A Review of Ikwa-Ala Traditional Conflict Resolution Method in Igboland and its Effects on Christian Faith

Abstract

The perceived antagonism between some Christian and African Traditional Religious practices poses some kind of dialectics that need adequate resolution through proactive measures if the sanctity of the Christian Faith is to be preserved in the current wave of Neo-Paganism. This is the case with the practice of some abhorrent traditional conflict resolution methods within Christian communities with Christians compelled to accept the culture irrespective of their being antithetical to basic Christian morality. The aim of this paper is to examine select Traditional Conflict Resolution method (the Ikwa-Ala Ritual) in Light of Biblical Scriptures and Dogmatic Theology to ascertain their inherent immoral content as well as acknowledge the probability of their entering healthy synergy with the Christian faith. The relevance of this theological assessment is to engage a hypothetical framework for acceptance or disagreement with the methods with regard to credible Christian Life. The methods adopted in this study are textual analysis and phenomenology as they both allow for understanding basic Christian assumptions and the moral status of the select Traditional Conflict Resolution methods respectively. Thus, the outcome of the inquiry serves to consolidate on the present grounds of the Church’s tolerance and accommodation for certain cultural tenets and practices that are alien to the Christian faith and go on to pose critical and sensitive questions to the moral integrity of Christians who find themselves within such cultural spaces and are compelled to comply to community standards of social control.