46 God Conquers Death. Perhaps, It Will Not Be Far-Fetched to Argue That
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46 God conquers death. Perhaps, it will not be far-fetched to argue that the Jewish dogma of divine reward and retribution inspired this new vision of death and the after-life. Almost axiomatic is the general belief that since God is eternal, man made . in his "image and likeness" must possess that divine principle which overcomes total destruction by death. But this is a victory only the righteous can achieve. The wicked will experience eternal death. At this point victory over death is linked to morality and indicated in the injunction to choose the "way of wisdom". According to the Wisdom author, death is ultimately a passage for the just to a continuing friendship and intimacy in "truth" and "love", completely devoid of earthly limitations. And in ' the perspectives of Ps 16:3, the "Holy Ones" pass through the exodus of death to shalom, a place of well-being (50). Ori this note, I can conclude that this is how late Judaism gave a positive rationalisation of the problem of human mortality and the after-life. The Igbo People The specific Nigerian tribe studied here is my own people, the Igbo. As an attempt in an area study, effort will be made to penetrate the heart of the Igbo religious worldview and to interpret it as accurately as possible. The Igbo speaking people of Nigeria constitute the second ethnic majority in the Nigerian population. They inhabit the south-eastern part of Nigeria. Inspite of the present truncation of the Igboland by the creation of states in 1976 by the Federal Government, the Igbo still occupy a dense area of land and have retained much of their traditional and psychic unity, especially in the areas of religion and culture (51). Igbo Traditional Religious Worldview The Igbo are nothing if not profoundly religious, and all accounts of their existence reflect this religious way of life. For the Igbo, Chukwu (God), 'which in spoken language is a contraction of Chi-Ukwu (the Great-God), is the creator of uwa, the vis- ible universe. He is the one who is immense, the ode n'lgbo (the One whose Being spreads over the whole extent of the Igboland). There are two aspects of Igbo cosmos; namely uwa nkea (this natural world) and ala mmuo (the spirit-world). All divinities and all categories of spirits inhabiting this world and the spirit-world derive their essence from Chukwu (God). They are his created beings and are no more than his satelites. The cosmos includes anyanwu (the sun), igwe (the sky) which form the abode of Chukwu and ala mmadu (earth), the home of man. Ala (the Earth Goddess) is an important deity in the traditional religion of the Igbo. She is the custodian and super- visor of Igbo morality. In the Igbo pantheon, she ranks next to Chukwu, the Supreme Being. She is the queen of the underworld and rules in union with the Ndichie (the ancestors) to ensure peace and tranquility in Igboland. This worldview is better illustrated with a diagram: 'I _ 47 Igbo ontology is all-inclusive. As John S. Mbiti has rightly observed, African ontology is anthropocentric. This ontology includes God as the Originator and Sustainer of other beings; the spirits and those of men who had died long ago; including all human beings and those yet unborn, animals and vegetation and the inanimate phenomena (53). All together form part of a continuum. The dead constitute part of the Igbo social world. In this ontology, the whole of human life is cyclical .(54). It includes birth, puberty, initiation, marriage, procreation, old age and death as an entry into the community of the dead and a final reditus to the spirit-world (Ala mmuo) (55). Temporality is viewed from the Now (ugbua) to the obea n'iru' (future) as Mbiti has rightly described (56). .