB-II 24 0.211 0.203 18 .524** 0.01
PB-PI 30 -0.03 0.864 25 .639** 0
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility at PB-SI 30 -0.109 0.499 25 0.173 0.347
studies/work PB-II 30 -0.08 0.609 25 .458* 0.013
PB-PI 21 .430* 0.014 19 0.33 0.079
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief PB-SI 21 0.279 0.109 19 .402* 0.032
PB-II 21 .439* 0.013 19 -0.11 0.555
PB-PI 29 .302* 0.049 23 .421* 0.016
Sc 6 Observance of seminary rules PB-SI 29 0.25 0.105 23 0.11 0.538
and regulations PB-II 29 .358* 0.02 23 0.076 0.666
PB-PI 28 .314* 0.044 22 .499** 0
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy PB-SI 28 0.301 0.052 22 0.137 0.425
PB-II 28 0.239 0.14 23 0.218 0.203
PB-PI 24 .484** 0 15 .621** 0
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy PB-SI 24 .530** 0 14 0.288 0.187
PB-II 23 0.304 0.065 15 0.298 0.15
PB-PI 28 .347* 0.045 23 .437* 0.024
Sc 9 Mortification PB-SI 28 0.084 0.622 23 0.199 0.28
PB-II 28 -0.03 0.881 23 -0.05 0.803
PB-PI 28 0.3 0.054 20 0.034 0.859
Sc 10 Piety PB-SI 28 .306* 0.046 20 0.282 0.141
PB-II 28 .372* 0.021 20 .446* 0.02
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed).

The PI-II and PI-SI of both classes: Year 2 and Year 8

Group 1 = Year 2: Group 2 = Year 8:
Scale Categories Symbol SWS SWS
N r Sig. N r Sig.
PI-II 31 .654** 0 26 .380* 0.021
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority PI-SI 31 .313* 0.04 26 0.115 0.485
PI-II 29 .464** 0 26 .573** 0
Sc 2 Family ties PI-SI 30 -0.1 0.502 26 .470** 0

Sc 3 Success in Life PI-II 25 .365* 0.025 22 .665** 0

PI-SI 25 0.163 0.313 24 .522** 0

521
 APPENDIX A3
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility at PI-II 31 0.096 0.553 27 .388* 0.029
studies/work PI-SI 31 0.211 0.192 27 0.196 0.268
PI-II 28 .419** 0.01 27 0.289 0.059
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief PI-SI 28 0.033 0.822 27 0.207 0.164
Sc 6 Observance of seminary rules PI-II 31 0.334 0.026 27 .448** 0.01
and regulations PI-SI 31 0.256 0.087 27 0.24 0.143
PI-II 30 .311* 0.04 25 0.174 0.292
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy PI-SI 30 0.081 0.578 25 0.16 0.318
PI-II 27 .637** 0 21 .342* 0.046
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy PI-SI 28 .411** 0 20 0.209 0.231
PI-II 31 0.149 0.379 25 0.131 0.468
Sc 9 Mortification PI-SI 31 -0.178 0.277 25 .424* 0.017
PI-II 31 .363* 0.017 27 0.189 0.257
Sc 10 Piety PI-SI 31 .303* 0.038 27 -0.04 0.829
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed).

The SI-II of both classes: Year 2 and Year 8

Symbol Group 1 = Year 2: SWS Group 2 = Year 8: SWS
Scale Categories N r Sig. N r Sig.
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority SI-II 31 .366* 0 26 .479** 0
Sc 2 Family ties SI-II 29 0.065 0.66 26 .408* 0
Sc 3 Success in Life SI-II 27 .480** 0 23 .555** 0
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility
at studies/work SI-II 31 .360* 0 27 .379* 0
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief SI-II 28 0.151 0.31 27 0.029 0.85
Sc 6 Observance of seminary
rules and regulations SI-II 31 .326* 0 27 .394* 0
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy SI-II 30 -0.129 0.39 25 .453** 0
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy SI-II 27 .409** 0 20 0.224 0.2
Sc 9 Mortification SI-II 31 0.246 0.14 25 0.225 0.19
Sc 10 Piety SI-II 31 .345* 0 27 0.041 0.81
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed).

522
 APPENDIX A3
Comparison of the 2nd Year with the 8th Year Students of BMS, Enugu and SWS, Owerri:
A Cross-Sectional Analysis
Symbol Institut Group 1 = Years 2 Group 2 = Year 8
Scale Categories ion
N r Sig. N r Sig.
BMS 33 0.143 0.34 22 .595** 0
PB-PI SWS 30 .571** 0 23 .531** 0
BMS 33 0 1 22 0.317 0.1
PB-SI SWS 30 .303* 0 23 0 1
BMS 33 -0.07 0.63 20 0.122 0.52
Sc 1 Respect for elders / Authority PB-II SWS 30 .570** 0 23 0.074 0.67
BMS 37 0.251 0.1 26 .468** 0
PI-SI SWS 31 .313* 0 26 0.115 0.49
BMS 37 .363* 0 24 0.307 0.1
PI-II SWS 31 .654** 0 26 .380* 0
BMS 37 .333* 0 24 .644** 0
SI-II SWS 31 .366* 0 26 .479** 0
BMS 28 .484** 0 21 .637** 0
PB-PI SWS 25 0.01 0.96 19 .498** 0
BMS 28 -0.05 0.73 21 .445* 0
PB-SI SWS 25 .357* 0 19 0.352 0.1
BMS 28 0.206 0.16 21 0.296 0.1
Sc 2 Family ties PB-II SWS 24 0.172 0.29 19 .427* 0
BMS 37 -0.07 0.57 27 .325* 0
PI-SI SWS 30 -0.1 0.5 26 .470** 0
BMS 37 .297* 0 27 0.143 0.36
PI-II SWS 29 .464** 0 26 .573** 0
BMS 37 0.138 0.29 27 0.059 0.7
SI-II SWS 29 0.065 0.66 26 .408* 0
BMS 27 .501** 0 22 .507** 0
PB-PI SWS 23 .566** 0 19 .852** 0
BMS 29 0.014 0.92 21 0.022 0.9
PB-SI SWS 24 0.052 0.76 20 0.332 0.1
BMS 29 .386* 0 21 0.238 0.19
Sc 3 Success in Life PB-II SWS 24 0.211 0.2 18 .524** 0
BMS 31 -0.05 0.7 25 0.083 0.61
PI-SI SWS 25 0.163 0.31 24 .522** 0
BMS 31 .363* 0 25 .413* 0
PI-II SWS 25 .365* 0 22 .665** 0
BMS 34 0.157 0.25 26 0.26 0.1
SI-II SWS 27 .480** 0 23 .555** 0
BMS 33 .432** 0 25 .392* 0
PB-PI SWS 30 -0.03 0.86 25 .639** 0
BMS 33 -0.05 0.75 25 -0.04 0.84
PB-SI SWS 30 -0.109 0.5 25 0.173 0.35
BMS 33 0.133 0.4 25 0.262 0.15
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility at PB-II SWS 30 -0.08 0.61 25 .458* 0
studies/work
BMS 37 0.017 0.91 26 -0.02 0.89
SWS
PI-SI 31 0.211 0.19 27 0.196 0.27

523
 APPENDIX A3
BMS 37 0.21 0.17 26 0.258 0.15
PI-II SWS 31 0.096 0.55 27 .388* 0
BMS 37 .339* 0 26 .561** 0
SI-II SWS 31 .360* 0 27 .379* 0
BMS 23 .586** 0 15 .445* 0
PB-PI SWS 21 .430* 0 19 0.33 0.1
BMS 23 0 0.96 15 -0.208 0.32
PB-SI SWS 21 0.279 0.11 19 .402* 0
BMS 23 .435** 0 15 .522* 0
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief PB-II SWS 21 .439* 0 19 -0.11 0.56
BMS 34 -0.1 0.45 25 -0.01 0.94
PI-SI SWS 28 0.033 0.82 27 0.207 0.16
BMS 34 .540** 0 25 .489** 0
PI-II SWS 28 .419** 0 27 0.289 0.1
BMS 33 -0.03 0.81 25 0.019 0.9
SI-II SWS 28 0.151 0.31 27 0.029 0.85
BMS 30 .389** 0 23 0.277 0.12
PB-PI SWS 29 .302* 0 23 .421* 0
BMS 30 0.098 0.51 23 0.061 0.73
PB-SI SWS 29 0.25 0.11 23 0.11 0.54
BMS 30 0.291 0.1 23 0.295 0.1
Sc 6 Observance of seminary rules PB-II SWS 29 .358* 0 23 0.076 0.67
and regulations
BMS 37 0.167 0.21 28 0.272 0.1
PI-SI SWS 31 0.256 0.1 27 0.24 0.14
BMS 37 .459** 0 28 .514** 0
PI-II SWS 31 .334* 0 27 .448** 0
BMS 37 0.225 0.11 28 0.251 0.12
SI-II SWS 31 .326* 0 27 .394* 0
BMS 32 .569** 0 23 .573** 0
PB-PI SWS 28 .314* 0 22 .499** 0
BMS 32 -0.126 0.37 23 0.178 0.29
PB-SI SWS 28 0.301 0.1 22 0.137 0.43
BMS 32 0.156 0.28 22 .518** 0
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy PB-II SWS 28 0.239 0.14 23 0.218 0.2
BMS 36 -0.117 0.38 28 0.262 0.1
PI-SI SWS 30 0.081 0.58 25 0.16 0.32
BMS 36 0.041 0.77 27 .318* 0
PI-II SWS 30 .311* 0 25 0.174 0.29
BMS 36 0.122 0.37 27 .321* 0
SI-II SWS 30 -0.129 0.39 25 .453** 0
BMS 25 .506** 0 15 .773** 0
PB-PI SWS 24 .484** 0 15 .621** 0
BMS 25 0.069 0.65 15 0.112 0.58
PB-SI SWS 24 .530** 0 14 0.288 0.19
BMS 25 0.042 0.79 14 .599** 0
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy PB-II SWS 23 0.304 0.1 15 0.298 0.15
BMS 32 0.223 0.1 21 0.098 0.56
PI-SI SWS 28 .411** 0 20 0.209 0.23
BMS 32 0.062 0.65 20 .541** 0
PI-II SWS 27 .637** 0 21 .342* 0

524
 APPENDIX A3
BMS 32 0.166 0.22 20 0.147 0.4
SI-II SWS 27 .409** 0 20 0.224 0.2
BMS 35 .426** 0 26 .670** 0
PB-PI SWS 28 .347* 0 23 .437* 0
BMS 35 0.122 0.41 26 0.183 0.3
PB-SI SWS 28 0.084 0.62 23 0.199 0.28
BMS 35 0.146 0.34 26 0.155 0.39
PB-II SWS 28 -0.03 0.88 23 -0.05 0.8
BMS 37 0.2 0.18 27 0.219 0.21
Sc 9 Mortification
PI-SI SWS 31 -0.178 0.28 25 .424* 0
BMS 36 .334* 0 27 0.346 0.1
PI-II SWS 31 0.149 0.38 25 0.131 0.47
BMS 36 0.241 0.11 27 0.329 0.1
SI-II SWS 31 0.246 0.14 25 0.225 0.19
BMS 29 .435** 0 22 0.311 0.1
PB-PI SWS 28 0.3 0.1 20 0.034 0.86
BMS 28 -0.277 0.1 22 -0.104 0.56
PB-SI SWS 28 .306* 0 20 0.282 0.14
BMS 28 0.074 0.65 23 0.134 0.47
PB-II SWS 28 .372* 0 20 .446* 0
BMS 36 -0.05 0.7 28 0.083 0.6
Sc 10 Piety
PI-SI SWS 31 .303* 0 27 -0.04 0.83
BMS 36 .431** 0 28 .475** 0
PI-II SWS 31 .363* 0 27 0.189 0.26
BMS 36 0.145 0.3 28 0.286 0.1
SI-II SWS 31 .345* 0 27 0.041 0.81
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 level (2-tailed). **. Correlation is significant at the .01 level
(2-tailed).

Comparison of 2nd to 8th Year Students of BMS, Enugu and 2nd to 8th Year Students of
SWS, Owerri: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
School 1 = BMS School 2 = SWS
Scale Categories Symbol N r Sig. N r Sig.
PB-PI 160 .583** 0 192 .438** 0
PB-SI 160 .198** 0 190 .238** 0
PB-II 157 .255** 0 189 .295** 0
Sc 1 Respect for elders/Authority PI-SI 179 .328** 0 207 .280** 0
PI-II 176 .426** 0 206 .552** 0
SI-II 176 .502** 0 206 .438** 0
PB-PI 136 .454** 0 162 .334** 0
PB-SI 135 0.077 0.24 159 .222** 0
PB-II 132 .220** 0 159 .259** 0
Sc 2 Family ties PI-SI 172 0.096 0.1 202 .148** 0
PI-II 169 .230** 0 200 .332** 0
SI-II 170 0.078 0.18 198 .219** 0
PB-PI 127 .516** 0 156 .617** 0
PB-SI 136 .224** 0 162 .179** 0
PB-II 134 .359** 0 159 .346** 0
Sc 3 Success in Life PI-SI 152 .151* 0 185 .276** 0

525
 APPENDIX A3
PI-II 150 .413** 0 181 .505** 0

SI-II 168 .400** 0 192 .456** 0

PB-PI 167 .424** 0 195 .358** 0
PB-SI 166 0.114 0.1 194 .176** 0
PB-II 166 .298** 0 192 .284** 0
Sc 4 Diligence and responsibility PI-SI 183 .131* 0 212 .273** 0
at studies/work PI-II 183 .386** 0 210 .510** 0
SI-II 183 .286** 0 209 .357** 0
PB-PI 112 .485** 0 127 .405** 0
PB-SI 112 0.018 0.8 126 0.113 0.1
PB-II 111 .404** 0 126 .180** 0
Sc 5 Traditional religious belief PI-SI 160 0 0.88 189 .132* 0
PI-II 160 .529** 0 188 .416** 0
SI-II 158 0.016 0.79 187 0.05 0.36
PB-PI 150 .424** 0 173 .333** 0
PB-SI 147 .217** 0 173 .226** 0
PB-II 149 .301** 0 172 .215** 0
Sc 6 Observance of seminary rules PI-SI 175 .254** 0 208 .221** 0
and regulations PI-II 177 .461** 0 206 .452** 0
SI-II 175 .223** 0 206 .297** 0
PB-PI 155 .524** 0 182 .454** 0
PB-SI 154 .200** 0 179 .249** 0
PB-II 153 .336** 0 180 .338** 0
Sc 7 Obedience/Hierarchy PI-SI 177 .267** 0 205 .269** 0
PI-II 176 .173** 0 205 .354** 0
SI-II 175 .170** 0 205 .262** 0
Sc 8 Chastity/Celibacy PB-PI 105 .602** 0 128 .532** 0
PB-SI 103 0.063 0.39 127 .284** 0
PB-II 100 .186* 0 126 .195** 0
PI-SI 148 .254** 0 170 .304** 0
PI-II 145 .308** 0 170 .420** 0
SI-II 146 .139* 0 168 .273** 0
Sc 9 Mortification PB-PI 170 .570** 0 200 .417** 0
PB-SI 170 .190** 0 196 .169** 0
PB-II 171 .318** 0 199 .225** 0
PI-SI 179 .217** 0 211 0.115 0.1
PI-II 178 .394** 0 214 .305** 0
SI-II 179 .313** 0 210 .234** 0
Sc 10 Piety PB-PI 147 .336** 0 178 .298** 0
PB-SI 146 0.123 0.1 177 .171** 0
PB-II 146 .155** 0 176 .264** 0
PI-SI 176 .193** 0 208 .131* 0
PI-II 175 .409** 0 207 .462** 0
SI-II 175 .196** 0 207 .262** 0
*. Correlation is significant at the .05 Level (2-tailed) **. Correlation is significant at the
.01 level (2-tailed)

526
 APPENDIX A4
DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
Variable Value label Value Frequ- % Valid
ency %
Age at entrance 16 years old 16 1 .2 .2
17 years old 17 7 1.6 1.6
18 years old 18 22 5.0 5.1
19 years old 19 63 14.3 14.5
20 years old 20 109 24.7 25.2
21 years old 21 70 15.9 16.2
22 years old 22 43 9.8 9.9
23 years old 23 33 7.5 7.6
24 years old 24 27 6.1 6.2
25 years old 25 22 5.0 5.1
26 years old 26 9 2.0 2.1
27 years old 27 5 1.1 1.2
28 years old 28 6 1.4 1.4
29 years old 29 6 1.4 1.4
30 years old 30 2 .5 .5
31 years old 31 2 .5 .5
32 years old 32 3 .7 .7
34 years old 34 1 .2 .2
35 years old 35 1 .2 .2
40 years old 40 1 .2 .2
Stage in formation 1st Year Philosophy 1 27 6.1 6.2
2nd Year Philosophy 2 68 15.4 15.6
3rd Year Philosophy 3 62 14.1 14.2
4th Year Philosophy 4 52 11.8 11.9
1st Year Theology 5 68 15.4 15.6
2nd Year Theology 6 60 13.6 13.7
3rd Year Theology 7 44 10.0 10.1
4th Year Theology 8 56 12.7 12.8
Pre-seminary Minor seminary 1 295 66.9 67.8
education Secondary school 2 118 26.8 27.1
High school 3 7 1.6 1.6
University 4 8 1.8 1.8
Others 5 7 1.6 1.6
Academic WASC/GCE O’ Level 2 409 92.7 96.5
qualification at GCE A’ Level 3 2 .5 .5
entry High School Diploma 4 9 2.0 2.1
Bachelors Degree 5 4 .9 .9
Present academic GCE A’ Level 2 5 1.1 1.2
qualification Undergraduate 3 201 45.6 47.4
B.Phil. / B.A. / B.Sc. 4 218 49.4 51.4
Area of origin Awka-Orlu area 1 150 34.0 37.9
Enugu-Nsukka area 2 106 24.0 26.8
Onitsha area 3 1 .2 .3
Owerri-Aba area 4 90 20.4 22.7
5 49 11.1 12.4
Okigwe-Umuahia area

527
 APPENDIX A4
Area grown up in Urban area 1 163 37.0 38.9
Rural area 2 256 58.0 61.1
Residence at entry Village 1 251 56.9 58.8
into seminary Township 2 134 30.4 31.4
City 3 42 9.5 9.8
Present place of Village 1 239 54.2 57.0
residence Township 2 134 30.4 32.0
City 3 46 10.4 11.0
Position in the eldest 1 72 16.3 16.7
family second eldest 2 68 15.4 15.7
third eldest 3 67 15.2 15.5
fourth eldest 4 59 13.4 13.7
fifth eldest 5 57 12.9 13.2
sixth youngest 6 44 10.0 10.2
seventh youngest 7 34 7.7 7.9
eight youngest 8 20 4.5 4.6
ninth youngest 9 6 1.4 1.4
tenth youngest 10 4 .9 .9
last child 13 1 .2 .2
Sisters before no sister 0 158 35.8 37.0
oneself one sister 1 113 25.6 26.5
two sisters 2 72 16.3 16.9
three sisters 3 46 10.4 10.8
four sisters 4 26 5.9 6.1
five sisters 5 10 2.3 2.3
six sisters 6 2 .5 .5
Sisters after oneself no sister 0 127 28.8 29.7
one sister 1 103 23.4 24.1
two sisters 2 84 19.0 19.7
three sisters 3 56 12.7 13.1
four sisters 4 38 8.6 8.9
five sisters 5 11 2.5 2.6
six sisters 6 7 1.6 1.6
nine sisters 9 1 .2 .2
Brothers before no brother 0 110 24.9 25.7
oneself one brother 1 107 24.3 25.0
two brothers 2 96 21.8 22.4
three brothers 3 66 15.0 15.4
four brothers 4 33 7.5 7.7
five brothers 5 12 2.7 2.8
six brothers 6 4 .9 .9
Brothers after no brother 0 126 28.6 29.4
oneself one brother 1 106 24.0 24.8
two brothers 2 81 18.4 18.9
three brothers 3 61 13.8 14.3
four brothers 4 33 7.5 7.7
five brothers 5 14 3.2 3.3
six brothers 6 4 .9 .9
seven brothers 7 2 .5 .5
nine brothers 9 1 .2 .2

528
 APPENDIX A4
Father still alive alive 1 302 68.5 70.7
dead 2 125 28.3 29.3
Mother still alive alive 1 389 88.2 92.4
dead 2 32 7.3 7.6
Father baptized as an adult 1 94 21.3 24.1
a child 2 296 67.1 75.9
Mother baptized as an adult 1 79 17.9 18.9
a child 2 338 76.6 81.1
Father’s religion Christian (Catholic) 1 391 88.7 93.3
African Traditional 4 28 6.3 6.7
Mother’s religion Christian (Catholic) 1 416 94.3 97.9
Christian (Protestant) 2 1 .2 .2
African Traditional 4 8 1.8 1.9
Father is a Yes 1 211 47.8 57.7
church funtionary? No 2 155 35.1 42.3
Mother is a Yes 1 211 47.8 54.7
church funtionary? No 2 175 39.7 45.3
Father’s education illiterate 1 59 13.4 14.9
Primary school 2 143 32.4 36.2
Middle school (eg. Commercial 3 9 2.0 2.3
school)
Secondary school 4 44 10.0 11.1
High school (diploma) 5 78 17.7 19.7
Graduate or professional 6 62 14.1 15.7
Mother’s education illiterate 1 108 24.5 26.8
Primary school 2 138 31.3 34.2
Middle school (eg. Commercial 3 29 6.6 7.2
school)
Secondary school 4 42 9.5 10.4
High school (diploma) 5 55 12.5 13.6
Graduate or professional 6 31 7.0 7.7
Father’s occupation teacher 2 88 20.0 21.9
Medical practitioner 3 6 1.4 1.5
Automobile Driver 5 6 1.4 1.5
Trader 6 73 16.6 18.2
Farmer 7 82 18.6 20.4
Business (e.g. contractor, etc.) 8 25 5.7 6.2
Civil servant 9 77 17.5 19.2
Handicraft worker 10 29 6.6 7.2
Engineer 11 6 1.4 1.5
Accountant 12 2 .5 .5
Gateman 13 4 .9 1.0
Herbalist 14 3 .7 .7
Mother’s Lecturer 1 2 .5 .5
occupation Teacher 2 65 14.7 16.3
Medical practitioner 3 2 .5 .5
Nurse 4 8 1.8 2.0
Housewife 5 31 7.0 7.8
Trader 6 191 43.3 47.8
Farmer 7 55 12.5 13.8

529
 APPENDIX A4
Business (contractor, etc.) 8 22 5.7 6.3
Civil servant 9 18 4.1 4.5
Secretary 11 1 .2 .3
Father’s income below x 1000 1 36 8.2 11.5
above x 1000 2 34 7.7 10.9
above x 2000 3 25 5.7 8.0
above x 3000 4 17 3.9 5.4
above x 4000 5 9 2.0 2.9
above x 5500 6 11 2.5 2.9
no fixed income 7 180 40.8 57.7
Mother’s income below x 1000 1 42 9.5 13.2
above x 1000 2 36 8.2 11.3
above x 2000 3 27 6.1 8.5
above x 3000 4 11 2.5 3.4
above x 4000 5 6 1.4 1.9
above x 5500 6 3 .7 .9
no fixed income 7 194 44.0 60.8
Religious vocation Brother(s) 1 14 3.2 3.4
in the family Sister(s) 2 12 2.7 2.9
Uncle 3 20 4.5 4.9
Aunt 4 6 1.4 1.5
Cousin(s) 5 55 12.5 13.5
Nephew 6 3 .7 .7
Niece 7 2 .5 .5
Yes = somebody (unidentified) 8 34 7.7 8.4
Nobody 9 261 59.2 64.1
Family member Both parents 1 34 7.7 8.6
most interested in Father / Stepfather 2 51 11.6 12.9
your vocation Mother / Stepmother 3 99 22.4 25.0
Brother 4 28 6.3 7.1
Sister 5 26 5.9 6.6
Grandfather 6 2 .5 .5
Grandmother 7 3 .7 .8
All nuclear family members 10 109 24.7 27.5
Nobody specially 14 24 5.4 6.1
Influential family Both parents 1 34 7.7 8.3
member in the Father 2 40 9.1 9.7
decision to enter the Mother 3 39 8.8 9.5
seminary Others (e.g. Siblings) 4 106 24.0 25.7
Nobody 5 193 43.8 46.8
Number of really One close friend 1 39 8.8 9.9
close friends One to two close friends 2 92 20.9 23.3
Three to four close friends 3 123 27.9 31.1
Five to six close friends 4 48 10.9 12.2
Seven to eight close friends 5 11 2.5 2.8
Nine close friends and above 6 45 10.2 11.4
No really close friends 7 37 8.4 9.4
Frequency of Very often 1 33 7.5 9.2
meeting with the Often 2 41 9.3 11.5
close friends Occasionally 3 206 46.7 57.5

530
 APPENDIX A4
Rarely 4 78 17.7 21.8
Quality of Satisfactory 1 360 81.6 87.2
relationship with Mid-way 2 20 4.5 4.8
peers Not satisfactory 3 33 7.5 8.0

531
 APPENDIX B1
The Courses offered at the Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu and Ikot Ekpene within the
periods between 1979 and 1985
Philosophy Theology
1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year
Fundam. Fundam. Biblical Biblical
Scripture Scripture Scripture Scripture Scripture Exegesis Exegesis
Intro. to Natural Political Fundam. Dogmatic Dogmatic Dogmatic
Philos. Philoso. Philos. Theology Theology Theology Theol.
Natural Natural Natural Ecclesio- Sacramen. Sacramen
Theology Theology Theology logy Theology . Theol.
Hist. of History of History of Hist. of Fundam. Moral Moral Moral
Philoso. Philoso. Philos. Philos. Moral Theology Theology Theol.
Fund.Can Canon Canon Pastoral
Psychol. Psychol. Psychol. on Law Law Law Theol.
Church Church Church
History Seminar Seminar Seminar History History
Funda.
Sociol. Sociology Sociology Liturgy Liturgy Liturgy Liturgy
Logic Logic Patrology Patrology
Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual Spiritual
Theol. Theol. Theol. Theol. Theol. Theol. Theol. Theol.
African African
Cateche- Culture & Culture & Fund. Cateche- Cateche- Cateche-
tics Thought Thought Catech. tics tics tics
Phil. Phil. Phil.
Anth- Anth- Anth- Social Social Biblical Biblical
ropology ropology ropology Anthrop. Anthrop. Theology Theology
Methodo- Scient. Scient. Business
logy Methodol. Methodol. Admin.
Exercita-
Meta- Meta- Meta- African African tio Homile-
physics physics physics Trad. Rel. Trad. Rel. practica tics
Accoun-
Gnoseol. Gnoseol. Gnoseol. Islam Islam tancy
Igbo* Ethics Ethics Ethics Hebrew Hebrew
Efik* Greek Greek Greek
Latin Latin Latin Latin
English English English English
German* German German
* These courses were on the curriculum but they were not taught

532
 APPENDIX B2
The Courses offered at the Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu,
1997/98 Academic Session

Faculty of Philosophy Faculty of Theology

Introduction to Philosophy Moral Theology
Metaphysics O. T. Exegesis
Ethics N. T. Exegesis
African Thought and Culture Liturgy
History of Philosophy Patrology
African Philosophy African Traditional Religion
History of Ancient Philosophy Dogmatic Theology
Introduction to Scripture Fundamental Theology
Spiritual Theology Ecclesiology
African Traditional Religion Missiology
Philosophical Anthropology Theology of Ecumenism
Political Philosophy Catechetics
Epistemology Spiritual Theology
Catholic Social Teaching Sacramental Theology
Psychology N. T. Biblical Theology
Philosophy of Science O. T. Biblical Theology
Philosophy of Law Canon Law
Logic Special Canon
Sociology Fundamental Scripture
Philosophy of Religion Church History
Methodology of Studies and Research African Christian Theology
Latin Catholic Social Teaching
French Pastoral Theology
Greek Pastoral Psychology
English Islam
Music Hebrew
Greek
French
German
 APPENDIX B3

Admissions into the Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu, in the past 10 years
534

Academic Year Grand

Facul-
Diocese ty 1988-89 1989-90 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 Total Total
Sp 4 6 21 - - 31
Ph 7 8 12 15 11 17 16 86
Aba Th 15 12 7 6 5 6 8 59 145
Sp 4 - 8 7 7 25 31 31 113
Ph - 3 5 9 13 20 46 60 156
Abakaliki Th 12 14 12 12 7 4 - 3 4 68 224
Sp 8 - 5 4 - - - 17
Ph 6 13 14 16 14 9 4 - 76
Ahiara Th 23 22 21 16 12 13 13 11 9 140 216
Sp 6 - 9 20 12 47 26 32 152
Ph 5 11 18 27 34 58 102 120 375
Awka Th 53 48 47 45 38 28 19 17 21 316 691
Sp 5 - 11 14 32 34 40 136
Ph 5 10 10 18 25 38 65 98 269
Enugu Th 43 38 37 21 17 19 16 14 14 219 488
Sp - 4 8 - 35 36 83
Ph - 9 12 17 26 48 63 175
Nsukka Th - 17 10 11 12 11 12 73 248
Sp 5 - 5 - - - - 10
Ph 5 3 9 11 15 14 5 - 62
Ogoja Th 6 8 6 6 12 6 7 10 11 72 134
Sp 6 - 5 7 - - - 18
Ph 7 13 18 23 23 16 6 - 106 251
Okigwe Th 14 15 15 12 19 16 18 16 20 145
Sp 14 - 22 17 25 50 44 172
Ph 15 29 43 58 57 72 118 157 549
Onitsha Th 67 63 55 45 33 31 31 38 39 402 951
 APPENDIX B3

Sp 9 - 8 7 - - - 24
Ph 3 8 13 15 19 15 5 - 78
Orlu Th 32 30 23 22 23 25 23 12 9 199 277
Sp 7 - 14 14 13 - - - 48
Ph 5 15 18 28 34 24 8 - 132
Owerri Th 33 33 23 19 15 15 16 17 17 188 320
Sp 3 - - - - - - 3
Port Ph - - - - 3 2 2 - 7
Harcourt Th 8 9 7 9 5 4 3 1 - 46 53
Sp 11 - 7 2 - - - 20
Ph 10 13 20 28 22 5 1 - 99
Umuahia Th 38 38 20 20 11 12 7 5 4 155 254
379 441 466 481 480 588 682
TOTAL 329 (457) 406 (543) (572) (513) (630) (764) (865) 4252
Sp = Spiritual Year; Ph = Philosophy; Th = Theology. „Diocese“ here indicates the Catholic dioceses within the Igbo culture area
under study. It should be noted that there are students in this seminary from five other dioceses not within the area under
consideration, and from three religious congregations (the students of the latter live in their respective communities and only attend
lectures in the seminary). The figures do not represent the absolute number of the major seminarians of these dioceses in the years
indicated. It only shows the number of their students admitted into BMS Enugu at this period. They send students to the other two
major seminaries: St. Joseph’s Major Seminary, Ikot Ekpene and Seat of Wisdom Major Seminary, Owerri. Their data were not
available to us at the time of enquiry. By the totalling we excluded the figures for the Spiritual Year admissions, since within the
period covered here almost all the dioceses opened up separate (preparatory) seminaries for only spiritual year students. This
explains for the irregularity in the recording of their figures. Only the figures supplied to the BMS by the respective spiritual year
seminary were taken up in the documentation of the respective academic period. The figures in parenthesis thus represent the total
number of students including the spiritual year students. Finally, the figures do not include the Igbo students of the various religious
congregations that attend lectures at the seminary.
535
 APPENDIX C
Statistic of the Dioceses in the Igbo Culture Area
% of Ca-
tholics in Nr. of Dioces
Dimension Nr. of relation to Pari- an
Diocese Founding Date in km2 Catholics inhabi-tants shes Priests
Archdiocese 1950 (1889 AP of the
Lower Niger; 1920 AV of
Southern Nigeria; 1934 AV
Onitsha-Owerri; 1948 AV
Onitsha Onitsha) 2768 1 223 556 60.07 100 216
Abaka- Diocese 1973 (from Ogoja Dio-
liki cese) 7249 212 700 14.31 41 52
Diocese 1977 (from Onitsha Arch-
Awka diocese) 1558 560 974 50.99 102 193
Diocese 1962 (from Onitsha Arch-
Enugu diocese) 4048 565 350 57.43 75 139
Diocese 1990 (from Enugu Dio-
Nsukka cese) 3792 380 178 32.39 35 84
Archdiocese 1994 (1934 AV Onit-
sha-Owerri; 1948 AV Owerri;
Owerri 1950 Diocese) 2996 539 032 37.3 59 139
Diocese 1990 (from Umuahia Dio-
Aba cese) 2494 299 914 22.19 37 78
Diocese 1987 (from Owerri Dio-
Ahiara cese) 425 385 512 80.99 40 80
Diocese 1981 (from Umuahia Dio-
Okigwe cese) 1824 465 705 32.55 48 139
Diocese 1980 (from Owerri Dio-
Orlu cese) 929 518 378 66.76 80 142
Umuahia Diocese 1958 2460 99 576 11.78 29 52
Port Diocese 1961 (from Owerri
Harcourt Dioce-se) 21850 109 700 3.3 35 90
Ogoja Diocese 1955 (1938 AP) 12557 241 282 21.35 22 33
Source: Annuario Pontificio, Rome 1998 as presented in: Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche. Vol. 7,
1998, 834

536
 APPENDIX D
Comments from some of the 441 Respondents
C1 „The above entries I have made are correct and honestly done. However, if there is
any need to contact me about them, the above two addresses I have put down are
helpful. Furthermore, permit me to mention here that the above entries could
contain a few mistakes which of course are not intended, if such is found out, there
is always the chance to consult me again. Finally, I would like to observe here that
the above enlistment of behaviour and activities seem to be a psychological
research and therefore, without trying to encroach into the author’s choice
however, I would rather it had contained spaces for such entries as. (1) What do
you think about yourself? (2) How do you find life? (3) What depresses or interests
you in life? And more stuff of the like. I say this, not because I however want to
say it, but because I know the limits of my psychological makeup which perhaps
needs the attention of an expert. I’m not going to a certain extreme, but what I say
here is what I think this booklet could be dealing with, so may I be pardoned if I
have stretched it a little far. Thank you.“

C2 „I have tried to be as open as possible. Courage to you in this your research work.
Truly, I had once thought of this issue of living in two worlds by us seminarians
and priests, especially with special reference to (1) when our humanity in case of
celibacy speaks, (2) when the socio-economic life of the world knocks at our door
though we live in structural poverty of the masses, (3) when loneliness strikes the
chord of someone’s company, (4) when the ideals „here“ is different from what is
concretely existential in the world or obtainable in the world today, (5) when our
freedom and constitutional right to air our view is handicapped with threats of
expulsion; criticism seem to be insult. The system here is sick. (6) when we try to
be social like the world and we under- or overdo it (7) when our vow of poverty is
questioned as regards our flamboyancy. (8) Walls of seminary are not walls of
reality (as regards the out there). Is this not living in two worlds? We are really
handicapped and want to know how to live in this two worlds which is a reality
with reference to seminarians and priests. Who is a priest Lord? Juan Aris
questions in prayer (cf. Juan Aris Prayer). I will be glad to read that your work at
all cost. I am very optimistic to seeing that your work. Courage! Thanks.

C3 „I am unwantedly faced with the problem of my sexuality that I tried to question

whether celibacy is true. Secondly, the attitude of 99.99% [of the] seminarians and
more especially priests at violating this is sorrily (sic) alarming. It may be true that
every priest and seminarian violates it (often), except – probably if any – about
0.01%“

C4 „I seem not to be very convinced about some of the numbers as I could not apply
my mind wholly in understanding the basic requirements. As such some of the data
given seem to contradict my mind about what I actually wanted to give. But I hope
generally I’ve given a much reliable idea of the ideals required“.

537
 APPENDIX D
C5 „Dear Father, I thank you very sincerely for this opportunity given to us to write
these few answers on the questions asked. Please Father, this priestly ministry, is it
a personal, conscious enterprise? What do you think is going to happen in future, is
materialistic pursuit and economic exigencies setting in in this ministry? How do
you think one can carry on this ministry effectively in the mind of Christ? – I feel
seminarians [should] understand that priesthood is the shortest way to heaven and
hell. – Inculturation should be taught to Igbo seminarians so as to go and fetch
more souls.“

C6 „Your work is quite rich. I appreciate your courage to delve and address yourself
with this difficult though existential issue. I pray for your success and wish to have
a personal copy of this work when it might have been completed. Thanks Fr. and
God bless“.

C7 „Dear Fr., I should think that a seminarian’s worlds are more than two. It could be
three or more. For instance, in my thinking, a seminarian finds himself in the world
of the seminary, and also in the world of the community he comes from (as you
observed). These two worlds no doubt oppose each other. There is also this third
world: the world of ‚personal convictions‘ which also cannot be reconciled with the
above mentioned two.“

C8 „Fr., Thank you for your proposed dissertation. It is not only existential, topical but
[also] urgently demanded. I want to draw your attention to the area of language.
Here in the seminary, we do everything in English but at home, to speak English
freely is already seen as pride. What shall we do? Thanks.“

C9 „Personal comments: Catholic Igbo Society vis-à-vis the Seminarians: It is very

pertinent to note here the fact that the relationship between our people and us
seminarians is likeable to the one which existed between them and the expatriate
missionaries. This is mainly because of these reasons: (a) Lack of adequate
information about the stages seminarians undergo before ordination. For them, only
deaconate matters. So, they are not well informed about other preliminary stages
(Philosophy and Theology 1-3) (b) They see the seminarians as people, who on
entering the seminary have metamorphosed into „white people“ and „angelized“.
This erroneous conception deceives them so greatly that we are considered as
„Superior Igbo people“ and „Saints“ thereby, shying away from giving useful
advice which will enable us to remain steady and fruitful en route to the priestly
ordination. (c) Due to „b“ above, the Igbo Catholic Society see themselves almost
becoming unnatural and unconvinced that seminarians should be expelled if not for
sins like fornication, stealing, etc., without knowing that other offences not borde-
ring on the mentioned ones could merit suspension or expulsion. They think that
we are Super-humans. (d) Because of these inadequate information about
seminarians’ training, they always ask: „Are you are a deacon?“ Negative answer
will merit no attention or useful brotherly help. So, our people are not interested in

538
 APPENDIX D
seminarians but priests (which is the end product of the transitory seminarianhood)
(e) In recognition of all these observations, our people should be conscientized and
educated to begin to take interest in knowing the stages of seminary training in
order to offer their useful advice and assistance. This is an indispensable job they
should do in order to complement the effort of the church leaders.“

C10 „I wish to observe that our individual family background and dispositions
contribute a lot to the way we answer the vocation. Granted also is that the
economic situation serves also as a propelling force to some as we embrace the
call. A lot can also be traced back from those who have already arrived.“

C11 „Please I will be happy if I get a copy of your conclusive findings and analysis. I
remain grateful for this opportunity you have given me to help you. Nonetheless, I
have the following remark to make: (a) Some of the questions needed differentiated
answers or more specifications. (b) The demands of this questionnaire are too
personal as [they] may scare people away from sincere cooperation. Thanks and
may God bless you“

C12 „Father, the topic of your project is quite interesting. I hope the result is going to
help, to a great extent, in the formation of seminarians, especially the Igbo. How I
wish we shall have access to the product of this research in a near future. I wish
you success in this research. Meanwhile I wrote my name and even my place of
origin. This is to express that fact that I will be very much disposed to give more
information as far as possible, when required. I observed that some of the questions
appear ambiguous that one is not sure what is implied in them. This will go a long
way to affect the answers to these questions. Good luck“

C13 „Congratulations for undertaking this kind of endeavour. I wish you be sustained to
its conclusion. Do alert us on the positive or even negative outcomes that may
result from. God bless you“

C14 „My opposition to traditional masquerades is only directed to those ones that use
charms and that are substantially and accidentally devilish and never such ones as
the children dancing masquerades or festival entertaining masquerades“.

C15 „(1) There is in our institutions what I may call „fear of freedom“ which hinders
auto-formation of Igbo seminarians. The resultant effect is forming pretentious
seminarians and consequently pretentious priests. (2) I strongly believe that there
are three things that cannot be taken from any group of people: Language, legal
culture or custom and linage. Igbo language is now relegated to the background.
Encounter any little child, even in the nursery school, the parents will tell you
please don’t speak Igbo to them. They will grow without a good knowledge of their
native language / dialect. As a kind of follow-up, they (the children) will lack
knowledge of our legal culture and custom. They will ignorantly embrace

539
 APPENDIX D
everything European at the expense of our own. Some even go to the extent of
criticising our cultural values destructively. For me such a position is very
dangerous for our future priests. Still along the line above, linage problem is to be
re-addressed for so more conviction. For me, celibacy need to be re-addressed in
order to be appreciated in Igboland due to our attachment to linage. On a general
note, the issue of celibacy should and in fact be indispensable, especially with
particular reference to say an only child becoming a priest in Igbo society.“

C16 „Your data is too personal that many may be uncomfortable to help you.“

C17 „Fr., this questionnaire is very good for some personal assessment. Please, if you
can develop this work into a book, waste no time; for it will enrich priests,
seminarians and the religious within the Igbo communities.“

C18 „Kudos! Your effort is in the right direction. I would sincerely like to see its
outcome. You would have traced more sources of possible conflict to the present
economic situation in the country. Why is there this „vocation boom“? Are young
men merely striving after status symbol or are thy genuinely attracted to the
priestly vocation? Thanks.“

C19 „Dear Fr., In the areas you inquired on religious and traditional issues, I feel you
should have specified on the nature of such festivities, traditional and religious
beliefs, for as far as I know, all our religious beliefs and culture are not
substantially bad while some are such as masquerading and its rites. Hence I
believe that if a culture is substantially bad, it cannot be inculturated while if it is
accidentally bad, it can be inculturated [...].“

C20 „I would wish that the result of your research be made known to seminary
authorities in order to improve the system of seminary formation.“

C21 „The questionnaire is entirely exhaustive. Though when a study concerns man, we
can never be exhaustive enough because of what man is - a mystery if not an
enigma. There are questions to which I preferred to say practically no or yes and I
actually did in some. I am one of those who are still waiting to see the reason why
the type of theology we study should have a foreign and alien face and worse still a
western destiny. I do not believe that civilization or integral maturity should be
tailored to be an unwavering imitation of received education in the western style
(cf. Item nr. 103) I am an Igbo. I like it and I loose my patience with any system
that makes me think that there is an end already to every theologising just because
we inherited a corpus of Thomistic speculations that presumes every answer to any
problem in faith and morals. Rubbish. The seminary formation as it is does not help
in making people as authentic, mature, integral, independent in evaluation as they
ought to be. It is a sorry situation. Look, many things are wrong and we seem to
either not know it or incapacitated to face the bitter truth. Our minds and mentality

540
 APPENDIX D
are endemically infected with western virus; a virus that makes us evaluate in terms
of „civilization“, „Rome“ or the like. Your endeavour can at least lay claim to one
objectivity, the objectivity of spirited commitment. More grease to your elbows.
Thanks for the chance.“

C22 „(1) I hope to see you achieve maximally from this. Some of the ideals of the
seminary for me are not the real [ones]. The issue of obey before complaining even
if one is sure of his complaint, is not good. The good one wants to achieve through
this complaint is lost because having obeyed, any complaint is useless. (2) The
issue of authoritative orders by the superiors has to be addressed. Because of the
nature of the training, one sheepishly follows orders even the ones he knows to be
false and stupid. This stultifies personal initiative. It suppresses the feelings of
seminarians, [thus] making them hide in their cocoons and explode after their
ordination. More freedom is needed. (3) If we want to remain African, we have to
stop using the „order of dignity“ for judging who is authority. It is an ugly sight
seeing a boy of 17 commanding the boy of 30, just because he has an earlier
vocation than the latter. In Africa, age is the base of judgement.
Thank you Fr., and have a fruitful research.“

C23 „Fr. Now, as a priest who underwent the seminary training, do you think the
training here is sufficient for the pastoral work awaiting us if we are ordained? If
they are sufficient, can you please clarify in your book how one can philosophise
and theologise the people in their various spiritual upsets, when some of the
spiritual problems of the congregation are not deeply diffused into our lectures?
And worst of all, some of these problems are not believed by some lecturers to be
existing. If, on the other hand, they are not sufficient, can you proffer a solution
that would enhance a thorough diffusion into the profundity of the problems of the
society, not the problems of those who are called philosophers and have died many
thousands of years age? Fr., how I wish you look into this matter critically as a
fore-runner in this line. Thanks.“

C24 „While thanking you for this wonderful respect and chance of filling this
manuscript, may I humbly comment that the information you inquire from the
candidate filling this script is above mentioning. You exceeded the bridge of
privacy. Eg. In the salaries of the parents, their educational qualifications, one’s
position in the family, and all others which seem epi-confidential. Also in the
columns filled, some questions there are materials of due privacy. Most of them
ought to be exhausted out publicly. However, I don’t know really the information
or usage you intend extracting from them, but it is just for you to be mindful of
them.“

C25 „This self-evaluation course is a very good idea for it helps one to define himself
and to understand his worth. I appeal in a special way that the already trained
specialists (psychologists) be sent to our seminaries so that they can help to see that

541
 APPENDIX D
seminarians know and understand what they are fully. More so, the information on
this leaflet is a candid and unpretentious one so I personally believe that it is a self-
revealing information for you. Thank you for this form of opportunity.“

C26 „(1) Why is it that many seminarians live in fear? (2) many seminarians are very
poor, they need to be receiving subventions, (3) the seminary should not be over-
populated so that everybody should be cared for. A priest should be looking after
20 seminarians at most. (4) Some basic necessities like water, light and games
equipments should be in good form always in the seminary because they are the
only friends around. (5) Finally, seminarians should be allowed to air their opinion
in every deliberation, because I think they know more.“

C27 „I am very happy to answer the questions in this questionnaire. You will discover
that I marked „2“ for most answers to „Present Behaviour“ because I said the
whole truth from my heart. From today henceforth I promise to live positive life as
most questions in „Present Behaviour“ demands [...]. Good bye and God bless you
in your good work.“

C28 „In my village, almost all the Christians seem to be happy seeing me in the soutane
but none of them is interested in my affairs in the seminary be it whatever. So I
don’t know whether this your research will help in sharpening the minds of our
Christian members towards the training of seminarians“.

C29 „I must have to admit that the questionnaire was really a thought-provoking one. It
led me into many areas of speculation which I have never felt before. I am simply
glad going through the questions [...]“

C30 „I very much appreciate your concern for your fellow men who continuously
endure the hardships of this country. However, this questionnaire is not all
encompassing, in the sense that it fails to take cognisance of the fact that most
seminarians receive attacks from several forces who might be against their
becoming priests. This has often resulted in death and extinction of those
seminarians. Apart from this, seminarians do not show their talents often, for fear
that their superiors might find a reason to expel them out of jealousy.“

C31 „Dear Fr., I am very glad you undertook this rather very rare kind of research. I
guess it will be of great value to our local church and the Catholic church in
general, especially now the church in this part of the country is witnessing a
tremendous vocation boom to the priesthood. Unless this boom is very well
harnessed, it may bring doom to the clerical status and consequently to the
Christian Catholic faith. We must learn from history. I congratulate you in your
effort to make this contribution to the local church in particular and the entire
Christian mission. I am very confident that your expertise will be competent

542
 APPENDIX D
enough to analyse such a complex research work of this nature. I wish you much
success.“

C32 „The only comment I want to make is that this your move to write a work on
seminarians especially in Igboland is towards the right direction, since I have not
seen any other work on this issue. How I wished that you interview the parents and
relatives of these Igbo seminarians so that you will also know their view on their
children’s vocations and what the society’s view on them past and present have
been. Good luck!“

C33 „Personal observation:

Christianity is a borrowed culture to the African people which underwent so many
difficulties before its establishment. What happened to the African cultural
religion? Does the Christian cultural religion possess the truth? Why is this
teaching more superior over African religion? Can’t the Africans be saved in their
own religion? If yes, why the abandonment of this religion? However, in spite of
the overwhelming spread of Christianity , immorality is more practised in Christian
culture today than in the African religion. Is Christianity a lasting solution to the
problem of the world? Is it he who possesses higher logic and intelligence that
possesses the truth? Unless we answer these questions we will not have a focal
point of the truth. In other words, African seminarians (Igbo) only have what I may
call „economic faith“. Assure them of good life, job, and hope in the society, the
number will collapse. Some join sheepishly and when they reached their goal and
made wealth, they still desire to have a taste of the other life, and if possible, live it.
Some because of family attachment and expectations of relations forge ahead
irrespective of difficulties - thereby living contrary to their personality.“

C34 „I thank you for the job. It is quite enriching and educative. This disposes one more
in the mission ahead. I recommend that the result of this be made available to the
seminaries in Igboland since I am convinced that the result will be a help to the
formators - to enlighten them more on their relationship and treatment of the
seminarians. But I mustn’t fail to remark that the questionnaire is too elaborate and
direct to one’s feeling. Generally, I commend you. Thanks.“

C35 „This is very good personally, because it helped me know more of what I have not
been thinking about. I wish you well in your research.“

C36 „I found this test very helpful to me as regards my formation and in getting in
contact with my self both the known and unknown. It creates awareness. Finally, I
thank you honestly for your simplicity and your congruity in arranging these
related questions which I feel is all about one or two things. I suggest such to be
introduced in our seminary , may be within the context of retreat. Thanks a lot.“

543
 APPENDIX D
C37 „Rev. and dear Fr., Firstly, I wish to thank you for the good work you are doing. To
encourage you, I will book for a Holy Mass to be said for your good intentions. In
addition, I will pray five decades of the Rosary before the Blessed Sacrament in all
the remaining Sundays in the month of November 1995, beginning from Sunday
12th. Secondly, I promise to assist you more in whichever way you think I can be of
help to you. As someone who was brought up in the village and more so with a
father who was the oldest man in the village, coupled with his being a herbalist, I
had the privilege of knowing more of my people’s way of life. Good luck. And
may God bless you.“

544
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Achebe, Chinua, No Longer at Ease, in: The African Trilogy: Things fall
apart. No longer at ease. Arrow of God. London 1988.
Achebe, Chinua, Arrow of God, in: The African Trilogy: Things fall
apart. No longer at ease. Arrow of God. London 1988.
Achebe, Chinua, Things fall apart, in: The African Trilogy: Things fall
apart. No longer at ease. Arrow of God. London 1988.
Abramova, S. U., Ideological, Doctrinal, Philosophical, Religious and
Political Aspects of the African Slave Trade, in: The African Slave
Trade From the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century. Vol 2 in the
series: The General History of Africa: Studies and Documents.
Publ. by UNESCO, Paris 1985.
Afigbo, A. E., Towards a Cultural Revival Among the Igbo-Speaking
Peoples, in: F. Chidozie Ogbalu and E. Noble Menno (eds.), Igbo
Language and Culture Vol. Two. Ibadan 1982.
Afigbo, A. E., Prolegomena to the Study of the Culture History of the
Igbo-Speaking Peoples of Nigeria, in: F. C. Ogbalu and E. N.
Emenanjo (eds.), Igbo Language and Culture Vol. One. Ibadan
1975.
Afigbo, A. E., Towards a History of the Igbo-Speaking Peoples of
Nigeria, in: F. C. Ogbalu and E. N. Emenanjo (eds.), Igbo Language
and Culture Vol 1. Ibadan 1975.
Afigbo, A. E., The Place of the Igbo Language in our Schools: A
Historical Explanation, in: F. C. Ogbalu and E. N. Emenanjo (eds.),
Igbo Language and Culture Vol. One. Ibadan 1975.
Agu, Charles Chikezie, Secularization in Igboland. Socio-religious
change and its chall-enges to the Church among the Igbo. Frankfurt
am Main 1989.
Aguilar, Mario I., The Social Experience of Two Gods in Africa, in:
AFER 36 (1994) 1, 32-44. Eldoret.
Ajayi, J. F. Ade and Inikori, J. E., An Account of Research on the Slave
Trade in Nigeria, in: The African Slave Trade From the Fifteenth to

545
 the Nineteenth Century. Vol 2 in the series: The General History of
Africa: Studies and Documents. Publ. by UNESCO. Paris 1985.
Allport, G. W., Attitudes, in: C. M. Murchison (ed.), Handbook of social
psychology. Massachusetts 1935.
Allport, G. W., Entstehung und Umgestaltung der Motive, in: Hans
Thomae (Hg), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns. Köln 1965.
Arinze, Francis A., Sacrifice in Igbo Religion. Ibadan 1970.
Arnold, Wilhelm, Eysenck, Hans Jürgen, und Meili, Richard (Hg),
Lexikon der Psycho-logie, II/2. Freiburg im Breisgau 1976.
Atkinson, Rita L., Atkinson, Richard C., Smith, Edward E., Hilgard,
Ernest R., Introduc-tion to Psychology, Ninth Edition, San Diego
1987.
Augsburger, David W., Cross-Cultural Pastoral Psychotherapy, in:
Robert J. Wicks and Richard D. Parsons (eds.), Clinical Handbook
of Pastoral Counselling Vol 2. New Jersey 1993.
Bandler, Richard and Grinder, John, Reframing. Neuro-Linguistic
Programming and the Transformation of Meaning. Utah 1982.
Barret, David B. (ed.), World Christian Encyclopaedia. A comparative
study of churches and religions in the modern world AD 1900-
2000.Oxford University Press. Nairobi 1982.
Basden, G. T., Among the Ibos of Nigeria. London 1966.
Bass, Bernard M., Bass & Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership. Theory,
Research, and Managerial Applications. Third Edition. New York
1990.
Bateson, Gregory, Geist und Natur. Eine notwendige Einheit. Frankfurt
am Main 1982.
Bateson, Gregory, Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Collected Essays in
Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology. New
Jersey 1987.
Baur, John, 2000 Years of Christianity in Africa. An African History 62-
1992. Paulines Publ. Nairobi 1994.
Bediako, Kwame, Christianity in Africa. The Renewal of a Non-Western
Religion. Edin-burgh 1995.
Beil, Alfons, Freiheit und Charisma, in: Franz Böckle (Hg), Der Zölibat.
Erfahrungen – Meinungen – Vorschläge. Mainz 1968.
Benedict XV, „Maximum Illud“, AAS, 11 (1919).
Bennis, Warren and Nanus, Burt, Leaders. Strategies For Taking Charge.
2nd Edition. New York 1997.
546
Berger, Peter, Berger, Brigitte and Kellner, Hansfried, The Homeless
Mind. Moderniza-tion and Consciousness. New York 1973.
Berger, H. Mission und Kolonialpolitik: Die katholische Mission in
Kamerun während der deutschen Kolonialzeit, in: Neue Zeitschrift
für Missionswissenschaft, Immen-see 1978.
Berger, Peter L. and Luckmann, Thomas, The social construction of
reality. A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. New York 1966.
Berger, Peter L., The Sacred Canopy. Elements of a Sociology of
Religion. Anchor Books Edition. N. Y. 1969 (1990).
Bergius, Rudolf, Formen des Zukunftserlebens. Eine experimentelle
Untersuchung zur Motivations- und Denkpsychologie. München
1957.
Berkel, Karl, Konfliktforschung und Konfliktbewältigung. Ein
organisationspsycholo-gischer Ansatz. Berlin 1984.
Berkel, Karl, Eignungsdiagnostik. Grundlagen beratender Begleitung, in:
Hermann Stenger (Hg), Eignung für die Berufe der Kirche.
Klärung–Beratung–Begleitung. Freiburg im Breisgau 1988.
Bigard Memorial Seminary Enugu: Golden Jubilee 1924-1974.
Published by Assumpta Press, Owerri.
Bilzer, Friedrich, Konfliktlernen. Informationsbedingungen und
kommunikative Voraus-setzungen von Konfliktbewußtsein,
Konfliktfähigkeit und Konfliktbewältigung. Frankfurt/Main 1978.
Bitterli, Urs, Alte Welt-neue Welt. Formen des europäisch-überseeischen
Kulturkontakts vom 15. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, DTV., München
1992.
Boulle, Pierre, The Planet of the Apes. London 1991.
Breitenstein, Konrad, Lieber Theo! In: Franz Böckle (Hg.), Der Zölibat.
Erfahrungen – Meinungen - Vorschläge. Mainz 1968.
Brown, J. S., Kriterien zur Bestimmung von Motivationsvariablen, in:
Hans Thomae (Hg.), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns, Köln
1965.
Brüning, Herbert & Trenkler, Götz, Nichtparametrische statistische
Methoden. Berlin 1994.
Bucher, Anton A., Einführung in die empirische Sozialwissenschaft. Ein
Arbeitsbuch für TheologInnen. Stuttgart 1994.
Bühl, W. L., Theorien sozialer Konflikte, Darmstadt 1976.
Cassell’s Latin Dictionary, Latin-English and English-Latin.

547
Catchpole, Brian, The Clash of Cultures. Aspects of Culture Conflict
from Roman Times to the Present Day. London 1981.
Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium), in: W. M.
Abbott and J. Gallagher (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II. New
York 1966.
Coriden, James A., Green, Thomas J., Heintschel, Donald E. (Editors),
The Code of Canon Law. A Text and Commentary. New York
1985.
Da Veiga Pinto, Françoise Latour and Carreira, A., Portuguese
Participation in the Slave Trade: Opposing forces, trends of Opinion
within Portuguese Society: Effects on Portugal’s Socio-economic
Development, in: The African Slave Trade From the Fifteenth to the
Nineteenth Century. Vol 2 in the series: The General History of
Africa: Studies and Documents. Publ. by UNESCO, Paris 1985.
Dalby, David, Africa: the culture and the continent in: Distinctive
Characteristics and Common Features of African Cultural Areas
South of the Sahara. Vol. 7 in the series: Introduction to African
culture. Publ. by UNESCO, Paris 1985.
Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian
Religions (Nostra Aetate), in: W. M. Abbott and J. Gallagher (ed.),
The Documents of Vatican II. New York 1966.
Decree on the Bishop’s Pastoral Office in the Church (Christus
Dominus), in: W. M. Abbott and J. Gallagher (ed.), The Documents
of Vatican II. New York 1966.
Decree on Priestly Formation (Optatam totius), in: W. M. Abbott and J.
Gallagher (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II. New York 1966.
Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests (Presbyterorum Ordinis), in:
W. M. Abbott and J. Gallagher (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II.
New York 1966.
Dell, Paul F., Klinische Erkenntnis. Zu den Grundlagen systemischer
Therapie. Dort-mund 21990.
Denzler, Georg, Die Geschichte des Zölibats. Freiburg im Breisgau
1993.
Dilts, Robert, Grinder, John, Bandler, Richard and DeLozier, Judith,
Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Volume I: the Study of the
Structure of Subjective Experience. Cali-fornia 1980.
Dilts, Robert, Changing Belief Systems with NLP. California 1990.

548
Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), in: W. M.
Abbott and J. Gallagher (ed.), The Documents of Vatican II. New
York 1966.
Domann, Gerd, Konflikt, in: H. Gastager et al. (Hg.), Praktisches
Wörterbuch der Pastoralanthropologie. Wien 1975.
Duchet, Michèle, Reactions to the Problem of the Slave Trade: An
Historical and Ideo-logical Study, in: The African Slave Trade From
the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century. Vol 2 in the series: The
General History of Africa: Studies and Documents. Publ. by
UNESCO, Paris 1985.
Duden, Das Herkunftswörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. Band 7.
Mannheim 1963.
DUDEN Deutsches Universalwörterbuch. Mannheim 1983.
Eke, Casmir I., Priestly and Religious Vocations, in: Celestine A. Obi
(ed.), A Hundred Years of the Catholic Church in Eastern Nigeria
1885-1985. Onitsha 1985.
Ekwunife, Anthony N. O., Consecration in Igbo Traditional Religion.
Nsukka 1990.
Ekwunife, A. N. O., African Traditional Values and Formation in
Catholic Seminaries of Nigeria, in: Bulletin of Ecumenical
Theology 8 (1996) 2. Publ. by Spiritan Interna-tional School of
Theology (S.I.S.T.), 49-65. Enugu.
Éla, Jean-Marc, African Cry. Maryknoll, N.Y. 1986.
Elhardt, Siegfried, Tiefenpsychologie. Eine Einführung. Stuttgart 1988.
Equiano, Olaudah, Equiano’s Travels. His Autobiography. The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus
Vassa, the African. Edited by Paul Edwards. Oxford 1967.
Erikson, Erik H., Childhood and Society. London 1986.
Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin, White Masks. Pluto Press. London 1986.
Ferguson, George A., Statistical Analysis in Psychology and Education.
5th Edition. Singapore 1981.
Festinger, Leon, A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford 1957
Fink, Arlene and Kosecoff, Jacqueline, How to Conduct Surveys. A
Step-by-Step Guide. California 1985.
Forde, Daryll and Jones, G. I., The Ibo and Ibibio Speaking Peoples of
South-Eastern Nigeria. London 1950.
Fries, Heinrich, „Myth“, in: Sacramentum mundi. Vol. 4. London 1969.

549
Frondizi, Rizieri, What is Value? An Introduction to Axiology. Illinois
1963.
Bachl, G., Ehre Gottes, in: Walter Kasper (Hg.), LTK Band 3. Freiburg
im Breisgau 1998.
Gaarder, Jostein, Sophie’s World. A Novel about the History of
Philosophy. Phoenix. Great Britain 1995.
Gibran, Kahlil, The Prophet. Pan Books Edition. London 1991. (First
publ. in 1926).
Godin, Andre, The Psychology of Religious Vocations. Problems of the
Religious Life. Lanham 1983.
Goldstein, Horst, Was Geschah 1492? Was Geschah 500 Jahre lang?
Was sollte 1992 geschehen? In: Prediger und Katechet. Praktische
katholische Zeitschrift für die Verkündigung des Glaubens.
Juni/Juli, München 1992.
Gotan, Cletus, The Seminarians: Their Dispositions and Challenges, in:
Jos Studies, Vol. 1, 1 (1990), 28-42. Jos.
Green, M. M., Igbo Village Affairs. Chiefly with Reference to the
Village of Umueke Agbaja. London 1964.
Green, Bert F., Attitude Measurement, in: G. Lindzey (ed.), Handbook of
Social Psychology, Vol. I, Theory and Method. Massachusetts
1954.
Gruen, Arno, Der Wahnsinn der Normalität. Realismus als Krankheit:
eine grundlegende Theorie zur menschlichen Destruktivität.
München 1989 (1987).
Gruen, Arno, Der Verrat am Selbst. Die Angst vor Autonomie bei Mann
und Frau. München 1986.
Gutiérrez, Gustavo, Gott oder das Gold. Der befreiende Weg des
Bartolomé de Las Casas. Freiburg im Breisgau 1990.
Hall-Quest, Alfred Lawrence, Indoctrination in: William D. Halsey et al.
(ed.), Collier’s Encyclopaedia Vol. 12. U. S. A. 1968.
Hammers, Alwin J., Der systemische Ansatz in der Psychotherapie in: J.
Blattner, B. Gareis, A. Plewa (Hg), Handbuch der Psychologie für
die Seelsorge Bd 2. Angew-andte Psychologie. Düsseldorf 1993.
Hänle, Joachim, Heilende Verkündigung. Kerygmatische
Herausforderungen im Dialog mit Ansätzen der Humanistischen
Psychologie. Glaubenskommunikation Reihe: zeit zeichen Bd. 1.
Ostfildern 1997.

550
Hasenhüttl, Gotthold, Schwarz bin ich und schön. Der theologische
Aufbruch Schwarzafrikas. Darmstadt 1991.
Hastings, Adrian, Church and Mission in Modern Africa. Burns & Oats.
London 1969.
Hawthorne, Peter, In and Out of Africa, in: Time, November 3, 1997.
Heider, Fritz, The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. New York
1958.
Herskovits, Melville J. and Bascom, William R., The Problem of
Stability and Change in African Culture, in: William R. Bascom and
Melville J. Herskovits (Eds.), Conti-nuity and Change in African
Cultures, Chicago 1974.
Herskovits, M., Cultural Relativism. Edited by Frances Herskovits. New
York 1972.
Hewstone, M. and Antaki, C., Attributionstheorie und soziale
Erklärungen, in: Wolfgang Stroebe, Miles Hewstone, Jean-Paul
Codol, Geoffrey M. Stephenson (Hg), Sozial-psychologie. Eine
Einführung, Berlin 1990.
Hinfelaar, Hugo F., Evangelization and Inculturation, in: AFER (African
Ecclesial Review) 36 (1994) 1, 2-18. Eldoret.
Hoeben, Harry, Nigeria, in: Walter Kasper et al. (Hg), Lexikon für
Theologie und Kirche, Band 7. Freiburg im Breisgau 1998.
Hoffman, Lynn, Foundations of Family Therapy. A Conceptual
Framework for Systems Change. U.S.A. 1981.
Ilogu, Edmund C. O., Christian Ethics in an African Background. A
Study of the Interaction of Christianity and Ibo Culture. Leiden
1974.
Imoagene, Oshomha, The Ibo of East-Central Nigeria. Vol. 3 of
Handbooks of Nigeria’s Major Culture Areas. Ibadan 1990.
Inikori, Joseph E., The Slave Trade and the Atlantic Economies, 1451-
1870, in: The African Slave Trade From the Fifteenth to the
Nineteenth Century. Vol 2 in the series: The General History of
Africa: Studies and Documents. Publ. by UNESCO, Paris 1985.
Isichei, Elizabeth, The Ibo People and the Europeans. The Genesis of a
Relationship - to 1906. London 1973.
Isichei, E., Entirely for God: The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi. London
1980.
Isichei, Elizabeth, A History of Nigeria. London 1983.
Isichei, Elizabeth, A History of the Igbo People. London 1976.
551
Iyer, Pico, The Empire writes Back, in: Time International 6(1993). New
York. 69.
Jaguenoud, René und Rauber, Alexander, Intersubjektivität und
Beziehungserfahrung als Grundlage der therapeutischen Arbeit in
der Gestalttherapie. Paderborn 1981.
Jung, Carl G. and von Franz, M.-L. (ed.), Man and his symbols. London
1978.
Katz, D., The functional Approach to the Study of Attitude, in: M.
Fishbein (ed.), Readings in Attitude Theory and Measurement. New
York 1967.
Kauffman, Stuart, At Home in the Universe. The Search for the Laws of
Self-Organization and Complexity. New York 1995.
Kelley, H. H., Causal schemata in the attribution process, in: E. E. Jones
et al., Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behaviour. New Jersey
1972.
Kellner, Wendelin, Priesterlicher Zölibat ohne Gemeinschaft? In: Franz
Böckle (Hg.), Der Zölibat. Erfahrungen - Meinungen - Vorschläge.
Mainz 1968.
Kelly, G. A., Der Motivationsbegriff als irreführendes Konstrukt, in:
Hans Thomae (Hg.), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns, Köln
1965.
Kernberg, Otto F. und Mitarbeiter: Selzer, Michael A., Koenigsberg,
Harold W., Carr, Arthur C., Appelbaum, Ann H.,
Psychodynamische Therapie bei Borderline-Patienten. Bern 1993.
Ki-Zerbo, Joseph, Die Geschichte Schwarzafrikas. Frankfurt am Main
1981.
Kluckhohn, C., Culture, in: William D. Halsey et al. (ed.), Collier’s
Encyclopaedia. Vol. 7, U. S. A. 1968.
Knappert, Jan, Lexikon der afrikanischen Mythologie. München 1995.
Korb, Margaret P., Gorrell, Jeffrey, Van De Riet, Vernon, Gestalt
Therapy. Practice and Theory. Second Edition. New York 1989.
Kreisman, Jerold J. und Straus, Hal, Ich hasse dich-verlaß’ mich nicht.
Die schwarzweiße Welt der Borderline-Persönlichkeit. München
1992.
Ladenhauf, Karl Heinz, Integrative Therapie und Gestalttherapie in der
Seelsorge. Grundfragen und Konzepte für Fortbildung und Praxis.
Paderborn 1988.

552
Landmann, Michael, Pluralität und Antinomie. Kulturelle Grundlagen
seelischer Konflikte. München 1963.
Lee, Courtland C. and Armstrong, Kathleen L., Indigenous Models of
Mental Health Intervention. Lessons from Traditional Healers, in:
Joseph G. Ponterotto, J. Manuel Casas, Lisa A. Suzuki, Charlene M.
Alexander (eds.), Handbook of Multicultural Counselling.
Thousand Oaks, California 1995.
Leith-Ross, Sylvia, African Women. A study of the Ibo of Nigeria. New
York 1978 (repr. of 1939 ed.).
Lersch, Ph., Antriebserlebnisse und Gefühlsregungen, in: Hans Thomae
(Hg.), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns, Köln 1965.
Lersch Ph., Wesen und Bedeutung der Antriebserlebnisse, in: Hans
Thomae (Hg.), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns, Köln 1965.
Lewin, K., Über die Ursachen seelischen Geschehens, in: Hans Thomae
(Hg.), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns, Köln 1965.
Lohfink, Gerhard, Wie hat Jesus Gemeinde gewollt?. Freiburg im
Breisgau 1982.
Lückert, Heinz-Rolf, Der Mensch, das konfliktträchtige Wesen. Das
Konzept vom Menschen in der gegenwärtigen Psychologie.
München 1977.
Makozi, A. O. and Ojo, G. A. (ed.), The History of the Catholic Church
in Nigeria. Nigeria 1982.
Marlé, René, Demythologization, in: Sacramentum mundi. An
encyclopaedia of theo-logy, Vol. 2. London 1968.
Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco J., The Tree of
Knowledge: The Biolo-gical Roots of Human Understanding.
Revised Edition. Boston 1992.
Maturana, Humberto R., Erkennen: Die Organisation und Verkörperung
von Wirklich-keit. Ausgewählte Arbeiten zur biologischen
Epistemologie. Braunschweig 1985.
Mbefo, L., Tensions between Christianity and African traditional
Religion: the Igbo case, in: Yearbook of Contextual Theologies 93.
Missionswissenschaftliches Institut Missio e. V. Aachen (ed.).
Frankfurt 1993 (1994).
Mbiti, John S., African Religions and Philosophy. Second revised and
enlarged edition. Oxford 1990.

553
McGuire, W. J., The nature of Attitudes and Attitude Change, in: G.
Lindzey and E. Aronson (eds.), Handbook of Social Psychology,
Vol. III, 2nd edition. Massachusetts 1969.
Meek, C. K., Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe. New York 1937.
Metuh, Emefie Ikenga, Comparative Studies of African Traditional
Religions. Onitsha 1987.
Metuh, Emefie Ikenga, African Religions in Western Conceptual
Schemes: The Problem of Interpretation. (Studies in Igbo Religion).
Jos 1991.
Metuh, Emefie Ikenga, God and Man in African Religion. A Case Study
of the Igbo of Nigeria. London 1980.
Miller, George, Galanter, Eugene, Pribram, Karl, Plans and the Structure
of Behaviour. U.S.A. 1960.
Mons, Paul (Transl.), Die vier Bücher der Nachfolge Christi. Leutesdorf
4
1981.
Mudimbe, V. Y., The Idea of Africa. Indianapolis 1994.
Mudimbe, V. Y., The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the
Order of Knowledge. London 1988.
Müller, Günter F. und Müller-Andritzky, Maria, Norm, Rolle, Status in:
Dieter Frey und Siegfried Greif (Hg.), Soziapsychologie. Ein
Handbuch in Schlüsselbegriffen 2., erweiterte Auflage. München
1987.
Munonye, John, The Only Son, Ibadan 1966.
Nida, Eugene A., Customs and Cultures. William Carey Library.
California 1979.
Nwala, T. Uzodinma, Igbo Philosophy. Lagos 1985.
Nwatu, Felix, A Paradigm Shift in Clergy Formation: A Sine Qua Non
for Inculturation in Africa, in: The Asia Journal of Theology 11
(1997) 1, 100-116. Bangalore.
Obi, Celestine A., The Development of Priestly Vocation in Igboland
and the Genesis of the Bigard Seminary, in: Lucerna (Bigard
Theological Studies), Vol. 7 1(1986-1987), Enugu.
Obi, Celestine A., The Bigard Ladies and The Foundation of the Society
of St. Peter the Apostle - Opus Sancti Petri and the Impact on
Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. A Historico-theological Survey,
in: Bigard Theological Studies, Vol. 10 2(1990). Enugu.
Obi, C. A. (ed.), A Hundred Years of the Catholic Church in Eastern
Nigeria 1885-1985, Onitsha 1985.
554
Obiego, Cosmas O., African Image of the Ultimate Reality. An Analysis
of Igbo Ideas of Life and Death in Relation to Chukwu-God.
Frankfurt am Main 1984.
Omenka, Nicholas Ibeawuchi, The School in the Service of
Evangelization. The Catholic Educational Impact in Eastern Nigeria
1886-1950. Köln 1989.
Onwuejeogwu, M. A., The Igbo Culture Area, in: F. C. Ogbalu and E. N.
Emenanjo (eds.), Igbo Language and Culture, Ibadan 1975.
Onwurah, Emeka, Mission Christian Converts in traditional Igbo Society
in Nigeria, in: Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, Vol.
54, 6 (1990), 281-288. Delhi.
Oraka, Louis Nnamdi, The Foundations of Igbo Studies. A short History
of the Study of Igbo Language and Culture. Onitsha 1983.
Oriji, John Nwachimereze, Traditions of Igbo Origin. A Study of Pre-
Colonial Population Movements in Africa. New York 1994.
Osei-Bonsu, Joseph, Christianity and Culture, in: West African Journal
of Ecclesial Studies (1991) 3, 56-66. Ibadan.
Ottenberg, Simon, Ibo Receptivity to Change, in: William R. Bascom
and Melville J. Herskovits (Eds.), Continuity and Change in African
Cultures, Chicago 1974.
Ozigbo, Ikenga, Roman Catholicism in Southeastern Nigeria: 1885-
1931. Onitsha 1988.
Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et
Spes), in: W. M. Abbott and J. Gallagher (ed.), The Documents of
Vatican II. New York 1966.
Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, December 8, 1975. (The Text was
obtained through the Internet).
Peck, Morgan Scott, The Road Less Travelled. A new psychology of
love, Traditional values and spiritual growth. New York 1978.
Perls, Frederick, Hefferline, Ralph F., Goodman, Paul, Gestalt Therapy.
Excitement and Growth in the Human Personality. London 1972.
Souvenir Press paperback edition 1989.
Perls, Fritz, The Gestalt Approach & Eyewitness to Therapy, U.S.A.
1973.
Pirsig, Robert M., Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. An
Inquiry into Values. England 1974
Pius XI, „Rerum Ecclesiae“, AAS, 18 (1926).
Pius XII, „Evangelii Praecones“, AAS, 43 (1951).
555
Power, David, Kulturelle Begegnung und religiöser Ausdruck, in:
Concilum 13(1977). 114-121.
Quanbeck, Warren A., A Response, in: W. M. Abbott and J. Gallagher
(ed.), The Documents of Vatican II. New York 1966, 458-461.
Rahner, Karl, The Encyclopaedia of Theology. New York 1975.
Reber, Arthur S., The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology. London 1985.
Rocheblave-Spenlé, Anne-Marie, Psychologie des Konflikts. Freiburg
im Breisgau 1973.
Rosch, Marita und Frey, Dieter, Soziale Einstellungen, in: Dieter Frey
und Siegfried Greif (Hg.), Soziapsychologie. Ein Handbuch in
Schlüsselbegriffen 2., erweiterte Auflage. München 1987.
Roth, Erwin und Heidenreich, Klaus (Hg.), Sozialwissenschaftliche
Methoden: Lehr- und Handbuch für Forschung und Praxis.
München 1984.
Ruch, E. A. and Anyanwu, K. C., African philosophy. An Introduction to
the main philosophical trends in Contemporary Africa. Rome 1984.
Rücker, Heribert, „Afrikanische Theologie“. Darstellung und Dialog.
Innsbruck 1985.
Rulla, Luigi. M., Ridick, Joyce, Imoda, Franco, Entering and Leaving
Vocation: intrapsychic Dynamics. Rome 1980 (1976).
Rulla, L. M., Imoda, F., Ridick, J., Psychological Structure and
Vocation. A study of the motivations for entering and leaving the
religious life. Rome 1988.
Sarbin, Theodore R., Role Theory, in: G. Lindzey (ed.), Handbook of
Social Psychology, Vol. 1, Theory and Method. Massachusetts
1954.
Schaupp, Klemens, Eignung und Neigung. Hilfen zur Unterscheidung
der Beweggründe, in: Hermann Stenger (Hg), Eignung für die
Berufe der Kirche. Klärung–Beratung-Begleitung. Freiburg im
Breisgau 1988.
Schillebeeckx, Edward, Ministry: Leadership in the Community of Jesus
Christ. New York 1985.
Schillebeeckx, Edward, Zölibat und kirchliches Amt, in: Franz Böckle
(Hg), Der Zölibat. Erfahrungen – Meinungen – Vorschläge. Mainz
1968.
Schorr, Angela, Motivation, in: J. Blattner, B. Gareis, A. Plewa (Hg.),
Handbuch der Psychologie für die Seelsorge. Band 1. Düsseldorf
1992.
556
Schreiter, Robert J., Abschied vom Gott der Europäer. Zur Entwicklung
regionaler Theologien. Salzburg 1992.
Sipe, A. W. Richard, A Secret World. Sexuality and the Search for
Celibacy. New York 1990.
Spaemann, Heinrich, Mut zur Wirklichkeit, in: Franz Böckle (Hg.), Der
Zölibat. Erfahrungen – Meinungen – Vorschläge. Mainz 1968.
Stahlberg, D. und Frey, D., Einstellungen I: Struktur, Messung und
Funktionen, in: Wolfgang Stroebe, Miles Hewstone, Jean-Paul
Codol, Geoffrey M. Stephenson (Hg.), Sozialpsychologie. Eine
Einführung, Berlin 1990.
Staudenraus, P. J., The African Colonization Movement 1816-1865.
New York 1961.
Stenger, Hermann, Kompetenz und Identität, in: Hermann Stenger (Hg.),
Eignung für die Berufe der Kirche. Klärung–Beratung–Begleitung.
Freiburg im Breisgau 1988.
Stenger, Hermann, Verwirklichung des Lebens aus der Kraft des
Glaubens. Pastoral-psychologische und spirituelle Texte. Freiburg
im Breisgau 1989.
The Jerusalem Bible. Standard Edition. London 1966.
Thomae, Hans (Hg.), Die Motivation menschlichen Handelns. Köln
1965.
Thomae, Hans, Konflikt, Entscheidung und Verantwortung. Ein Beitrag
zur Psychologie der Entscheidung. Stuttgart 1974.
Thomae, Hans, Der Mensch in der Entscheidung. München 1960.
Uchendu, Victor C., The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria. Fortworth 1965.
Ulich, Dieter, Konflikt und Persönlichkeit. Psychologische Modelle und
ihre Bedeutung für die Pädagogik. München 1971.
Unimna, Atemgweye G., Towards Africanizing the Catholic Priesthood:
Challenges and Prospects, in: Jos Studies, Vol. 1, 1 (1990), 43-58.
Jos.
Uzukwu, E. Elochukwu, Church and Inculturation: A Century of Roman
Catholicism in Eastern Nigeria. Obosi 1985.
Vester, Frederic, Neuland des Denkens. Vom technokratischen zum
kybernetischen Zeitalter. München 1985
Von Franz, M.-L., The Process of Individuation, in: Carl Jung (ed.), Man
and his Symbols, London 1978.

557
Wahl, Heribert, Pastoralpsychologie – Teilgebiet und Grunddimension
der praktischer Theologie, in: Isidor Baumgartner (Hg.), Handbuch
der Pastoralpsychologie. Regensburg 1990.
Watzlawick, Paul, Weakland, John H. and Fisch, Richard, Change.
Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution. New
York 1974.
Watzlawick, Paul, Bavelas, Janet Beavin and Jackson, Don D.,
Pragmatics of Human Communication. A Study of Interactional
Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. New York 1967.
Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary. Boston 1984.
Wilber, Ken, Halbzeit der Evolution. Der Mensch auf dem Weg vom
animalischen zum kosmischen Bewusstsein. Frankfurt am Main
1996.
Wilber, Ken, The Spectrum of Consciousness. 20th Anniversary Edition.
Wheaton, Illinois 1993.
Wuthnow, Robert, Hunter, James Davison, Bergesen, Albert, Kurzweil,
Edith, Cultural Analysis. The Work of Peter L. Berger, Mary
Douglas, Michel Foucault and Jürgen Habermas. London 1984.
Zerfaß, Rolf, Menschliche Seelsorge. Für eine Spiritualität von Priestern
und Laien im Gemeindedienst. Freiburg im Breisgau 31985.
Zülch, T., Guerk, K. (Hg.), Soll Biafra überleben? Berlin 21969.

558