Who Is an Igbo and Who Is His God?

By DR EZRA ANIEBUE

WHO IS AN IGBO AND WHO IS HIS GOD?
This question has become increasingly urgent because a growing number of voices are calling the Igbo people to abandon Christianity and return to what they describe as the original religion of the Igbo people. They argue that Christianity is merely the religion of the European or "white man," that Christianity was an instrument of colonialism, that Christian missionaries destroyed African culture, that the Bible was used to justify slavery and oppression, and that Africans possessed knowledge of God long before European contact. Therefore, they contend that authentic Igbo identity requires a return to Odinani, Omenani, ancestral religion, the Alusi, traditional sacrifices, and other indigenous religious practices.
These claims must not be dismissed with emotion, insults, or shallow religious arguments. Neither should Christians respond by denying the undeniable realities of history. Colonialism occurred. Europeans exploited Africans. Christians participated in slavery and oppression. Some missionaries made serious cultural mistakes, and some people who have claimed the name of Christ have represented Him poorly. To deny these realities is not Christian apologetics. It is historical defensiveness. Truth does not require dishonesty to defend it.

If Christianity is true, it must be able to withstand the hardest questions of history, philosophy, theology, and culture. Likewise, if someone claims that traditional Igbo religion should replace Christianity, that claim must be examined with the same intellectual honesty and theological seriousness.
We must therefore reject two equally dangerous errors. The first is colonial arrogance, which assumes that everything African is primitive, irrational, or spiritually inferior. The second is romanticized traditionalism, which assumes that everything practiced by our ancestors was therefore true, righteous, historically uniform, or divinely authorized simply because it is ancient. Neither position is intellectually defensible.

Antiquity does not prove truth. Ancestral practice does not establish divine authority. Cultural identity does not determine theological truth.
Therefore, the question is not merely, "What did our ancestors believe?" The deeper question is, "Who is God, and what has God revealed about Himself?"
And that question must be answered with courage, historical honesty, theological precision, and an unwavering commitment to truth.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HM7G7N5R
• ISBN13: 9798160073231
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 104 Pages
• Weight: 0.33 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"